Home at Last!

The first and most important thing to settlers after their land claim was, of course, a roof over their heads. Depending on where they settled, the house could be anything from a solid log cabin to a rock house, from a grass sod house to primitive a dugout.


To build our first temporary dugout home on the plains we start by digging a hole 6 foot deep on a sloping area in a rise of ground. We have laid out our rectangle and when we begin digging we find the soil is the consistency of putty. A shovel is our tool but it would be just as easy if we used our boots and did the digging by foot!

When the hole is big enough, we erect front and side walls with chunks of sod cut from the surrounding prairie. The walls are 2 1/2 feet above the surface. We then roof the whole thing with boards, straw and more sod. Finally we sprinkle corn seed over the earth from where we cut out the sod to make our house.

Altogether the project cost us $10.05 with $4.05 in cash for nails, hinges, and a window. The rest was labor cost which we have bartered for firewood and lumber to make us some furniture.

We worry that the first rains will collaspe our shelter and wash all our money away!
Underground living like this is a temporary solution, so as soon as we rebuild our money supplies, we will build us the "soddy" which is the classic style of prairie house.

Next time - we move up to a sod house!