Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-03-16
Craig S. Thomas Writes inter-
estingly of Frontier Life
In South Dakota.
THE MANY rARDSHlPS
He Tells of the Privations Of Those
Days Thirty Years Ago, and Com
pares with Them the Wonder
full Prosperity Now.

trustees of Sioux Falls college, has
prepared a history Of the early days
OF South Dakota, a part Of which fol-
lows:
The fact above all others which the
Atlantic states are slow to understand
is the marvelously rapid growth Of the
west. This Is especially true OF that
part Of the west through which runs
the ~treacherous Missouri. Storms,
floods, billiards., cyclones, Indians
prairie fires, sod houses, wolves, bears,
trackless prairies, deer n game of all
kinds in abuudance-such are the ideas
which many easterns have Of this por-
ton of the west, where not a few large
cities are located and bumper crops
are raised.
Such lack of knowledge OF present
western conditions is doubtless due to
two facts. First, to the hardships Of
early western life, which, by letters to
friends, n newspaper records, were
thoroughly advertised in the east; and,
second, to the proYincialism OF many
eastern people who travel little, egard
the place where they live as the GEN.
ter Of civilization, and forget that those
who LAY built up western cities and
towns are people from the most ambi-
tious II enterpIising classes Of the
east.
AS a matter OF fact, not n 1.-THE OF
the early hardships in the west has
ever been told.
Water a Scarce Article.
In many places water had to be-
hauled In barrels for miles, and even
then was sometimes taken from
dammed-up draws in which cattle wad-
ed n drank.
For several years in succession, be-
cause OF drought, hot winds, or grass
hoppers, crops failed. At such times
| many families had neither means with
which TO live nor cash to leave the
country, and farms had to be mort
gagged. Children sometimes went bare
footed In winter, and with nothing COW
ering their bodies but thin calico
dresses.
Prairie fires, set by sparks from en-
gines and by careless smokers or
campers, swept the p~rairies like de-
mons. All the available inhabitants of
a town went out by wagon loads, often
two or three times q week, TO fight h
flames. Valuables, piled In trunks or
boxes, were buried in gardens TO save
them from destruction. Household
goods were carried to the middle OF
plowed fields, only to be set on fire
by tumbling. flaming Russian tbistles,
and. Notwithstanding all efforts to pre-
rent II, whole towns were often de-
stroyed by the flames.
Winters Billiards.
Winter billiards. with snow as fine
rs sifted -four, a 60-mile wind, a cruel
temperature. and the atmosphere SO
aden with electricity that n could
aot come near a stove without receiv-
ing a severe shock, blinded both men
md cattle. and wrought destruction
upon every living thing out of doors.
Buying coal for fuel was like pur-
chasing diamonds, and could be in
dulged in only by people Of means. For
many even wood was out of the ques-
lion because of the long distance to It.
Hay was twisted into large ~doughnut-
ike whisps n burned in stoves;
straw was tramped into sheet iron,
ooiler-like holders, the overs of the
stove removed, and the filed holders
placed over the fire upside down so
that the flames might eat slowly from
bottom to top; COW chips (dried dung
made hot fires, and were preferred TO
either hay or stray.
The Summers Feyers
Many were Frustrated by fever and
tgue; and the few well women of a
leighborhood went from house to
nouse to bake and do housework for
hose who were sick; while occasional
visits from indians kept a whole neigh
,orhood afraid.
At first crops were usually disap-
pointing. An old pioneer once told me
hat land, like a colt. had to be sub
lued, and that many, not understand
ng this. became discouraged and left
before the land a lost its witness.
Floods occasionally damaged the
property OF those who had farms In the
liver bottoms, keeping the Ian too wet
10 cultivate. submerging early crops.
md sometimes sweeping away build
ngs and drowning stock.
But Into these hard conditions came
hardy people.
Hardy Early Settlers.
The early settlers from this part of
The west were largely from the ole
world. often from conditions of poverty
and sometimes of oppression. A single
room shack or dug-out on the wide
spreading prairies of a free land, and
upon acres hat were their own, was q
home of which the owners were justly
proud. Although not a tree was IN
sight, and the boundless green expanse
of spring was often soon withered by
furnace winds and the merciless sum
mer sun: although o of grass
hoppers often left not q shred OF grow
Ing crops, or flaming tongues licked ur
the meager harvests which the newly
broken sod yielded. yet these people
were Injured to hardships; these con-
ditions were bad enough, but they had
no better to which to turn. Homes the
must make for their families, and they
stuck to the task with grim determine.
ton.
AS a reward of such perseverance,
conditions have entirely changed
Farms that 80 years ago discouraged
American owners sold for 81 per acre,
that they might have enough to leave
the country, are now worth from $50 to
SIS per acre. Grasshoppers are of the
past: the breaking up OF the sod has
eliminated prairie fires; thorough culti-
walton has brought the land up to its
highest efficiency: 80 years growth of
trees has modified the winds and molli.
fed the storms.
Standing on top OF Spirit Mound in
South Dakota, where a hundred years
ago Lewis and Clark stood and looked
upon treeless prairies, one now sees o
land of splendid homes, each home mes.
tied In the shelter of an ample grove OF
cottonwoods. box elders. silver naples
elms and walnuts. and many of them
Boosting good orchards OF apples and
plums. The greater part OF this mar
veious transformation has bee7l
wrought within the last 80 years.