Happy as a Big Sunflower: Adventures in the West, 1876-1880Oh, I am happy as a big sunflower That nods and bends in the breezes! And my heart is as light as the wind that blows The leaves from off the treeses! In 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 19-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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... feet deep . We are very busy these days building sod houses and stables and hauling hay for the stock and material ... feet long , 12 inches wide and four inches thick ; of this we built the walls of the house . In the center of the ...
... feet over mighty rocks , which had the appearance of having dropped from the roof of the cave , when the opening sud- denly widened out into an uneven chamber eight feet in length , fifty feet wide , and thirty feet high . The bottom of ...
... feet long and 30 feet wide . Our progress was impeded by large blocks of lava . On reaching an- other level and turning into one of the numerous passage ways an- other pool of water was found — not as large as the first but equally as ...
Contents
Summer Rambles in Eastern Nebraska | 24 |
The Buffalo Hunt | 52 |
The Harvest Circuit | 102 |
Copyright | |
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