Tribute to Pioneers Nels and Carrie Norgaard

Tribute to Pioneers Nels and Carrie Norgaard. . Like many others from Denmark, Niels (AKA Nels Johnson) emigrated to America seeking religious freedom for his Baptist faith. He arrived in 1869 and immediately set out for Harlan, Iowa, to work on the farm of a relative who had come over the year before. Later, Nels worked on the railroad in Omaha, saving everything he could to realize his dream of a farm of his own., Early Fall 1871, Nels and a friend, Jens Peter Uttrup, walked 150 miles north from Harlan, Iowa to stake their homesteads. Their only tools were a shovel, ax and sheer determination to realize their dreams. The first available land was in Moody County, Dakota Territory. There Nels discovered a beautiful spot of high ground overlooking the Big Sioux River, six miles northeast of Dell City (Dell Rapids, South Dakota). Nels built a shanty from the abundant virgin Cottonwood trees along the riverbank and equipped it with the essential requirements of the Homestead Act of 1862 - a place for cooking, a table and a chair. With site requirements complete, they walked to the filing office in Yankton to register their claims. Then they headed back to Harlan to winter-over., The shanty would be the first home for Nels and his bride, Carrie (Sorenson) Norgaard. Unfortunately, Carrie accidently started a fire that destroyed the shanty just a few months after their arrival. Nels hurriedly constructed a dugout, similar to the one pictured above, in the side of a hill overlooking the river. There they would spend their first winter together. When another couple arrived too late to build their own home, the 12-foot by 14-foot space would have to accommodate the two couples through the fierce blizzards of 1872/73. Three-day blizzards were a common occurrence that winter. Although the dugout was chinked to withstand the cold, it must have been a little uncomfortable for the two young couples. Carrie said, "The room was partitioned by a blanket hung from the ceiling and the chamber pot was passed under the blanket as need be.", The two couples had a harrowing escape from death that first winter. One of the three-day blizzards completely buried the dugout. A neighbor located them by means of a small section of stove pipe protruding through the snow. The rescuer shoveled down from the top while Nels and his friend shoveled snow back into the dugout. Once rescued, the men dug their way to the barn where they found the livestock had miraculously survived the ordeal as well. Carrie melted snow that had been shoveled into the dugout to get water to the animals while the trio of men made a tunnel through the snow to the riverbank. They led the animals through the tunnel to the river one at a time until the snow had cleared., The home site also became the burial place for three Norgaard infant daughters. As more pioneers came to the area, the need for proper burial grounds increased. Nels and Carrie donated one acre of their property to meet that need. They also donated land for the first permanent church just east of this location. Nels and Carrie were the first pioneers to make Moody County their permanent home. They persevered through drought, prairie fires, locust plagues, severe winters, Indian scares and the loss of children to accidents and diseases to make a home for themselves and for generations to come.