The letters were written in 1872 and written from a husband living in Nebraska to his wife and child back east. He reports on how land out in Nebraska is getting available and also being sold away. He is basically reporting price ranges and size of land and what he thinks about it. He also reports what his buddies are buying and how successful he thinks each will be. He tells his wife and child that he has found two pieces of land that he really likes that he hopes to purchase so he can bring his family to him and have a chance to get some profit off of it. His letter discusses the pros and cons of the land. For example, he thinks his wife and child will love the views of the country and he can see how their house will be built so that his family can be warm and comfortable. His second letter is him telling his wife that he didn't get the land in time and he has to restart in the search for land.
What stood out to me was that even though he is far away focussing mostly on finding land to be more successful, he still spent time and money on writing multiple letters to his family back home to tell them he still loves them and thinks about them. Paper and mailing was expensive so I admire his commitment to his family. It is very easy to be selfish and leave the family in the dust. He lets his family know that even though he lost land that he thought he was going to get, he is not going to give up and is going to fight for them. Another thing that stood out was the fact that land was being bought out really quickly and there was competition so the land was probably hard to get within one's budget. It was probably hard to find land that didn't have "drawbacks" like not having timber or the depth of streams.
The act of writing a letter in this day and age was very important. Paper was very expensive and mailing it across the country was even more expensive. It probably meant a lot to loved ones if they received letters all the way from across the country. It meant that person cared enough about them to pause the work they're doing out west to spend money and write to them.
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