Summary

In the aftermath of the Panic of 1893, Laura Ingalls Wilder began to take control of her family's future and finances. The panic had put an end to the Gilded Age, and class conflict erupted. President Cleveland vetoed any form of support to farmers. The jobless gathered behind Jacob Coxey, a reformer who wanted the government to create jobs through public works projects. His supporters, called "Coxey's Army," marched on Washington in the first mass labor demonstration in U.S. history. The demonstrators were beaten and dispersed, and Coxey was jailed.

In South Dakota, farmers continued to suffer from a drought and fires as the Wilders went south to the Ozarks in a covered wagon in 1894. In August of that year, they reached Missouri and found the orchards and wetter conditions that they were looking for in Mansfield. They immediately liked the...