Little house on the prairie

#littlehouseontheprairieseries is 4th and 5th grade AR reading level. Perfect for mini-me. 

Dial 1 for The White House Mr. Treasurer

In 1879 when the White House first got their telephone service, there was only one other place to call. That place was the Treasury Department. This I just discovered today... Err...last night at Target when I found a juvenile book on the White House. The book is titled, "Where is the White House? I recommend the book. It is up to date by tenure. President Obama is bowling in the WH 

Laura ingalls wilder pro board

The following is a website forum where people can discuss articles, stories, etcetera of LIW. I found a section where Laura's farmer journal articles were published. It's great to see articles published in 1921; 6 years shy of 100 years! 

http://frontiergirl.proboards.com/board/12/laura-ingalls-wilder-farm-journalist

Laura's 1st telephone

I asked a source if she knew where I could find out the first telephone number of Laura Ingalls Wilder. She did not know. However, she does believe there is a corner where her Candlestick Telephone would have been placed. It's a start. 

Here is a picture of a candlestick telephone with box ringer. 

Day 5: July 21, 1894

On this day everyone took a bath. Rose and the Cooley boys had ropes tied at their waists. Laura held on to Rose's rope as she played and swam in the James River. Laura even states Rose sat in the water up to her chin. The boys were tethered by their mother, Mrs. Cooley. 

Their day started terrible. Apparently Mr. Murphy was invited. Anything that can go wrong, Did go wrong. 

•Laura's horse PET took off without them. 

• They ran out of bread. 

The good thing is Laura knew an alternative to making bread. She made "Chicken Pie"; biscuits served up with chicken gravy. 

Remember they left the river before? The James river keeps coming back to them. They spotted the bluffs across it at 10:30 AM. AT 12 Noon they crossed into a new county. YANKTON COUNTY. At 2:00 PM they saw the river again. 

Former counties of South Dakota

The following link will take you to a group of former counties in South Dakota. Many were simply annexed by another county. You will see a birth and death of said counties. 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_Dakota_county_seats

Area Codes started in 1947

In 1947 the nation received it's first area codes. There were 86 in total. Hard to believe California only had 3 area codes! Here is the link to the map of the area codes. It's followed by a copy of the image. I hold no copyrights to it. (http://www.lincmad.com/map1947.html)

 What was your area's first area code? Can you find the Wilder's homestead area code? Next up zip codes. 

The gentleman who originated exchanges for the telephone came up with the invention in 1891. He believed customers should have the ability to call other subscribers instead of operators. He was an undertaker at the time. The wife of his competition was a regular Harriet Oleson on the switchboard. She gave the undertaking business to her husband.  He was unhappy to hear that. Pissed really. Read more here. (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almon_Brown_Strowger) Almon Brown Strowger. 

Here is a dedicated page to manual relay for telephones. (http://www.technology.niagarac.on.ca/staff/mcsele/TelephoneSwitch.html) 

White House telephone number 1877

Today I found out that President Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House in May 1877. The telephone number? (1). That's it. One. No area code. No prefix. No letters. It would be one year before an exchange would come about in Connecticut. (History channel, http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hayes-has-first-phone-installed-in-white-house) 

Fifty years later, President Herbert Hoover would be the man who would first put a telephone on the desk of the Oval Office.. (The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes, 2007 ). He even put in a switchboard. Of course being first didn't come without problems. He knew he still had phone trouble when his son couldn't get through to him. Can you imagine that "exchange"? 

 

Hoover set up protocols to receive needed calls and avoid the critics. 

Day 4: July 20,1894

Here she does mention a new setting. It's amazing that it would take them a "whole day" to get from county to county.

They left Bridgewater, McCook County, South Dakota and entered Hutchinson County at midmorning (10 O'Clock in the morning).  In McCook County Laura mentions how all the wells have windmills. She further states in all the years of bad weather, this is the first time it has greatly affected McCook County. So for the first time, they are seeing bad crops. 

Official site for Bridgewater. The city was named by or for the railroad workers who had I carry water across the bridge. (http://www.bridgewatersd.com)

(http://www.bridgewatersd.com/images/bridgewaterimage.pdf) aerial map of the city. 

Notable person is Sparky Anderson. "Hall of Fame baseball manager" as stated in Wikipedia, referenced from October 19, 2012 baseball almanac. Mr. Anderson was born in Bridgewater. Here is another website with his biography. 
(http://www.biography.com/people/sparky-anderson-31656)

Currently Bridgewater and Emery share a school site. I don't know if it's always been that way. Maybe I'll send an email and inquire. I sent an email of to the Bridgewater Tribune. In looking them up on the internet I have discovered a website that claims "Bridgewater, Sparky Anderson's Hometown".

Hutchinson County  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchinson_County,_South_Dakota)


They found a Russian settlement there. Their homes were built long and back from the roads. 

Tbc...

South Dakota historical archive

http://history.sd.gov/Archives/forms/exhibits/SD%20Towns.pdf

A listing of South Dakota towns and cities. When they were incorporated. When they got their first post office. 

Kansas state historical archive

http://www.kansastowns.us/hdkt/ 

Here is the historical info on the cities of the state of Kansas 

Proposed town/city: Laurent, McCook County, South Dakota

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent,_South_Dakota Laurent, South Dakota 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/21/national/21deaf.html?_r=1& NYTIMES article 

http://www.gallaudet.edu/clerc_center/welcome/laurent_clerc_the_man.html

     Who is Laurent Clerc? Read his biography here at the Gallaudet website. 

Laurent city was proposed, planned and funded, but never executed. There were pros and cons on both sides of the issue of a "'signing' town". The city was to be a city of and for the deaf and hard of hearing. The National Association of the Deaf(pro American Sign Language) supported a signing town. The Alexander Graham  Bell association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing(pro Oralists) were against it. 

Day 3: July 19,1894

No mention of a town or county. Between day 2 & 3 the temp dropped 10•F. I'm sure 92•F was a blessing when you HAVE to wear modest clothing! Many layers of slips, corsets, ankle length skirts and wrist length blouses. The weather was described as "cool and pleasant". She was able to describe the direction of the wind (north). We city slickers lack that ability. 

They were greeted by two men in the evening. Laura and Mrs. Cooley went to a farm to buy milk. Wow. The comment on the children and pigs! "They looked a good deal alike."

Laura described the groves of trees they saw. She described her breakfast but not dinner. Did they take their hens with them? 

Day 2 pt 2

The weather was HOT and WINDY. Laura writes the wind was HARD It reached 102•F "in the wagon".  They met up with a dust storm. They took shelter by closing the wagons together. This day they crossed "Northwestern R. R. tracks" at mid afternoon. 

Does northwestern RR still exist? What happened to them? They still have trains; just not as nationwide. 

http://cnwhs.org

This website is the Chicago and Northwestern RR historical museum. More can be found on Wikipedia as well. 

http://www.northcoastrailroad.org

This site was give as the current web page by Wikipedia. 

 Here are two pictures for day two.