House (which aired in 1999) and The 1940s House (which aired in 2001) inspired PBS to commission a similar historical reality television series set in the United States. The budget for the series was $4.1 million, which included $3.3 million for the production itself and $800,000 for promotion and the website. Most of the funding came from PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and British public service broadcaster Channel 4. Casting More than 5,500 families applied to be on the show. Preparation The participants spent two weeks in classrooms and kitchens, learning about the history of the period and gaining expertise in animal husbandry, carpentry, chopping wood, clothes washing, cooking, farming, gardening, harvesting skills, personal hygiene (without the use of toilet paper), sewing, soap making, and other skills which the average person in 1880s Montana would have known. The participants spent their days learning skills in Virginia City, Montana—a restored ghost town, open-air museum, and National Historic Landmark. To reduce culture shock, the participants were permitted to sleep in a modern hotel and enjoy modern activities (like television and bowling) at night. Participants agreed to abide by a set of rules, which included the following: Wearing period-appropriate clothing. Preparing and eating period-appropriate food. Using period-appropriate equipment, and using it in period-appropriate ways. Communicating with the outside world (including series consultants) only through the postal service at the remote country store, or via telegraph. Buying initial goods and supplies based on a period-appropriate budget set by series consultants, and then using the barter system during occasional visits to the country store. Using only period-appropriate medicines. (For a serious medical emergency, participants could talk to a member of the production staff and seek the assistance of the show's physician.) Anyone was free to leave the show at any time, although participants were asked to consult the production team first and record the decision on the video diary. In preparation for leaving for the homestead site, participants were allowed to purchase whatever items their budget could afford—so long as it could fit into the single horse-drawn covered wagon provided to each family for hauling goods. The wagons were, in fact, quite small and held few goods. Each family packed and repacked their wagons repeatedly to get more goods into them. Departure for the homesteading site, where the three families would live for five months, occurred on May 21,