Gentlemen on the Prairie

Gentlemen on the Prairie
Author :
Publisher : University of Iowa Press
Total Pages : 263
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781587299681
ISBN-13 : 1587299682
Rating : 4/5 (81 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Gentlemen on the Prairie by : Curtis Harnack

Download or read book Gentlemen on the Prairie written by Curtis Harnack and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 2011-05-15 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the 1880s, the well-connected young Englishman William B. Close and his three brothers, having bought thousands of acres of northwest Iowa prairie, conceived the idea of enticing sons of Britain’s upper classes to pursue the life of the landed gentry on these fertile acres. “Yesterday a wilderness, today an empire”: their bizarre experiment, which created a colony for people “of the better class” who were not in line to inherit land but whose fathers would set them up in farming, flourished in Le Mars, Iowa (and later in Pipestone, Minnesota), with over five hundred youths having a go at farming. In Gentlemen on the Prairie, Curtis Harnack tells the remarkable story of this quite unusual chapter in the settling of the Midwest. Many of these immigrants had no interest in American citizenship but enjoyed or endured the challenging adventure of remaining part of the empire while stranded on the plains. They didn’t mix socially with other Le Mars area residents but enjoyed such sports as horse racing, fox hunts, polo, and an annual derby followed by a glittering grand ball. Their pubs were named the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and Windsor Castle; the Prairie Club was a replica of a London gentlemen’s club, an opera house attracted traveling shows, and their principal hotel was Albion House. In St. George’s Episcopal Church, prayers were offered for the well-being of Queen Victoria. Problems soon surfaced, however, even for these well-heeled aristocrats. The chief problem was farm labor; there was no native population to exploit, and immigrant workers soon bought their own land. Although sisters might visit the colonists and sometimes marry one of them, appropriate female companionship was scarce. The climate was brutal in its extremes, and many colonists soon sold their acres at a profit and moved to countries affiliated with Britain. When the financial depression in the early 1890s lowered land values and made agriculture less profitable, the colony collapsed. Harnack skillfully draws upon the founder’s “Prairie Journal,” company ledgers, and other records to create an engaging, engrossing story of this quixotic pioneering experiment. f


Gentlemen on the Prairie Related Books

Gentlemen on the Prairie
Language: en
Pages: 263
Authors: Curtis Harnack
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2011-05-15 - Publisher: University of Iowa Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the 1880s, the well-connected young Englishman William B. Close and his three brothers, having bought thousands of acres of northwest Iowa prairie, conceived
Gentleman of Leisure
Language: en
Pages: 0
Authors: Susan Hall
Categories: Pimps
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006 - Publisher:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A facsimile edition of the first 1972 edition that followed Silky, a pimp, and his women through an entire year of life on the streets of New York City. Bob Ade
Prairie Man
Language: en
Pages: 393
Authors: Norman E. Matteoni
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2015-06-16 - Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

One week after the infamous June 1876 Battle of the Little Big Horn, when news of the defeat of General George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry troops reach
Prairie Fever: British Aristocrats in the American West 1830-1890
Language: en
Pages: 379
Authors: Peter Pagnamenta
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-05-29 - Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Recounts the lives and adventures of British aristocrats who explored and settled in the American West between 1830 and 1890, becoming landowners and making soc
Gentlemen Prefer Succubi
Language: en
Pages: 372
Authors: Jill Myles
Categories: Fiction
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-12-29 - Publisher: Simon and Schuster

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A fun and sizzling paranormal romance featuring a succubus, a vampire, and a fallen angel. Jackie Brighton woke up in a dumpster this morning, and her day has o