Checkered Years: A Bonanza Farm Diary 1884-88 (Borealis Books) | Mary D. Woodward

Checkered Years: A Bonanza Farm Diary 1884-88 (Borealis Books) | Mary D. Woodward | A true picture of life on the Plains in the 1880s

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Checkered Years: A...

	Checkered Years: A Bonanza Farm Diary 1884-88 (Borealis Books) Mary D. Woodward Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1989 - 302 pages average customer review:based on 2 reviews view larger image
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"Mary Dodge Woodward's personal record of her life on a Dakota Territory 'bonanza farm' adds new detail and texture to the histories of both women and the West...[She] wrote about what she saw: The epic procession of reapers and threshing crews, the wildflowers and birds, the stupendous mirages that could make the wintry prairie an optical wonderland."-Elizabeth Jameson, from the Introduction

One of my favorite books

I first read the diary of Mary Dodge Woodward several years ago. Because I love the sound of Mary's written voice, I've reread it several times. It never fails to enchant. Reading this book is almost like time traveling back to the Bonanza Farm days. I found this story so compelling that I actually searched out the site of this old farm and visited with it's current residents. The site of the old Dodge farm is just west of Sheyenne Road, a half mile west of the Garrison Diversion substation. I stood in the remains of Mary's old cellar, and showed my children the location of the old barn that had the skull and crossbones sign painted on it. The location of the machine shop continues to hold so much old oil from Mary's time that grass does not grow on the site. This is a wonderful book for anyone that likes to read about the early days of Dakota territory.

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A true picture of life on the Plains in the 1880s

A friend loaned me The Checkered Years, and after reading it, I purchased two copies, one to give away and another to lend and ultimately to keep in my library. From the day-to-day writings of Mary Dodge Woodward, the reader begins to understand the central role of weather in the life of the early Dakota settlers - the awesome cold, wind, and heat; the blizzards, drought, and flood - all matter-of-factly but beautifully described in an unpretentious diary. The diary entries give a hint of the tremendous effort it took on Mary's part and that of her family to build up a large wheat farm, and along with that, the uncertainties she faced as a widow growing old. I wish the book had more background information in its introduction and more diary entries that, even though they probably would have seemed repetitive, may have given more focus to the people mentioned in the selections.

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