Life in a sod house

When the homestead act came into action many people were really excited. Some people came for the adventure, others came for a new life. The problem was that when people arrived to the prairie there were no trees. As quick as you can blink the land by the rivers were gone. It was really difficult for the early settlers to make a shelter without lumber. Thus the sod house was born.

Quickly nicknamed the soddy, the sod house became a common dwelling. Sod houses were only around 18 by 20 feet. At first people had to build a soddy using a shovel and some molds. Some bricks were about 1 foot long and 2 feet thick! Making a soddy this way was painstaking and tiring. But later a plow was invented that carved bricks out of the ground. It was still very difficult. But it was well worth it. The sod house was cool in the summer and warm in the winter. There were complaints though. Some of the women who weren't used to prairie life had many troubles. Here were some complaints. There is no possible way to clean a soddy. You can only rearrange the dirt. Others were about the roof. When it rains the roof leaks. This caused many problems for the pioneers. If you had livestock the cows would somehow wind up on the roof grazing and then all at once fall through it. After that they would have to repair it.

During the summer people mostly stayed outside. Whenever they had something to do they did it outside. The reason for this is the lighting in the soddy. The lighting stunk! When ever it was dark outside they had to use candles or kerosene lamps. They wouldn't use it often because the nearest supply station was normally 3 - 10 miles away. When someone went on a long trip they had to take a wagon. This would leave the family's only transportation walking. They would sometimes walk 3 - 4 miles one way. Just goes to show you how tough prairie life was.

Neighbors would live 3 - 6 miles away. Living alone was a fact of life. Get togethers were a happy time. Everyone within 10 miles would show up [thats not very much...]. The family would move out all of the furniture and convert the soddy as a dance floor. They would hold square dances and other dances. The kids would also pull pranks on others when they were bored. Those times were happy times.

Sod houses were needed on the treeless prairie. They were not the most comfortable to live in but the most essential to life. Times were tough, living was rough and it made boys into men. The sod house, the forgotten log house of the prairie.

Brandon Wright, P.7

info www.nebraskastudies.org, www.wikipedia.com

To build a sod house you would first need sod. First you need to make some bricks of sod about a foot thick and about two feet long. Then you need to stack them into walls. Make sure that they are sturdy. The pioneers used mud and sticks to bond the bricks together. Kind of like cement. But dirty. After you got the walls up they would put up the roof. They would sometimes use what little lumber they had to make the roof stronger. After the sod house is built you would put stucco or wood panels if you were lucky enough that would protect the outer wall. Canvas or plaster lined the interior walls so the dirt didn't crumble off. That is how they would build and old fashioned sod house.

The sod house was important on the prairie because it was cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It was warm because the walls were so thick. This was very useful in the scorching hot summer and the ''freeze a herd of cattle'' winter. The soddy dwellers found life unbearable or they thought they were on top of the world.

Sod houses were kind of like a temporary home. They would only live in the soddy for about 6 or 7 years. During those years they endured terrible weather. It rained, snowed and some days it was very hot. When it rained they used bowls to catch the rain. After the rain they would have to repair the roof. When it snowed the family would have to do chores around the house. On hot days they would have to collect buffalo chips.

If I had lived in a soddy I think I would have liked it. I would relax in the summer because the inside of a sod house is very cool. It would be also warm in the winter. You would have to work outside and I like to be outside. The only complaint that I would have is the maintenence. I wouldn't like having to always clean the floor and then have it dirty again. When it rains it wouldn't be very fun. And when the rain finally stops I would have to repair the roof. That would be completly terrible. Good thing a sod house is only a temporary home. A sod house is very hard to build and fix when on the pairie but it is a blessing to have.

Tyler Crookshank P.7

Info www.Nebraskastudies.org, Wikipedia, and the encyclopedia