Be it known that, under the Homestead Act signed this year by President Abraham Lincoln, you are hereby granted one hundred and sixty acres of the public domain, to hold as your own.

The terms are these: settle upon this land, raise your home, and make it flourish. Should you dwell upon your claim and improve it without pause — thriving for five years entire — the title shall pass to you, free and clear forever.

We congratulate you upon accepting this property, and the challenge bound to it. Prove yourself against the seasons. The land now waits.