But the one great attraction for all classes was the chance of procuring large quantities of fertile land at low prices.
Value of the Land.
To the average settler the land was the prime source of livelihood.

A man of hardihood, thrift, perseverance, and bodily strength could surely make a comfortable living for himself and his family, if only he could settle on a good tract of rich soil; and this he could do if he went to the new country.

As a matter of course, therefore, vigorous young frontiersmen swarmed into the region so recently won.
These men merely wanted so much land as they could till.

Others, however, looked at it from a very different standpoint.

The land was the real treasury-chest of the country.