WOULD YOU LIKE TO BUILD A SOD HOUSE?

The Thadens lived in a sod house and probably the Pluckers did, too. Records describe sod homes as usually 9 x 16. They settled near rivers or creeks where they could secure small poles by cutting down the trees to make side poles and roof poles. Once this was erected, the holes were stuffed with woven grass. Over this was piled hay, then sod, and finally loose dirt. This was then, a sod house.

In a history of South Dakota written by John R. Miltdon, he says, "The typical settler had a family. With his oxen he cut sod for a house, long strips of three-inch sod, the prairie grasses holding it together as he stripped and furrowed. Then, with a spade, he cut the strips into three-foot lengths. The entire family worked together in stacking the pieces of sod-like bricks into four walls and with openings for a door and a window, which would be put in later. On the creek, they would find enough willow branches to make poles to support the roof. by criss-crossing enough poles, they got the support needed for the roof sod with only a slight sag in the middle. The completed sod house was windproof, fireproof and sturdy, but it would not keep out the water during the rainy season, and this was one of the paradoxes of sodbusting -- they had to pray for rain for their crops while at the same time praying for a dry house. They could not have both . . . If a town was established nearby, the settler could build a tarpaper shack or even a frame house."

The information we saw at the Rock County Historical Association showed that the Thaden homestead was the Southeast 1/4 of section two of Martin Township, but the deed record from Rock County records show it was the NW quarter of section 2. That piece of land is located four miles south and six miles west of Luverne, MN and there is a creek running through the quarter near the buildings. This confirms an earlier historical account that the kids weren't able to go to school one day because the creek was too high. This picture shows the exact spot of the Thadens' homestead.


On November 5, 1878, the Thadens received their homestead certificate at Worthington, MN. The description of the land was given and then the Patent Record says that it is his and his heirs "to have and to hold forever." Wm H. Crook signed the document on behalf of President Ruthiford B. Hayes.

The school the Thaden children attended was one mile south and two miles west of their homestead. As we drove by in our car, we found the remnants of a school with an old flag pole still standing. This picture is a site that looks like it could be the exact spot of the school the Thaden kids attended. It was just a couple of miles from the homestead site.