The Museum of the Northern Great Plains documents the last one hundred years of life on the plains. The fur traders, wilderness animals and open land had made way to the cowboy and herds of cattle, now families began to move onto the land. It was not gold or silver that brought people to these plains, but dreams for a better life. Thousands of families came by train and wagon to settle on the vast short-grass prairie; families who became known as the homesteaders.