Pioneer Days: The Works of Laura Ingalls Wilder

[ladytrentham]

Has anybody here ever stayed in De Smet?

[NappingAthena]

Mar 31, 2010 18:37:53 GMT -4 ladytrentham said:

Has anybody here ever stayed in De Smet?

I've been there, but it was over ten years ago now, and we didn't stay in town. I forget where we stayed the way there but on the way back we stayed in Mitchell, home of the Corn Palace.

[granolamom]

I always thought that Mary going blind was the impetus for Laura becoming a writer, because she had to describe everything to Mary. I'm somewhat embarrassed to admit that I read the books several times and was at least in my twenties before I realized that they weren't pure fiction, and I really did think the blindness was a somewhat Dickensian literary device.

I'm now regretting the many times I crossed SoDak without stopping in DeSmet.

[Sunnyhorse]

Whenever I'm sweeping the barn (mine or my trainer's), I think of Ma telling (I think) Laura to draw the broom instead of flipping it so that she won't raise so much dust.

[ijustworkhere]

I went to De Smet a couple summers ago, and we did the whole tour of the Ingalls farm and museum they have there. It was pretty awesome for this lifelong fan of the books. They even built a replica of the dugout, although obviously that wasn't in De Smet in real life, but it was still cool to see.

Now whenever I read the books that are set in De Smet, particularly The Long Winter and Little Town, I can perfectly envision the walk from the farm to town. It's a bit of a hike, indeed. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be all alone out there on that farm in a blizzard.

[granolamom]

Now granolakid and I are reading "Farmer Boy," and I definitely want to read a biography of these folks. What happened to Almanzo's father's huge farm? Since both Royal and Almanzo struck out for the territory, did a son-in-law take over the farm later?

And, how did LIW get away with writing such a cutting description of her own sister-in-law in "Little Town on the Prairie?" Didn't they have to be nice to each other at family gatherings after the books came out?

[dwanollah]

Pa Wilder sold the farm, and the family moved to Minnesota, not too far from where the Ingallses settled, in a town called Spring Valley. And he continued to prosper. He could afford to let Almanzo and Royal and Perley Day go off on their own years before most fathers could let their sons off the home farm. And when Almanzo and Laura lived in Missouri, Father Wilder gave them the money to pay off debts and finally purchase a home in town. But not too long after, Eliza Jane got the whole family to invest in a rice farm in Louisiana that proved a huge financial loss for all involved, her husband died, and the Wilder family was almost totally wiped out. (Her husband's children from his first marriage even sued her so that the only thing she ended up with was her son and her wedding ring.)

EJ was a really interesting woman, actually, and, much in the same way Laura and Rose went head-to-head, EJ and Laura, also, had similar strong personalities and opinions. But everyone involved with the books was dead (I think), but I'm sure if Eliza had been pissed, Rose (her favorite niece) would've explained it as literary license. I'll have to double-check....

[granolamom]

Tell me again when your book is coming out??? I want more!

[dwanollah]

If only.... Try "Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder" for starters, granolamom! (And dude... there is some good eatin' in Farmer Boy. I made the chicken pie recipe this weekend for our write in, and OMG, it was better than expected. I cheated by using store bought--ahem, boughten--puff pastry crust, but it was still diabolical!)

[Auroranorth]

You guys might like this- Little House in the Hood.
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