Christmas on the Prairies in the 1860s-1880s – by Donna Schlachter

 

Christmas, 1876

Many of the images we conjure regarding Christmas have been around for a long time, including Christmas trees, Christmas pudding, fruitcake, and Santa Claus. Some are strictly American in origin, including the notion of Santa as a jolly, old elf. Most were brought to this country by immigrants from primarily Europe, including Germany, England, and France.

Cattle in snow storm

 

And while much of the more civilized parts of America were enjoying many of these traditions, life was much harder on the prairies, where a single winter storm or a poor crop due to insects or drought could mean the difference between life and death.

Farming and ranching still require attention to fields and stock every single day of the year, leaving no room for the week-long festivities we often enjoy today. Neglecting chores could mean no food tomorrow—or even today.

Plenty of food, with enough to share

Still, many families, particularly those with children, endeavored to set apart the day and celebrate Jesus’ birth. Laura Ingalls Wilder, who famously catalogued life on the prairies in her series, Little House on the Prairie, says that her mother cooked all day long, baking bread, beans, and pies.

In the forts, soldiers caroled while venison roasted over an open hearth. Depending on their country of origin, a family might bring in a Christmas tree, although perhaps they’d have hung it by the trunk from a beam. Children gathered at the kitchen table to make homemade decorations, including miniature corn husk dolls or yarn angels. If there was a little extra cookie dough available, they cut out gingerbread men and punched a hole in the raw dough, stringing a piece of ribbon or yarn through after it was baked before hanging it on the tree.

Preserved fruit and vegetables were enjoyed, with the women often beginning the process weeks in advance.

Yarn doll

 

Gifts were simple, usually homemade, and most often something the person needed. Knitted and sewn items such as caps, mitts, and scarves were favorites, as well as occasionally socks or a sweater. Knit or carved toys for the little ones were also enjoyed, and if the family enjoyed a good year financially, perhaps a few candies, fresh fruit, or a small gift from the mercantile in town would appear in their stockings, which were hung on Christmas Eve, often after church service or a time of family singing in their own home.

Carved toys

 

Following is a recipe used by Mrs. Isabel Beeton, a native of England:

Victoria Sandwiches

4 eggs (weigh them in their shells)

Caster sugar, equal to the weight of the eggs

Butter, equal to the weight of the eggs

Flour, equal to the weight of the eggs

¼ teaspoon salt

Jam or marmalade, of any kind

Cream the butter for about five minutes then add the sugar and beat for about two-three minutes. Add the eggs and beat for three minutes. Add the flour and salt and beat for an additional five minutes.

Butter a 9”x9” baking tin and pour in the batter. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. Allow to cool on a cake rack.

Cut the cake in half and spread the jam over the bottom of the cake. Place the other half of the cake on top and gently press the pieces together. Cut them into long finger pieces. Pile them in crossbars on a glass dish and serve.

***

Mrs. Beeton’s Cookery and Household Management, Isabella Beeton,
1874, London.

 

However you celebrate your Christmas this year, despite the changing world we live in and restrictions on numbers permitted in a group, I pray you’ll find the true meaning and joy of the season—Jesus becoming Emmanuel, God with us—and carry that with you all year through.

 

 

Resources:

https://truewestmagazine.com/christmas-on-the-frontier/

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/we-christmas/

 

 

About Donna:

Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick. As a hybrid author, she writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and they have been published more than 30 times in novellas, full-length novels, devotional books, and books on the writing craft. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Writers on the Rock, Sisters In Crime, Pikes Peak Writers, and Christian Authors Network; facilitates a critique group; and teaches writing classes online and in person. Donna also ghostwrites, edits, and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, and travels extensively for both. Donna is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.

 

Where to find me online:

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com Stay connected so you learn about new releases, preorders, and presales, as well as check out featured authors, book reviews, and a little corner of peace. Plus: Receive a free ebook simply for signing up for our free newsletter!

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DonnaschlachterAuthor

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/DonnaSchlachter

Books: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq and Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2gZATjm

 

Farming and Ranching on the Prairies -- with Giveaway -- by Donna Schlachter

                                                   Hand tools typical to farming and ranching, 1850s

Farming and ranching in the United States has a long and colorful history, beginning with the earliest settlers and reaching its heyday during the Westward Migration of the 1840s through 1880s.

The first settlers tended to claim a parcel of land near a water source such as a river or spring. Then they plowed up the grassy sod and constructed one-room homes called soddies, leaving a hole in the roof for smoke to escape, a door for entrance, and, if they were particularly resourceful, a window. This cleared land then served as the basis for their crops, primarily food for themselves and their stock. Often, the same oxen or horses that hauled their wagon were used to pull the plows, and crops were harvested by hand using tools such as scythes, threshers, and rakes. A family’s livelihood or lack thereof often dictated by the crop yield, the weather at harvest time, and their ability to store the harvest successfully to last through the harsh winter until spring.

Several important milestones occurred which made the farmers’ and ranchers’ lives a little easier and offered greater crop yields, including the invention of farm machinery, fencing materials, and fertilizers.

As far back as 1819, Jethro Wood patented the first iron plow with interchangeable parts for types of soil and plantings. Now the farmer could use the same plow to prepare a field for corn or potatoes, for example. Then, in 1837, John Deere manufactured plows with steel shares that were more durable and kept their edge longer than the iron version.

1840's grain reaper

 

 

                                                                        1840's plow

 

 

In 1831, Cyrus McCormick invented a grain reaper, pulled by a horse. Now a farmer could harvest more acres in a shorter period of time, increasing his food supply and his cash crop sales. His unique design guided the stalks to the blade, cut and then shoved the stalks onto the ground in the wake of the reaper, making cradles and scythes obsolete. In 1854, McCormick introduced the self-rake reaper. This new design gathered the cut grain into neat piles which workers then tied into sheaves before sending to the thresher. Each self-rake reaper equaled the labor of four or five men, which was particularly valuable during the Civil War when so many men left home to enlist. In 1837, the Pitts Brothers patented a practical threshing machine. However, it wasn’t until 1926 that a successful light gasoline tractor was developed.

While we may consider hybridization of corn and other crops a recent advance, in 1816 John Lorain began discussing the benefits of cross-breeding corn to obtain higher yields; in 1866 Gregor Mendel published his experiments in plant hybridization; in 1872 Luther Burbank produced a “Burbank potato”, the first in a long line of new and improved varieties; in 1905 George Harrison Shull began experiments with cross-breeding varieties of corn, perfecting his method by 1909. Donald Jones developed a system in 1917 to grow modern hybrid seed; and in 1926 Henry Wallace used advertising and promotion to popularize his hybrid seed corn.

However, with increased yields and these new varieties, farmers realized they needed to assist the soil with additives and fertilizers. 1850 saw the manufacture of the first mixed fertilizer called Manufactured Guano. In 1908, Haber and Bosch developed the process to make ammonia, leading to increased food production sufficient to feed a billion people a year. In 1914 Edwin Broun Fred supplied cultures of nitrogen-fixing bacteria to growers of legumes. 1921 saw the use of a World War 1 airplane to spread lead arsenate dust in a grove in Ohio; and in 1939 Paul Muller discovered the insecticidal properties of DDT, which was later banned as being harmful to wildlife that ate the poisoned insects.

Barbed-wire samples
 

With farms and ranches increasing in acreage to produce more yield, the need for effective and efficient fencing arose. In 1874 the Glidden barbed-wire patent was granted to contain and protect cattle. The idea of fencing thousands of acres was revolutionary, and given the harsh weather on much of the plains, as well as limited trees for posts, barbed-wire was the perfect solution. On his farm in Illinois, Joseph Glidden first perfected his design in 1816, while a local lumber dealer, Jacob Haish, developed the “s” barb that came a close second for a short time.

Soon the cattlemen’s fervor to protect the best grazing and water sources created friction, forcing small farms and ranches into cutting the wire to regain access to land for their stock. Because of a history of open range ranching, where branded cattle wandered at will and were gathered up in the spring, the switch to fenced ranching resulted in violence and crime for many years. Barbed-wire, often nicknamed “devil’s rope”, now boasts more than two thousand types, and is still used today.

With overproduction and over-grazing, combined with drought and blizzards, the Great Plains faced serious problems in 1886 and 1887. As plow agriculture extended into the semi-arid plains, erosion swept away the topsoil. Just as in the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, yields dropped, forcing farmers and ranchers to use increasingly invasive methods such as over fertilizing, plowing more land and increasing herd sizes, and more mechanization.

As you can see, much of the scientific and mechanical progress made over the past 150 years or so was due to the requirements of farmers and rancher and the demand for more food for a growing population. While the number of farms and ranches in the United States has decreased in the past 50 years or so, the size of the holdings and amount of food produced has increased to meet the demand. A typical family-owned farm currently produces enough food to feed more than 100 people. As we enjoy the Thanksgiving season, let’s remember to be thankful to our farmers and ranchers who keep us well-fed.

Leave a comment about your favorite Thanksgiving dish, and I’ll draw randomly for an ebook copy of A Pink Lady Thanksgiving.

About A Pink Lady Thanksgiving: Kate and Tom McBride, along with their newborn, John Thomas, settle into life in Oregon City, Oregon in November 1879. And while Kate enjoys being a wife, mother, and homemaker, she still remembers her fanciful dreams of last year: become a detective to solve mysteries. Her first case is to find the missing fiancée of a local banker. Tom, however, isn’t sure this is a good idea, particularly not when somebody throws a fiery bomb through the window of their home, burning it to the ground. They learn that their pasts may not be as far behind them as they’d hoped, but when their son is kidnaped, they just join forces to reveal who is trying to stop them—from finding the missing woman, and from starting their new life together.

Resources: 

https://www.facebook.com/Hale-County-Farm-and-Ranch-Museum-244000705709555/
https://www.aghalloffame.com/

       

     About Donna:

Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick. As a hybrid author, she writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts, and has been published more than 30 times in novellas, full-length novels, devotional books, and books on the writing craft. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Writers on the Rock, Sisters In Crime, Pikes Peak Writers, and Christian Authors Network; facilitates a critique group; and teaches writing classes online and in person. Donna also ghostwrites, edits, and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, and travels extensively for both. Donna is represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com Stay connected so you learn about new releases, preorders, and presales, as well as check out featured authors, book reviews, and a little corner of peace. Plus: Receive a free ebook simply for signing up for our free newsletter!

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com

Bonanza Books-in-a-Flash: order autographed print copies of books that are shipped directly from the author. Perfect for times when other online order services are slow.

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DonnaschlachterAuthor

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/DonnaSchlachter

Books: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq and Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2gZATjm

What Can Be Online University: online courses on the craft of writing: https://what-can-be-online-institute.teachable.com/

Etsy online shop of original artwork, book folding art, and gift items : https://www.etsy.com/shop/Dare2DreamUS?ref=search_shop_redirect

Pioneers and Summer Heat

A footnote from history by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Summer in Nebraska. Hot. Hot. Hotter. What did folks do before air conditioning? This woman has rolled up the canvas on the wagon sides, undoubtedly to let the breeze blow through ... if there was one. 

I remember my family essentially moving to the basement of our home for the summer. A whole house fan drew cool night air into our little house, and once the sun came up, dark drapes were drawn to hold in the cool air. We fled down the stairs to the basement, "finished" with paint on the concrete floors and walls. What little cooking we did during the summer was accomplished on an old stove in one corner. At night, fans stirred the air, but sometimes they didn't really keep anyone comfortable. We endured. 

What kinds of challenges did pioneers face in the summer? When reading pioneer memoirs, one common theme among those who lived in sod houses was that the three-foot thick walls carved up from the prairie and stacked like bricks kept those homes "warm in winter and cool in summer." Still, with the ever-present wind blowing on a hundred-degree day, I'm fairly certain the pioneer woman's idea of "cool" and mine are very different. 

Other summer challenges included:

How to preserve food without refrigeration

"Our only refrigeration in the summer was a long, covered wooden water trough between the windmill and the cattle watering tank.

Nebraska State Historical Society nbhips 14572

We kept milk, butter and other perishables in it. Luckily, refrigeration was no problem most of the year. The dug cave, back of the house, served as a storage place for a lot of fruits and vegetables. It provided cool temperatures in summer and a freeze-proof place in winter." (Russell Riley in Sod House Memories)

Some pioneers stored butter and milk in a bucket lowered down a well and into cold spring water. Garden produce might be dried, but once canning jars were invented, many a pioneer woman spent hours over a hot stove processing the year's garden bounty to feed her family through the coming winter. 

Drought

In Kansas in the spring of 1859, prospects were unusually bright with bumper crops in the making. Then in late June the rains stopped, and the settlers did not see another rain until November, 1860 The merciless heat opened up wide cracks in the earth; springs and streams dried up; horses and oxen grew emaciated. Before the drought broke, thirty thousand men and women called it quits and left ... (Everett Dick, Tales of the Frontier)

In July of 1880, Martha Mott of Nebraska wrote home to Virginia: "No rain ... it requires constant prayer and watching to keep back murmuring ... but ... don't worry about us. He has always cared for us and will care for us still." The very next day after writing those words, she added to her letter: "Just as we were completely discouraged, the fain came and a fine one, too...it is too late for the wheat but if it will keep on raining we will have corn." 

Prairie Fires

Harpers Weekly February 28, 1874

Drought and high winds could combine to set the stage for prairie fires. Once kindled, fire moved across the prairie with appalling speed--often faster than a team of horses could run away from it. Homesteaders plowed fireguards around their homes--two sets of furrows about fifteen yards apart, with the grass between those two furrows burned. "The same idea often saved travelers caught in the path of a prairie fire. The traveler would burn off a patch of ground large enough so that when standing in the its middle he would not be touched by advancing flames."

To read first-hand accounts of pioneers facing prairie fires, go here:

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5512&context=extensionhist

How about you? Do you love summer or hate it?

In Karyn's Memory Box, Karyn Ritter encounters a prairie fire. 

"A sea of fire was rolling toward them, carrying with it black clouds of suffocating smoke ... the horse was wild with fear ... Karyn rolled down a little hill and landed in a patch of bushes beside the creek. Above her flames were licking at the sides of the canyon, crawling down the ridge from tree to tree, making their way relentlessly toward her ..." 

Find it here: 

https://www.amazon.com/Karyns-Memory-Box-Keepsake-Legacies/dp/1523637498/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528758259&sr=8-1&keywords=Karyn%27s+Memory+Box

Drought and Locoweed with a Giveaway

With Nancy J. Farrier

In my upcoming release, Crazy About Cait, (The Cowboy’s Bride Collection, I show the devastating effects of the of the drought in 1860’s California. One of the problems concerned the lack of good feed and the danger of locoweed poison. A rancher’s herd could be decimated within a very short time.

The 1860’s in California was a decade of difficulties with weather. Prior to 1860, they went through nearly two decades of dry weather with little rainfall. Farmer’s and ranchers prayed for rain and for the drought to stop.

Photo by Jaime Jackson

In December of 1860 and January of 1862, torrential rains fell. Much of California suffered from floods and mudslides. People, cattle and horses drowned in the fields. Whole communities were washed away and everyone died. Months passed before the waters completely receded.

By 1862 the drought conditions returned in full force. While the hearts and minds of the people in the east were mired in the Civil War, residents in California fought to retain their livelihood as the water dried and their livestock died off.

Pacific SW Region US Fish and Wildlife
Locoweed Coachella

So, where does locoweed come into this? In times of good grazing, locoweed is there, but also there is plenty of healthy grass to eat. Rancher’s could keep their stock in the areas that were free of the poisonous weed. But, in times of drought, the edible graze dies off leaving the stunted, but edible locoweed. Starving livestock will graze on anything, not realizing the plants will not nourish them, but have the opposite effect. Horses are especially susceptible.

How does the locoweed harm an animal? The plant

Swainsona galegifolia
Sydenham Edwards, Sansum

contains something called swainsonine. During the wet years, the swainsonine is there but in more diluted quantities. In drought years, when the plant is stunted, the swainsonine, or poison, is much more prominent. Thus, the livestock feeding on the locoweed during drought conditions consume more of the poison than they would in other times.

Once the animal consumes the locoweed, all of their body systems are affected. At first, the horse, or cow, appears normal. The symptoms don’t show up right away. When they do, the animal often appears to be starving, which during drought conditions is often the case.

Photo by Stan Shebs

At first, the animals are reluctant to move, have a loss of appetite, and in a few days they will show subtle tremors as they walk. Soon the weight loss is more severe, they become nervous when stressed. Neurological disturbances cause them to be difficult to work with. They panic, become depressed, or even aggressive.

Finally, they cannot eat. The ability to consume food is impaired. They have reduced fertility, so even if they recover enough to be kept, they can’t reproduce. A rancher whose herd can’t grow, is a rancher who is losing profit. Even if the horse, or cow, does reproduce

the poison can be passed to the young through the mother’s milk.

In the 1860’s, ranchers had to sell much of their livestock, which flooded the markets, driving down the prices. Some reported driving part of their herd into the mountains to save the rest. They just didn’t have the feed they needed for all the animals.

Have you ever heard or locoweed, or perhaps seen the plant? Have you ever been in drought conditions where you had to ration water? I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below to be entered in a giveaway for a copy of The Cowboy’s Bride.

Ride onto the open range alongside cowboys and cowgirls who embrace the adventures of living in the Old West from Kansas to New Mexico, Colorado to Texas. Whether rounding up cattle or mustangs, training horses, fending off outlaws, weathering storms, competing in rodeos, or surviving drought these cowboys work hard each day. But when hardheaded men have their weaknesses exposed by well-meaning women will they stampede away or will a lasting love develop? Find out in this exciting collection of nine historical romances.

Nancy J Farrier is an award winning author who lives in Southern California in the Mojave Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. Nancy and her husband have five children and two grandsons. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. Nancy is represented by Karen Ball of The Steve Laube Literary Agency. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.