What was life as a sodbuster like?

The life of a sodbuster was very difficult and arduous. since they were the first ones on the land, they had to turn the soil, in order to break up the hard topsoil (sod) They lived in poorly built sod houses, that were small and had dirt floors. They often didn't have a social life, as the house were miles away from each other. Many of them became depressed and insane. They made little to no money on the land, and did back-breaking work.