Homesteaders, Settlers, Squatters, Nesters and dupes were names applied to the streams of seekers for new land, new opportunity, and new life on the plains of "The Great American Desert."

Ed and Chloe Foster joined the westward trek with their four children in a covered wagon, a team of horses and a plow. They filed for their 160 acres of dry land with bright hopes for a new life of independence and community stature. Instead they faced blizzards in winter, drought in summer, hailstorms and fires that occasionally swept across the prairie. They were often near giving up and returning to their former home, but they stayed and survived.

Chloe Merty Foster came from a moderately wealthy family living in Chicago. Ed was born in Vermont. From that background they both became "hardy pioneers."

Not that they survived, but how they lived through and triumphed over hardships make them worthy of our tribute.