Sod house saga

By Gretchen Deter, The Scottsbluff Star-Herald

One might wonder why, in the late 1800s, a young German man would want to leave his home in the quaint town of Düsseldorf Germany, to search for a place across the ocean that would separate him from everything familiar.

Düsseldorf is located along the northern banks of the Rhine River right where the Dussel River emptied into the Rhine. In the mid-1800s Düsseldorf was a farming and fishing “berg” that was well known for its art, culture and beer. The weather was pleasant; the town was located along the banks of one of the most beautiful rivers in Europe and the area was recovering nicely from the destruction and depression following the Napoleonic Wars.

Life must have been pretty comfortable in Dusseldorf, so why would anyone want to leave?  Sometimes living in a nice place just wasn’t everyone’s idea of “living.”

There were some adventurous young Germans who wanted to go somewhere that offered more opportunities and adventure. The stories of wide open-spaces in America triggered visions of unlimited opportunities for a better life.

They had heard about many successes in this new land, especially with the enactment of the Homestead Act of 1862. One could get 160 acres of free land simply by living on the land, making improvements, and farming a certain portion of it. The words free land must have been a great impetus toward taking the risk of moving from the familiar town of Düsseldorf to the unknown prairies of middle America.

One of these young German opportunists was a 31-year-old man named Valentine Thomas. Valentine was born in Düsseldorf in 1856 and was raised in Germany.

He married Elizabeth Kamenn in 1885 and they sailed to the United States in 1887. The couple arrived in Baltimore, Md., and were certainly filled with excitement and anticipation. They knew they had to make the very long journey halfway across the continent before reaching their destination — a pre-emption in the remote area of Nebraska later known as Dutch Flats.

Dutch Flats was an arid region located in the northern portion of what is now Scotts Bluff County. It is just north of the village of Morrill and south of Sioux County in Nebraska.

According to their son, Carl, life was not easy for the Thomases when they first arrived. They lived in a primitive dwelling dug into the sloping side of a hill. They had to haul water four miles from the North Platte River and found that even digging a water well was difficult because of the lack of local timber.

When cash was in short supply, the couple even went out on the prairies to collect buffalo bones.  The Thomases committed their lives to improving their homestead and this little community at Dutch Flats.

Valentine built a small sod house about two years after they settled on the Flats. It was a two-room structure that was a great improvement over the dugout they had been living in since they first arrived. This sod home was eventually moved to its present location at the North Platte Valley Museum. Thanks to the financing of their sons, the sod house was dismantled and reconstructed to specifications matching the original home.

Valentine later took out a timber claim in Sioux County and started a large sheep-raising operation. He had acquired more than 300 acres of land that increased in value with the use of an irrigation system. Valentine Thomas’ innovative and forward thinking farming and irrigation ideas helped to make him a very successful agriculturalist.

Valentine and Elizabeth had four sons who were a great help in getting their agricultural businesses established. Two of them, Gottfried and Gustav Adolph, moved to Arkansas to manage a rice plantation for their father.

Another son, Christian Henry, moved to Wyoming to operate a large sheep ranch. Carl stayed near home where he settled in the Dutch Flats area.

As a family, under the guidance of Valentine, they were able to acquire wealth and property, making them prominent leaders in their little western Nebraska community.

No one knows what life would have been like had Valentine Thomas stayed in Düsseldorf, Germany. He certainly would have seen a Germany much different from his home on Dutch Flats.

He would have seen a Germany that was experiencing an industrial revival that made his hometown of Düsseldorf a vital part of the Rhine-Ruhr industrial complex.

He would have seen his town suffer through the devastation of World War I and the depression that followed.  He would never have experienced life as he found it on the vast prairies of the great American plains.

In Germany he would have been only one of so many who were part of the long, long history of the Rhineland. He certainly would not have been able to fulfill his dream of freedom, freeland and fortune. To Valentine, Dutch Flats was to become a perfect home for himself and his family.

Valentine Thomas died at the age of 83 in Casper, Wyo., but his legacy continues to be a part of the history of western Nebraska thanks to his family and the North Platte Valley Museum. One can still see his original sod home at the museum and read more about the story of Valentine.

The North Platte Valley Museum is proud to display the old sod house which is filled with many of the Thomases’ original furnishings including a beautiful hutch made by Valentine that was used by the family when they lived in the old “soddy.”

The museum possesses a great deal of information about the Thomases and the story of moving the sod house from Dutch Flats to its present location on the museum property. A visit to the museum would be well worthwhile.

Gretchen Deter is a North Platte Valley  Museum volunteer.