vague,
unknown class, whose intentions toward us were questionable, and we
remained in the vicinity of our mothers' apron-strings so long as they
were in the neighborhood.

When the weeks or months of slow travel during the day and camping out
by night were over, and the new home on the prairie was reached, the
discomforts and privations of the emigrating family were not ended: they
were only fairly begun. There was no house in which to lay their heads,
no sawmill where lumber could be obtained, no tree to shelter them,
unless they had the good fortune to locate near a stream--nothing but a
smooth, level expanse of prairie-sod, bright green and gay with the
flowers of early summer or faded and parched with the droughts of
autumn. Sometimes they camped in the open air until lumber could be
brought from a distance and a rude shanty erected, but often they built
a turf house, in which they passed their first winter. These houses were
constructed by cutting blocks of turf about eighteen inches square--the
roots of prairie-grass being that long--and piling one upon another
until the walls were raised to the desired height. Slender poles were
then laid across from wall to wall, and on these other strips and
squares of turf were piled until a roof thick enough to keep out the
rain was formed. A turf fireplace and chimney were constructed at one
end; the opening left for entrance was braced with poles and provided
with a door; and sometimes a square opening was cut in the end opposite
the chimney and a piece of muslin stretched across it to serve as a
window. The original earth formed the floor, and piles of turf covered
with bedding served as beds. It was only when the family intended to
live some time in the turf house that all these pains were taken to make
it comfortable. Many of these dwellings were dark huts, with floors a
foot or two below the level of the ground and without window or chimney.
These were intended for temporary occupation. A few of this kind, still
inhabited, are to be seen in the sparsely-settled north-western part of
the State. I do not mean this description to apply in a general sense to
the early settlers of Iowa. Many parts of the State are heavily wooded,
and cabins of hewed logs chinked with mud are still to be seen here and
there--specimens of the early homes. In the regions where turf houses
were necessary prairie-hay was burned as fuel.

When his family was housed from the weather the farmer tu