Happy as a Big Sunflower: Adventures in the West, 1876-1880In 1876 Rolf Johnson and his family left Illinois for Phelps County, Nebraska. There they faced the challenges of pioneering on the Great Plains: digging wells, building sod houses, plowing and planting crops, and fighting prairie fires. Johnson's diary goes beyond individual conquest, however, and provides insight into the great cooperative endeavor of plains settlement. Rolf's Swedish family and neighbors worked and socialized with other Swedes just as nearby Danish settlers remained in close physical and cultural contact with other Danish immigrants. A very eligible ninetten-year-old bachelor, Rolf also offers touching vignettes on the rituals of courting. Abruptly, with no explanation in his diary, and with no itinerary or prospects, Rolf left home in 1879 "with the intention of going west for a season." His departure may have been sparked by the marital fervor exhibited by a female suitor. Rolf felt he was "not quite prepared to leave the state of single blessedness for that of double misery." In Sidney, Nebraska, he ran with the "sporting" element, who showed him photographs of "fast women of the town stark naked." He found employment with a wagon freighter headed for the Black Hills, where he saw Calamity Jane in action. Rolf's education continued until the diaries end in Cubero, New Mexico, in 1880. He returned to Phelps County in 1882 and remained there for most of his life. Rolf's lively diaries offer an entertaining eyewitness account of pioneer life and an unmatched resource for historians. |
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... Center , ca. 1880 Rolf Johnson later in life Maps Following the illustrations : Rolf Johnson's Nebraska Phelps County , 1879 Swedish and non - Swedish settlement in Phelps County to 1879 Rolf Johnson's travels , June 1879 to May 1800 ...
... center of the county to the railroad . At this same time the state was emerging from an era of political turmoil ; however , the newcomers could not have known that the worst problems were past . Gov. David Butler had been impeached and ...
... centers in the spring . Somewhat later , most became stagecoach stations , providing fresh horses and offering meals for the passengers . Both of the Phelps County ranches benefited briefly when the Pony Express carried mail to the West ...
... center of Phelps County . When Rolf neared the future site of Phelps Center he saw " nothing but miles and miles of level prairie " blackened by a recent fire . This open grassland was dotted with " hundreds of thousands of bleaching ...
... center of the county . This also suggests the family had some cash in reserve because they could not reasonably expect to make enough profit during the first year on the claim to pay the required $ 400 . It appears some of the Johnsons ...
Contents
Illinois Homeland | xxxi |
The Trip to Nebraska | 7 |
Phelps County Nebraska | 10 |
Summer Rambles in Eastern Nebraska | 20 |
Back to Phelps County | 25 |
The Buffalo Hunt | 48 |
Home Again Politics and Romances | 71 |
The Harvest Circuit | 98 |