Fuel for the Stove

Photo of woman cooking at kitchen stove, 1890.

Minnesota Historical Society Photograph Collection, Location No. GT2.51 p41

"I would like it if I could live where there was plenty of wood to burn. This is the third season we have had to burn straw & it is a great trial to me. Those who live where wood is cheap & plentiful, little know the inconveniences that many prairie settlers have to put up with. I call tending straw fire one sort of slavery, for someone must stay right by the stove and feed it constantly. It makes life seem long sometimes."

Mary Carpenter letter March 26, 1887.
Minnesota Historical Society Library Collection, P1487