Day One: July 17, 1894

In this journal entry two sites are mentioned. The first is three miles out from their De Smet, South Dakota home. The second one is sometime after 2pm. They had just crossed Miner County. She describes a hot wind but no temperature. She had taken a thermometer on the trip. Later on, it would get lost! 

They were able to camp by a non-pumpable spring. Ouch. However there was feed or the horses. 

The route they took would later become highway 25. 

In 1894 De Smet, Kingsbury County, SD had a population of 541 people. As of 2012 the population is 1,110 people. De Smet is the county seat of Kingsbury County.   

Miner county was named after Nelson and Ephraim Miner. It's county seat is Howard, SD. In 1894 there were about 5,165. It had grown over 1,300% from 1880. Today Miner County has half the population at 2,326 people. Wikipedia notes five cities in the county; Canova, Carthage, Howard, Roswell, and Vilas. 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miner_County%2C_South_Dakota

ON THE WAY HOME book one 1894

I was able to borrow the travel diary Laura Ingalls Wilder ON THE WAY HOME The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894 by the Author of the "LITTLE HOUSE" Books. The librarian is allowing me to renew a fair amount of times more than the county library. 

The Little House Traveler

The three travel diaries and letters she kept. 1894, 1915, 1931. 

Which edition is which?

This is the paperback edition I'm reading from for the Little House series. 

Also here is the edition of the travel diary I'm reading. All three published travel diaries are in this book. 

Farmer Boy returned early!

Darn it. The mister turned in my book, at the library, by accident. I can't find any more life skills from the pioneering days. 

Here's one I am remembering, though.

• bullet making. 

Pa would make enough bullets for the following day at night, after supper. (Little House series book 1).  

Here us my question. When did people stop knowing how to make bullets? When did it all go corporate? Eventually? All at once? That's a question for another time. 

Farmer Boy early return---oops

Today the book Farmer Boy was accidentally returned to the library by my hubby. Oh well. And I was so intent on listing the life skills needed then. Well. I can now focus again on the travel diary. 

Today I spotted in the third journal (1931) that she references a place they passed 40 years earlier. It was a place a few dozen miles from Ft Scott. They found the same school house they had camped at 40 years prior. In 1894 that school has was brand spanking new. Little Rose and the other children played with the shavings from the school house then. 

Other things I noticed was the parking area. Church sheds became parking garages or lots. 

A modern day cultural reference would be an episode of The Walton's I saw yesterday. John-boy pulled up to a house for his new job. The house still had the hitching post with their family name etched on it in the front yard. No one uses the hitching post anymore but you can see how old meets new. 

(I tried to get a pic of the video of The Walton's THE JOB episode. I couldn't find it. The following picture shows a typical hitching lost in a tourist city.)

Life Skills of a Pioneer

Throughout Laura Ingalls Wilder's life, and everyone else's as well, there were certain skills required then that we take for granted today. 

Everyone knows that on farms the farmers "farm". What does that mean?  Today many farmers simply plant and harvest their produce (with a lot in between). Over one hundred fifty years ago farmers homesteaded. That is they did EVERYTHING!  They grew their own food and cloth! They made their own clothes and shoes. They slaughtered or butchered their own livestock. There was no supermarket or fast food diner. 

• churn butter 

• milk the cow

• make cream 

• weave hats 

• weave cloth

• baste a shirt 

• make sausages 

• preserve fruits/vegetables in jars 

• dry out fruits/vegetables 

• butcher/slaughter 

• preserve meat in jars 

• fertilize soil with the first snow (poor man's fertilizer

• shear sheep 

• make shoes 

• make gelatin (not jell-o!)

• made their own soap 

• churned and made their own ice cream 

• harvested hay and oats for livestock 

• braided hay or oats(?) 

•lead a team of horses-no license required 

• make candles 

• sew their own clothes 

• quilt their own bed quilts 

• brand cattle 

• birth cattle! 

• 

This is only a sample of the skills needed back in the day. I'm sure there are MANY MORE skills that I have forgotten or overlooked from the book series.