In 1892 congress passed the Homestead Act, offering160 acres of free land to settlers who would farm and build a permanent home and live there for 5 years. Those who could afford it could purchase the land for $1.25 an acre after living there for 6 months. This act brought over 75,000 people to Minnesota in a 3 year period.
This was not all good. Lumber companies acquired valuable timber lands through fradulent claims and cleared off the timber. Others built buildings and never lived in them. Some areas were not suited for homesteading. The land was either swampy and could not be used for farming or it was so isolated that it was too expensive for the government to provide roads, schools or other services.
From 1930 to 1940 the government realized that some of the areas should not have been opened to homesteading and initiated a program to relocate settlers from unfit areas.This was called the Resettlement projectin which funds were made available for relocating these settlers.
The Bengt Hanson's was one of these homesteads. Bengt left the area after his family grew up went to war and moved away. His daughter Sylvia, son-in-law, George Eddy and granddaughter Madeline moved back to the homestead in 1929 to make a living on the farm. George also had a homestead a few miles west of the Hanson place. 1942 the government notified the Eddys that they had to move.
The John Silverdahl Sr. homestead was for sale and purchased by the Eddys. It was March. Spring was comming and they had to move the old Hanson two story frame house "Over The River And Through The Woods" before the ice melted on the Little Fork River. This work was performed with the help of Frank Stupka, Henry Silverdahl and Henry Rent. Trails had to be cut, logs laid out to slide the house, porches had to be removed, the house had to be jacked up and skids had to be rolled under it for the six mile trip. This was acomplished within two weeks.
The following pictures help explain this move: | 
