The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1901-01-11
..dRHAr AMERICAN DESERT" STORIES.
MBER ONE.

ton and boundaries of the ''Creat American
Desert but since that time. it has faded
from the earth and also from our geograpl-
zeal maps. During its passage a new style
of architecture sprang into vogue on the
plains of western Kansas, Nebraska and cas-
tern Colorado. which architecture. also has
followed the passing of the desert and both
have gone the way of all the earth.
The ..Dug-out'' and ''Sod Shanty' were
each Il peculiar house unto itself. The dug
out was built nearly always. ON the edge of
a draw This draw was II depression on
The otherwise level prairie varying in width
from one hundred feet tn one hundscd yards.
and from one mile to several miles in length.
The depression is from one To ten feet deep.
Into the marginal banks of these draws the
the homestcadcr dug II room from ten to sin
teen feet square and from five to eight feet
deep. Then he raised II center-pole on which
he placed %rafters of poles and brush and COW
cred il with buffalo sod. \ small window
was then placed in the rear gable and II door
in the front of the building next the draw,
and in this crude dwelling the family lived
while proving up the claim. The cook stove
bed. table. etc.. were all in one room.
I'm company with II physician. the writer
stopped for II drink at one of these crude
dwellings of the plains and received II hearty
welcome and u refreshing drink of water
from Il ' woman whom the doctor had attend
cd at the birth of her second child. ina small
dup-out. fifteen miles from the nearest town.
There. under the blue sky where the pale
moon painted the wide cXpanse OF pralrlc II
dull gray and the roaring wind and howl OF
the COYOTE mingled their woeful sounds, up
on a rude couch of straw, the mother bore IN
silence. her second son. Talk of heroines,
this mother was one! Little the wonder that
Funston's 10Th Kansas made II proud record
in the Philippines when his soldiers were Sc
lected from the sons of such women!
In company with seven other men the wsi-
ter enjoyed the wide-open hospitality one
night. of one of those hardy pioneers OF the
Great American Desert. We drove up Ia
the sod shanty just ut sunset OF Il cold day
in February when our thermometer register
ed 20 degrees below zero. We asked the
man of the house if we could lodge with him
for the night, he said certainly, unhitcl
your team and come right in" We put oul
team in Il sod shed and repaired to the house
The cookstovc, bed and table were there,
The room was about twelve feet square, SOC
walls. sod roof and plank floor. This plank
floor was "A luxury. After we had supper o
hot biscuits, ham and coffee, when the Soo'
woman had washed the dishes we played
..seyen-up'' for an hour or two. Then 1--WE
alp went out to our wagon to get the bunk
while the good housewife and her little gir
went to bed. We came in. closed the doc
and spread our hunks on the floor. Eigh
men. tired from a fifty mile drive that da,
through one of the coolest winds that eve
swept the p%rairies, lay down like so man
sardines, side by side ON the hard floor an
slept the sleep of the weary. When one turn
ed all turned, so crowded together were we
We rose early the next morning at the ca
of our host and, taking up our couches wer
ont to our wagon while the good lady ros
and made her toilet. She baked6 dozen bi
ou;ts for breakfast and sold us D dozen who
we ate. paying her 80 cents, all she won
charge. She kept the other dozen for IL
family. In a veritable blizzard the next nori
mo with the thermometer ut 20 below zer'
this penhearted hospitable pioneer OF Il
plains bade us god-speed as we faced the
ting wind, in our journey toward the Yves