We headed off this morning for Badlands National Park,
partly because it’s a 60 mile drive from here and we wanted to see if the
truck’s check-engine light would come on again. It didn’t. It still
smokes but Jim is pretty much controlling that with shifting. Looks like
the problems are mainly related to towing.
Before getting into the park there’s a little place called
the Prairie Homestead. We were a bit suspicious because it looked
tourist-trappy but we stopped anyway and were glad we did. The place was
one of the original homesteads in the area and it’s set up to show how the homesteaders
lived in their sod houses. The Homestead Act of 1862 said anyone 21
and older could file on 160 acres of land for the filing fee of $18.00.
He had to build a house, plow a small acreage for crops and establish a
residence for five years in order to receive ownership or “prove up.” A
common remark by homesteaders was that “the government bet you 160 acres of
land against $18.00 that you will starve to death before you live on the land 5
years.” It was so difficult to make a go of it that by 1916 many
homesteaders had given up and gone back where they came from.
By the time this homestead was set up the requirements had
been changed to five acres being plowed into crops and, after living on a claim
for 18 months, the homesteader could buy the land for $.50 per acre. It
has now been determined that 160 acres in this area will produce grazing for
only eight cows so it’s no wonder so many gave up and moved elsewhere.
The Prairie Homestead on display here was started in 1909 by
Ed and Alice Brown (a 55-year-old man and his wife) and their bachelor
son. They arrived in the fall and immediately built a sod house.
They loved the place and stayed until Ed died in 1920. Alice went to live
with their daughter in California but always missed the old homestead and their
friends. A friend rented the land from the family until 1949 when he felt
he could no longer live alone in that isolated environment. Fortunately
the property was protected. It was placed on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1974.
Western South Dakota was one of the last places to be
homesteaded because it was initially set aside as an Indian reservation.
A treaty in 1890 was signed for the land between the White and Cheyenne rivers
to be homesteaded which it was between 1900 and 1913.
Houses were built into hills with the front facing east or
south for protection from the never-ending wind. These were real “earth
houses” which were cool in the summer and warm in the winter. They were
very practical houses. The living room on the right was a deserted claim
shack which the Browns moved and added to the dugout a few years after building
the sod house.
Interior of the original living area with wood-burning
stove. The sod walls are about 24” thick. The sod slabs are roughly
18” x 12” x 3” and are stacked like bricks in double rows with the root sides
up. Buffalo grass has very dense roots which hold everything
together. It’s amazing that these walls have been here for 107
years. Parts of the house have been restored but the sod is original.
Very handsome chicken house, also built into a
hillside.
This is an agricultural boiler with beautiful ornate
designs. A fire was built under the pot to boil water for rendering hogs,
scalding chickens and washing heavy bedding (according to the sign). Jim
remembers one like this (probably minus the decoration) being used at the Dula
Springs Hotel in Weaverville where his grandfather took hogs to be
butchered.
One of the many prairie dogs in residence. All the
prairie dogs at this site are white although the usual color is brown.
After the Prairie Homestead we went on to the Badlands NP
Visitor Center which was overrun with tourists. Not too surprising for a
summer weekend, although I had read last summer that Sundays were the least
busy days to visit parks. If this was a “not busy day” we don’t want to
see a busy one!
I took a lot of pictures of the rock formations but will try
to pare them down to a reasonable number so as not to put anyone to sleep.
Coming into the park from I-90.
Looking south across the Badlands towards the White River
valley. The rock formations stretch out for many miles, only a small
portion of which is accessible by paved road.
A very dense area of eroded terrain. The formations
are powdery and pebbly loose rock, eroding at a rate of about 1” per
year. The erosion would be going much faster if there was more rain here.
Big Foot Pass where the Indians who were killed at Wounded
Knee created a route down the Badlands wall. Named for Chief Big
Foot who was very ill and was carried through here as his tribe was trying to escape
from the U.S. Army. Five days later he and 200 of his people were
massacred.
An area called the “yellow hills” because of the
coloring. Really beautiful.
Peaks and blowing grasses. The white patches are
masses of little white flowers.
Don’t know yet what we’ll see tomorrow. We’ll work our
sight-seeing around the diesel mechanic’s schedule.
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