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LORNA BENSON: It's All Things Considered on Minnesota Public Radio. I'm Lorna Benson. In most of America, the era of covered wagon journeys was over by the year 1900. But in Minnesota, the availability of Indian land spurred a second wave of pioneer settlement, even after the turn of the century.

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This month in our Minnesota Century series, the story of Maude Bowman and her family's pioneer trek through the state in 1900. Maude was 15 years old when she began keeping a diary of her family's 400-mile journey. The Bowmans traveled by wagon from Waltham Minnesota in the southeastern corner of the state with plans to settle a part of the Red Lake Indian Reservation just opened up for sale.

The trip took the family about three weeks. Today, it's an easy one-day drive. Maude began riding in a brown leather-bound notebook the day the Bowmans left Waltham. She didn't stop until she ran out of paper more than a month after the family was settled on their own piece of land.

[HORSE GALLOPING]

MAUDE BOWMAN: April 20, well, here we are in Claremont. We started our trip from Uncle John's this morning, and we found pretty good roads most of the way and some very lovely scenery. Now I have to help get dinner ready. Ma says we've got an excellent dinner, pie to the right of us, cookies to the left of us, and fried cakes behind us.

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April 25, we thought we would never ever find our way out of Minneapolis. It is so very large. Minneapolis is a very nice place, but they call us hayseeds there, and I was so dumbfounded. I forgot to tell them my name was Bowman.

[RAIN POURING]

April 29, well, we are in Melrose, and it is raining. We got stuck in the mud for the first time yesterday. Pa had to get some posts and pry up on the wagon wheels. When we were in Saint Cloud, we saw the State Reformatory. They had high fencing most of the way around the building, and fixed up high in the fences, they had watchtowers. We saw lots of the boys that were working, and the boss stood there watching them with a stick in his hand

May 7, we are about 12 miles from the halfway house. A nice woman showed us the balsam in the trees here, and there were spruce trees where we got gum for chewing. They tell me I can have all the gum I want where we are going, and I say that is all right, for if I have gum, I won't get homesick. It is raining. So I think we will have to lay over here at Nimrod. This is a very big town and one is liable to get lost. There is one house and store and post office altogether and one barn. So if you ever come up this way be sure and get a guide.

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May 8, we are in Hubbard now, and we'll be in Bagley inside of three days if nothing happens. We are all first rate and are enjoying ourselves. They have what they call corduroy roads out here in the swamps and mud holes. It is logs and brush covered over with dirt, and, I tell you, they are awful rough. It's enough to almost shake the wagon to pieces. We saw the biggest mud turtle today I ever saw. It was about 2-feet long from the nose to the tail and about a foot wide. Elmer said he thought it weighed 40 pounds. Wasn't it a big on?

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May 10, just imagine a big pine grove, trees 75 to 90 feet high all around us, and then a wagon drawn up on a little clearing and a stove with people sitting around it, and you will see us as we are. May 18, we are in Bagley and have camped out a little ways from town. Pa and Elmer went out looking again today, but they haven't found any land. The land we like is school land, and land we would settle on is already filled in. The blacksmith told Pa he would give him his right to 340-acre sections of land if Pa wanted it. He said he wouldn't charge Pa anything either.

LORNA BENSON: In the late 19th century, Native Americans on the Red Lake Indian Reservation ceded 2 million acres of their land to the state. In return, the state agreed to sell that land to homesteaders and put the money in a trust for the reservation. The deal opened up millions of acres of land more than a decade after all of the original homestead land was settled, although it cost the tribe 2/3 of their reservation. The trust was established, but land surveyors shortchanged the tribe by undervaluing the land.

MAUDE BOWMAN: May 30, we have taken a claim and are already on it, putting up the house. We are enjoying ourselves. Or at least, I am. Ma and Pa are going to the swamp for water. I can't hardly write on account of the mosquitoes. They're bigger than elephants here.

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LORNA BENSON: The family settled about seven miles from Bagley. They raised money for supplies by cutting wood from their land and hauling it to town. Green cut wood brought $1.25 a cord, and dry wood brought twice that. When the stumps of the trees rotted enough to pull, the bowmans had a clear field for planting.

MAUDE BOWMAN: June 1, well, here we are this morning in a sorry state. You see. It rained last night, and that accounts for our sorrowful appearance. Two of Mr. Thayer's hogs are missing. They think the wolves or bears got them. Ma heard the wolves howl last night. She was down to the swamp after water alone today. And so was I. But Ma says we mustn't go alone any more. One wolf wouldn't tackle anybody, I don't suppose. But nobody knows what two or three might do. Pa has got his shotgun and revolver loaded and hanging up here in the house. His rifle isn't loaded. But you see, we are well protected.

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July 6, well we had a very nice time on our trip and saw a good many things. I left out a good deal. But I've tried to give it just as we saw it. We enjoyed our trip and are well satisfied with our new home. We are not one bit homesick and everybody is kind and good to us. You need not worry about us.

LORNA BENSON: Three years later, Maudee becam the first school teacher in Bagley. She was in charge of all 27 pupils in the district, a job that paid $30 a month. During the depression, the Bowmans lost their farm, but resettled in the same county. At age 65, Maude still lived very near to where her family first bought land.

In a letter, she recalled how much her county had changed, "I have seen this county develop from Indian trails and tote roads to a well-settled county with paved and graveled highways and good roads with school bus and mail routes, telephones, and rural electric lines. I write this in the electric light in my own home, and we run the washing machine, radio, fan, and ion by electricity. 65 years ago, we had no autos, airplanes, submarines, or radar. The world does move."

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Maude's diary is on display this month at the Minnesota History Center. You can see pictures of Maude's family and their homestead on our website. You can also find our previous Minnesota Century stories at www.MPR.org. This month's history piece was produced by Annie Feidt with Sasha Aslanian. It was researched by Kate Kuhn and edited by Bill Buzenberg. Maude's diary was read by Emily Van Brunt. The Minnesota sentry project on MPR is supported by Sarah Kinney Professional Real Estate Services, matching people with property for 21 years. Coldwell Banker/Bernet, Crocus Hill Office.

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