- Home
- Prairie Partners
- Field Guide
- Introduction
- Map
- Heritage
- Local Prairie
- Geology
- Ojata
- First Peoples
- Voices
-
Species
>
- Ferruginous Hawk
- Marbled Godwit
- Short-eared Owl
- Western Meadowlark
- Snowy Owl
- Greater Prairie Chicken
- Le Conte's Sparrow
- Upland Sandpiper
- Wilson's Phalarope
- Yellow Rail
- Northern Pintail
- White Prairie Aster
- Common Bladderwort
- Pasque Flower
- Prairie Coneflower
- Maximilian Sunflower
- Big Bluestem
- Wild Prairie Rose
- Wild Bergamot
- Black-eyed Susan
- Canada Wild Rye
- Tiger Salamander
- Common green darner
- Prairie Is
- Pioneers
- Prairie Heroes
- Photo Gallery
- Speaking of Prairie
- Links
- Contact Us
A Rich Pioneer History
In the early days of European settlement in the Red River Valley, pioneers encountered a prairie without end. For them, the still-wild prairie was a land of new beginnings. One Norwegian-American journalist called it a "New Canaan," and at the height of the immigrant boom in 1882, some Illinois newspapers even claimed their state was losing population to the "Dakota fever." Though the prairies held promise for these early settlers,
stark simplicity was the rule. Early sod homes had only one or two four-pane
glass windows. Save for the dim glow of tallow candles, homes fell dark and silent with the night. Straw-filled ticks, filled anew after every wheat harvest, were the common mattresses of the day. Even basic storebought goods, such as furniture and lumber, were quite rare. In the earliest years of agriculture in the valley, farmers harvested wheat beneath an August sun, by hand, using cradle scythes.
Neighborly cooperation was especially vital to survival in the early years. Families still tell stories of how far-flung neighbors worked together to build communities - and simply survive. For instance, when a legendary spring blizzard in 1882 suddenly swept across the open prairie, the new settlers depended on one another to get through what could have been a traumatic episode in the history of Grand Forks County.
stark simplicity was the rule. Early sod homes had only one or two four-pane
glass windows. Save for the dim glow of tallow candles, homes fell dark and silent with the night. Straw-filled ticks, filled anew after every wheat harvest, were the common mattresses of the day. Even basic storebought goods, such as furniture and lumber, were quite rare. In the earliest years of agriculture in the valley, farmers harvested wheat beneath an August sun, by hand, using cradle scythes.
Neighborly cooperation was especially vital to survival in the early years. Families still tell stories of how far-flung neighbors worked together to build communities - and simply survive. For instance, when a legendary spring blizzard in 1882 suddenly swept across the open prairie, the new settlers depended on one another to get through what could have been a traumatic episode in the history of Grand Forks County.
Home | Partners | Field Guide | Heroes | Gallery | Links | Contact Us
Grand Forks County Prairie Partners - 2011 - All Rights Reserved