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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... land . During this period he wrote about the difficulties in building sod houses , plowing the prairie , digging wells , and many other challenges the newcomers had to face . He described the roaring prairie fires that swept away some ...
... land is not known , but many people migrated because of worsening economic conditions , while others found the State Church of Sweden , which was nominally Lutheran , to be too oppressive . A major exodus began in 1852 , and by the end ...
... land . The Preemption Act of September 4 , 1841 , allowed the sale of up to 160 acres , one quarter of a square mile , of surveyed or unsurveyed gov- ernment land to adult males or widows . A buyer had to make im- provements , but did ...
... land when they talked to prospective clients in Henderson Grove . It is equally likely they would have stressed the personal ad- vancement and financial security one could gain through growing with a new state , while at the same time ...
... land will not be abandoned to the locust . " ' 13 Unfortunately many farmers had to abandon the land . Hall County was especially devastated , resulting in a general exodus , although there may have been other contributing factors . In ...
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 |