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By looking at Keys Ranch: Where Time Stood Still, students meet a self-reliant 20th-century homesteader whose ingenuity allowed him to thrive in the inhospitable California desert. Those interested in learning more will find that the Internet offers a variety of interesting materials.

Joshua Tree National Park
Joshua Tree National Park is a unit of the National Park System. Visit the park's Web pages for more information about the park, the Joshua Tree, and Desert Queen Ranch.

Homestead National Monument
Homestead National Monument is a unit of the National Park System. Visit the park's Web pages for more information about the Homestead Act, one of the most significant and enduring events in the westward expansion of the United States.

National Park Service:
Historic American Buildings Survey/
Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER)
Search the HABS/HAER collection for measured and interpretive drawings, large-format photographs, and written historical and descriptive data on Desert Queen Ranch.

Library of Congress: American Memory Collection
Search the American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writer's Project to explore the life histories of numerous homesteaders interviewed by workers from the Works Progress Administration.

United States Geological Survey (USGS)
Deserts: Geology and Resources
This USGS publication explores the desert environment as a functioning ecosystem. Learn about the various environmental influences that factored into the development of Keys Ranch.

CERES
CERES is an information system developed by the California Resources Agency to facilitate access to a variety of electronic data describing California's rich and diverse environments. Included on the site is information about the Mojave Bioregion that includes Joshua Tree National Park.

California
Learn more about the history and culture of California on the California State Government Website.

For Further Reading
Students (or educators) wishing to learn more about Joshua Tree National Park, desert environments, or homesteading may want to read the following: Robert Cates, Joshua Tree National Park: A Visitor's Guide (Chatsworth, Calif.: Live Oak Press, 1995); Dick Everell, Conquering the Great American Desert (Lincoln, Nebr.: Nebraska State Historical Society, 1975); A. S. Gintzler, Rough and Ready Homesteaders (Santa Fe, N. Mex.: John Muir Publications, 1994); and Conrad R. Stein, The Story of the Homestead Act (Chicago: Children's Press, 1978).

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