Rose Wilder Lane Quote

We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling under canvas, looking for work, for another foothold somewhere on the land.... The country was ruined, the whole world was ruined; nothing like this had ever happened before. There was no hope, but everyone felt the courage of despair.


Written in 1935, recalling her family's migration from drought-stricken South Dakota to the Missouri Ozarks in 1894; the 650-mile trip had taken them six weeks.


We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling...

We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling...

We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling...

We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling...