Royal, Eliza, and Almanzo drove to eastern Dakota in a wagon during the summer of 1879 at the same time that Chicago and North Western construction crews were moving into the region. Rather than seeking a location in Brookings County, which was already rapidly filling up, the Wilders pushed into Kingsbury County, finding land there not too far from the future town of De Smet. Because they were among the first white people to arrive in the area, they found it possible to locate their claims relatively close to each other. They drove down to the federal land office in Yankton on August 21, 1879, to register their claims and pay the required fees. Almanzo filed for a homestead, paying the normal fourteen-dollar application fee, on the northeast quarter of Section 21 in Township 111 west, Range 56 north. The south edge of his claim lay just a mile north of the town site. He also took out a timber-culture entry by agreeing to plant 10 of the 160 acres in trees.5
The original Timber Culture Act of 1873 had required claimants to set out 40 acres in trees, but the practical difficulty of successfully nurturing that many seedlings quickly became apparent, and Congress sensibly amended the law in 1878 to require only 10 acres to be planted. Almanzo's timber claim was on the southeast quarter of Section 9, its southern boundary a mile north of the northern line of his homestead. In between lay Section 16, set aside under the provisions of the Land Ordinance of 1785 as a source of revenue for the public schools. The Wilders were well aware that the low filing fees required by the government did not make the land free for the taking. Considerable investments of time and money (for seed, machinery, buildings, fences, wells, windmills, and so forth) were required to succeed on the open prairie. Thus, the phrase “free Homesteads” was quite misleading.6
Royal Wilder's homestead, on the southwest quarter of Section 21, adjoined his brother's. Eliza's lay directly south of Royal's, on the northwest quarter of Section 28. Hers was north and west of the De Smet town site. Directly south of her claim was Visscher V. Barnes's homestead, and east of hers was John H. Carroll's, although he later obtained a cancellation and took over the southeast quarter of Section 28, which was also the heart of the new town. After platting it as Carroll's Addition, he sold lots for a handsome profit. Just as Almanzo had done, Eliza and Royal took out tree claims several miles north of town. Hers was half a mile west of Almanzo's, on the southeast quarter of Section 8, and Royal's was half a mile north of hers, on the southeast corner of Section 5.7
Few pioneers around De Smet managed to get to Yankton to file on their claims before the Wilders. Two who did were James McKee, who obtained a tree claim four miles north of the future town on July 28, 1879, and Robert Boast, who took out a homestead entry two miles east of De Smet the same day. Neither Eliza, who continued teaching school before obtaining title to her quarter-sections, nor Royal, who stayed around long enough to obtain title to both of his properties, remained in the area permanently.8
Almanzo and Laura, his somewhat reluctant helper, were determined to make farming successful and devoted all of their energy to the task. Much as Laura worried about the “arithmetic of farming” and disliked the drudgery associated with it, she did enjoy their horses, and she reveled in the freedom of the open spaces and the beautiful countryside. Manly had proved up on the homestead a year before they got married and slightly more than five years after filing his claim. Meanwhile, he was trying to get the trees on the tree claim to grow; by living on it they would have an easier time watering and caring for them.9
Unlike Laura's father, Almanzo did not hesitate to borrow money to purchase machinery or to take out mortgages on his property. Credit constituted the lifeblood of the agricultural economy. Lacking it, many—if not most—farmers could not have gotten started. Even with it, they often were forced out of business anyway, unable to pay their creditors. It took a while for Laura to discover that Almanzo had placed a five-hundred-dollar mortgage on their house when he had built it. Each time he returned from town with another piece of machinery bought on installments, she could do another exercise in the arithmetic of farming. In The First Four Years, she wrote that a sulky breaking plow bought in 1885 had cost them five hundred dollars, half as down payment, the remainder due in a year's time. The following year a new McCormick binder for harvesting wheat cost them two hundred dollars, half to be paid when the grain was threshed and the other half due within a year's time at 8 percent interest. They also obtained a mowing machine and a hay rake on time payments. They also bought a seeder and a new wagon. They needed to pay for coal to heat their house, seed grain for planting, and medical bills when they got sick. For Laura and Almanzo, success in farming would depend as much on how they managed their debts as on how they managed their crops and livestock. And, of course, much depended on the weather and on the prices they were able to obtain for their output.10
Laura's childhood experiences had taught her the vital importance of a woman's labor on the farm. So despite her love for her new house—with its kitchen/dining/living room, its bulging pantry, and its carpeted bedroom—Laura spent much of her time outdoors assisting Almanzo. There was plenty of work to do inside: cooking, baking, washing, ironing, sewing, mending, sweeping, and churning. Outside she could help with plowing and butchering, and she could hold the grain sacks while Almanzo shoveled wheat into them. Laura may have looked small, but she was energetic, and she never shied away from hard physical labor and outdoor work. During the early years of her marriage, she later said in an interview, “I learned to do all kinds of farm work with machinery. I have ridden the binder, driving six horses. And I could ride. I do not wish to appear conceited, but I broke my own ponies to ride. Of course they were not bad but they were broncos.”11
There was always time for fun as well as work. On Sundays the young couple hitched their horses to the buggy and traveled around the countryside, just as they had done during their courtship. Or they saddled up the ponies, Trixy and Fly, and galloped around. This was a happy, carefree time for them, when they could take their minds off their work and their debts and not worry about the future. Although Laura did not write about it in The First Four Years, they sometimes visited friends in De Smet or invited visitors to the farm. Concerts and church socials may have drawn them into town, too, from time to time, and they were able to exchange visits with Laura's parents and sisters.12
Migration into the area declined after 1886, and De Smet's population stabilized. Most of the land within a reasonable distance of the railroad had been taken up by then, so prospective homesteaders went farther west to look for government land on which to enter claims. Activity in town, if anything, picked up, however. The two weekly newspapers carried stories and notices about ice-cream socials, church suppers, oyster feeds, dances, picnics, sociables, and various entertainments and performances. After it opened up in August 1884 the roller rink became the site of many activities, including skating, bicycle races, dances, concerts, and dramatic performances. Until a better place could be found for them, traveling theatrical troupes, choral groups, visiting lecturers, and other entertainers had to be satisfied to perform at the rink, in the school, or at a church.13
Amateur baseball also gained a popular following. Large scores were the norm. The De Smet Clippers played a team from nearby Nordland in August 1883. Three years later a group of locals called the White Stockings defeated Lake Preston, while the Clippers took their lumps, losing to teams from other towns. Almanzo displayed little interest in playing baseball or any other games, but he and Laura may have stopped to watch a contest now and then. Nor do we know whether they observed practice drills of the new militia unit—Company E of the Dakota National Guard—or attended Memorial Day exercises, political rallies, temperance meetings, hook-and-ladder team contests, band concerts, or other performances.14
The dedication of the Couse Opera House on November 11, 1886, rated as one of the town's most memorable social events. Occupying the entire second floor of Edward H. Couse's new double-wide brick store building, the large hall quickly became the center of all k
inds of community activities: dances, suppers, concerts, theatrical performances, lectures, political rallies, school graduations, Memorial Day services, and Christmas parties. In later years, even basketball games were played there and movies shown. Couse's hardware store was on the first floor. The Civil War veteran from New York had steadily built up his business after purchasing Charles Ingalls's store building in 1880. In six years’ time he was ready to expand his operation, moving onto the adjoining lot, and, as a public service, filling a need for civic-minded residents: providing the town with a community hall.
Wanting to make the dedication of his new store and opera house memorable, Couse scheduled a supper, various entertainments, speeches, a dance, and—to top it off—a wedding. He offered to give the first couple to volunteer to get married at his grand opening a new cookstove and a set of pots and pans. In short order several couples stepped forward to take advantage of the opportunity, but the storekeeper stuck by his original offer and accepted only the first volunteers. Had Couse decided to build a year earlier, one wonders whether Laura and Almanzo would have considered volunteering.15
The Couse Block and Opera House, although it was the most imposing new structure built on Calumet Avenue in 1886, was not the only impressive building to be erected in town that year. Catercorner across the intersection of Calumet and Second Street, on a lot he had purchased from Laura's father, John H. Carroll built a two-story brick edifice for the First National Bank, successor to the Bank of De Smet. Meanwhile, a block down the street, Thomas H. Ruth erected a new structure for the Kingsbury County Bank. Also part of the building boom that year was Gilbert and Morrison's roller mill. New construction in 1886 added up to fifty thousand dollars’ worth of investment.16
Another sign of the town's vitality and go-getting spirit was the growth of several fraternal organizations, which were proliferating all over the United States during the late nineteenth century. In addition to Civil War veterans enrolled in the Grand Army of the Republic, most of the town's businessmen and professionals joined one or more local chapters of the Masons, the Odd Fellows, or the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Many of their wives, in turn, actively participated in the temperance movement. The liquor question generated much political controversy in De Smet throughout the 1880s. The Women's Christian Temperance Union got an early start in Kingsbury County; men and women alike involved themselves in continual rounds of temperance meetings, lectures, rallies, and picnics. However, sporadic attempts to establish a literary society on a permanent basis ultimately failed. A cornet band and a community orchestra were dependent on the enthusiasm of the participants and the energy of the leadership. At the end of the decade, De Smet celebrated its first Old Settlers’ Day, making it among the first towns in the region to establish the tradition. Since the first settlers had arrived on the scene only a decade earlier, many of the “old” settlers—including Laura Wilder—were still only in their twenties.17
None of the activities mentioned above merited a mention when Laura later wrote about her and Almanzo's first four years of marriage. Nor did she refer to any church activities, although religion had been an important part of family life when she was growing up and would continue to be later. We can presume that Laura and Almanzo drove into town at least now and then to attend religious services or other kinds of special events.
For the time being, however, the types of activities and diversions that earlier had occupied so much of Laura's attention hardly mattered. As a married women, she bore new responsibilities and assumed new roles. No longer was she merely a helper or a secondary player, albeit an important one. Instead, she acted as a full partner, as responsible as Manly for making important decisions and securing their economic success. Although judgments like this are necessarily inferential, it would seem that, far more than in most marriages at the time, husband and wife talked with each other, agreed upon goals, and negotiated between themselves about how best to accomplish them.
No longer was Laura a schoolgirl or even a schoolteacher. About the time that she finished up with her teaching duties, Genevieve Masters, her old adversary, was just entering upon hers. Had Laura read the local newspaper, she would have discovered that her former schoolmate taught several different country schools, beginning in 1885, including a term or two at the Wilkins school, one of the three at which Laura had taught. In September 1886, Genevieve took a train to Pierre to begin attending Pierre University, a tiny Presbyterian institution that was only a couple of years old. Schoolgirl pranks and jealousies no longer occupied Laura's attention, however, nor would she have to suffer the anxieties and the strains of teaching school anymore. Now she was an adult; the role she had taken on demanded it. Backing her husband, contributing to the support of the household, and raising a family: these were her new tasks, dictated by the culture in which she lived and fully accepted by her.18
Laura soon discovered that she was pregnant, with the baby due in December. This was a time of wonder for her—and hope. Their crops were in the ground, the countryside was blooming, and Laura and Almanzo looked expectantly toward the future. She later wrote that the idea for their child's name came from the wild roses that bloomed on the prairie in June. “It will be a girl,” she recalled saying to Almanzo, “and we will call her Rose.”19
Laura had just turned nineteen and Almanzo twenty-nine. They celebrated their birthdays together on the Sunday that came in between with a large birthday cake for the two of them. With adequate moisture present in the spring of 1886, the wheat and the oats that Almanzo had planted looked promising. If they got a decent crop, they would be able to pay a substantial part of their debts. Many farmers around the county were predicting that the wheat crop would be the best one yet. Some of them did, in fact, manage to get theirs harvested. In other places, however, hot winds blew up dust from the fields. Then, unfortunately for the Wilders, a hailstorm flattened their wheat field in about twenty minutes. Luckily, Almanzo had already harvested the oats, but the loss of the wheat was a major setback for the young couple.20
After starting on their tree claim two and a half miles north of town, they decided now to move to the homestead south of the school section, because they would be able to arrange a mortgage on the property if they were living on it. They figured that they were going to need more cash to pay their other debts and to get ready for spring planting the following year. The new place was not as comfortable as the one on the tree claim. The house was a jerry-built structure, with a new room added onto the original claim shanty, which was converted into use for storage. The twelve-by-sixteen-foot addition served as a combination living room, kitchen, and bedroom. As Laura described it in The First Four Years, “The house wasn't so bad.” At least they were closer to town, and when the baby arrived it would be easier to trade visits with her family.21
Laura's mother and Mrs. Power, the mother of Laura's former school chum Mary, arrived on December 6 to assist with the delivery. They also called a doctor from town, and he administered something to deaden the pain. Caroline stayed for several days, and a neighbor girl came over later to help for a few more, but after that Laura and Almanzo were left on their own to cope with the new adventure of raising a child. Just as they had planned, they named their baby “Rose.” Arriving just before Christmas, Laura said, she “was a grand present.” Now she was more than a bride and a homemaker; she was a mother, and her maternal instincts came to the fore.22
Unfortunately, the evidence for these years is scant, and the relationships among the three Wilders are somewhat obscure. But there is every reason to believe that both parents were happy in their new situation and that they were determined to provide for their child as best they possibly could, just as their parents had. Grace Ingalls provided some insights into Rose's disposition and early development in a diary she kept sporadically for several years, beginning on January 12, 1887, just five weeks after Rose's birth. Her first entry noted that Rose was just beginning to smile. Two months later, after a visit from Laura,
she described her sister putting her new baby in short dresses. “Rose is a big fat baby now but just as pretty,” Grace wrote. A year later, after Rose came into town to live for a while with her grandparents when Laura and Almanzo were sick with diphtheria, she observed, “She is the best girl I ever saw. She can now say a good many words such as gramma and grampa and bread and butter and cracker.”23
Rose inherited some of her mother's independence and feistiness. Relentlessly curious, by the time she was two she had become, in Laura's words, “an earnest, busy little girl with her picture books and letter blocks.” She could be oblivious to danger and often more than a little mischievous. She liked to stand in a tub under a pump spout and let water run over her face, or roll around in the dust just like one of their horses, or enter a barn stall and kick a horse lying on its side. She could be a worry and a bother, but mostly she was a joy.24
Rose's presence helped compensate for the worries that farm life brought. With little to show for their efforts during their first year as a married couple, Laura and Almanzo looked forward to making up for it in 1887. At Christmastime, Almanzo made an extravagant purchase in town of a clock as a present for both of them. The timepiece could stand as a symbol of a more civilized and prosperous way of life. Once again, at year's start their prospects looked promising. In late July the De Smet Leader pronounced that there was nothing for farmers to complain about and that on the whole crops were above average. It was good weather for harvesting, the paper reported in August, and a few weeks later it was commenting on thick stacks of grain in the fields.25
Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder Page 10
