Before our family ever cut timber in the Flathead Valley or turned wheat ground on Texas Ridge, my great-grandfather David Jackson Bailey (1865–1949) was out riding the wind-scoured plains of Nebraska as a genuine frontier cowboy.
David spent a lifetime doing things the hard way—from stacking thick blue-joint sod in the 1880s to harness-milling cane molasses with an old horse named Dynamite in his eighties. He was built from iron-hard timber, and he set a standard for pioneer endurance that echoes all the way down our family tree.
From Iowa Child to Plains Cowboy (1865–1884)
Born on November 19, 1865, in Moravia, Iowa, David was the eldest son of David Solomon Bailey—a Union cavalryman who came home from the Civil War with severe wounds—and Sophia Boyd. Around 1870, when David was just five years old, the family pulled up stakes and pushed west to Elkhorn, Nebraska.
Coming of age on the open ranges of eastern and central Nebraska, David worked as a young range cowboy. He learned the subtle arts of handling cattle, breaking stubborn horses, and surviving on open plains that could freeze you in winter and bake you in summer.
THE NEBRASKA FRONTIER TRAIL
[1865] Born in Moravia, Appanoose County, Iowa
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[1870] Moves West with Family to Elkhorn, Nebraska
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[1880s] Cowboy Era: Rides Open Range & Handles Livestock
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[1884] Homesteads in Valley Co. & Marries Lillian Amanda Pierce
According to regional pioneer records preserved in the Nez Perce County Archives, those early range years forged David's lifelong identity as a horseman—a skill set he passed directly down to his sons and descendants.
The Soddy Era: Liberty Township, Nebraska (1884–1903)
In 1884, just before turning nineteen, David headed into central Nebraska to stake a claim in Liberty Township, Valley County. On October 27, 1884, he married Lillian Amanda Pierce (1867–1957), daughter of a Union soldier and seasoned homesteader.
THE VALLEY COUNTY SODDY
• Wall Construction: 2-foot thick "Nebraska Bricks" (Blue-joint sod)
• Insulation Value: Cool during 100°F summers, warm in prairie blizzards
• Daily Realities: Muddy water leaks during rains; snakes & field mice
• Work Engines: Giant Belgian draft horses for deep-plowing thick sod
With native trees virtually non-existent on the sprawling prairie, David hitched a heavy breaking plow and sliced thick strips of dense, root-tangled blue-joint grass to build a sod house ("soddy").
Stacked two feet deep, these native bricks provided incredible insulation against 100 degree summer heatwaves and sub-zero blizzards. But life inside was a constant wrestling match with nature. Heavy prairie rains caused muddy water to drip through thatch roofs for days, and snakes, field mice, and insects routinely burrowed through the earth walls.
For nearly twenty years, David and Lillian farmed that harsh ground, relying on massive Belgian draft horses to break the stubborn soil. It was inside this three-room soddy that six of their seven children were born, including my grandfather, Franklin Jackson Bailey (1886–1968).
Driven Out by the Great Droughts
By the late 1890s, the Nebraska plains turned punishing. A relentless cycle of severe droughts dried the topsoil into powder, while howling prairie winds literally blew planted seed rows right out of the ground.
THE BATTLING YEARS
[NEBRASKA (1884–1903)] [IDAHO (1903–1949)]
• 20 Years in a 3-Room Soddy • Timber Logging on Bear Ridge
• Continuous Droughts & Dust • Deep Wheat Farming on Texas Ridge
• Sorghum Cane for Winter Sweet • Final Years in Lewiston Orchards
As an old newspaper account recalled decades later, the Baileys survived those brutal years by growing sorghum cane—one of the few crops that could withstand the scorching drought—and milling homemade cane cider down into molasses syrup to sweeten their children's meager meals.
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Crossing to the Pacific Northwest: Kendrick & Bear Ridge
By 1903, the endless dust and crop failures finally broke David's hold on Valley County. Packing their heavy farm wagons, David and Lillian pointed their Belgian teams toward the Pacific Northwest, establishing a new homestead near Kendrick, Latah County, Idaho.
THE THREE-CHAPTER LIFE
[1865–1903] NEBRASKA SODDY ── 20-Year Stand Against Prairie Drought
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[1903–1928] KENDRICK HOMESTEAD ── Timber & Farming on Bear Ridge
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[1928–1949] LEWISTON ORCHARDS ── 5-Acre Cane Mill & "Dynamite"
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For a quarter-century, David logged timber and farmed wheat on the high, fertile soils of Bear Ridge and Texas Ridge, where their seventh child, Curtis, was born in 1904. Where Nebraska had offered sand and wind, Idaho offered deep volcanic soil, high pine timber, and reliable rainfall.
The Cane Molasses Factory & Old "Dynamite"
Around 1928, approaching retirement age, David and Lillian moved down into the mild valley of Lewiston Orchards in Nez Perce County. But "retirement" was a concept David never quite understood. On a five-acre tract, they raised fruit, kept chickens and bees, and built a famous homemade cane molasses mill.
An article published in the local Lewiston Orchards newspaper around 1946 captured the couple in their late seventies, still working with the energy of youth:
"Mounted on a concrete pier is a cane press... rigged with a long homemade sweep pole. To the long end, Mr. Bailey hitches a fat, wise, old, and trusty horse by the forceful name of 'Dynamite'... As Dynamite reluctantly gets into clockwise motion, the press begins to turn, feeding stalks through to squeeze out fresh cane cider."
Together, David and Lillian cooked down the cider in an outdoor furnace, producing gallons of golden syrup for neighbors across the valley.
THE LEWISTON CANE MILL
[10-Foot Pole] ── Harness Sweep
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[Old "Dynamite"] ── Trusty Horse Power (Clockwise Walk)
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[Cane Press] ── Crushes Stalks for Cider
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[Outdoor Furnace] ── 3-Hour Reduction to Golden Molasses
A Cowboy to the Very End
David Jackson Bailey lived to be 83 years old, passing away on May 12, 1949, in Lewiston, Idaho.
In a testament to the unyielding horseman he was, his death was brought on by pneumonia following severe injuries he suffered while breaking a horse at age eighty-three. He died as he had lived: in the saddle, working livestock, and refusing to hand over the reins. He lies at rest in Normal Hill Cemetery in Lewiston, Idaho.
Key Family Genealogy Notes
- David Jackson Bailey: b. 19 Nov 1865, Moravia, IA – d. 12 May 1949, Lewiston, ID.
- Lillian Amanda Pierce: b. 11 Sep 1867, Elkhorn, NE – d. 10 Dec 1957, Lewiston, ID.
- Burial: Normal Hill Cemetery, Lewiston, Nez Perce County, Idaho.
- Children of David Jackson & Lillian:
- Franklin Jackson Bailey (1886–1968) – Montana homesteader & WWII worker.
- Marcus Leroy Bailey (1888–1979) – Latah County, ID resident.
- David Leonard Bailey (1890–1962) – Went to Montana with Frank in 1908.
- Meda Elvira Bailey (1892–1967) – Married Herb Slocum; Lewiston dairy farmer.
- George Frederick "Fred" Bailey (1894–1962) – Idaho resident.
- Clara Lillian Bailey (1900–1961) – Born in Nebraska soddy.
- Curtis Pierce Bailey (1904–1978) – Born on Bear Ridge, Kendrick, ID.
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