NEBRASKA: SETTLERS, c1888. Post and beam homes with straw in-fill are more common than load bearing ones in modern straw bale construction (though both are common), but the original bale buildings were made to use as little wood as possible. Crawford, a pioneer doctor at Merna, Custer Country, Nebraska, and his family in front of their sod house, 1886. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-nebraska-sod-house-1886-ndr-crawford-a-pioneer-doctor-at-merna-custer-95838583.html. /nA homesteader family in front of their sod house dugout in Custer County, Nebraska. Some were sod houses, dugouts, or wooden frame, but they were the first shelter the pioneer men and women had when they … The home has passed through the hands of a few organizations but is now maintained by the Joslyn Castle Trust. A doorway through the straw bale wall shows its width Nebraska style buildings have stood the test of time – the Haslow house … About eight daysbefore the house was completed, https://www.alamy.com/sd-butchers-pioneer-history-of-custer-county-and-short-sketches-of-early-days-in-nebraska-hat-i-took-my-first-lessons-in-sod-laying-which-resulted-princi-pally-in-wearing-out-my-hands-and-my-patience-i-soon-came-to-the-conclu-sion-that-any-man-that-would-leave-the-luxuries-of-a-boarding-house-wherethey-had-hash-every-day-and-a-salary-of-125-a-month-to-lay-nebraska-sod-146-pioneer-history-of-custer-county-for-75-cents-a-day-even-if-there-was-a-gintleman-on-the-top-of-the-wall-todo-the-work-was-a-fool-and-i-remained-only-six-weeks-about-eight-daysbefore-the-house-was-completed-image372460911.html, USA, Nebraska, Gothenburg, Sod House Museum, prairie outhouse, https://www.alamy.com/usa-nebraska-gothenburg-sod-house-museum-prairie-outhouse-image68355418.html. The hay used in these houses has little or no rot after nearly 100 years. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-nebraska-settlers-c1886-nfamily-of-homesteaders-standing-in-front-95836293.html. Photograph by Solomon D. Butcher, 1886. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-nebraska-settlers-1886-nhomesteader-reverend-todd-and-family-in-front-95924305.html. {From S. D. Under the provisions of the Act, settlers could obtain title to a quarter-section (160 acres, or 65 ha) of land for a nominal fee, provided that they built a house, made certain improvements, farmed the land, and occupied the site for at least five years. NEBRASKA: SETTLERS, 1886. The fully restored home is open for tours year-round; on the tour you'll learn about the process and procedures that were involved in creating the new state capital. /nHomesteader James McCrea and family in front of their sod house dugout near Berwyn, Custer County, Nebraska. Reconstructed sod house on the path to the starkly beautiful geological formations Toadstool Geologic Park in western Nebraska. This majestic home, built in the Second Renaissance Revival architectural style, was originally the private residence of entrepreneur William Ferguson and his wife Myrtle. Jake had me stand right beside the wall and look down its length; from this vantage point a slight wave could be seen where the wall meets the ceiling- what I mistook for drywall was the bale wall itself. In the days of the early pioneersan Indian would trade a buffalo robe for a cup of … That was the year Jason Snow built a house here out of rushes baled from a shallow lake that still lies behind the house, and which to this day remains filled with a thick cover of tall rushes (it is named Rush Lake). https://www.alamy.com/museum-of-the-fur-trade-in-chadron-nebraska-image5975576.html. See more ideas about Pioneer life, Kansas photos, Old west. /nFamily of homesteaders, photographed outside of their sod house at Old Coburgh Post Office, Custer County, Nebraska. Photograph by Solomon D. Butcher, c1890. NEBRASKA: SETTLERS, c1886. One exception was in a diary by Rolf Johnson, a twenty-year-old Swedish emigrant from Illinois, who arrived in Phelps County in March 1876 with his parents, a /nA homesteader in front of his sod house near Roten Valley, Custer County, Nebraska. Photograph by Solomon D. Butcher, 1888. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-nebraska-settlers-1888-na-homesteader-family-plowing-corn-in-front-95924312.html. BUTCHER. They cutthe tough sod and piledit into walls, coveringthe top with poles, grass,sod and clay, leavingopenings for the win-dows and door. /nA homesteader family in front of their sod house dugout in Custer County, Nebraska. Get more stories delivered right to your email. Descriptions of these homes can be found in reminiscences written years later, but there are few accounts written at the time the house was being built. /nHomesteader George Barnes and his children in front of their sod house in Custer County, Nebraska. NEBRASKA: SETTLERS, c1886. It contains furniture from the early 20th century as well as items from the Washington, D.C. office of Nebraska Congresswoman Virginia Smith. NEBRASKA: SETTLERS, 1887. Two books by Solomon D. Butcher (1856–1927), Nebraska photographer of the homestead era, whose works include over 1,000 photos of sod houses: Pioneer History of Custer County and Short Sketches of Early Days in Nebraska (1901), and Sod Houses, or the Development of the Great American Plains (1904); Dick, Everett. To build a sod house, you needed the right kind of grass — grass that had densely packed roots that would hold the soil together. Oil over a photograph. Williams and family in front of their sod house in Rose Valley, Custer County, Nebraska. The home is just one of the eight structures that make up the Willa Cather State Historic Site. For a long time I wanted to see the original 100-year-old straw bale buildings in Nebraska, so on a drive across the continent I included Nebraska on the tour. Straw bale homes are very strong. /nA pioneer family alongside thier sod house near Coburg, Nebraska, in 1887. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-pioneers-sod-house-1887-na-pioneer-family-alongside-thier-sod-house-95450017.html, https://www.alamy.com/isadore-haumont-and-family-in-front-of-two-story-sod-house-on-french-table-north-of-broken-bow-custer-county-nebraska-image364610922.html, . Photograph by Solomon D. Butcher, 1888. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-nebraska-settlers-1888-na-homesteader-family-with-friends-in-front-95925430.html. Before I left he took me to see a nearby sod house. S.D. Standing there surrounded by the old furniture, I could imagine the couple peacefully playing cards, blissfully unaware of the destruction that came so close. Someone had a baling machine here at least once though, in 1913. She has worked as a writer and editor since 2007. Maintenance and repair of natural plasters, Window shaping in straw bale homes: a how-to and slideshow, The common origins of Superinsulation, Passivhaus, and Net Zero homes, Green Building Elements | Reporting on Sustainably Built Environments from Bricks to Cities, An Introduction to Straw Bale BuildingEarthen Built | blog.earthenbuiltEarthen Built. hat I took my first lessons in sod laying, which resulted princi-pally in wearing out my hands and my patience. So, Nebraska settlers would search for fields of buffalo grass, little blue stem, wire grass, prairie cord grass, Indian grass, and wheat grass. It´s a good little house.”. NEBRASKA: SETTLERS, 1886. Another Brownville gem, the Carson House was built by Richard Brown, founder of Brownville. /nDr. NEBRASKA: SETTLERS, 1888. Your email address will not be published. Hand-colored woodcut, https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-a-dugout-home-covered-with-sod-for-a-prairie-homesteader-1800s-hand-17309743.html, https://www.alamy.com/usa-nebraska-gothenburg-sod-house-museum-image68344862.html, Closeup showing construction of a sod house at the Sod House Museum in Gothenburg NE, https://www.alamy.com/closeup-showing-construction-of-a-sod-house-at-the-sod-house-museum-image9198757.html, interior of a sod house with two old homesteaders in Stapleton Nebraska USA, https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-interior-of-a-sod-house-with-two-old-homesteaders-in-stapleton-nebraska-43703335.html. Hand-colored woodcut, https://www.alamy.com/sod-house-of-a-homesteader-family-on-the-great-plains-1800s-hand-colored-image3571193.html. NEBRASKA: SETTLERS, 1892. View of a typical Nebraska sodhouse about 1890. Nebraska resourcefulness and technological progress met in the sandhills and the bale house was born. Sod houses were the first dwellings for many Nebraska pioneers. /nA pioneer family poses in front of their sod house in Nebraska. /nA pioneer family in front of their sod house in Nebraska. Photograph by Solomon D. Butcher, c1886. Some were sod houses, dugouts, or wooden frame, but they were the first shelter the pioneer men and women had when they homesteaded on the Great Plains prairie. A Sod House in the Sandhills Nebraska 325 grants on the old trail often had to stop while the buffalowere crossing the road. The house was built in 1900 and occupied until 1959; in that time numerous improvements were made, including a new ceiling, a wood floor, an addition, electrical wiring, and exterior concrete reinforcement. Are any of these houses on your must-see list? Notify me of follow-up comments by email. They have a hr. Photograph by Solomon D. Butcher, 1886. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-nebraska-settlers-1886-nreverend-william-mccaslin-and-his-family-in-95925395.html. Photograph by Solomon D. Butcher, 1892. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-nebraska-settlers-1892-na-homesteader-family-in-front-of-their-sod-95925065.html. NEBRASKA: SETTLERS, c1886. /nHomesteader Reverend Todd and family in front of their sod house near West Union, Custer County, Nebraska. Unfenced and unstuccoed, by 1902 it was reported that. Required fields are marked *. Photograph by Solomon D. Butcher, 1887. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-nebraska-settlers-1887-nhomesteader-james-scott-and-family-in-front-95924006.html. A PioNEEE Dugout. Photograph by Solomon D. Butcher, c1886. The Sustainable Home » Will straw bale buildings last? The Martin/Monhart house was one of the later homes to be built in the original wave of Nebraska bale building. I built a sod house 12 by 14 feet and movedmy wife and two babies to the new home. 226,667,861 stock photos, vectors and videos, Sod house at Museum of the Fur Trade, Chadron, Nebraska, USA, https://www.alamy.com/licenses-and-pricing/?v=1, https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sod-house-at-museum-of-the-fur-trade-chadron-nebraska-usa-56688496.html, Sod House at Windlass Hill, Ash Hollow State Historic Park, Nebraska, https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sod-house-at-windlass-hill-ash-hollow-state-historic-park-nebraska-147645318.html, Old sod house with grass roof on exhibit at Great Platte River Road Archway Monument in Kearney, Nebraska. This 1911 house is notable for its excellent (restored) condition and unique design. /nA pioneer family photographed outside of their sod house at Sargent, Custer County, Nebraska. https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-sodhouse-museum-in-gothenburg-nebraska-near-the-oregon-trail-summer-12283651.html, Sod House in Summer Dawn Light Traditional Plains Dwelling Oglala National Grasslands Toadstool Park Nebraska, https://www.alamy.com/sod-house-in-summer-dawn-light-traditional-plains-dwelling-oglala-image3282011.html, Dowse Sod House located in Comstock, Custer County, Nebraska, https://www.alamy.com/dowse-sod-house-located-in-comstock-custer-county-nebraska-image264821986.html, https://www.alamy.com/sod-house-museum-in-gothenburg-nebraska-image9198767.html, The Sod House Museum, Gothenburg, Nebraska, USA, https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-the-sod-house-museum-gothenburg-nebraska-usa-77814625.html.