The Wild West 9: Doomtowns

Gold. New lives. Second chances. The West provided many opportunities. But conquering the land often came at a high cost. Here’s the story of one of the most well-known families on the frontier: the Ingalls. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
It was eighteen seventy five, and the people under the
blazing Minnesota sun hoped for relief. At first, they welcomed
the ominous cloud forming on the horizon, but instead of rain,
came locusts. Like something out of a horror movie. They
blanketed everything before them, eating and chewing through every green
growing thing, and then when they had devoured every crop,

(00:27):
the ravenous insects took to paper, cloth, and even the
wool off of sheep. Intense summer heat had caused the
grasshopper population to explode. For some mysterious reason, certain species
morphed into hideous, long winged, ravenous locusts, and while yes,
insects are pretty light, estimates put the total weight of
the swarm at roughly the equivalent of a full grown bison.

(00:51):
They blanketed the skies and fields from Texas in the
south all the way to the Dakota Territory in the north.
The locusts washed up against fences, creating drifts a foot deep.
As one landowner put it, they ate everything except the mortgage.
Farmers filled trenches with sticks and leaves before setting them ablaze,
but the thick wave of locusts smothered the flames. It

(01:13):
was like bringing a fly swater to a gunfight. When
Autumn rolled in, the bugs sunned themselves on the railroad tracks.
But when the cooler morning came, the chili insects found
themselves unable to move. If you're imagining a slippery, gooey
mess and train wrecks, then were both on the same page.
Communities turned to the government for assistance. Unfortunately, state governments

(01:35):
offered next to no relief, and Congress tossed a measly
one hundred thousand dollars at the problem. In eighteen seventy five,
the locusts returned in record numbers. At an astounding one
hundred ten miles wide, eighteen hundred miles long, and a
quarter mile deep. They covered a staggering one hundred ninety
eight thousand square miles, and inside that buzzing cloud were

(01:57):
an estimated three point five trillion hung insects. Many settlers
abandoned their homesteads and ventured west, hoping for a fresh start.
But new isn't always better, and sometimes it comes at
an unimaginable cost. I'm Aaron Mankee, and welcome to the
wild West. They had always been wanderers. Ever since the

(02:30):
moment the ancestors first stepped off the Mayflower, the Ingles
family had been reinventing themselves through hardship, and they were
good at it. In fact, it might have been that
starting point in Puritan New England, where Martha Ingles had
been accused of witchcraft in the town of Salem, that
spurred their move westward. By the time Charles was born
in eighteen thirty six, the family had settled in New York.

(02:53):
Unfortunately for the Ingles family, America's first Great Depression came
along a year later. As it dragged on for the
next seven years, it decimated whatever wealth the family managed
to accumulate. Their search for a better life led them
to Wisconsin, and although the family was poor, Charles found
riches in another area of life. Love. He met Caroline

(03:13):
Lake Kuiner, whose family was equally poor. Romance blossomed between them,
and they married in February of eighteen sixty. For a
short time, life seemed good for both clans. Sadly, the
financial crash after the Southern Secession shattered their dreams of prosperity,
nearly wiping out both families life savings. It making matters worse,

(03:34):
Wisconsin put a controversial military draft in place as the
Civil War began. Caroline's brother Joseph tragically died after an
injury he sustained in the Battle of Shiloh. To avoid
the draft, many of the male residents of Wisconsin suddenly
developed a range of disabilities. Some claim to have bad eyes,
while others said they suffered from lameness or bronchitis. I've

(03:57):
seen no mention of bone spurs, but I'm sure that
excuse was you as well. Charles Ingles also managed to
avoid enlistments. Although it's unclear how, the Ingles headed north
to live closer to family who had settled in Pepin, Wisconsin.
In January of eighteen sixty five, they welcomed their first child,
Mary Amelia. Two years later, in February of eighteen sixty seven,

(04:18):
Laura Elizabeth was born, but it wasn't long before the
family hit the open road again. This time, they traveled
through Missouri and then to southeastern Kansas. At first, they
tried to settle in Native American territory, but that didn't
work out as plan, so they began searching for a
new opportunity. It was the rumor of rich farmland in
Minnesota that finally drew them north. During their travels, Caroline

(04:42):
gave birth to two more daughters, Carrie and Grace. The
Ingles had very little to no money, but the newly
minted Homestead Act gave the family of six an opportunity
that they couldn't resist. And we've talked about the Act
before on this show, but here's a quick refresher. Established
in eighteen sixty two, it offered lower income Americans the
chance to own their own land. Homesteaders could either take

(05:05):
to squatting on land or pay a small fee. But
nothing comes without a catch, does it, And those seeking
property also had to reside on it for five years,
and there were other conditions too. Applicants had to be
either the head of a household or at least twenty
one years old. Two neighbors or friends had to vouch
that claimants had never taken up arms against the US
and intended to honor the requirements, and freeland was too

(05:28):
good to pass up. After filing a claim for a
nice piece of property along the banks of Plum Creek
near Walnut Grove, the Ingles settled down once again, but
carving out a new life was far from easy. Homesteaders
faced blizzards and limited supplies. Open fields meant fewer trees
for building materials, and their livestocks struggled with the lack

(05:48):
of proper vegetation. Despite their hard work, the family remained poor.
For Christmas one year, Laura and her siblings felt lucky
enough to get a piece of candy that was it
tucked away deep in the woods. Predators like wolves howled
in the night. Fire was an ever present threat, and
the distance between neighbors and towns made getting crops to

(06:09):
market difficult. But hope outweighed the risks for them, and
when the first railway connecting the east to the West
coast was completed on May tenth of eighteen sixty nine,
farmers everywhere rejoiced. More land rushes spurred on a wave
of homesteaders, but with all the difficulty and the locust invasions,
the Ingles began to look elsewhere. This time, the family

(06:32):
set off for Dakota Territory. Unbeknownst to them, though the
best land had already been taken, that wouldn't be the
worst of their troubles. I can only imagine what it
looked like. Newspaper ads depicted fields of bountiful crops utter

(06:54):
abundance to those who were down on their luck. But
little did they know that those railroad company ads were
nothing more than an illusion. You see, the Great Plains,
including the d Quota Territory, had remained largely unsettled until
the late eighteen seventies for a few reasons. For one,
Native Americans had put up a valiant resistance against displacement

(07:14):
from their ancestral territory. One clear example of this could
be seen as gold seekers descended upon the Black Hills,
forcing the Cheyenne and Lakota Sioux to fight to protect
their sacred land. And then there was the environment. To
put it bluntly, the Great Plains was a farming nightmare.
Even as far back as eighteen oh three, Thomas Jefferson

(07:35):
called it and I quote, an immense trackless desert, and
over the years numerous explorers and surveyors echoed his sentiments.
In eighteen seventy seven, Major John Wesley Powell, a war
hero and a scientist, conducted extensive expeditions into the Western territories.
He classified the land into three categories, humid, sub humid,

(07:56):
and arid. And here's the kicker. According to Powell, a
mere three percent of the arid land was suitable for farming.
He warned anyone who would listen that the small farmers
flocking to Dakota Territory would likely be financially ruined within
a decade. Their only hope was cooperative farming. If local
farmers could pool their resources and knowledge, he suggested that

(08:17):
they might stand a chance, But railroad companies brushed away
Powell's scientific evidence and warnings. Instead, they waged a relentless
campaign to fuel the Dakota boom. After all, without the
farmers and travelers, the railroads wouldn't make a dime. Charles
found a job as a bookkeeper with a railroad company.
He scouted the area around Silver Lake for the perfect homestead,

(08:39):
eventually choosing a plot not far from the budding town
of Desmet. After the winter of eighteen seventy nine, the
area became a boom town, and the Ingles built a
structure not much more than a shack. Claim shanties like
the one that Charles and his family constructed were flimsy
structures made from spare materials and leftover lumber. The spring
and summer were beautiful that year, and the family needed

(09:01):
little more than what nature provided, and they barely had
more than that anyway. And although the weather was pleasant,
the soil and the farming conditions were meager at best.
But Charles was nothing if not resourceful. Wild grasses grew abundantly,
and he cut and sold them for a quick buck.
They invested in a mowing machine and a hay rake

(09:21):
with the money that they earned from that. But little
did they know that this crop would serve as a
lifeline during the unforgiving months to come. Charles and Caroline
had planned to rely on the railroads to supplement their supplies,
but nature had its own plans. In late September that year,
the summer drew to a close and rains arrived. Then,
in a twist of fate, on Friday, October fifteenth of

(09:43):
eighteen eighty, it happened the sun seemed to vanish from
the sky. The winds shifted to the northwest, bringing torrential rain, sleet,
and ice. Followed a blizzard, unusually early for the season,
descended upon desmet snowfall in intensified throughout the day and night,
transforming the landscape into a maze of enormous snowdrifts. While

(10:05):
there were no reported deaths, the blizzard wreaked havoc. The
Ingles battled the elements, performing chores and preparing meals, and
simply trying to stay warm. The wind in the region
howled at speeds of up to seventy miles per hour,
and unprotected animals succumbed to the bitter cold. Settler David
Gilbert and his father had been constructing a shanty made
of sod when the storm hit. They huddled together in

(10:28):
the structure for three days and prayed that the roof
would hold. Lucky for them, they survived to tell the tale.
Charles realized that the shanty would not be suitable for winter.
With the weather turning pleasant once again, the family packed
their belongings and moved to one of the store buildings
he had erected and dismet. The buildings were more secure,
and the proximity to neighbors, shops, and the railway offered

(10:50):
a better chance of survival. Even before the Ingles arrived,
though a letter from a missionary had described the brutal
winters in Dakota Territory. It warned of how the north
wind raged with unimaginable violence, burying everything under thick layers
of snow. If only Charles had read those accounts, perhaps
he would have chosen a different path. Charles remained optimistic. Yes,

(11:19):
winter was coming, but people were close enough to town
to be ready to lend a hand should anyone need it,
And together they would also keep the railways clear, which
meant that fresh supplies wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, those
townsfolk were about to come face to face with a
harsh reality. The first winter storm came calling in November.
Sure everyone expected snow, but no one expected the white

(11:42):
out conditions. The blizzard caught Laura Carrie, their teacher, and
their classmates by surprise. They shuffled along, keeping focused on
the direction of the closest building. Thankfully, the teacher's brother,
Cap Garland, had broken away from the group and taken shelter.
He organized a search part that found Laura and the
others just in time. But they hadn't been heading towards

(12:04):
safety after all. Disoriented by the conditions, they had been
heading straight out into the prairie. The blizzards were relentless
as the weeks went on. Snowdrifts covered the buildings, and
farmers had a tunnel from their houses to their barns
to feed the livestock. Snow piled up on the railroad tracks,
defying their best efforts to keep them clear, and according

(12:24):
to a few cowboys, the snow filled a nearby canyon
that was roughly thirty feet deep, and the situation only
became worse in January of eighteen eighty one, when railway
service to the area was suspended. The snow seemed unbeatable,
and without the trains bringing in fresh supplies, starvation became
an imminent threat. The one hundred people trapped in the

(12:45):
town began to wonder if they would live to sea spring.
Multiple families moved in with each other to help with chores.
Businessmen formed communities to assist in rationing shares of food
and fuel, and it was oppressive too. Snow piled against windows,
which blocked out most of the daylight, the constantly howling wind,
and the dwindling stock of lamp oil weighed heavily on

(13:07):
everyone's spirits. Coal was also in short supply, forcing settlers
to twist hay into sticks for fuel, and thanks to
the bitter cold, those fires had to be kept burning
day and night. The ingles took turn either twisting hay
or grinding seed for bread. Their family shared their building
with George and Maggie Masters, but Laura couldn't help but

(13:29):
notice that the couple did nothing to contribute to the
survival efforts. So Charles played the fiddle to keep everyone's
spirits up, although his hands were dry and cracked from
twisting so much hay. And then one night the strings snapped,
leaving them with nothing but conversation and the howling winds.
Under such strain, everyone's sanity began to slip. In the

(13:50):
midst of this desperation, a story emerged about a stockpile
of wheat for sale, but the problem was the lone
settler lived twenty miles away, so Elmonzo Wilder and Capgarland
embarked on a dangerous journey to acquire the wheat, a
tale later recounted by Laura, but in truth, there's very
little evidence to support her version of the events, and

(14:11):
alternative accounts suggest that other sources of wheat were available. Finally,
though spring arrived, but the hardships were far from over.
The warm April weather melted all of that snow, causing
massive flooding that nearly swept away the nearby town of Yankton.
In fact, more people died in the spring floods than
during the blizzards. When the first train arrived on April

(14:33):
first of eighteen eighty one, the settlers were elated, but
those hopes were dashed when they discovered it only carried
farm equipment. The disappointment led to near riots, with the
townspeople stealing telegraph poles to burn for fuel as the
town struggled to recover. The rest of the country entered
a period of prosperity known as the Gilded Age, and
while some prospered, Charles Ingalls never realized his dream of

(14:57):
a bountiful crop. Laura helped support the family of taking
on teaching positions, and Mary went to a college for
the blind, but of course the family's experience would live
on many years later. Laura began to write about her
life in the West and the time spent on the
Dakota Prairie. She also wrote about her courtship and engagement
to Elmonzo Wilder in eighteen eighty four and their small

(15:19):
wedding the following year, and it would have been a
happy ending except for a small note on the final
page What came next, she wrote, was nobody's fault. Laura
Ingleswilder lived in astonishing ninety years. It was a life

(15:40):
that left an indelible mark on American literature. Her novels
captivated children with tales of a young girl's life full
of courage and triumph on the prairie. For many of
those books were a beacon of hope for a better future,
and while based in reality, Laura's stories were a far
cry from the truth of her own life. In her
fictionalized accounts, she carefully omitted the darker aspects of her

(16:02):
childhood and entirely overlooked her married DearS. The reason might
be evident if we look a little closer. You see
in eighteen eighty nine, the Dakota boom had turned into
a bust, plunging the Wilders deeper into hardship and despair.
The final blow came in August of eighteen eighty nine,
when the family home caught fire, reducing their dreams to ashes.

(16:24):
Faced with oblique future in a region ravaged by a
devastating drought, the Wilders packed up and left the Dakota
territory behind. They briefly took refuge with Almonzo's family in Minnesota,
hoping to recover from their losses, and the move would
mark the end of the ingles time together as an
extended family unit. Laura seldom returned to Dismet after that,

(16:45):
except for a few brief visits. The entire area was
reeling under a catastrophic drought. The bitter truth was that
the farmers had unwittingly contributed to their own plight by
tearing up the fragile ecosystem to make way for the
thirsty wheat crop. The reduct of certain wildlife, too, such
as wolves and bison, also disrupted the delicate balance of nature.

(17:06):
Contrary to the belief that rain would inevitably follow the plow,
what followed instead was an unforgiving drought that lasted for
six long years, and like her father and those who
came before him, Laura became a wanderer. Finally settling in Missouri,
she and Almonzo acquired Rocky Ridge Farm, hoping to fulfill
their dream of becoming self sufficient and prosperous, And along

(17:29):
the way, Laura's tales helped her make sense of a
turbulent childhood and gave her a chance to honor her parents.
Her father, Charles passed away in nineteen oh two, followed
by Caroline in nineteen twenty four, and perhaps Laura used
the writing of these books as a form of self care.
She constructed a world where hard work, determination, and grit

(17:49):
could bring the American dream to life. An ideal for sure,
maybe even a fantasy. The Homestead Act was a disappointment
for a lot of people of funds, the terrible weather
and all those wasted years working for a wheat crop
that failed to deliver led to a lot of shattered dreams.
In eighteen seventy one, the popular song Don't Leave the

(18:12):
Farm Boys encourage people to hold onto their dreams, but
are reworking of the hymn Beulah Land into Dakota Land
might have summed up Laura Wilder's childhood experience better. We
do not live, We only stay. We are too poor
to get away. I hope you enjoyed our journey into

(18:36):
the darker aspects of that old myth that the wild
West was the promised land. So much gets overlooked when
we sum it all up nice and concisely, And like
so many stories throughout history, this one reveals a darker underbelly.
But our battle against the elements isn't over just yet.
We've got one more tale about the brutality of the
wild West to share, and if you stick around through

(18:58):
this brief sponsor break, teammates Alie Steed will tell you
all about it.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
The land was vast and fertile as far as the
eye could see. The rich soil hinted at bountiful harvests,
and the open sky foretold the future of life giving rain.
This vision drove European settlers across North America, from the
woods of New England to the Golden Promise of California.

(19:30):
Rain follows the plow had become a mantra. Armed with
this belief, farmers set out to conquer the untamed land,
and they were chasing a lie. By nineteen thirty three,
everyone realized there was something wrong with the weather. As
saying is just a saying. After all, what was once
a hot dry spell revealed itself as something more ominous.

(19:53):
Because it wasn't rain that followed the plow, it was drought.
They were entering the era we now call the dust bowl.
Trouble began three years earlier, in nineteen thirty when rainfall
began to decrease, Yet it was only when the full
force of the drought hit that farmers and scientists realized
the magnitude of it all. So much of the soil

(20:15):
caught on the wind, creating rolling dusters, some could last
as long as twenty four hours, and every year the
number of storms increased. Imagine looking outside and seeing a
black cloud bearing down on you and realizing it's a
blizzard of dust, with drifts so deep that people took
to shoveling it like they would snow. The drought struck hard,

(20:40):
slashing normal precipitation levels by forty fifty and even sixty percent,
and a lot of these areas didn't get much rain
to begin with. The storms transformed the Great Plains into
a desolate waste land. The sky darkened for days on end,
and homes were infiltrated by a thick layer of dust,
no matter how well sealed. Nineteen states fell victim to

(21:04):
the wrath of the dust bowl. The toll on human
life was immeasurable. Aside from some people and animals being lost,
the storms caused health issues too. Dust pneumonia, a condition
caused by inhaling fine particles, afflicted the population. Estimates of
the death toll ranged from hundreds to several thousand individuals. Men, women,

(21:27):
and children were all vulnerable, but it was the young
and the elderly who suffered the most. Malnutrition weakened their bodies,
leaving them defenseless against the restless assaults of dust storms.
Livestock and wild animals fared no better. With their food
sources withered away. They resorted to desperate measures, devouring the

(21:49):
leaves from trees if they could find any. Farm animals
stood in fields, their nostrils caked with dirt, and many
suffocated people noticed that the dry air crackled with static electricity,
making even a simple handshake seem risky. On May ninth,
nineteen thirty four, twelve million pounds of dust rained down

(22:12):
on Chicago, and then the storm continued east, reaching the
coast and allowing the nation to witness the horrors of
the plane's first hand. But the worst was yet to come.
On April fourteenth, nineteen thirty five, a monster storm battered
the Oklahoma Panhandle. Winds reaching sixty miles an hour created

(22:33):
a wall of dust so thick it blotted out the sun.
People were left stranded, unable to see their own hands
in front of their faces, and many believed the judgment
day had come. Associate Press reporter Robert Geiger aptly named
the disaster the dust Bowl after that storm, capturing the

(22:53):
essence of its terror. Desperation drove people away from their homes,
selling anything and everything they could and embarking on a
journey to find work elsewhere. Nearly two point five million
people left Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
The mass exodus was one of the largest migrations in

(23:15):
American history. Programs such as the Soil Erosion Service and
the Prairie State's Forestry Project were established in nineteen thirty
five to combat erosion. The Soil Conservation Service now known
as the Natural Resources Conservation Service promoted new farming techniques
to conserve top soil and restore the land. By nineteen

(23:36):
thirty eight, soil lass had been reduced by sixty five percent.
The drought finally broke in the autumn of nineteen thirty nine,
when rains returned to the prairies. But how did we
get here? The dust Bowl wasn't just a byproduct of
the weather or the Great Depression. It was one of
the greatest man made catastrophes in history, born from the

(23:59):
relentless pursuit of the American dream. Farmers, enticed by the
promises of the Homestead Act and exaggerated claims by railroad companies,
unwittingly became the agents of their own destruction. Homesteaders and
railroads tore through the Great Plains, plowing up a fragile
ecosystem and disrupting the delicate balance of nature. The top soil,

(24:21):
which had taken thousands of years to create and settle,
was raked and plowed to oblivion, turning everything to dust.
The scars left by the dust Bowl would forever mar
the landscape. The Dirty Thirties etched themselves into history as
one of the most terrifying and desperate periods in American memory.

(24:41):
But Laura Ingleswilder wasn't the only one writing about the
people and towns on the edge of despair. From Woody
Guthrie to John Steinbeck, the dust Bowl affected everyone and
lives on in our collective consciousness. One of the darkest
times in American history, and we brought it on ourselves.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Grimm and Mild Presents The Wild West was executive produced
by me Aaron Mankey and hosted by Aaron Mankey and
Alexandra Steed. Writing for this season was provided by Michelle Mudo,
with research by Alexandra Steed, Sam Alberty, Cassandra de Alba,
and Harry Marx. Fact Checking was performed by Jamie Vargas,
with sensitivity reading by Stacy Parshall Jensen. Production assistance was

(25:22):
provided by Josh Stain, Jesse Funk, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick.
To learn more about this and other shows from Grimm
and Mild and iHeartRadio, visit Grimandmild dot com