The prairie winnows out its own : the West River Country of South Dakota in the years of depression and dust / / Paula M. Nelson

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910827052303321
• Autore: Nelson Paula <1951->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Iowa City, : University of Iowa Press, 1996
• ISBN: 1-58729-167-3
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (277 p.)
• Disciplina: 978.3/032
• Soggetti: Agriculture - South Dakota - History - 20th century; South Dakota History; South Dakota Economic conditions
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Description based upon print version of record.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Contents; Preface; Introduction: After the West Was Won; Chapter 1. Room at the Bottom; Chapter 2. The Cow, the Sow, and the Hen; Chapter 3. If a Woman Is a True Companion; Chapter 4. Not a Young Chicago; Chapter 5. The Social Costs of Space; Chapter 6. Seedtime and Harvest Shall Not Cease; Chapter 7. In the Last Days, Perilous Times Shall Come; Chapter 8. The Plainsman Cannot Assume; Chapter 9. Outside the Shelterbelt; Notes; Bibliography; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: Between 1900 and 1915, in the last great land rush, over one hundred thousand homesteaders flooded into the west river country of South Dakota, a land noted for its aridity and unpredictable weather, its treelessness, and its endless sky. The settlers of "the last, best west" weathered their first crisis in the severe drought of 1910-1911, which winnowed out many of the speculators and faint of heart; they abandoned their founding hopes of quick success and substituted a new ethos of "next year country"-while this year was hard, next year would be better, an ironic phrase at once optim