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About the author
Linda Wommack
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Look for additional articles by Linda Wommack in our Archives
Linda Wommack is a Colorado native, and has enjoyed Colorado History since childhood. A distant relative to Bob Womack, of Cripple Creek gold fame, Linda has written of early Colorado history across the state in publications for the past ten years, and spends much of her time giving speeches and tours throughout Colorado, and also reviews books of historical nature for local and national publications.
Her most recent project, completing three years of research, is her fourth book, Published in the Fall of 1998, with an astonishing reprint in March of 1999, by Caxton Press.
Other books
by Linda Wommack
Colorado History
For Kids
it's 5th printing.
Cripple Creek Tailings
A Centennial Reading, 1891-1991
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Editor's Note: This is Part Three of a special three-part series appearing here throughout the summer. click here for Part One | Part Two
To learn more about Laura Ingalls Wilder, consult our Suggested Reading list at the bottom of this page.
Charles Ingalls brought his family to the railroad camp, built on the edge of Silver Creek. The family stayed in a small shanty apart from the railroad workers' bunk houses. Pa worked daily at the company store, while Ma kept house and schooled her daughters. This experience would be recounted in By the Shores of Silver Lake. In the spring of 1880, the railroad would be completed and a new town would be founded. In the meantime winter settled in and Ma and Pa made plans to return east until spring. However, Pa was asked to stay at the railroad camp during the winter to oversee the property and guard against theft. Pa was paid a salary and food and coal were provided for the winter.
During that winter Pa often hunted while Ma and the girls knitted and sewed, played games and read. Now all reading was done aloud, so Mary could enjoy the stories. Laura recalled "the home was always warm and cozy," despite the blizzards swirling around the shanty. Christmas was especially dismal, as the train could not get through. As supplies swindled, the Ingalls family survived with what they had. Pa and Laura spent countless hours twisting their hay into sticks for kindling for the cook stove and fireplace. These times were recounted in The Long Winter. In early February of 1880 Pa filed a homestead claim near the new railroad town of De Smet.
By the spring of 1880 the railroad had reached the new settlement of De Smet. Within weeks, people began arriving to settle and start homesteads. Among the arrivals were the Wilder brothers. Royal and Almanzo spent the winter at their feed and grain store on Main Street. The Wilder brothers sold their stored hay to the community when supplies got low. Pa became good friends with Royal and Almanzo. Another early arrival was the Reverend Alden from Walnut Grove, sent to establish a new Congregational church. The Ingalls renewed an old friendship and became charter members of the new church. As the town formed, businesses were started. Pa bought lots along the town's main street and was among those who organized the town. He was later elected Justice of the Peace. These were exciting times for Laura, who later wrote about them in Little Town on the Prairie.
Ma and Pa decided to enroll Mary in the Iowa College for the blind. To help meet expenses, in 1883, Laura began teaching, even though she was underage, earning twenty dollars a month. Her first teaching job was a six month term some twelve miles from De Smet. She stayed with a family during the week, dreading the lonely weekends without her family Laura was surprised and overwhelmed when the week ended and she saw a sleigh with a team of Morgan horses pull into the yard. It was Almanzo Wilder, who came every Friday to take her back to De Smet and return her to the school house on Sundays.
Following Laura's teaching job, Almanzo continued to call at the Ingalls' home with his sleigh or buggy, always outfitted with his Morgan horses. As Laura and Almanzo rode the prairie together, they learned much about each other. Both came from homesteading families, both wanted to strike out on their own. Laura learned of Almanzo's childhood years, which she would later recount in Farmer Boy. Although Almanzo was ten years older than Laura, both fell deeply in love. When Almanzo presented an engagement ring to Laura, she was nervous when she showed it to Ma and Pa. Pa just smiled, and Ma said, "We haven't been blind, we've been expecting it." And so Laura Ingalls married Almanzo Wilder in 1885.
The young Wilders' first home was one Almanzo built for Laura on the homestead north of De Smet. Small, yet cozy, this was Laura's "own home." From the very beginning, Laura and Almanzo planned the farming, planting of crops, and irrigation methods as a team,, for Almanzo valued Laura's ideas. The Wilders worked hard, with Laura selling eggs, butter, and vegetables in De Smet, helping Almanzo to purchase the needed machinery to run the farm. In the summer of 1886, Almanzo planted crops which grew green and lush, while Laura expected her first child. Disaster struck the young farming couple in August of that year when pouring rain and a terrific hail storm pounded the land. With no income from the ruined crop field, the Wilders struggled through the year until the birth of their daughter, Rose, in December of 1886. Almanzo's crop the following year fared no better, and the Wilder's also suffered a fire which took their house. Laura's parents suffered through the last two crop failures as well. Pa Ingalls sold his homestead and moved his family to De Smet, where Carrie and Grace completed their schooling. Pa did carpentry work for the townsfolk and the family made De Smet their final home.
The year of 1888 brought further tragedy to Almanzo and Laura, for both succumbed to diphtheria. While Laura's family cared for Rose, Almanzo's brother Royal cared for Laura and Almanzo. The recovery was slow, yet both did recover. Almanzo suffered from muscle loss in both his legs and hands. He was forced to accept Laura's help with the farm chores, while he struggled to regain his strength and his farm. The farm became too much for the Wilders and eventually a portion was sold off. With another season of drought conditions the Wilders turned to livestock, and bought sheep in partnership with Laura's cousin. 1889 was no better for the now growing Wilder family. Burning winds and no rain ruined what few wheat crops Almanzo managed to plant. During the miserable summer, Laura awaited the birth of their second child. In the heat of an August day, Laura gave birth to a son. He didn't live ten days. The unnamed infant was buried in an unmarked grave in the De Smet Cemetery.
In the spring of 1890, the Wilders said goodbye to Pa and Ma Ingalls and left the Dakotas. With he covered wagon packed with all their possessions, the Wilders headed east, and once again Laura found herself back-tracking. For over a year the Wilders stayed with Almanzo's parents at their farm, where little Rose became a favorite family member. In the fall of 1891, Almanzo sold his horses and the family boarded a train for Florida, hoping the warmer climate would relieve Almanzo's continued pain. The Wilder family stayed in Florida less than a year. Laura did not care for the people or the climate, which eventually made her ill. In 1892, the family returned to De Smet and the Ingalls family home. Once again, Pa brought out his fiddle and with his music, Laura felt at home.
While at De Sme4t, Almanzo found work at carpentry and painting, while Laura worked for a dressmaker. The two worked and planned together, as they saved their money to find a climate where Almanzo would be comfortable and farm on a small scale. Land companies for the Missouri Ozarks circulated brochures promoting the green orchards, rolling land, fat cattle and rushing streams. Once again the Wilders packed their possessions into the covered wagon, and with Laura's one hundred dollars in savings tucked neatly in her lap writing desk, the family set out on their final destination. Leaving De Smet in the late July of 1894, Laura recorded in her diary the crossing of the Missouri River on August 22nd. By August 31, the Wilders reached Mansfield, Missouri. The lush green land and rolling valleys were a wonder to Laura. She knew she had found her home.
Laura kept a diary of the trip, describing the people and towns along the way. The diary was found following Laura's death and was published in 1962 with the help of Rose. The diary is on display at her museum in Mansfield.
With Laura's savings, the Wilders paid cash for forty acres of rough, rocky land, a mile from town. While Almanzo hesitated, Laura insisted and named the land Rocky Ridge. A small log cabin stood on the property which Laura made into a comfortable home while Almanzo planted a small apple orchard. Over the next years, Almanzo and Laura built Rocky Ridge into a producing fruit, dairy and poultry farm. Almanzo built a fine house for his family, Rose attended school and made friends, and Laura became a welcomed member of Mansfield society. She soon found herself writing farming articles for the Missouri Ruralist. The year was 1911. Laura was forty-four years old and on her way to a writing career she could not even imagine.
Laura continued to write for local and state-wide publications. Encouraged by her daughter Rose, and accomplished writer in her own right, Laura opened a school tablet and wrote her own autobiography. Times were changing in the 1930s and Laura felt her experiences as a child were "altogether too good to be lost." The finished manuscript, Pioneer Girl, received little attention. After a year, Laura rewrote the manuscript as a children's book, the first in a series, with Harper Publishing agreeing to publication. At the age of sixty-four Laura Ingalls Wilder began a new career.
Charles Ingalls was a true American pioneer, yet his daughter Laura pioneered a host of readers in her Little House series of children's books. Laura Ingalls Wilder brought he American Frontier into our homes and hearts with her beloved writing.
-*- Suggested Reading -*-
by John E. Miller, William E. Foley (Editor)
by William Anderson, Leslie A. Kelly
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Stephen W. Hines (Editor)
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Garth Williams (Illustrator); Paperback
by William Anderson (Compiler); Hardcover
by Laura Ingalls Wilder, Garth Williams (Illustrator)
by William T. Anderson, Leslie Kelly (Photographer)
by Barbara M. Walker, Garth Williams - by William Anderson (Compiler)
by William Anderson
Copyright © 2001 Linda Wommack. All rights reserved
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