Dakota Willows

Through a series of fortuitous acquisitions, John Schmidt, a Volga Deutsch immigrant, finds himself master of an 11,000-acre bonanza farm. His pathway to becoming one of Cass County’s largest wheat producers has taken him through the rigors of farming the northern prairie, the edge of financial ruin and, ultimately, to the doorstep of untold riches brought by the Second Dakota Boom and Agricultural Revolution.

The family’s journey begins in 1763 when their forebears escape war-ravaged, feudal Germania answering Catherine the Great’s appeal for colonists to settle the Russian Steppe. The Czarista promises each ＂land most advantageous to himself,＂ raw materials to build homes, tools essential to his trade and ＂unhindered freedom of religious worship.＂ Catherine’s Manifesto is thwarted by a duplicitous bureaucracy, and the early settlements are beset by privation and disease. She discovers the treachery and intervenes to ensure the colonists are provided the trappings necessary to tame the wild grasslands.

Catherine’s diligence is rewarded many times over. By mid-century, the Russian Steppe becomes the world’s cornucopia, but Alexander II, Catherine’s grandson, is suspicious of colonies that speak Deutsch, practice the religion of their homeland and show only token allegiance to the Crown. He imposes constraints intended to make the colonies more Russische, among them conscription with its attendant six years of military service.

Faced with the loss of their most treasured resource, the Schmidt family again turns to immigration-this time drawn to America by the Homestead Act and western railroads eager to establish settlements along newly laid tracks. Their path takes them across Eastern Europe and a foreboding ocean bound for Hays City, Kansas. The party’s leader is John’s father-in-law, Peter Schafer, whose desire is to create a colony in the image of Pfeifer, the village left behind in Russia.

John sees the proposed quasi-communal structure as the antitheses of America-confinement rather than freedom and independence. He and his new bride take advantage of a serendipitous opportunity to buy a small farm in Dakota Territory. There John Schmidt builds his monolith. Before the farm reaches its full potential, he loses a decade long battle with Parkinson’s disease. The Schmidt farm falls to his first-born daughter and heir apparent, Morgan. Her siblings, Clara, Calvin, and Tavendar, have left-or plan to leave-eager to escape the dawn-to-dusk drudgery of farm life.

The twentieth century opens on the crest of innovation coupled with exponential growth in demand for agricultural products. As executor and master of the farm, Morgan sees a marked increase in profit and purchasing power-both of which exceed her counterparts in the non-farm sector. Her siblings watch as Morgan’s personal wealth parallels the farm’s growth. Excluded from management, the siblings’ only access to the farm’s new-found prosperity is a vague reference in their father’s will suggesting that all the children share in the farm’s abundance. Morgan sees this participation as a yearly dividend, not a windfall. Her sister and brothers, and their spouses, want more. The disparity leads to conflict within the family with Morgan and her siblings facing one another in the District Court of Cass County. The outcome changes their lives forever, and a once trusted friend turns on Morgan and the desires of her late father.