By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Someone on a Laura Ingalls Wilder group that I belong to wondered if the house in the photographs Garth Williams took in 1947 is the Ingallses’ house from their homestead claim, i.e. Why go to the expense of building a decent shanty in that case? One man built a 12 x 14 inch model of a house, and swore that his home was “12 by 14.” Another man kept an old window frame inside his windowless shanty, thereby being able to truthfully claim that he had “a window in his house.” Another man tossed rocks at four corners of a small square, slept on a plank in the middle of it, stuck a piece of broken glass in a split stick beside him, and swore he slept in a house with a plank floor and a window.īut what of the shanty built by Charles Ingalls? There are many stories about the fraud of homesteaders or preemptors whose main intent was to obtain clear title so they could sell the land. While the Ingallses’ homestead shanty was small, it was clean and bright and was improved upon as time and money allowed. It was a place to store anything the settlers might own, in order to protect them from weather… and from thieves.įor the serious homesteader, one who intended to remain on the land he or she homesteaded, the “habitable dwelling” required to be constructed on the claim would be the best they could afford and build. It was a place to cook, especially in bad weather. It was meant to get the homesteaders on their land and out of the elements. – Harvey Dunn, 1930.Ī claim shanty such as the board shanty on the Ingallses’ homestead, was usually not meant to be a permanent home. This shanty became a lean-to on a house 12×14 feet and in that lean-to I was born. …My father filed on a claim and built a shanty six by nine feet, with seven foot posts. OL1719790W Page_number_confidence 93.51 Pages 310 Partner Innodata Ppi 300 Rcs_key 24143 Republisher_date 20201018141103 Republisher_operator Republisher_time 514 Scandate 20201016230427 Scanner Scanningcenter cebu Scribe3_search_catalog isbn Scribe3_search_id 0590014013 Tts_version 4.A mean dwelling a temporary building or erection a hut. Access-restricted-item true Addeddate 10:01:26 Associated-names Williams, Garth, illustrator Boxid IA1977321 Camera USB PTP Class Camera Collection_set printdisabled External-identifier

By the Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder