Caves and Cellars

With photographs and anecdotes, Caves and Cellars gives a picture of the everyday life of the homesteaders of Oklahoma Territory. These are the people who "went west to build up society" by proving up the land they claimed. Most wanted nothing more than a place to support themselves and raise a family. They did not come for wealth or power but to live by their own hard work. The cellars or caves pictured were a central part of the pioneer life, storing a winter's worth of food when no food could be grown. Many of these structures remain though the houses and barns built by the homesteaders are in ruins. Many of the children and grandchildren of these settlers still live in north central Oklahoma reflecting the values brought to this land by homesteaders looking for a better chance at life.

Review by Judy Jenlink

"It was the most wonderful life you could think of," says Alice Raupe McCorkle of her life in rural Oklahoma during the twenties and thirties. In addition to rising at 4 a.m. to begin her day as a farm wife, she was mother, seamstress, school cook, woodcutter, etc. During a time without the man-made conveniences of electricity and running water but with a host of natural disasters such as drought, wildfire, tornadoes, heat, and starving winters, her spirit represents the pioneers hope, dignity, strength, self-reliance, pragmatism, and compassion. And the caves and cellars that the pioneers left behind symbolize their legacy of survival, endurance, and partnership with the earth.

Ruth Raupes photographs of the caves and cellars, spacious skies, weathered wooden homes and barns, and sod houses stand as silent tributes to these early years on Oklahomäs farms. Her research and anecdotes breathe life into history when she traces one stonemasons artistry, recounts a young wifes crushing sense of isolation, and conjures up the joy of summer expressed in homemade vanilla, strawberry, and peach ice cream at community baseball games. Ruth knows her subject well. She retired from teaching English at Mulhall-Orlando High School and has roots firmly embedded in this rural community. She and her husband Dick moved to a farm here and built their earth-sheltered home in the same soil as the caves and cellars she has studied. She says,"I was trying to capture the essence...of the time and the work..." And she has with the details of the physical labor and craftsmanship that created these testaments of mans need to survive hardships with a sense of style.

You dont have to be from Oklahoma or the country to appreciate the timeless vignettes of human natures ties to the natural world. When Fred was young, his grandfather paid him two heifers for some work. After Fred became elderly, he refused to let his children sell his cows. He had never bought a cow, only bulls, and his herd was entirely descended from his grandfathers heifers. Sam "lived all his life in a sod house and watched the astronauts landing on the moon on a television in that house."

Caves and Cellars: Making a Place in Oklahoma is a vivid reminder of human tenacity in the quest to create a life, a family, and a community that future generations can admire.