Ten acres of this quarter-section had to be planted in trees, and proof, substantiated by two reliable witnesses, that the trees had been growing for eight years was necessary before the settler could obtain clear title to the claim. The acquisition of tree claims was sometimes hindered by the perpetration of a cruel hoax on newcomers. One of a group of unprincipled men, interested in money rather than in settlement of the land, and unable or unwilling to file claims, would approach a new settler and offer him a "deal" on a piece of land, ostensibly planted as a tree claim, with the little green tree shoots already appearing above the ground. The settler would pay a substantial sum for the advantage of having trees already planted, and in good faith would file on the claim, only to find later in the year that instead of a 10-acre grove he had an excellent but over-abundant crop of turnips. Notwithstanding such discouragements, many fine groves were planted which have not only added greatly to the beauty of the Red River Valley and central North Dakota, but have been invaluable as a protection against soil erosion. A third tract of 160 acres could be secured under the preemption laws which permitted the settler to locate on land before or after it was surveyed, file declaration of intent to purchase, and pay for the land within 18 months after filing, at the rate of $2.50 an acre for railroad property or $1.25 for any other land. Additional land could be obtained by buying up grants to soldiers in the United States Army. Military land warrants could be purchased for a nominal price, often as low as 50 cents an acre. At first, despite the ease of obtaining land, there was no great influx of settlers into the new land. The Nation was in the grip of the Civil War, and Indian troubles in the West not only discouraged new settlement but frightened out many who had already made their homes there. Writers who had visited the Territory depicted it as "a land of blizzards and Indians, drought and grasshoppers." Moreover, homesteading in the northern part of the Territory was complicated by the fact that the nearest land office was at Vermilion, 400 miles away, a long and perilous trip in the day of the oxcart and dogsled. The only surveyed land was in the vicinity of Pembina. Here in 1868 Joseph Rolette, pioneer fur trader and settler, filed the first homestead in North Dakota, the only one before 1870. In 1871 a few more claims were filed, but it was not until 1885 that settlement increased to any great extent. During that year so many "took up" land that Dakota Territory became known as "the land of the free and the home of the boomer ... free homesteaders and town site boomers."