The Sod-Busters: The North Dakota Frontier Experience

by J. Tweton

Here are the stories of the earliest pioneers of North Dakota told by those who experienced the decades of the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. Recorded in the middle 1930s by interviewers working in a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, those who settled the land tell “the way it was” for them when they came to the frontier. Gleaned from over 5,000 stories which are stored at the State Historical Society of North Dakota, The Sod-busters, 'Book One' in a series of memories of the frontier experience, collects seventeen of the personal histories of those who came to that endless sea of grass that challenged their strength and spirit as they broke the sod and farmed the land. It is illustrated with photographs from North Dakota collections.

98 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

Reviews

[Fred Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read a lot of these first person histories of settling in the Dakotas. My grandfather was interviewed for one of these during the Depression in the same manner of these interviews. I thought the stories in this book are some of the best I've read. They had some amazing detail considering these interviews were 40 to 50 years after the fact. They add a lot to just a dry history account review or looking at genealogy documents. They really add to the understanding of just the sheer loneliness and sparsely populated area. They talk about walking through grass higher than their head. And walking up to hill and not seeing anything other than grass. And how hard it was for the women. My grandmother also cried a lot I've been told. When my grandfather homesteaded he was the only person living in the township. And his half brothers built a shed like those described in the book and it was also on the section line so both could live in their own quarter. My great aunt was also in the first trip and gave birth to a child on the way there in the wagon. It was a crowded first winter in the cabin!

[Lisbeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

These were some amazing accounts of early homesteading in North Dakota. I appreciated the editing change to first person accounts. I would like to read more of these. I believe the originals, and close to 5000 more are in Bismarck at the State Historical Society stored as series 529.

[Jill Nesheim · Rating 5 out of 5]

original interviews with people who homesteaded in the Dakotas