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Swaim, Ginalie, Ed.Life on the Iowa Prairies.Iowa State Historical Dept., Iowa City.Nov 8525p.Iowa State Historical Department, 402 Iowa Avenue,Iowa City, Iowa 52240.Historical Materials (060) Collected Works -Serials (022) -- Guides - Classroom Use Materials(For Learner) (051)Goldfinch; v7 n2 Nov 1985

MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS.*Elementary Education; *Farmers; Folk Culture;Geography; Instructional Materials; Land Settlement;Learning Activities; Map Skills; *Physical Geography;*Social Studies; State HistoryIowa; *Pioneer Life

ABSTRACTA theme issue of the Iowa State Historical Department

magazine ("The Goldfinch") focuses on elementary readings andactivities about Iowa prairie life. A total of 13 articles isincluded. In "History Makers," eight letters recount student andteacher prairie experiences. "The Prairie: Problems or Paradise?"recounts the trials and successes of prairie life for explorers andfarmers. "Help William Get to Iowa"-poses a simple map exercisedealing with settlers. "William Crosses the Prairie" summarizes theordeals of a settler Family crossing the prairie. "Good Times" citesthe contest of the corn-husking bee. "Settling On the Praire: HardWork and Hard Winters" examines farmer life on the prairie."Strawberries and Rattlesnakes" presents a board game illustratingsettler survival. "What Do You Do With A Slough?" &ascribes life inthe prairie swamps. "Map Game" illustrates land purchasing. "ThePeople of Iowa" discusses an Iowa botanist. "Are There Any PrairiesToday?" assesses prairie land yesterday and today. "History Mystery"involves students in analyzing a photograph. Finally, "Pass It On"provides related fun exercises. (TRS)

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EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

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'GoldfinchVolume 7. Number 2

Nis% ember 1985

Editor, GINALIE SWAIMC 1985 Iowa State Historical Department.

Iowa City

Acknoviledgements: Thanks to Linda Boldt. ColleenHogan. John Sadie*. and the students at ShinickSchool in Iowa City for their assistance and enthusi-asm in compiling the History - Makers section. A list ofmajor sources used in researching this issue is mail-able from the editor. The story about William Nuttingis adapted from "Starting Life in warren County" byWilliam Nutting. Iowa Journal al Ilimory and Pal.an,. ol. 3t) (19411. pp. 180-99. The characters atWild Rosh.' and Goldfinch are LIGmn h% Jenm Wren

Me.. °them Ise noted. all illustrations are Irmo theI:Ole-lions of the Iowa State Historical Department.lot% a City

Ne portion ot 111E GOEDI1NCII may be reproduced%%ghoul pricir permission

THE (*.Olin:INCH t ISSN 0278-0208) h published inSeptember. Ntnemher. February. and April by thelima State Historical Department. 402 Iowa Asenue.Ions Coy. Iowa 52240 (telephone: 319-338-5471).A% adable by yearly subscription: 4 issues for S5(sine:le-copy rate) or 30 copies of 4 issues for S25(classroom rate). Gilt subscriptions are available.Also available through Family or BenefitingMemberships in the State Historical Society of Iowa.Second -class postage paid at Iowa City. Iowa.

POSTMASTER: S.nd address changes to: THEGOLDFINCH. Iowa State Historical Department.402 Iowa Asenue. Iowa City. Iowa 52240.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

MeetWild Rosie,

your official"Goldfinch Tour Guide"

for a trip into Iowa's past. This mapshows some places we'll visit in this issue.

CONTENTS

HistorN -Makers

The Prairie: Problems or Paradise?

Help William Get to IowaWilliam Crosses the Prairie

Good Times

Scullin! on the Prairie. Hard Work

and Hard Winters

Straw berries and Rattlesnakes

What Do You Do with a Slough?

Map Game

The People of Iowa

Are There Any Prairies Today?

History MysteryPass It On

4

6

8

9

11

12

16

18

19

20

21

22

23

ON THE COVER: .-Ls the .sky fills with smoke. abawler harries 10 plow a lire strip. Huge .firesswept across the lotta prairies I50 rears ago.Settlers had to learn how II) protect their janns_from the fire.

amities in0,( (bolaCounttknett tt hat ittva.to htsod house,

An eight-tear-oldcamps 0(11 on theprairie. On his 1,t ch

to kith) in 183 5

In 'maim e.tern tote a.tanner, ioului ,1 11,1% toget rul 01 too mu( h tt ater

1i t ou tt ere a settler in 1875.tt here would you but land

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"Rosie, why did prairie grasses grow so tall? Was it because no onehad ever cut them?""No. prairie grasses are special kinds of grasses that grow several feet higheach year. They're not like grasses on our lawns.

"Rosie, how do you pronounce slough?""Like glue. Here's my latest poem about the muddy. marshy places calledsloughs:

phew! At k.11 111 're throughthe goo in t.te lough.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE4

Students at anIowa Cat school

are Ihstorv-A takers.Thee have a prairiein their schoolyard

History-Makers_9DEAR READERS: Be a history-maker! TheGoldfinch is a magazine about the history ofIowa. Wild Rosie wants to know what you'vediscovered about Iowa's past. Did your classwork on special projects for Iowa HistoryMonth? Are you helping to save something

that's old? Have you found an old letter, diary,photograph, or object that tells somethingabout the past? Senu your stories, letters, orartwork to the Goldfinch, 402 Iowa Avenue,Iowa City, Iowa 52240. If we can we'll printthem in the History-Makers section.

We received this letter fromElizabeth Adams Ebbotts. She wasone of the children who visited theMesquakie Settlement (see theSeptember Goldfinch). As an adult,she has continued to study and writebooks about Native Americanculture. Here is part of her letter.

Dear Goldfinch,I, too, was a student in Miss

Holmes' second grade class,1934-35. [Here are] some of theactivities that I still recall. We madecostumes and decorated them withIndian designs (I still have mine).We made dyes from naturalproducts (black walnuts,elderberries, blood root plants). Wemade a drum from a fresh calf skinthat was soaked in lye, scraped withrocks to get the hair off (did that everstink!), stretched and tied over anaturally hollowed log section. (Italso gave Miss Holmes P badinfection.) We made a tepee,learned an Indian song, andpresented an Indian assemblyprogram for the school. We visited aNavajo exhibit at the Universitywhere Indian women were usingyucca roots for soap suds (and theydid not sting your eyes). Tnroughthese activities we developed anappreciation of Indian culture andvalues. . . Elizabeth Adams Ebbott

White Bear Lake, Minnesota

4

Students of Shimek School (lots aCit)) have a small prairie behindtheir school. In 1972 prmrit grasseswere planted. Since 1983 students inall grades have planted is ihlflowers.The follosting stork is b1 students inColleen Hogan' s class.

Prairies are disappearing fast!America's prairie land is almost gone.But some places, like Shimek School,save prairie. Mike VeDepo

To help the prairie thrive, we didsome planting, watering, andcaring-for activities. This was doneby helpful 5th and 6th graders in the1984-85 semester. These Shimekkids did their share of the carrying ofplants and flowers. Everyonedonated trowels, rakes, shovels, andwater jugs. We first began to rakeand clear weeds from the designatedareas for planting. Then we began toget the soil ready for planting. Weplanted the seeds and put up sticksand strings so as not to step on theplants. Every so often we check onour thriving plants. Ann Ellyson

Tony Donatti and Jessiva Boveymarked where seeds were planted.(Photos courtesy of Linda Boldt.)

In lian grass (drawn by Jenna Stanke), bird's foot violet (Naomi Tucker). New England aster and(Nicole DeJong). side oats gram: (Sarah Johnson), and big bluestem (Nicole Dejong).

The most fun thing I did to theprairie was to help plant someflowers. To help plant the flowerswe had to do a buffalo stampede. Abuffalo stampede is when you stampon the seeds you just planted, and itwas fun! Kelly Kerr

Our school was named afterBohumil Shimek because he was apioneer, an engineer, zoologist,geologist, botanist, educator,patriot, and citizen. It is appropriatethat the school was named after Mr.Shimek because it has both woodsand prairies. Chad Cook

The grass is long and tan.It sways as the wind blows.Pitter-patter goes the gentle rainon the pretty flowers below.

Then the blazing fire burnsdown the tall grass."Wow!" all the kids saywhen the prairie burns down.

Oh and look, the prairieis coming back!And so are the animals,coming to their new home.

Shannon Schoenfelder

6

conellower

Every 3 to 5 years, we burn ourprai-ie. We burn it because we mustact like nature. Long ago, prairiesused to have natural fires. Now it istoo sheltered to burn on its own. Theburning gets rid of shrubs andundergrowth. --Sarah Johnson

I've only seen the prairie burnonce but not very well because of allthe fire engines and firemen they putout around the prairie for our safety.You might think it's great fun to seeit burn but to tell you the truth it'skind of boring. Kristine Hinrichs

5

---

The Prairie:

Problems or Paradise?T HE GRASS grew so tall that a child walking

through it seemed to disappear. Brightflowers and singing birds added color and musicto the land. Almost all of Iowa was once a prairie.

A prairie is land that is covered with grassesand plants. There are very few bu-kes or trees,except for forests along rivers and streams.

Native Americans often lived in the rivervalleys because they could find wood and waterthere. But on the prairies they hunted deer and elkand gathered plants for food and medicine.

When explorers first saw the prairie, they were

6

Iowa Conservation Commission

amazed. They had never seen such tall grass or somuch land without forests. Europe did not haveprairies. The eastern United States did not haveprairies.

The explorers described the prairies in theirjournals. They wrote about the thick grasses andall the animals that could be hunted there.

In the 1830s white settlers started moving westtowards Iowa. Eager settlers crossed theMississippi River and claimed land here evenbefore they were legally allowed to. TheAmerican government kept forcing the settlers

7

back until treaties were made with NativeAmerican tribes. The government wanted tomove Native Americans farther west to makeroom for settlement.

Finally in 1833 settlers were allowed to enterIowa. But they avoided the prairies. They builttheir homes along rivers and streams. Like NativeAmericans, they needed water and they neededtimber for houses, fences, and fuel. Where wouldthey get wood on the treeless prairie? To them, theprairie just meant problems.

Some settlers thought that the prairie soil wasnot rich and fertile and would not grow goodcrops. If trees did not grow there, how could cornor wheat survive? They did not realize that prairiesoil is very fertile.

Some people felt lonely on the prairie. Therewere no neighbors for miles and miles. Peoplewanted neighborsfor friendship and for helpingone another.

The praities seemed too big and empty, and thewinter winds blew too cold. In the forests, settlerswere more protected from the cold.

Traveling across the prairie was difficult, too.At first the roads were only trails in the tall grass.It was easy to head off in the wrong directionbecause the land all looked the same. Here andthere a grove of trees grew, but most of the prairiewas rolling hills or flat land covered with tallgrasses. People marked trails by tying bits of clothon the tall stalks of plants.

Where the land was flat, water did not drainaway. Settlers called these wet places sloughs(slues). Some sloughs were marshes that werefilled with water. Others were wet, muddy placeswhere slough grasses grew nine feet high. But

Prairies once covered all the green areas on this snapof Iowa. The white areas were wooded river valleys.

these sloughs looked like dry prairie. Settlers whotried to drive across these sloughs soon found outthat their horses and wagons got stuck in thegooey mud.

"Too big and lonely!" the early settlers said."No trees, poor soil," they complained. "Andall those sloughswho would want to live on theprairie?"

But soon most of the wooded land along therivers and streams was all bought and settled.'i here was no other land to buy except the prairie.Perhaps settlers could solve all the problems ofliving on the prairie.

They found out that the prairie could befarmed. Back in the eastern United States, theland was rocky and covered with forests. Therethe settlers had to chop down the trees and haulaway the rocks before they could plant crops.Here in Iowa there were miles of land withoutforest or rocks. The soil was very fertile. Despitethe problems, the settlers realized that the prairiewas a farmer's paradise. 0

87

Help, WilliamGet to Iowa

Before you read the true story of William Nutting.help William and his family get to Iowa in 1855.Read Steps 1-7. Then use your finger or a pencilto trace their Journey on the map below.

I. The Nutting family leaves their home near Boston, Massachusetts. Father has lost his job. Perhaps outwest they can make a new start. First they travel to Buffalo, New York.2. At Buffalo, the Nuttings board a steamboat. They cross Lake Erie to Cleveland, Ohio.3. From Cleveland, they take a train to Cincinnati. They live in Cincinnati for a year while Father earnsmore money to buy land in Iowa.4. The Nuttings take a steamboat down the Ohio River to St. Louis. The river is low, and the captainmust steer the boat carefully around sandbars and dead trees that have fallen into the river.5. From St. Louis they take a steamboat down the Missouri River to Lexington, Missouri. Father gets ajob in Lexington for a year. But the Nuttings are anxious to leave Missouri because many people arearguing and fighting over whether there should be slavery.6. Father walks to Milo, Iowa, where he has bought land. He buys two oxen and a wagon. He rides hackto Lexington.7. The family loads the wagon and crosses the Missouri River by ferry. William is almost eight andalmost in Iowa. (Begin the story.)

8

William Crosses the Pm.'NO MORE steamboats or trains for William!On William's eighth birthday, he was happy

to be finally walking across the Iowa prairie.Mother and Father took turns driving the oxen.

Sometimes everyone walked alongside thewagon. The prairie seemed to stretch on forever,as far as William could see.

When night came, they unhitched the tiredoxen from the wagon. The oxen were eager tograze on the prairie grasses. Father tied a bellaround the neck of one ox. If the sound of the bellbecame too soft, he would know the oxen weretoo far from the campsite.

The oxen had plenty of room for the nighttheprairie was huge. But the wagon was packed sofull that the Nuttings had to sleep on me ground.They propped up the wagon tongue and threw acarpet over it to make a tent. This was the firsttime William had camped out. The tinkling of thebell became softer and softer as the oxen grazed.But the Nuttings did not notic .. They were allsound asleep in their little tent.

When the sun rose the next morning. the oxenwere gone. Right away Father started searching.By a distant grove of trees he saw some cattle. Heheaded toward the grove. But none of the cattlewere his own two oxen. Then he spotted anotherherd across the prairie. Surely his oxen would bethere. He headed in that direction, his long legsswooshing through the tall grass.

All day William and his family waited in theshade of the wagon. The day was hot and William

'7.

was getting impatient. Father came back for lunchand then went searching again. Just how far couldtwo clumsy oxen wander?

The next day Father finally brought the oxenback. "About time to move on," William said tohimself.

Now every night Father tied up the oxen. Butmany other cattle and horses ran loose on theprairie. Settlers did not keep their livestock infenced fields. The whole prairie was their pasture.

At night these horses and cattle came right up tothe Nutting's wagon. The cowbells kept thefamily awake and disturbed the oxen. Father

109

jumped out of bed and chased them off. But theycame right back. Father was uetermined to get agood night's sleep. He grabbed a sheet and threwit over his shoulders. Flapping his arms, he ranamong the horses and cattle to scare them away.In a clatter of cowbells the herd ran off into thedark prairie night.

Every day the Nuttings' wagon rolled andjerked across the prairie. Every night they set upcamp in the dark. Their tin lantern had holespunched in the side to let the candlelight shinethrough. But the glow of one candle was notmuch. The tall grass and the black night seemed toswallow up the light of the little lantern.

One night William was helping spread thecarpets on the prairie for their beds. Suddenly inthe darkness he heard a strange rattling sound.Father did not need lantern light to recognize thatsound. Time to hitch up and move on. Nobodywanted to sleep near a rattlesnake!

The prairie flowers were as tall as William thatAugust. Birds and butterflies darted about as hewalked beside the wagon. On one especially hot

10

day, William wanted desperately to go swimmingand cool off. Even the oxen were crazy withthirst.

William could see a row of trees ahead. Thatprobably meant water. Trees always grew alongstreams. The oxen knew there was water, too.They could smell it. Without anyone in thewagon, the oxen took off running. The heavywagon swayed from side to side. At any momentit might tip over. The family chased after them butthe oxen were already running through the trees.

Suddenly, as if someone had put on the brakes,the oxen stopped. The wagon wheels had gottenjammed behind two trees. Father rushed up andunhitched the oxen. Down the bank they ran, rightinto the stream.

It wasn't many more days until the Nuttingsmached their home near Milo and Otter Creek.The land Father had bought already had a cabin on

it, built by an earlier settler. For the first nightsince the ferry ride across the Missouri River,William slert under a roof instead of under thesky. He had reached his new prairie home.

11

..4.100410tr.

GoodAt a husking bee, settlers found a way to mix

work and play at harvest time. Taking the huskoff the ears of corn was turned into a contestbetween two players or two teams.

To have your own husking bee, you w litneed two equal piles of corn with the husks stillon the ears. Each team sits by their pile of corn.At the word "GO!" each team begins pullingthe husks off the ears. The first team to finishtheir pile wins the contest.

Times

Sometimes settlers had parties after the cornwas husked. Your class could have a squaredance or serve cornbread and apple cider.

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I

1211

Settling on the Prairie:Hard Work and Hard WintersB Y APRIL the earth had warmed up in Iowa.

Spring wildflowers were blooming. Themigrating geese were feeding in the sloughs andmarshes on their way north. All across Iowacovered wagons were bringing settlers looking forland.

Once a family had bought their land, theybegan work right away. A lot of jobs had to bedone that first summer on the prairie.

The first job was to build a shelter. Even inApril a sudden blizzard might sweep across theprairie. A family could die if they did not have ashelter.

A family might sleep in their covered wagonuntil the house was done. The house might have

Some families in Osceola

County built sod houses.

Look for Osceola Countyon the map on page 3.

12

only one or two rooms and maybe two windows.In later years, when they had more money andtime, they would build a bigger home.

Settlers who owned timberland could cut downtheir own trees and build a simple log cabin. Butsome settlers did not own timberland and couldnot afford to buy wood. They built sod houses.(Sod is the top layer of earth. The grass roots holdthe soil together.)

First, wide strips of sod were cut intorectangles. The rectangles were stacked likebricks until four walls were built. To make theroof, boards or poles were laid across the top, andmore sod was placed on that.

Living in a sod house was almost like living

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Oxen pull the heavy breaking plow through the tough prairie sod, and children build a rail fence.

underground. Wildflowers grew on the roof.Snakes, mice, and insects crawled in. Rainleakedor pouredthrough the roof.

But the thick walls kept the sod house warm inthe winter and cool in the summer. It was cheap tobuild. The wood for the roof and door might costonly $15. Wood for a cabin might cost $600.

Ten oxen and one plowBreaking the prairie was the next job. Sez:lers hadlearned that the black prairie soil would growgood crops. But it had never been plowed before.The tall grasses and plants had tough and tangledroot systems. The settler had to cut the tall grassand then plow through the mass of tough roots.This was called breaking prairie.

Breaking prairie was hard work. Some settlershired a special crew of workers who brought theirown oxen and plow. Ten or twelve oxen pulledthe huge, heavy breaking plow. The moist soilclung to the plowshare (the blade of the plow).The thick roots dulled its edge. Every few feet the

men stopped to scrape off the soil and sharpen theshare.

Many farmers could not afford to hire a crew tobreak their sod. They did the work themselves orwith neighbors.

Breaking prairie was easier after a better plowwas invented. The new plow was smaller. It couldbe pulled by only two or three horses or oxen. Theplowshare was made of polished steel that cutthrough the roots like a knife. The soil did notstick to the steel. Now one person could do thework of an entire crew.

As a settler plowed across the land, birds diveddown to feast on the worms and insects uncoveredby the plow. The plowshare made a pinging soundas it sliced through the mass of roots, as ifsomeone was plucking a guitar string.

The first year a settler only had time to break afew acres. Kernels of corn could be planted byhand in the sod. Bigger crops of wheat or corncould not be planted until the next spring. It tookthat long for the overturned layer of sod to rot

1413

away. Each year a few more acres would bebroken and the settler's fields would get bigger.

Keep the animals outBuilding a fence was the next job. Settlers did notfence pastures to keep their cattle, horses, andpigs in. They built fences around the crops to keepthe animals out. The fences needed to be "hogtight, horse high, and bull strong."

Farmers with timberland could chop downsome trees and split the logs into rails. Then theystacked the long rails into a zig-zag pattern aroundthe field.

But wood cost too much to buy for fencing.Settlers who did not own timberland had to findother fencing materials. Some planted hedges oflow, bushy trees. Others built sod fences. Theydug ditches and mounded the dirt up high next tothe ditch. But the animals pushed their waythrough the hedges or fell into the ditches.

Wire fences did not work well either untilbarbed wire was invented in the 1870s. Animalsstayed away from these fences or they would bepoked by the sharp barbs on the wire.

In the summer the settlers cut the prairie grassesand piled it into haystacks for winter feed for theiranimals. They used dried grasses to stuffmattresses, too. And they twisted the grasses intobundles and used them for fuel in stoves.

Smoky skiesBy late autumn the prairie flowers had died. Thedried grasses shone like gold in the sun. Assettlers worked they watched the horizon forsmoke or a reddish haze. These signs meantdangera prairie fire!

14

A prairie fire could start easily from a forgottencampfire, lightning, or a careless person. Oncestarted, it could burn for miles because the prairiewas covered with dry grass.

If there was no wind, the fire burned slowly. Itlooked like a red line creeping along thecountryside. But on windy days, the fire roaredacross the prairie. It could spread faster than ahorse could gallop. The sky filled with smoke,and flames reached twenty feet in the air.

Settlers protected their homes and crops byplowing fire strips around them. When the flamesreached the strip of plowed ground, there wasnothing to catch fire. The fire could not burn onbare soil.

A fire might burn across the prairie for days.But the fire strips plowed around houses, crops,and haystacks saved the settlers and the work theyhad done.

No shelter from the windsAs winter approached, the prairie land waslooking more like a farm. Rail fences surroundedthe few acres that had been broken and planted.Garden vegetables were stored away for thewinter. Tall haystacks of prairie grasses stoodnext to the animals' shelter.

Winters were harsh on the prairie. The coldwinds blew hard. When one fellow woke up in hiscabin the morning after a blizzard, snow coveredhis bed. "I had to wallow through six inches ofsnow to the head of the stairs. The stairs lookedlike a long white drift," he wrote later. "Thewind had been so furious it had driven snowthrough under the door and the kitchen was aboutknee dli'

Can you imagine riding to school in a horse-drawn

The first years a family had little extra food ormoney. They hunted deer, rabbit, and prairiechicken (a kind of bird called the grouse). Inhorse-drawn sleighs they made trips into town fora few supplies.

Settlers always feared getting caught in asurprise blizzard. Then all the world seemed likeswirling snow and cold, biting winds. It was easyto get lost and not know what direction to go.

The safest place was in the cabin or sod house,even if the wind did blow through the cracks.Settlers tied long ropes between their houses andbarns. During a blizzard they followed the rope toreach their animals.

More fields, more farmsEach year the settlers learned more about livingon the prairie. Better farm equipment wasinvented and made plowing and planting easier.

sleigh? Does this schoolhouse look warm inside?

New towns and railroads were built.But not everything got easier. In the 1870s

millions of small grasshoppers (called locusts)swept across the prairie in western Iowa. They ateeverything in sight. Many farmers lost all theircrops those years.

In some years farmers were not paid muchwhen they sold their crops. Some gave up farmingor moved farther west.

But each year the farmers that stayed in Iowaplowed and planted more fields. As trains broughtlumber to towns, families bought wood and builtbigger houses. They planted trees to shade theirhouses in the summer and to stop the winds in thewinter. The prairies were almost gone. Withoutmiles of dried grasses in autumn, fires did not startso easily or burn so much. By the 1880s Iowa wascovered with farms, towns, and cities. 0

1615

Strawberries andRattlesnakesCan you survive your first year as aprairie settler? In this board game,when good things happen, you getstrawberries. When bad thingshappen, you get rattle. nakes.

To play, you need 2-4 players andone die. Make a marker and ascorecard for each player. Theplayer who rolls the highest is first toferry across the river and enter theprairie.

Take turns rolling he die andmoving that number of squares.Read out loud what the square saysand follow any instructions. Onyour scorecard write down thenumber of strawberries orrattlesnakes you get at each square.

All players continue the gameuntil each has passed or landed onthe final square. The first player topass or land on that square gets6 extra strawberries.

To find the winner, add up yourstrawberries. Then add up yourrattlesnakes. Subtract therattlesnakes from the strawberries.The player with the moststrawberries wins the game.

16

You buy 5 acresof timber.

You buy 40 acresof prairie. Rollagain and chooseeither path.

566

You spend 3 dayschopping andhauling timber.

5%

You start to builda sod house.

2 it

You begin yourlog cabin.

3

Sod roof leaks andhas to be fixed.

3

Your house isfinished.

6

You traveled20 miles in oneday. HURRAH!

4Rattlesnake scareshorse, and it runsaway.

2

You mark theslough to warnother travelers.

2'

SHORT-CUTDRY

LAND

You finally get outof slough. Rollagain.

Shoot prairiechicken forsupper. Greatmeal!

Shallow butmuddy sloughahead. Roll again.

If you land here,take short-cut andavoid slough.

Wagon is stuck inmuddy slough.Lose one turn.

Swarms ofmosquitoes biteyou. OUCH!

2

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1 r1te-/ .....,

1/2irTh

ize 0006)5(.0 10.1,6 5N

41106E0%E 5YOU HAVESURVIVED YOURFIRST YEAR ONTHE PRAIRIE!

You buy a newsteel plow.

2

You plow up3 acres of prairiesod.

(First player topass or land heregets 6 EXTRAstrawberries.)

You have made 3haystacks ofprairie grass.Good work!

You have time toplant shade treesand a garden.

fi."4 '.14'"414,. -,. :.,..-

. _You find freshstrawberries.YUM!

1

1)4

You beginplowing 3 moreacres so your fieldwill be bigger.

PRAIRIE FIRE!You forgot toplow fire stripsaround haystacks.Hay burns up.

Spring is coming.Warm weather atlast. Flowersbloom on theprairie.

Cattle are lost insurprise blizzard.

Kay Chambers

Almost out offirewood andfood.

6 '41Vk"

, 18

Successful hunt.Fresh rabbit forsupper.

What Do YouDo Witha Slough?

HBolander's farm produced corn,1 1 wheat, frogs, and mosquitoes. Henry couldnot grow crops on all of his land. The swampysloughs (slues) were too wet to plow. Frogs andmosquitoes, muskrats and songbirds lived there.

Northwest Iowa was the last part of Iowa to besettled. Settlers there faced two problemsnotenough timberland and too much water.

Settlers learned to build their houses out of sod.They planted groves of trees for future

18

Jemmerson Slough is a shallow marsh in Dickinson County.

timberland. In the 1870s railroads were finallybuilt in northwest Iowa. The trains broughtlumber that the farmers could buy. All this helpedsolve the timber problem.

But settlers like Henry Bolander still faced thewater problem. Henry lived in the central part ofnorthwest Iowa where the land is very flat.Melting snow and rain did not drain away. Thewater collected in shallow lakes, marshes, andsloughs. Parts of the prairie stayed soggy allsummer. Horses and wagons got stuck in the

mud.Farmers could not plow these wetlands. They

cut the tall slough grasses for hay. They trappedmuskrats and sold the furs. They hunted the geeseand ducks that nested in the marshes. But farmerswanted to grow crops, not hunt ducks.

In the 1880s farmersbegan draining the land.They dug long ditches tolet the water run out ofsloughs and into streamsand rivers. They buriedclay pipes (called tiles).The tiles carried awaythe extra water in theground.

As the sloughs andmarshes dried up, thewildlife there disap-peared. Farmers coulduse all of their fertile,flat land for crops.Where frogs had croaker.,corn now grew. 0

19

Map GameYou are a settler in 1875 in northwest Iowa. To decide what land to buy, play this game.This map shows features created by nature (rivers, timberland, and sloughs). It alsoshows features created by people (roads and boundaries). Iowa is divided into counties,townships, and sections. This map shows Belmond Township and Pleasant Township inWright County. Each township has 36 sections. Answers on page 23.

KEY

timberland

slough

wagon road

river

- r I. .6 -- -*

ure

7 . 05° 3 2 7* ...e' Ir a a

&re r4 70 77 72 k 8 70 77 72 1

f.i..,7 17

.,,c

.16 75 14 13 7 . 7:

76 15 14 13.** ...

79 20 21 22 23 24 r 19 21 22 23 24 ,

BELMOND i PLEASANTI 30 28,.: 27 26 25 30 , 29 28 27 26 25 '

.......:' 4 la **.... ..::t.;.::.,

31 33 34 35; 4.36 3 7. 0.32 33 34 35 36.V.r 14

1. Which township has more timberland/2. Which township has sloughs/3. If you settle in Section 32 of Pleasant Township, will you live near a slough or neartimberland/4. Why does the road curve in Section 8 of Belmond Township/5. In which township is the Iowa River/6. Where else would you find timber besides at the places marked on the map/

Kay Chambers

7. Which land would probably cost moreland in Section 17 of Belmond Township orPleasant Township? Why/8. How many miles wide is Pleasant Township? (Hint: Each section is one

9. Mark the section where you would like to buy land.

20

Section 17 of

mile long.)

19

The People of IowaBy the time Ada Hayden

was born, in 1885, most of theprairie in Iowa had becomefarmland. Ada's parents werefarmers near Ames. Theydecided that they would neverplow several acres of prairieon their farm. The prairiewould be kept just as it hadbeen for hundreds of years.Ada learned about the prairiewildflowers and grasses whenshe was a child.

One early spring day, Adatook a bouquet of prairiewildflowers to her high school

Ada Hayden's drawingof a prairie milkweed.Iowa Geological Survey

principal. That day Dr. LouisH. Pammel visited theprincipal. Dr. Pammel was acollege professor of botany(the study of plants). Henoticed the blue flowers. Theyhad been one of his favoritewildflowers when he was afarmboy in Wisconsin. Heasked where the flowers camefrom, and the principalintroduced him to Ada.

Ada and Dr. Pammel soonbecame close friends. Adashowed him her prairie andher drawings of plants.Dr. Pammel encouraged Adato go to college at Iowa StateUniversity in Ames. And shedid.

Ada studied botany formany years. She was the firstwoman to receive herdoctorate from the university.(A doctorate is the highestdegree a college can give.)

All of her life Ada searchedfor prairies that had not yetbeen plowed under. Sheidentified many prairie andwater plants. She waded

.41110

Ada Hayden

through marshes and rowedher boat on lakes so that shecould photograph waterplants. She was a professor,author, artist, andphotographer.

Ada died in 1950. Today, a240-acre prairie in HowardCounty is named HaydenPrairie in her honor. Botanistslike Ada Hayden and LouisPammel worked hard to savesome prairie land for futureIowans. Today we can enjoythe birds and plants that Adastudied and drew when shewas a girl one hundred yearsago.

20 21

Are There Any Prairies Today?ON THEIR WAY to school everyday, theMitchell children followed a strip of plowed

ground from their home to the schoolhouse. Theirfather had plowed the strip across the prairie so hischildren would not get lost-In 1857 the prairieseemed huge and empty. It was easy to wander offin the wrong direction.

The children may have seen deer and coyote.rattlesnakes and gophers, rabbits and prairiechickens. Perhaps the children stopped to breakopen the compass plant. The sap inside made asticky chewing gum. Perhaps they walkedthrough patches of violets so thick that it lookedlike "a piece of sky had fallen on the earth."

Thousands of children grew up on the Iowaprairies. They herded cattle and rode horsesacross the prairie. They learned to stay out ofsloughs. to listen for rattlesnakes. and to searchfor wild strawberries. They helped plow the fieldsand plant gardens. orchards. and shade trees.

Settlers were eager to plow up the prairiebecause they knew what fine crops would growthere. For centuries the prairie grasses had growntall, died down, and decayed into humus. Thishumus had become a deep laser of fertile soil.

When settlers first came to Iowa in the 1830s.over 29 million acres of the state were prairieland. By the 1880sonly 50 years lateralmostall of the prairie had become farmland. Now someprairie plants and wildlife are endangered andcould become extinct.

Today many Iowans want to protect Iowa's10.000 remaining acres of prairie. Where are thefew pi-aides that have never been plowed? Someare small pieces of land, in country cemeteries oralong roads and train tracks. Others are as big as240 acres. Public and private groups andindividuals own these prairies. Some people aretrying to grow new prairies by planting the tallgrasses and wildflowers.

But planting a prairie is not like planting agarden. A real prairie had over 200 kinds ofplants. Trees did not grow well because tkeclimate was too dry and the grasses grew toothick. Prairie fires destroyed any shrubs andyoung trees. But the grasses grew back quicklybecause their deep roots were still alive. Eveninsects and animals that burrowcd in the groundsurvived the tire.

Scientists want to learn more about the prairie.Why did Native Americans and settlers usecertain plants for medicines? Con they he used inmedicines today? How did prairie plants surviveharsh weather and plant disea:,es? Can thisinformation help farmers grow better crops? Ifprairies disappear. the answers to these questionsdisappear. too.

The prairies also give us clues to what life waslike 150 years ago. We can pretend we are theMitchell children. dodging rattlesnakes andpicking violets on the way to school each day.

22

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

21

History Mystery

CLUES:

1. Settlers from the east heard that farming in Iowa was easier because the soil wasnot rocky.

2. But some settlers did find many rocks and boulders scattered across their fields.

3. Now and then a rock bigger than a horse or even bigger than a covered wagon wasdiscovered.

4. Geologists call these rocks erratics.

5. The word erratic means wandering.

How did all these rocks and boulders get in this Iowa field?(Answer on page 23.)

22

23

Pass It OnPass this page on to someone who mightshare your interest in prairies. A teacher orparent, a grandparent or friend? Theseprojects would be fun to do together.

Imagination ExercisesThe prairies gave different feelings to different

people. Some felt excited and free by all the openspace. Others felt lonely and frightened.

Tr: to imagine the prairie. The land seems tostretch on forever. The only trees are along thestreams. It is hard to find shade from the sun. Thesummer winds sweep through the tall grasses andflowers. Birds sing and mosquitoes buzz in thesloughs. In the winter your home is surrounded bymiles of snow-covered prairie. What feelingsdoes the prairie give you?Reading Together

Reading out loud to younger readers is a way toshare more challenging reading material. TwoIowa authors who wrote about prairie childhoodsare Hamlin Garland (Boy Life on the Prairie) and

AnswersMap, page 19: 1. Pleasant 2. Belmond3. Timber 4. The mad must go around the slough.5. Pleasant 6. Along the Iowa River7. Pleasant. Settlers would value the timber in thenearby section. The slough in Section 17 ofBelmond Township could not grow crops until itwas drained. 8. 6 miles. 9. We hope not in aslough!History Mystery, page 22: The rocks came withthe last Ice Age glacier, which covered north-central Iowa. As the ice built up, rocks were frozeninto it and dragged along. The weight of the glacierscooped out shallow places. When the ice melted,the shallow places became sloughs and lakes. Youmight say the rocks "wandered" here from Canadaand Minnesota.

Bess Streeter Aldrich (A Lantern in her Hand).Choose chapters of either book to read aloud.Goldfinch issues still available on "EarlyAgriculture" and "The Shape of the State"feature pioneer farming and surveying of Iowa.

A Table-Top Prairie FarmBuild a model sod house with dominoes as

slabs of sod. Leave a space for a door. Make acardboard roof and pat soil onto it. Build a railfence with short sticks. Copy the zig-zag patternfrom pictures in this Goldfinch. Use rubbercement to hold the ends of sticks together.A Paper Prairie

Hang a ten-foot strip of paper vertically on thewall. Mark on it the heights of a child, an adult,and an adult riding a horse. Draw outlines of each.Now add prairie plants. Spring flowers were lowto the ground. Summer flowers and grasses werequite tallsome over eight feet. Imagine walkingthrough grasses taller than you are.

For more information on Iowa prairies, contactthe Iowa Conservation Commission (WallaceBuilding, Des Moines, Iowa 50319), your countyconservation board, or The Nature Consermicy(424 10th Street, Suite 311, Des Moines, Iowa50309).

"Conflicts and Compromises" is the 1986 theme forHistory Day. Students in grades 6-12 may enterindividual or group projects, papers, or pciformancesin district contests this spring. Contact History Day,631 Ross Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa50011, or your Area Education Agency.

March 2-8, 1986, is Women's History Week. Studentsin grades 6-9 may enter the state-wide "Write WomenBack into History" essay contest, sponsored by theIowa Commission on the Status of Women, incooperation with ti Iowa State HistoricalDepartment and the Department of Education.February 14 is the contest deadline. Contact theCommission at 507 Tenth Street, Des Moines, Iowa50319 (phone 515-281-4470).

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