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Oh, the dreary winter, how the storm has raged all day!” So penned
Mary Dodge Woodward during a North Dakota blizzard, on this day, February
20, 1884.
Mary Dodge Woodward was born on June 27th in 1826, far from the Dakota
prairies in Vermont. She later settled in Wisconsin with her husband and
raised five children. After the death of her husband, Mary moved with
three of her children to the Red River Valley at the age of fifty-six.
Mary and her family arrived in Dakota Territory and worked over two sections,
or about 1,500 acres of wheat. What makes Mary Dodge Woodward stand out
among the many settlers who braved the Dakota prairies was her journal.
Her daily entries provide an important source of information detailing
the life, weather and dangers of Dakota Territory. Here, a few excerpts
from her diary...
May 23, 1885. “The wind blows all the time, so hard that one can
scarcely stand before it…About four o’clock the sky looked fearful,
we heard a distant roar, and soon the storm was upon us. The hailstones
were as large as nutmegs and oh, how they did kill things!...Our wheat
that looked so green has disappeared and the fields are bare.”
May 31, 1885. “The wheat is rising out of the ground. The day is
very beautiful and I have been out nearly all of it picking posies. The
air is soft and cool. I think there is something fascinating about gathering
wild flowers, strolling along, not knowing what you will find.
August 6, 1886. “A beautiful day. The men are all harvesting…They
have been cutting sixty acres a day with all five harvesters running…The
reapers are flying all about us, stretching out their long white arms
and grasping the grain. They remind me of sea gulls as they glisten in
the sunshine.”
January 24, 1888. “The wind came up last night and by twelve another
blizzard was upon us. This morning I could only now and then see the buildings…Except
for the cold winters, I should like this place very much indeed.”
The Woodwards eventually left their Dakota farm in 1889 and returned to
Wisconsin. Although Mary died just over one year later, the writings she
left behind provide a clear picture of the struggles and joys of those
who braved the plains of North Dakota over a century ago.
Written by Lane Sunwall
Sources
Anderson, Kathie Ryckman. “A Journey into Literary North Dakota,”
as published in North Dakota History: Journal of the Northern Plains.
(62.3, Summer 1995) http://www.readnd.org/Anderson%20essay.pdf
“The Bonanza Farms of North Dakota,” from the Website of the
National Park Service
http://www.nps.gov/history/nR/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/106wheat/106facts2.htm
Blaine, Harold A., review of The Checkered Years: Mary Doge Woodward by
Mary B. Cowdrey as published in The Mississippi Valley Historical Review.
(24.4 March 1938), p. 567
http://www.jstor.org/cgi-bin/jstor/printpage/0161391x/di952233/95p0042s/0.pdf?backcontext=page&dowhat=Acrobat&config=jstor&userID=92976a75@wisc.edu/01c0a83475005061049&0.pdf
Culley, Margo, ed., A Day at a Time. As found at http://books.google.com/books?id=AuSEUamWbu0C&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&dq=mary+dodge+woodward&source=web&ots=rfFH_4NqNc&sig=hmOSUYz5XtQZlISeVOHxf891sAE#PPP1,M1
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