Practical Pioneering

As we watch parts of California going up in flames, lives surrounded by ashes, I've been reading a book circa 1865, a time when people chose to become pioneers, chose to trim down their possessions to bare minimum and head out into the unknown wilds of an infant country. Most were driven by hope for a better life. For some it was a yearning for adventure, desperation for others. Unlike the fire victims of today, those pioneers made that choice.

Usually pioneers ventured forward with some practical skills. Farming. Husbandry. Or as in "Tinsmith 1865" by Sara Dahmen, the skill to work metals into useful and necessary objects. Sometimes I think in our modern world, we have forgotten how very hard early Americans worked to provide for their basic needs. They had no Walmart around the corner where they could pick up a quart of milk, new teapot or find a Dutch oven big enough to cook a holiday dinner for 12. Items like pots, pans, knives and utensils had to be formed and molded from heated metals by hand.

The Kotlarczyk family, Polish immigrants who landed in New York and ended up in Chicago, were tinsmiths. They repaired worn and broken metalware and made new pieces for those who could afford them.

Stanley Kotlarczyk had just lost his wife. The oldest son, Tom, returned from the Civil War, Lou did not. The youngest son, Al, apprenticed under his father, learning the family business. Marie (Marya), the only daughter, was expected to pick up her mother's tasks to cook, bake, sew, wash, clean, garden and take care of the men in her family. She had no say in her father's decision to travel in wagons through Indian country, into the yet to be settled lands of the Dakotas. Her compliance was expected. It was a shame her skills did not lead to delicious dinners and a sparkling clean home. She could bake good bread, but her head was in patterns and shiny metals with a secret dream to become a tinker like her father and brothers.

Midge Lyn'dee.

The family landed in Flats Town, Dakota. It was crudely built with rivers of muddy streets, and too many tough and rough men who spent their money in saloons and brothels. There was a church at each end of town where church bells rang in hopes of enticing and nourishing thriving families.

Repairing a dilapidated barn, the Kotlarczyk family set up living space and their business under the same roof. I was surprised and pleased to find Marie given a chance to try her hand with the metals, when her brothers left for the army to help fight Indians farther west. In 1865, a spark of independence and change was the kind of flame to eventually bring women's rights to the forefront in our nation. The right to vote, the right of ownership, the right to speak their minds and take stands for what they believed. Equality.

While reading "Tinsmith 1865" I was reminded of how many survival skills we have forfeited for progress. People today can grind coffee beans, but grind wheat into flour? Weave their own clothes? Cobble their own shoes? In recent years there are some who have sought a return to basics, learning to bake breads, canning produce and cooking from fresh instead of processed foods. A return to craftsmanship in woods, metals and fibers has brought back some basic skills as well. Yet, our society today would be hard put to manage all basic needs, let alone the infrastructure required to uphold our now high-tech world.

Early pioneers were made of tough stuff and paved the way to the world we live in today. As victims from the fires face starting over from nothing, hopefully that old pioneer spirit ignites within them to meet the mountains of bureaucracy and replacement of basic necessities. Much resilience and determination will be needed to create new lives for themselves and their families.

In the process as both citizens and government press forward, hopefully new visions will arise and humanity and mother nature can find a safer, viable compromise. Why do the same old things over and over? Besides, the natural world has been changing before our eyes and will require some evolutionary solutions from man. If humanity thinks of themselves as pioneers again, it could make for another exciting adventure! Please remember the fire victims and please help where you can. Thank you.

Good Books.

Good reading.

*Midge Lyn'dee is a fictional character used for the purpose of entertainment though the reviews are real and sincere.