Homes on the Range - Dugouts vs. Sod Houses

 

"The path went across the short sunny grass, to the edge of the bank. Down below it was the creek, rippling and glistening in the sunshine. The willow trees grew up beyond the creek.

Over the edge of the bank, the path turned and went slanting down, close against the grassy bank that rose up like a wall.

Laura went down it cautiously. The bank rose up beside her till she could not see the wagon. There was only the high sky above her, and down below her, the water was talking to itself. Laura went a step farther, then one more step. The path stopped at a wider, flat place, where it turned and dropped down to the creek in stair-steps. Then Laura saw the door.

The door stood straight up in the grassy bank, where the path turned. It was like a house door, but whatever was behind it was under the ground. The door was shut."

On the Banks of Plum Creek, Chapter 1, The Door in the Ground

Imagine yourself as a pioneer living in a hole in the ground. Now imagine that floodwater is rising toward the ceiling. Welcome to the prairie!

While the sod house is iconic of the frontier, many pioneers started out in an even simpler form of housing the dugout.

In short, pioneers had to dig a rectangular hole into a hillside or a ravine. The open side faced the east to catch the morning light. Its position also kept blowing snow away from the door. They enclosed the open front with a wall of logs or sod and left a space for a door; a window was optional. Finally, they roofed the hole with "poles, brush, hay, and earth." Sod shingles, rectangles of soil about 4 inches thick with grass and roots intact were laid over wooden supports. Because wood was scarce, the supports were frequently more optimistic than substantial.

Dugouts were cool in the summer and warm in the winter. They also were dirty. Chunks of the ceiling continually flaked off. Water added to dirt flakes equaled mud. And every time it rained, the roof leaked muddy water. It dripped during the storm and sometimes for days afterward. Some pioneers held umbrellas over pots and pans while they cooked. Frequently, the sod became so waterlogged the entire roof gave way burying the occupants and all they owned in mud.

Under all these leaking, dripping, falling roofs were dirt floors. Some dirt floors were left "au natural" that is, covered with grass and weeds. Others, where the layer of sod had been dug out, were smoothed with a spade. In some dwellings, the floor was tamped down with a fence post. Folks who really wanted to show off tamped the dirt, flooded it with water, and later burned dry grass on it. Repeating this process several times produced a hard, pottery-like surface. Clay mixed with sand or gravel gave the floor a stucco-like surface.

But water turns all dirt floors to mud.

The next step was carpeting. Pioneers added rags and burlap to mats and skins In some cases, straw was put down and walked into a mat that was called the purest kind of pioneer luxury.

"In those days, we did not have any such things as rugs. We tore the old worn-out clothes, dress skirts, shirts, and aprons into small strips, sewed them together, and wound them into a big ball. Then we could buy carpet warp of some pretty colors and have carpet woven out of the rags. It would be woven into strips one yard wide and as long as the room. The strip had to be sewn together by hand then you had a carpet large enough to cover all the floor. Some people put straw under the carpet before it was tacked down to the floor."

Mrs. W.H. Hodge, from "Sod Walls" by Roger L. Welsch   

 

The dugout would be cheap, quickly built, cool in summer, and warm in winter. It would also be cramped, dark, dirty, and full of every critter in the ground. But it would do until the family planted the first crop and had time to build a proper soddy or frame house.

Sod houses were mostly built on the plains, where the prairie grasses were thick, and trees were scarce.

A sod house, also known as a "soddy," was constructed of blocks cut from the thick sod of the prairie grasslands. The blocks were piled on top of one another and then packed tightly together to create the walls of the house. The walls of the soddy curved slightly, similar to an igloo. the wider base allowed the walls to support the weight of the bricks. The roof was often made of wood or canvas, and the floor was typically made of packed dirt.

Sod houses were a cheap and relatively easy way to build a house on the frontier, where there were few trees and traditional building materials were not readily available. They provided insulation against the cold and kept the interior cool during the hot summer months. Plastered or wallpapered walls on the inside made them feel more like regular houses, although not all "soddies" had these luxuries. However, they were also prone to leaks and could be infested with pests such as mice and insects. Also, they were not very durable and had to be rebuilt frequently.

 

In my upcoming release, "Olivia's Odyssey", the heroine from Boston, Olivia Talbot, has never been in a dugout let alone seen one. But on an outing with the hero, Sheriff Sam Wright, she begins to see the land through his eyes. When they stop at a dugout her reaction is what you might expect. The absence of natural light, the packed dirt floor, flakes of dirt falling from the ceiling, and the dank smell of earth are definitely not what she's been accustomed to in a home. Reminding herself that she's now living in the West, she slowly embraces the situation in which she finds herself.

As a mail-order bride to a cattleman, Olivia Talbot expected her life would change.

What she didn't expect upon her arrival was to discover she was a widow before she was a bride.

Things go from bad to worse after Olivia Talbot is let go from her position at the Butterick Pattern Company in Boston and her beloved Auntie Dee passes away. Armed with only her sewing machine and a letter of introduction to Mildred Crenshaw, proprietress of the Westward Home and Hearts Matrimonial Agency she soon finds herself corresponding with a cattleman from Cottonwood Falls, Kansas.

Arriving in Kansas, her hopes for a future with Nate Forester are dashed when the handsome sheriff delivers the news she won’t be getting married.

Sheriff Sam Wright can handle most trouble that comes his way in Cottonwood Falls. Yet, Olivia Talbot’s sapphire eyes and dark curls are a threat of a different kind, and soon she’s taking over his time and his thoughts.

As they grow closer, Olivia begins to hope there may be a future for her and Sam. Soon, however, doubts and fears start to plague her. What if he didn’t care for her as much as she cared for him? What if he fell in love with her only because he felt sorry for her?

But when an outlaw’s bullet threatens to crush the fragile seeds of love, Olivia is faced with losing him even before she has a chance to tell him she cares for him.

Will a leap of faith promise a new beginning? 

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