Little House on the Prairie

[Blind Dog]

Here's one for Jack. About 7 miles SE of Roscoe, SD, 11/16/11.

Oops, should have selected Photo Fridays.

[Drew Hause]

Little school house on the Kansas prairie

[Drew Hause]

Little house in the Nebraska sandhills

[Gerald McPherson]

Wow! That sure does't look like North Georgia. I could let my pups run loose there. Oh Well. Gerald

[Drew Hause]

Little school house on the prairie; storms clouds pass behind Buck Creek School near Lawrence, Kan.



William Inge A Level Land
"Men in the prairie states have long had to deal with forces they cannot always control. They often have to surrender to these forces and deal with them as best they can. This surrender to forces greater than one's self cannot but create a humility in human character that is a part of all religious faith. Prairie people, most of them descendants of Puritan (and Methodist) New Englanders or of God-fearing Scandinavians or Central Europeans, know and live with the knowledge that man is not all-powerful. The general tendency in this land is to be conservative in all things, and to be suspicious of all extremists."

[TARNATION !!!]

Fred: Thanks for starting this thread. I do enjoy stumbling across these structures and the thoughts they evoke of a bygone era and the hardy resolve of those who lived in an environment of such extremes. Primitive shelter by today's standards but a happy home for someone.

This one is a favorite. About 20 miles north of Ambrose ND, which puts it in Saskatchewan. It is now home to upland birds, mostly undisturbed but for a few visits by CHARLIE and me.

Cheers,
Jack

[Dean Romig]

Pictures of deserted homes on the praries of the U.S. and Canada evoke a feeling of emptiness and despair and my thoughts are only "broken dreams".

[TARNATION !!!]

Next door to some abandoned houses you find nice modern homes. The abandoned structures are from the '20s to '40s. Some definitely went under. Others took over that land and added to theirs, which saw them abandon a house to build a better place. Youngsters headed to cities. Viable family farms got larger and larger. In the early days a quarter section was a big job for a family. While hunting an area, I have watched a quarter section of grain gobbled up by a group of combines and spewed into waiting semis in just a few hours. Equipment kept getting better and bigger, which also reduced the number of humans needed to farm the land. So, yes there was some despair but also some tremendous success stories. I have hunted on "family grain farms" that are 10 sections of land. However, I agree the abandoned structures can evoke a feeling of emptiness, despair and "broken dreams". When I gaze upon them, I think of the kids running around and playing and "doing chores" learning responsibility and self-reliance. I think about the warmth of the wood stove and the smells of bread, pies and fresh venison prepared for a winter's meal. And then the camera shutter clicks. There is no doubt that those who broke this land were hardy folk.

Cheers,
Jack

Near this abandoned home

is this modern home


This type of equipment makes short work of a 1/4 section

[charlie cleveland]

nice pictures.. i wish some of the old homes could tell there stories of happier days..as i look at the land and the equipment used now and the few that still strugle to feed all of us my hats off to them...i have set on a tractor breaking 6 foot of ground at a time as i done this i would get to seeingpeople of by gone days using mules and only plowing 6 inches at a time...makes me break out in a cold sweat thinking about following that ole mule...indeed our ancesters were a hardy lot my hats off to them to... keep them old homes a coming..... charlie

[Drew Hause]

The failures were frequently outside a man's control

http://www.kansashistory.us/dustbowl.html



"Black Sunday" in Dodge City April 11, 1935