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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... wagon of Mr. Brant for one hundred and twenty five dollars . March 14 This morning a long caravan of wagons drawn by horses , mules , and oxen , and loaded with household utensils and farming implements pulled out of Kearney , crossed ...
... wagon up , spilled us out in a heap , and broke the hayrack . We were not hurt and after righting the wagon , fixing the hay rack , whipping the oxen , and pick- ing up our pitch forks , guns , and thing [ s ] which were scattered along ...
... wagon and the jolting firing it off . The whole charge tore through the end gate of the wagon . On arriving at the Ranch we found no one at home except Charley Peterson , the cowboy , and his sister Selma , the housemaid , so we couldn ...
Contents
Summer Rambles in Eastern Nebraska | 24 |
The Buffalo Hunt | 52 |
The Harvest Circuit | 102 |
Copyright | |
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