Vietnam veteran Kenneth Deardorff arrived in Alaska in 1974 with a geography degree and plans to find work with the US Geological Survey or another employer. Instead, the California native became fascinated by the idea of building a life in the state’s remote wilderness. He travelled to the Bureau of Land Management office in Anchorage,…

Homestead soddy in Box Butte County. Source: History Nebraska – Nebraska.gov In 1870, Robert Ball Anderson, a former slave and Union Army veteran, filed a claim for a 160-acre homestead in Butler County, Nebraska. Severe drought and grasshopper swarms destroyed his crops, forcing him to give up the property.Instead of abandoning his goals, Anderson spent…

A 79-year-old grandmother in Herefordshire, UK, is refusing to sell part of her garden for a major road project that could bring a 60mph route close to her home. Jean Harris, a retired school secretary and piano teacher, has point-blank refused to negotiate over the land needed for the proposed Southern Link Road, now being…

In 1968, a California landowner demanded $100 an acre for land inside Pinnacles that officials valued at $17; A long legal and property dispute between the US federal government and Utah businessman Dean Brimhall over commercial activities on protected land ended with a $400,000 buyout and the demolition of several private facilities near the park…

Prince Edward and Sophie’s son James is set to begin university this autumn after receiving his A-level results. Buckingham Palace has seemingly confirmed that James, Earl of Wessex, the youngest grandchild of the late Queen Elizabeth II, will not be taking on his royal titles as an adult. The 18-year-old son of Prince Edward and…