Various reasons may be sighted why these people left the settled areas of the world to come to a remote area that had seen very few people other than Indians. Some of these early visitors were surveyors who were mapping out the country so the railroad could build their line across the United States, thus connecting the West with the East. As the railroad was being built, towns were plotted up to provide the facilities to keep the trains running. People were needed to operate these towns as well as to use the railroad for the various services it could provide such as passenger and freight. In order to get settlers to come, the Railroad put on an extensive campaign of selling the area to people all over the world.
The drop in the value of railroad stocks, which was worth little or nothing, made it possible for people who owned these stocks to exchange them for railroad land in Foster County.
"A large amount of the indemnity lands in the vicinity of Melville and Carrington had been bought some time previous to 1882 by Carrington and Casey under the management of Mr. L.R. Casey. This became known as the Carrington‑Casey Land Company. Carrington was platted during the latter part of the summer of 1882. Late in the fall the lots were placed on sale and quite a large number were sold at the first offering. Carrington was named for the senior member of the firm." (H.A. Soliday report.)
With the enactment of the Homestead Act by the United States Government, land was made available to any one who was willing to live on it and make improvements.
Cheap land, a chance to own a parcel of land all your own; a challenge to develop a new area from scratch; an opportunity to start a new life; a way to get some money out of the worthless railroad stocks; freedom from persecution of governments in other countries, are some of the reasons the settlers came to Foster County.
While many of the first arrivals were actually homeseekers, some did not intend to make permanent homes but rather file on government lands and sell their rights for the best price obtainable and pass along to new fields. Those that came for that purpose did not remain long.
And so they came from all states in the union of mixed nationalities and almost every country on the globe. Some came in groups and some came individually to get settled and then send for their families. They were genial, hospitable and generous people, alive to enterprise and ready to perform an honorable part in the promotion of the best interests of the homebuilders. Honesty and integrity constituted the parallels between which they moved.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 34