The article describes the conditions of the initial settlement of refugees in the semi-desert, treeless steppe of Budjak, and characterises the economic life of the settlers in the first years of life in their new homeland. The fact of the joint resettlement of Gagauz and Bulgarians from across the Danube and the similarity of many aspects of their life and everyday life obscured the differences between them, so contemporaries perceived them under the same name - Trans-Danube settlers. The article highlights the main processes of adaptation of the settlers in the new places in connection with their socio-economic and legal situation, peculiarities of economic life, natural and geographical conditions, as well as the difficult ethnic environment of South Bessarabia of this period.