per Frank Pierce, transcribed by Marcia (Jenkins) Pierce, "OD Pierce builds a sod house", An excerpt from this story appeared in NEBRASKAland magazine, Vo. 65, No. 6, July 1987, page 16-17
The spirit of adventure caused my parents Oliver Dwight and Eliza Pierce to leave their home in Hamilton County, Iowa in the Spring of 1886 and head westward with their four small children, a few possessions, among them a four hole cast iron stove. Their livestock consisted of two mules to pull the covered wagon and one cow tied behind the wagon.
Chase County Nebraska must have looked good to them for here their travel ended and they took a homestead on the SW 1/4 19-8-40 which was about twenty-two miles north west of Imperial, Nebraska.
The covered box part of the wagon was set off on the ground and used as their home until a sod house could be built.
My father told me they put planks on the running gears of the wagon to haul the sod for the house.
The original sod house was about fourteen feet by twenty eight feet and consisted of two rooms, a bedroom about eight feet by fourteen feet and a kitchen living room area about 20 feet by 14 feet. This seemed mighty spacious after living in a covered wagon for many weeks. The roof of the sod house was made with wood rafters covered with boards, then a layer of tar paper and then the sod.
The inside walls of the soddy were cut off smooth and plastered, a white muslin material was stretched across the ceiling and all of the interior was white washed.
Board floors were laid over the smoothed ground and the large room had a wall to wall rag rug made to fit with straw padding under it. (new padding of corn stalks or straw once a year) This rug was held in place with carpet tacks.
The sod would settle after a time and cause the plaster to crack and fall and then there had to be a re-plastering job.
During the first summer in 1886 a trip was made for the Fourth of July celebration. The covered wagon box was set back on the running gears, the mules hitched to the wagon, the cow tied behind, a supply of food was loaded, then Ma, Pa and the four kids piled in and were off on a trip to Winchester, a store and post office on the county line north of the homestead. They stayed at Winchester three days, playing baseball, pitching horseshoe, and visiting with other neighbors and friends who had made the trip. They were all of five miles from home.
I was born the last day of the year of 1887 in the sod house but I like to tell people Dad found me under a cow chip when he was out picking up stove fuel.
Since the family was growing in size the house needed to grow too, so a lean-to about ten feet by twenty-eight feet was built. In order to get the roof of the lean-to to match to the original roof and not have the lean-to ceiling too low to be livable, they had to dig down about a foot or so, so way back in the early 1890's we had a split level home.
A cupboard had been built from floor to ceiling had ben built in the original soddy so when the lean-to was added they fixed doors so the cupboard could be used from either side.
Another modern construction in the old soddy was a corner what-not cupboard built with spools to divide the shelves.
Water was a problem to the early settlers and for a time Dad hauled water from Ogallala, hauling six barrels at a time. Ogallala was about 45 miles distant.
Later, he sank a barrel in the sand draw about 3 miles south of the homestead and water was dipped from this.
A sod chicken house, milk house and barn were built on the homestead and also a frame grainery with a sod roof.
After a windmill was erected my father devised a clever cooler for the milk, cream and butter. A barrel was fixed for the drinking water and the overflow of this water went into a trough where the milk, cream, and butter were placed. The water from this trough ran on outside of the milk house into a wooden stock tank made by my father. They didn't waste any water for in the growing season the overflow from the stock tank was ditched to the nearby garden. In later years a large supply tank was purchased and a steel stock tank.
Rattlesnakes were one of the dreaded enemies on the prairies and I can remember pouncing on them from horse back and trampling them to death when I was herding cattle as a boy. Remember youngsters didn't wear shoes during the summer season in those days!
We lived in the sod housed about 20 years. Four of my brothers and myself were born in the sod house and one of my older sisters was married in the soddy.
In 1908 a new five room frame house with a pantry was built and for a time the old four hole cast iron stove was used but before long was replace by the popular Home Comfort range.
My parents still had some wonderlust left in their veins and in about 1918 they headed westward again to California where they lived our their lives.
Myself, I still live in Chase County Nebraska just 5 miles from the old homestead. Guess I agree There Is No Place Like Nebraska!
The spirit of adventure caused my parents Oliver Dwight and Eliza Pierce to leave their home in Hamilton County, Iowa in the Spring of 1886 and head westward with their four small children, a few possessions, among them a four hole cast iron stove. Their livestock consisted of two mules to pull the covered wagon and one cow tied behind the wagon.
Chase County Nebraska must have looked good to them for here their travel ended and they took a homestead on the SW 1/4 19-8-40 which was about twenty-two miles north west of Imperial, Nebraska.
The covered box part of the wagon was set off on the ground and used as their home until a sod house could be built.
My father told me they put planks on the running gears of the wagon to haul the sod for the house.
The original sod house was about fourteen feet by twenty eight feet and consisted of two rooms, a bedroom about eight feet by fourteen feet and a kitchen living room area about 20 feet by 14 feet. This seemed mighty spacious after living in a covered wagon for many weeks. The roof of the sod house was made with wood rafters covered with boards, then a layer of tar paper and then the sod.
The inside walls of the soddy were cut off smooth and plastered, a white muslin material was stretched across the ceiling and all of the interior was white washed.
Board floors were laid over the smoothed ground and the large room had a wall to wall rag rug made to fit with straw padding under it. (new padding of corn stalks or straw once a year) This rug was held in place with carpet tacks.
The sod would settle after a time and cause the plaster to crack and fall and then there had to be a re-plastering job.
During the first summer in 1886 a trip was made for the Fourth of July celebration. The covered wagon box was set back on the running gears, the mules hitched to the wagon, the cow tied behind, a supply of food was loaded, then Ma, Pa and the four kids piled in and were off on a trip to Winchester, a store and post office on the county line north of the homestead. They stayed at Winchester three days, playing baseball, pitching horseshoe, and visiting with other neighbors and friends who had made the trip. They were all of five miles from home.
I was born the last day of the year of 1887 in the sod house but I like to tell people Dad found me under a cow chip when he was out picking up stove fuel.
Since the family was growing in size the house needed to grow too, so a lean-to about ten feet by twenty-eight feet was built. In order to get the roof of the lean-to to match to the original roof and not have the lean-to ceiling too low to be livable, they had to dig down about a foot or so, so way back in the early 1890's we had a split level home.
A cupboard had been built from floor to ceiling had ben built in the original soddy so when the lean-to was added they fixed doors so the cupboard could be used from either side.
Another modern construction in the old soddy was a corner what-not cupboard built with spools to divide the shelves.
Water was a problem to the early settlers and for a time Dad hauled water from Ogallala, hauling six barrels at a time. Ogallala was about 45 miles distant.
Later, he sank a barrel in the sand draw about 3 miles south of the homestead and water was dipped from this.
A sod chicken house, milk house and barn were built on the homestead and also a frame grainery with a sod roof.
After a windmill was erected my father devised a clever cooler for the milk, cream and butter. A barrel was fixed for the drinking water and the overflow of this water went into a trough where the milk, cream, and butter were placed. The water from this trough ran on outside of the milk house into a wooden stock tank made by my father. They didn't waste any water for in the growing season the overflow from the stock tank was ditched to the nearby garden. In later years a large supply tank was purchased and a steel stock tank.
Rattlesnakes were one of the dreaded enemies on the prairies and I can remember pouncing on them from horse back and trampling them to death when I was herding cattle as a boy. Remember youngsters didn't wear shoes during the summer season in those days!
We lived in the sod housed about 20 years. Four of my brothers and myself were born in the sod house and one of my older sisters was married in the soddy.
In 1908 a new five room frame house with a pantry was built and for a time the old four hole cast iron stove was used but before long was replace by the popular Home Comfort range.
My parents still had some wonderlust left in their veins and in about 1918 they headed westward again to California where they lived our their lives.
Myself, I still live in Chase County Nebraska just 5 miles from the old homestead. Guess I agree There Is No Place Like Nebraska!
per Frank Pierce, transcribed by Marcia (Jenkins) Pierce, "OD Pierce builds a sod house", An excerpt from this story appeared in NEBRASKAland magazine, Vo. 65, No. 6, July 1987, page 16-17
The spirit of adventure caused my parents Oliver Dwight and Eliza Pierce to leave their home in Hamilton County, Iowa in the Spring of 1886 and head westward with their four small children, a few possessions, among them a four hole cast iron stove. Their livestock consisted of two mules to pull the covered wagon and one cow tied behind the wagon.
Chase County Nebraska must have looked good to them for here their travel ended and they took a homestead on the SW 1/4 19-8-40 which was about twenty-two miles north west of Imperial, Nebraska.
The covered box part of the wagon was set off on the ground and used as their home until a sod house could be built.
My father told me they put planks on the running gears of the wagon to haul the sod for the house.
The original sod house was about fourteen feet by twenty eight feet and consisted of two rooms, a bedroom about eight feet by fourteen feet and a kitchen living room area about 20 feet by 14 feet. This seemed mighty spacious after living in a covered wagon for many weeks. The roof of the sod house was made with wood rafters covered with boards, then a layer of tar paper and then the sod.
The inside walls of the soddy were cut off smooth and plastered, a white muslin material was stretched across the ceiling and all of the interior was white washed.
Board floors were laid over the smoothed ground and the large room had a wall to wall rag rug made to fit with straw padding under it. (new padding of corn stalks or straw once a year) This rug was held in place with carpet tacks.
The sod would settle after a time and cause the plaster to crack and fall and then there had to be a re-plastering job.
During the first summer in 1886 a trip was made for the Fourth of July celebration. The covered wagon box was set back on the running gears, the mules hitched to the wagon, the cow tied behind, a supply of food was loaded, then Ma, Pa and the four kids piled in and were off on a trip to Winchester, a store and post office on the county line north of the homestead. They stayed at Winchester three days, playing baseball, pitching horseshoe, and visiting with other neighbors and friends who had made the trip. They were all of five miles from home.
I was born the last day of the year of 1887 in the sod house but I like to tell people Dad found me under a cow chip when he was out picking up stove fuel.
Since the family was growing in size the house needed to grow too, so a lean-to about ten feet by twenty-eight feet was built. In order to get the roof of the lean-to to match to the original roof and not have the lean-to ceiling too low to be livable, they had to dig down about a foot or so, so way back in the early 1890's we had a split level home.
A cupboard had been built from floor to ceiling had ben built in the original soddy so when the lean-to was added they fixed doors so the cupboard could be used from either side.
Another modern construction in the old soddy was a corner what-not cupboard built with spools to divide the shelves.
Water was a problem to the early settlers and for a time Dad hauled water from Ogallala, hauling six barrels at a time. Ogallala was about 45 miles distant.
Later, he sank a barrel in the sand draw about 3 miles south of the homestead and water was dipped from this.
A sod chicken house, milk house and barn were built on the homestead and also a frame grainery with a sod roof.
After a windmill was erected my father devised a clever cooler for the milk, cream and butter. A barrel was fixed for the drinking water and the overflow of this water went into a trough where the milk, cream, and butter were placed. The water from this trough ran on outside of the milk house into a wooden stock tank made by my father. They didn't waste any water for in the growing season the overflow from the stock tank was ditched to the nearby garden. In later years a large supply tank was purchased and a steel stock tank.
Rattlesnakes were one of the dreaded enemies on the prairies and I can remember pouncing on them from horse back and trampling them to death when I was herding cattle as a boy. Remember youngsters didn't wear shoes during the summer season in those days!
We lived in the sod housed about 20 years. Four of my brothers and myself were born in the sod house and one of my older sisters was married in the soddy.
In 1908 a new five room frame house with a pantry was built and for a time the old four hole cast iron stove was used but before long was replace by the popular Home Comfort range.
My parents still had some wonderlust left in their veins and in about 1918 they headed westward again to California where they lived our their lives.
Myself, I still live in Chase County Nebraska just 5 miles from the old homestead. Guess I agree There Is No Place Like Nebraska!
The spirit of adventure caused my parents Oliver Dwight and Eliza Pierce to leave their home in Hamilton County, Iowa in the Spring of 1886 and head westward with their four small children, a few possessions, among them a four hole cast iron stove. Their livestock consisted of two mules to pull the covered wagon and one cow tied behind the wagon.
Chase County Nebraska must have looked good to them for here their travel ended and they took a homestead on the SW 1/4 19-8-40 which was about twenty-two miles north west of Imperial, Nebraska.
The covered box part of the wagon was set off on the ground and used as their home until a sod house could be built.
My father told me they put planks on the running gears of the wagon to haul the sod for the house.
The original sod house was about fourteen feet by twenty eight feet and consisted of two rooms, a bedroom about eight feet by fourteen feet and a kitchen living room area about 20 feet by 14 feet. This seemed mighty spacious after living in a covered wagon for many weeks. The roof of the sod house was made with wood rafters covered with boards, then a layer of tar paper and then the sod.
The inside walls of the soddy were cut off smooth and plastered, a white muslin material was stretched across the ceiling and all of the interior was white washed.
Board floors were laid over the smoothed ground and the large room had a wall to wall rag rug made to fit with straw padding under it. (new padding of corn stalks or straw once a year) This rug was held in place with carpet tacks.
The sod would settle after a time and cause the plaster to crack and fall and then there had to be a re-plastering job.
During the first summer in 1886 a trip was made for the Fourth of July celebration. The covered wagon box was set back on the running gears, the mules hitched to the wagon, the cow tied behind, a supply of food was loaded, then Ma, Pa and the four kids piled in and were off on a trip to Winchester, a store and post office on the county line north of the homestead. They stayed at Winchester three days, playing baseball, pitching horseshoe, and visiting with other neighbors and friends who had made the trip. They were all of five miles from home.
I was born the last day of the year of 1887 in the sod house but I like to tell people Dad found me under a cow chip when he was out picking up stove fuel.
Since the family was growing in size the house needed to grow too, so a lean-to about ten feet by twenty-eight feet was built. In order to get the roof of the lean-to to match to the original roof and not have the lean-to ceiling too low to be livable, they had to dig down about a foot or so, so way back in the early 1890's we had a split level home.
A cupboard had been built from floor to ceiling had ben built in the original soddy so when the lean-to was added they fixed doors so the cupboard could be used from either side.
Another modern construction in the old soddy was a corner what-not cupboard built with spools to divide the shelves.
Water was a problem to the early settlers and for a time Dad hauled water from Ogallala, hauling six barrels at a time. Ogallala was about 45 miles distant.
Later, he sank a barrel in the sand draw about 3 miles south of the homestead and water was dipped from this.
A sod chicken house, milk house and barn were built on the homestead and also a frame grainery with a sod roof.
After a windmill was erected my father devised a clever cooler for the milk, cream and butter. A barrel was fixed for the drinking water and the overflow of this water went into a trough where the milk, cream, and butter were placed. The water from this trough ran on outside of the milk house into a wooden stock tank made by my father. They didn't waste any water for in the growing season the overflow from the stock tank was ditched to the nearby garden. In later years a large supply tank was purchased and a steel stock tank.
Rattlesnakes were one of the dreaded enemies on the prairies and I can remember pouncing on them from horse back and trampling them to death when I was herding cattle as a boy. Remember youngsters didn't wear shoes during the summer season in those days!
We lived in the sod housed about 20 years. Four of my brothers and myself were born in the sod house and one of my older sisters was married in the soddy.
In 1908 a new five room frame house with a pantry was built and for a time the old four hole cast iron stove was used but before long was replace by the popular Home Comfort range.
My parents still had some wonderlust left in their veins and in about 1918 they headed westward again to California where they lived our their lives.
Myself, I still live in Chase County Nebraska just 5 miles from the old homestead. Guess I agree There Is No Place Like Nebraska!
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