Light On The Prairie: Solomon D. Butcher Photographer Of Nebraska's Pioneer Days

Solomon D. Butcher was a Nebraska pioneer who documented the sod house era. He took over 3,000 photographs and compiled the most complete record of the era. He was a photographer and staked his claim on the plains in 1880. He didn't like farming, but he found another way to thrive and took pictures of his friends and neighbors. He noticed how fast the land was settling up and formed the plan to record the frontier days in words and images. Alongside his iconic photographs, Light on the Prairie conveys the irrepressible spirit of a man whose passion would give us a firsthand look at the men and women who settled the Great Plains.

Once President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act of 1862, which granted 160 acres of free land to anyone with the grit to farm it for five years, the rush to the Great Plains was on. Solomon D. Butcher was there to document it, amassing more than three thousand photographs and compiling the most complete record of the sod house era ever made.

Butcher (18561927) staked his claim on the plains in 1880. He didnt like farming, but he found another way to thrive. He had learned the art of photography as a teenager, and he began taking pictures of his friends and neighbors. Butcher noticed how fast the vast land was settling up, so he formed the plan that would become his lifes workto record the frontier days in words and images.Alongside sixty-two of Butchers iconic photographs, Light on the Prairie conveys the irrepressible spirit of a man whose passion would give us a firsthand look at the men and women who settled the Great Plains. Like his subjects, Butcher was a pioneer, even though he held a camera more often than a plow.

Watch an interview with the author.