A replica of Wilder’s Rocky Ridge Farm desk in the “Beyond the Prairie” exhibit.
I had not been to De Smet more than once in the last four years until I found myself traveling Highway 14 to spend the weekend of July 12–14, 2024, in the Little Town on the Prairie as a guest of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant. The opportunity shoved me out of my comfort zone and onto the road, and I found myself looking forward to the interaction with Wilder scholars and readers. Arriving late Friday afternoon, I went directly to the Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society headquarters to see the society’s new exhibit, “Beyond the Prairie: A Journey through the Lives of Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane.” While their space is limited, the staff has anchored the exhibition with Lane’s desk from her Connecticut house, set back to back with a replica of Wilder’s desk from Rocky Ridge Farm. Wandering through the display, I was overwhelmed by the number of artifacts, the amount of research, and the simple brute force it had taken to put so much of the authors’ lives into a visual depiction of their interconnectedness. Suffering from road fuzz, I looked around briefly and determined to return for a longer look before I left on Sunday.
The pageant grounds and stage. Courtesy of Cindy Wilson
As I exited, I ran into Cindy Wilson, with whom I had arranged to go to supper and the pageant, which runs for three nights during three July weekends each year. The play is different each season, and this year its title was “Prairie Girl: Laura’s Dakota Stories.” Cindy and I had been warned that the mosquitoes were ferocious so near the Big Slough. We slathered ourselves with bug spray and ventured onto the pageant grounds. Over the years, I have attended the pageant three different times, so I knew the drill. We got there early, just after seven o’clock and talked with presenters and booksellers before taking our bench for the main event. The show featured the Ingalls family’s 1879 arrival in De Smet and followed them through their first winter in the Surveyors’ House and the finding of the homestead, all reenacted by local volunteers. In an interesting twist, an adult Wilder and an adult Lane commented sotto voce on the writing and editing of Wilder’s By the Shores of Silver Lake in the 1930s. While enjoying the production, anyone sitting on those benches as the luminous rose-colored sun set in the west could attest that Wilder had not exaggerated about the noxious pests. They “came out of the Big Slough at sundown and sang their high, keen song all night” (“Mosquitoes,” SL, pp. 286–88). Oh, for some mosquito bar and a smudge!
Left to right: Cindy Wilson, Mary Jo Wertz, Nancy Tystad Koupal. Courtesy of Cindy Wilson
Next morning, we gathered at the De Smet Event Center, where South Dakota Historical Society Press director Dedra M. Birzer emceed the day’s program, titled “On the Page & Stage: Writing Laura’s History.” Cindy Wilson, author of The Beautiful Snow and We Suffered Much, presented her research on head surveyor Charles Irish and how it overlapped with her research on the Ingalls family during the Hard Winter of 1880–1881. Railroad historian and museum director Rick Mills showcased the history of railroading, both in the Black Hills and across central South Dakota, giving greater context to Charles Ingalls’s railroading experiences. When my turn came, I discussed the relationship between Wilder as storyteller and author and Lane as mentor and editor. The small but well-informed audience asked excellent questions after each talk and during the afternoon panel on writing and research. Afterwards, I spent a congenial evening getting to know society director Mary Jo Wertz and her husband Matt over supper at a local grill pub.
On Sunday morning, Cindy and I ate breakfast at the De Smet post of the American Legion’s Pancake Breakfast. It had been a long, long time since I had attended a pancake feed, and we relished our pancakes and sausages and indulged ourselves in a final long talk, spending an hour and a half drinking coffee and comparing notes. As I drove over to take one last look at the society exhibit, I passed one of my favorite buildings—the Kingsbury County Courthouse. This stately structure never fails to stop me in my tracks for a longer look, and this time was no exception. With the sun scouring my eyes, I hopped from my car to take pictures. For me, the courthouse always evokes the Charles Ingalls who is least-known to Wilder’s readers—the man who dedicated a good portion of his life to civic duties as justice of the peace and deputy sheriff.
The desk from Lane’s house in Connecticut, with her typewriter prominently displayed, in the “Beyond the Prairie” exhibit.
Scurrying back to my car to get out of the relentless sunlight, I drove to the society for one last look at the Wilder/Lane exhibit. This time my attention centered on the way in which the working habits of the two women came through strongly in the artifacts on display. Lane’s typewriter took pride of place in the center of her desk as one entered the room. Whether writing her own copy or editing her mother’s or others’ texts, Lane rolled paper and carbon into her typewriter and pounded away. Wilder, on the other hand, composed and revised with the tools displayed on her much smaller writing desk—cheap, wide-lined, grocery store tablets and pen or pencil. Contemplating the differences in age, experience, and working styles between the two women, I began my journey back to Pierre. The trip had been stimulating, and I was determined not to wait so long again before sampling the joys of the Little Town on the Prairie.
―Nancy Tystad Koupal