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The Sod House
"No one so well knows the life of pioneer settlements," writes Addison E. Sheldon in the foreword to this book, "as the country doctor, and the country editor, and it might be added, the country postmaster who (in the popular pioneer belief) knew every letter written or received by every person in the community and read all the postcards." No wonder, then, that Dr. Sheldon considered Cass G. Barns uniquely well equipped as a local historian, for Barns served his community in all three capacities. A country doctor who combined farming with medicine, he had a part in the founding and management of the first industries of Boone County, Nebraska, became the editor of a newspaper, county commissioner, and postmaster. The Sod House is a personal narrative—the intimate story of the settlement and frontier years (1867-1897) of the Nebraska prairie country lying between the Elkhorn and Loup rivers. In the worlds of Dr. Sheldon, himself a pioneer Nebraskan, "It preserves for all future generations a faithful picture of the period and the region which it describes."
- GenresNonfiction
303 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 16, 2012
I don't know if I should mark this "read" when I abandoned it, but the devices here won't let me put up anything I don't say I have read, or intend to read. I've read all of this one I am going to.
The fault was partially mine, in having judged a book by its cover. I was at a book swap, it was free, and if I didn't grab it, someone else would. I was 50 pages into this (to me) unbearably dull bit of history, wondering when we were going to get into the details of how to make, improve, even live in a sod house when push comes to shove (as it did on the treeless prairies so long ago), when it occurred to me to revisit the table of contents. Oh, man! The title was a METAPHOR. This book IS NOT about sod houses! It is a book about the history of Nebraska. I've driven through Nebraska a couple of times, thought that parts of it were attractive and other parts not so much, but I do not live in, or have a strong interest in the topic.
Ever since I was young and read the "Little House" series, I have been somewhat fascinated by the notion of a sod house (not that I would care to spend a whole winter in one), and I recently read Willa Cather's Oh Pioneers! I was on a sod house kick, and got blindsided by a free book. It's a lesson well learned.
The fault was partially mine, in having judged a book by its cover. I was at a book swap, it was free, and if I didn't grab it, someone else would. I was 50 pages into this (to me) unbearably dull bit of history, wondering when we were going to get into the details of how to make, improve, even live in a sod house when push comes to shove (as it did on the treeless prairies so long ago), when it occurred to me to revisit the table of contents. Oh, man! The title was a METAPHOR. This book IS NOT about sod houses! It is a book about the history of Nebraska. I've driven through Nebraska a couple of times, thought that parts of it were attractive and other parts not so much, but I do not live in, or have a strong interest in the topic.
Ever since I was young and read the "Little House" series, I have been somewhat fascinated by the notion of a sod house (not that I would care to spend a whole winter in one), and I recently read Willa Cather's Oh Pioneers! I was on a sod house kick, and got blindsided by a free book. It's a lesson well learned.
November 20, 2021
Very helpful book providing background for the book I'm going to write about my great great grandparents who were among the early settlers in Peru, Nemaha County, Nebraska.
Barnes gives great details about life on the Nebraska frontier. Additionally, I learned some things that I needed to know about the GAR and it's lady's auxilliary the WRC - I had seen newspaper articles that two of the folks who will be in my story were in the WRC but I had no idea what it was - Women's Relief Corp. Also learned about the Second Nebraska Infantry, the unit in which Bert Glasgow served - great background. Barnes was a man of his time so his views on the native Americans and the desecration of the buffalo and the landscape, while deplorable in contemporary eyes, were probably common views at the time.
A great boon to my research. Barnes is a little full of himself at times and the book could have used editing - thus 3 stars. But a worthy read for anyone interested in a history of the prairie frontier from someone who was there.
Barnes gives great details about life on the Nebraska frontier. Additionally, I learned some things that I needed to know about the GAR and it's lady's auxilliary the WRC - I had seen newspaper articles that two of the folks who will be in my story were in the WRC but I had no idea what it was - Women's Relief Corp. Also learned about the Second Nebraska Infantry, the unit in which Bert Glasgow served - great background. Barnes was a man of his time so his views on the native Americans and the desecration of the buffalo and the landscape, while deplorable in contemporary eyes, were probably common views at the time.
A great boon to my research. Barnes is a little full of himself at times and the book could have used editing - thus 3 stars. But a worthy read for anyone interested in a history of the prairie frontier from someone who was there.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews