In 1922, Mrs. John Trigg Moss, representing the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and Harry Truman joined forces to petition Congress to designate a National Old Trails Road commemorating famous pioneer trails stretching from Maryland to California. Twelve identical statues were created to capture the spirit of pioneer women, with one placed in each state along the National Old Trails Road, and Lamar was chosen for Colorado's monument. Its inscriptions commemorate the Big Timbers extending eastward and westward along the Arkansas River for approximately twenty miles and Bent's New Fort, later Fort Wise, from 1852 to 1866, and recall a place known for Indian lodges, shelter from storm and heat, food for beast, bivouacs for expeditions, and many councils. The Hasser family first homesteaded in Texas and then moved to Colorado, where Elizabeth taught in the Pritchett-Kim area and homesteaded land with her four brothers. In the early 1920s, the brothers quarried rock to build a sturdy house by hand with block and tackle, but after beginning construction they discovered they had only half enough rock and had to wait another year to finish it. The Homestead Act of 1862 offered 160 acres of public land to settlers who completed five years of continuous residency, and by 1900 more than 80 million acres had passed into private ownership. The County Land Office lists 21 women who homesteaded in Prowers County, Colorado. Women who traveled the trail were tough, courageous, and determined, yet often isolated, lonely, and fearful as they faced dangers such as losing a child, crossing swift waters, falling beneath wagon wheels, or being taken captive, and their achievements left a legacy of hope and survival.