The town pump is the biggest treasure of all

Before we had running water in America everyone had to go to one if various locations to secure water. In the TV series the Ingalls family got their water from a creek. In town people would get their water from the town pump. In the TV show the school had a pump. In the 1894 travel diary Laura Ingalls Wilder repeats this many times from town to town. Every town they stopped at they always camped at the school because it had an open public pump.

Recently I came upon a McGuffey's reader that had a story titled THE PUMP. It described itself by the people coming to itself. Each paragraph described a different person and was numbered. The end included a vocabulary list with the words divided by syllables. 

The town pump can be read in the mcguffey reader. A lot has changed since then. While out water is now cleaned piped to businesses and homes by the county/city less people drink the water. More people prefer to drink sugary or caffeinated drinks. Water is no longer free either. Because it is a utility there is a bill to pay for usage. Water as a utility is mandatory. I'd like to look up which decade it became mandatory. I may have to ask an architect friend or relative. 

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

So far I have found a 1974 Act nationally regulating drinking water. See above Wikipedia link. Before that regulations were local. Bottled water is regulated by THE FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION while tap water is regulated by THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY. 

Sorry no recent posts

I'm sorry I haven't posted recently. I had to return the books. I'm waiting to borrow again from the library.

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.