Laura's Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook

The highway across southern Minnesota into DeSmet, South Dakota is now marked as the "Laura Ingalls Wilder" highway. At every little town along the way in Minnesota there's a "Laura Ingalls Wilder" museum, some of them a bit on the strange side. Every one has a pump organ as an obligatory feature. One, for no reason I could guess at, included a collection of car license plates. These towns have no original houses or artifacts but I've read that some sites have been added for the tourists, such as an artificial 'grave' for the bulldog Jack. I didn't detour to explore these sites.

The prairie is no longer treeless. Further west in South Dakota one can get get the feel of how vast and empty the prairie must have been as the Ingalls family arrived as the first homesteaders in DeSmet. The homestead site also includes a dugout to show what the family's dugout home in Walnut Creek, Minnesota would have looked like, and other exhibits. It's worth a stop.

The house is a reconstruction built on the Ingalls' homestead south of DeSmet. Some of the trees were those planted by the Ingalls. I can't attest to the authenticity of the house's construction--it looked too large inside. Their houses were extremely tiny, something the Surveyors' house made very clear.

Added March 14, 2002: A knowledgeable reader of this page informs me that the house is exactly the correct original dimensions. It was built to dimensions given on the original homestead patent (now at the National Archives in Washington, DC), and on the precise original spot, with the foundation of the house Charles Ingalls built being excavated. The cottonwood trees, however, may be later growths.

This isn't the best photo of the Surveyors' house; doesn't really show the original building (this add-on looks too new). This is the original house the Ingalls family lived in "On the Shores of Silver Lake". Silver Lake is gone and the house was moved into DeSmet. It's a wonderful place to stop as you really get an idea of size as Laura described the main room as the biggest she'd ever seen. It's tiny. I can't imagine squeezing into it as many people as they had with their family and the two Boasts...much less the borders they took in during the spring rush. The main bedroom barely held a short double bed--it filled the entire room. The stairs to the attic were narrow and steep to a small, low attic (where the girls slept). Still, solidly constructed, comfortable though small. A good place to stop at in DeSmet.

Laura and Almanzo's farm homestead after their marriage, north of town. Their daughter Rose Wilder Lane was born here. Nothing remains but the sign that marks the site. The land was a hay field.

This is the Dakota sky looking west over Laura and Almanzo's land north of DeSmet. These are the types of clouds they'd have watched warily for signs of a coming tornado. A roll cloud like this could be a warning sign of an approaching thunderstorm, but not of a tornado. Those who lived on the prairie would soon learn to recognize the dark purplish-green of tornado skies, and the rapid rotation and wall clouds that signaled danger.

The cemetery south of town has the graves of many of the family members, including Pa & Ma Ingalls, and Laura and Almanzo's unnamed infant son.

Not long after Laura married and moved away from the farm, Charles and Caroline moved to a house in town where they lived the remainder of their lives. For a short time before their move to Missouri, Laura and Almanzo lived in a rented house just down the street. This house is a well-preserved museum now and an excellent stop.

Books that take place in:

(available for purchase  from Amazon.com)

South Dakota

By the Shores of Silver Lake

The first settlers to remain on the prairie near the future town of DeSmet, South Dakota, the Ingalls lived this first winter in the Surveyor's house, still standing as a museum. Silver Lake has been drained and the house was moved into town.

The Long Winter

Their claim shanty wasn't good enough to survive the long winter of Dakota blizzards. Though trees now help break up the prairie winds, some winters you can still see white-out blizzards.

Little Town on the Prairie

A reconstruction of the Ingall's homestead lived in during these years is a fine stop to visit just south of town. The Big Slough is drained but you can still see where it had been.

The Happy Golden Years

You can still roam around the roads they took in their buggy during their romance. It's a lovely part of South Dakota that is still farms and small towns, not too grown-up.

The First Four Years

After marrying Almanzo Wilder they lived on his claims north of town. A marker by the highway shows the site. Their lost son is buried in the cemetery south of town.

Free Land

"Free Land" by Rose Wilder Lane, Laura's daughter, tells an alternate version of the early years in DeSmet in a fiction story that combines the experiences of her parents and grandparents. Many of the incidents in this book are real but were omitted from Laura's books. "Free Land" is darker and harsher than Laura's books; more of an adult story. It's well worth reading but don't expect another "Little House" book out of it.

New Dawn on Rocky Ridge

This book from the "Rose" series is notable for the scene in DeSmet in which Laura returns to Pa Ingalls' deathbed. It was very well done. That scene takes place in the last house shown on this page

Laura

This biography by Donald Zochert looks at the reality and history behind Laura's books, tracing the family's path. It's a well done biography. (non-fiction)

The Little House Guidebook

by William Anderson (non-fiction)

 Laura's Album: A Remembrance Scrapbook...

by William Anderson (non-fiction)

The Life of Father de Smet: Apostle of the Rocky Mountains (1801-1873)
by E. Laveille

A history of the priest for whom the town of DeSmet is named. (non-fiction)

Dances With Wolves (vhs movie) The movie has nothing to do with Laura Ingalls Wilder, but it does show stunningly beautiful views of South Dakota and the rolling, treeless prairies.

Links to sites with more information:

Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society, De Smet, South Dakota

The De Smet, South Dakota site dates & times

Ingalls Homestead

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