82 TOM’S EXPERIENCE 
A DUG-OUT. 
“And what about a dug-out,’ Rob continued. 
“ What kind of an institution is that?” 
‘Well, we will suppose a man to arrive on his 
homestead with his family, an ox-team and wagon, a 
few articles of household furniture and no money. 
He can’t buy lumber to build a house, and so he se- 
lects a convenient hillside and goes to work digging 
~intoit. A few days’ work make a sort of side-hill 
cellar as large as may be necessary for his family, 
with the door in front and the floor on a level or a 
little above the level of the ground outside. He 
manages to get a few poles, lays a foot or two of sod 
around the top to make a place for windows and ven- 
tilation, lays the poles across and covers them with 
prairie grass, and the house is done, except the door 
and chimney. The latter is built of stones and sod. 
Of course a dug-out is warm in winter, and, if large 
enough a family may get along quite comfortably in 
one till they can do better. But they generally get 
out of them as soon as possible. If their house is 
ever so small and humble a Dakota family prefers to 
have it all above ground. And they generally can 
if they aré reasonably industrious. But this shows 
you the earnest and determined spirit of many of our 
Dakota pioneers. The man who wants a farm of 
his own so much as to be willing to live in a dug-out 
a while in order to get it, is pretty sure to have one 
sooner or later. Many who commenced in a dug-out 
