In 1834 Samuel W. Pond and his brother Gideon built a cabin near Cloud Man's village of the Dakota Indians on the shore of Lake Calhoun—now present-day Minneapolis—intending to preach Christianity to the Indians. The brothers were to spend nearly twenty years learning the Dakota language and observing how the Indians lived.<br /><br />In the 1860s and 1870s, after the Dakota had fought a disastrous war wit ...
This tale of two sisters courageously homesteading on the prairie in 1907 provides a lively portrait of frontier life.<br /><br />"Interesting in its spirit and atmosphere, and it is told simply and well. . . This is an unusual record, well worth reading."—New York Times Book Review<br /><br />"Mrs. Kohl has told this story of South Dakota with a simplicity, a directness, and an unders ...
Lois Phillips Hudson eloquently portrays George Custer, a determined and angry man who must battle both the land and the landlord; his hard-working wife Rachel; and their young and vulnerable daughter Lucy. Through their compelling story looms a sense of a whole nation's tragedy during the Great Depression.<br /><br />Reviews of The Bones of Plenty:<br /><br />"It is possible . . .that literary historians ...
"Johann Kohl was an educated, urbane, and well-trained German geographer, ethnologist, and popular writer. During his visit with the Lake Superior Ojibwa in 1855, he made useful and unbiased studies of their material culture, religion, and folklore. . . . The extent of Kohl's observations is really amazing. They cover the fur trade, canoe building, domestic utensils, quillwork, native foods, hunting, fishing, trapping, cooking, ...
This historical novel set at Old Fort Snelling in the 1830s is a rich and romantic re-creation of the early settlement period in Minnesota's history. Maud Hart Lovelace's careful research into the documents of the Historical Society, combined with her knowledge of the actual setting, enabled her to write a story that conveys a sense of time and place both accurate and compelling for young adults as well as general readers. ...
On May 4, 1919, Charlie Cook set off for a year of adventure in the Minnesota-Ontario Boundary Waters. Soon abandoned by his comfort-loving companion, the restless World War I veteran spent an enlightening year learning—often the hard way—how to paddle and sail on windy lakes, hunt and fish for food, bake "rough delicacies" in a reflector oven, and build winter-proof shelters. His how-to descriptions of trap ...
In the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, the federal government put thousands of unemployed writers to work in the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Out of their efforts came the American Guide series, the first comprehensive guidebooks to the people, resources, and traditions of each state in the union.<br /><br />The WPA Guide to Minnesota is a lively and detailed introduction to the st ...
The Voyageur is the authoritative account of a unique and colorful group of men whose exploits, songs, and customs comprise an enduring legacy. French Canadians who guided and paddled the canoes of explorers and fur traders, the voyageurs were experts at traversing the treacherous rapids and dangerous open waters of the canoe routes from Quebec and Montreal to the regions bordering the Great Lakes and on to the Mackenzie and Columbia Rivers. Dur ...
The voyageur's highway was the route from Lake Superior along inland waterways to the Minnesota North Country. Countless people—explorers, fur traders, missionaries, map makers, lumberjacks, miners, naturalists—were drawn to the region's woods and lakeshores. Indians, French Canadians,Scandinavians, and Slavs all used the rich resources of the land to follow an old way of life or to find a new one. In a lively ...
