But that change caused many homesteaders in Alaska many a heartbreak. The vast majority of these homesteaders were veterans. During World War II. in anticipation of the entry into the United States of war refugees. the Department of the Interior had withdrawn certain lands in Alaska which the Department of Agriculture. after careful study. had determined were suitable for agriculture. However that project of opening these lands to refugees was abandoned and it was decided instead to open these lands to veterans for homesteading. Homesteading in Alaska is not the same pursuit it was in the Great Plains States in the western homesteading days beginning a century ago. Homesteading in Alaska is much more difficult since the land must first be cleared of dense covering of trees.
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refugees