Happy as a big sunflower
Subtitle: adventures in the West, 1876-1880
By: Rolf Johnson ; edited and with an introduction by Richard E. Jensen.
Contributors: Jensen, Richard E.
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, in association with the Nebraska State Historical Society
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Lincoln
Language: eng
Number of pages: 270
Subjects: Johnson, Rolf, 1856-1922 -- Diaries; Pioneers -- Nebraska -- Phelps County -- Diaries; Swedish Americans -- Nebraska -- Phelps County -- Diaries; Frontier and pioneer life -- Nebraska -- Phelps County; Pioneers -- West (U.S.) -- Diaries; Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.); Phelps County (Neb.) -- Biography; Phelps County (Neb.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; West (U.S.) -- Biography; West (U.S.) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
Genres: Diaries.; Biography.
Description: "In 1876 Rolf Johnson and his family left Illinois for Phelps County, Nebraska. Rolf left home in 1879 "with the intention of going west for a season." His departure may have been sparked by the marital fever 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."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [257]-263) and index.
"Bison books"--Page preceding t.p.