Good question--but there's a certain feeling of independence, even if it may vary considerably.
My father's parents homesteaded in central Montana in 1919, though separately. My grandmother filed first, when homesteads in the West had been increased to 320 acres--and built herself a tarpaper shack. A year ot so later a Norwegian claimed the neighboring 320, and after they married a year or so later, had an entire section--which also included a year-round stream.
Both had come from the Midwest, where all the land was already owned. Unlike most homesteaders, they "proved up", owning the land five years after their claims. They also worked other jobs aside from growing grain (which their kids helped in), but eventually it worked out very well as a long-term investment.
Similar investments have also worked out very well for other Montanans.
