Written Analysis

Young Women Homesteaders and the Promise of the West

“Young men! Poor men! Widows! Resolve to have a home

of your own! Urged New York editor Horace Greeley. “If you

are able to buy and pay for one in the East, very well; if not,

make one in the broad and fertile West!” In his exhortation to go

west, Greeley did not speak to men alone. Many women, and

not just widows, heeded the call. The Homestead Act of 1862

allowed unmarried women and female heads of households to

claim free land. Many did. The number of women establishing

homesteads in the West ranged from five per cent of

homesteaders in the early settlements to more than twenty per

cent after 1900.

Among the women homesteaders were Clara and Mary

Troska and their two cousins Helen and Christine Sonnek, who

headed to North Dakota. “Mary, Helen, Christine and I packed

our suitcases,” Clara wrote. “I took my mandolin, Christine

took hers and her rifle….We were on our way to Minot.” Young

women like Clara between the ages of twenty-one and twenty-

five constituted the largest percentage of women (fifty-three per

cent) taking up claims in the Dakotas. Like Christine Sonnek,

who took her mandolin along with her rifle, homesteading

women prepared to enjoy their new environment despite its

challenges. Their letters, diaries, and reminiscences reveal not

only the hardships they faced but also the sense of promise that

lured them west. Adventurous, resourceful, and exuberant,

many of these young homesteading women seemed to relish

their experiences.

Document One

The Varied Activities of a Woman Homesteader

Dakota homesteader Bess Cobb’s letter to a friend.

Suppose you girls are saying “poor Bess” and feeling

dreadfully sorry for me out here in the wild and wooly

uncivilized regions of America. But really time just seems to

fly. I haven’t done half I had planned and I am afraid winter

will be here before we are ready for it. I’ve sewed some, done a

little fancy-work and lots of darning and mending but most of

my time has been spent out of doors digging in the garden and

riding…You can see a team miles away—up to the Cannon Ball

river---so when any one starts to our shack, if we see them in

time we can comb our hair, change our gowns and get a good

meal in running order before they arrive. You see Dakota has

some redeeming qualities. Wish you could come out, but I

suppose you think I am too far away. I have the neatest little

shack I’ve ever seen and “my crops” are tip top. I know you

would enjoy our camp life for a short time.1

1 Excerpts from a letter written by Bess Cobb, Guide to Manuscripts 1364. State Historical Society, North Dakota Heritage Center, Bismarck.” From pages 140-41 in Land in Her Own Name: Women as Homesteaders in North

Dakota by H. Elaine Lindgren. Copyright 1996.

Document Two

A Hard Winter

Lucy Goldthorpe, a young school-teacher, came from Iowa to

Dakota in 1905. Here she describes to a reporter her

experience.

There were many long, cold days and nights in my little

homestead shack that winter! The walls were only single board

thickness, covered with tar paper on the outside. I’d spent

money sparingly, because I didn’t have much, but I had worked

hard all during summer and fall in an effort to winterize the

structure. Following the pattern used by many of the settlers, I

covered the interior walls with a blue building paper.

Everything was covered, including the ceiling, and the floor.

Tho help seal out the cold I’d added layers of gunny sacks over

the paper on the floor and then the homemade wool rugs I’d

shipped from home.

Regardless of what I did the cold crept in through the thin

walls. With no storm entry at the door and only single windows

my little two lid laundry stove with oven attached to the pipe

had a real struggle to keep the place livable…

A neighbor family returning to their claim “from the

outside” brought me fresh vegetables. They were such a prized

addition to my meals that I put the bag in bed with me at night to

keep them from freezing. Night after night I stored food and

my little alarm clock in the stove pipe oven; that was the only

way I could keep the clock running and be sure of a non-frozen

breakfast.

Each day brought new, unexpected challenges and at times

I wondered if I would be able to stay with it until the land was

mind. Could any land be worth the lonely hours and hardships?

The howling wind and driving snow, the mournful wail of

coyotes searching the tormented land for food did nothing to

make the winter any more pleasant….

As a child I had enjoyed hearing my father tell of the

hardships of the early days. They seem so exciting to me as I

listened in the warmth and security of our well built, fully

winterized Iowa home. Like most youngsters I’d wished for the

thrill of those other days. Little did I think that an opportunity

for just that would come through homesteading alone, far out in

the windswept, unsettled land. Believe me, it wasn’t nearly as

glamorous as the imagination would have it!2

Document Three

Socialising and Entertainment

Effie Smith’s letter to her cousin during the winter of 1906 on

her Dakota claim.

I never enjoyed myself better in my life than I have this

winter. We go some place or some one here from 1 to 4 times a

week. A week ago last Fri. a load of 7 drove out to my claim.

Cliff, Clara, David, and I had gone out the Wed. before and such

a time as we had. My shack is 10 feet 3 inches by 16 feet and I

2 Roberta M. Starry, “Petticoat Pioneer.” Excerpt from page 48 in The West 7, no. 5, October 1967.

have only 2 chairs and a long bench for seats, a table large

enough for 6, a single bed, and only 3 knives so 2 of them ate

with paring knives & 1 with the butcher knife. We had two of

them sit on the bed and moved the table up to them….We

played all the games we could think of both quiet and noisy and

once all but Clara went out & snowballed. They brought a

bu[shel] of apples, & a lot of nuts, candy, & gum & we ate all

night…

We have just started a literary society in out neighborhood.

Had our first debate last Fri. The question was Resolved that

city life is better than country life. All the judges decided in the

negative…Tomorrow our crowd is going to a literary [society] 6

or 7 miles from here, and the next night to a dance at the home

of one of our bachelor boys. We always all go in our sleigh. I

am learning to dance this winter but don’t attend any except the

ones we get up our selves and they are just as nice & just as

respectable as the parties we used to have at Ruthven [Iowa]. I

just love to dance…3

Document Four

Homesteading Pays Off

Theona Carkin tells of her financial success with her homestead.

Life in general was dotted with hardships but there were

many good times also. I have always felt that my efforts on my

homestead were very worthwhile and very rewarding, and I have

always been proud of myself for doing it all.

3 H. Elaine Lindgren, “Letter to her cousin written on January 9, 1906.” From pages 177-78 in Land in Her Own Name: Women as Homesteaders in North Dakota. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996).

By teaching off and on….and upon selling the homestead, I

was able to pay all my own college expenses.4

4 “99-Year-Old U Graduate Recalls Early Childhood.” From page 5 in Alumni Review, June 1985. Published by the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.