The Ingalls Family, the Railroads, and the Hard Winter of 1880-81 with Cindy Wilson
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- čas přidán 18. 03. 2022
- The Long Winter is one of the most memorable novels in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. It beautifully details the dramatic events of the hard winter of 1880-81, a harrowing time with months of never-ending blizzards leading to railroad blockades that all but cut off fledgling communities. But what really happened that winter? Lively and rewarding, "The Beautiful Snow," by Cindy Wilson is a new look at the hard winter.
Wilson dug through nearly 3,000 newspaper articles, historical documents, and the collections of numerous archives to find out. Her tireless efforts illuminate the personal stories behind railroad blockades and lavish oyster parties, breathing life into the history behind Wilder’s beloved novel. Enjoy!
Like to see more presentations like this? Help support the great work of the SD Historical Society Press. Become a member, become a donor, or purchase the book "The Beautiful Snow." www.sdhsf.org
Each month via Zoom conferencing we offer engaging conversations and entertaining discussions on South Dakota history presented by the South Dakota Historical Society Foundation and South Dakota Historical Society Press.
History Talks 20220210
My Library has the book so I will be reading.
Great book!
Thanks Joanne. If you are a Wilder fan, subscribe to the channel to see when we add similar talks.
The Ingalles live in all of us who know them
Very interesting. Hopefully I can find this book at my library.
I hope so too!
Hi nice to meet you I just got your book in the mail from Amazon❤❤ so I'll read the book and then I'll re-watch this CZcams thing😅❤
Kathy - thanks for purchasing the Beautiful Snow. Hope you enjoy the History Talk!
Very interesting background material to Laura Ingalls Wilder's autobigrafical novel The Long Winter.
Melissa - you may be interested in our Pioneer Girl Project. We have another book coming out in 2023 called Pioneer Girl: The Path into Fiction. This fourth book from the Pioneer Girl Project concentrates on the writing and editing of Wilder’s first novel, Little House in the Big Woods (1932). pioneergirlproject.org
Very nice...
Thanks Thomas. We host a monthly history talk and have a variety of great presenters.
My grandma said they burned cow chips and buffalo chips.
Did a native man really come into the store and warn them about the coming winter?
Hi Stacy. The author, CIndy Wilson, shared with us that "no one really knows." The passage is included in Pioneer Girl, Wilder's earliest version of her autobiography. But it could be that her father repeated what he had read in area newspapers and it was remembered by Wilder as local.
Regional newspapers reported similar warnings. The warnings were reported to readers as a way to be prepared. There was an underlying respect that if the area natives felt the upcoming winter was to be bad, the warnings should be respected. Hope this helps!
So did Laura and her family almost starve or not?
Yes, they did almost starve. Because they were the first family in De Smet, they were on the scene and using up their supplies much longer than most of the town folk, and it does take a few years to get virgin sod producing vegetables. The wild birds and animals had instinctually known that the hard winter was coming and had headed elsewhere, so there was no game to hunt. Once the trains were unable to get through, there were no more supplies to be had.
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