The Science Behind ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Drives Detectives Crazy

Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote and published eight books between 1932 and 1943, commonly known as TheLittle House Collection, and they have been a source of nostalgia and life-like descriptions of what life was like back in the 1860s through the 1880s.

She recounts settler life with her family, throwing in some obvious name changes, dates, and events, and describes everything in rich detail—a semi-autobiographical anthology that apparently predicted future events! Here are the details.

Is Everything Accurate?

Although Wilder describes events similar to what she has lived through and readers are taken through wild winters and blistering hot summers on the prairie—is everything so accurate?

Scientists have taken on the role of detectives, using the strangest methods to figure out whether or not what Wilder is talking about is an actual account of the time back then.

Little House on the Prairie Experiments

Jim Hicks, a retired high school physics teacher, took to wild experiences to prove some of what Wilder describes in the book. He knew that her way to school was with a horse cart, and he wanted to measure the rate of travel.

Wilder recounted that the roundtrip was 12 miles, and Hicks figured with his calculation if it was seven or eight, a journey that would take about five hours. Hicks started this experiment by measuring the length of his wife’s horse’s legs and went from there!

Was the Weather a Reality?

Another investigator, Barb Boustead, who works in the Omaga office as a National Meteorologist, decided to do her own little experiment. She’d found herself wondering if Wilder’s recounts of back-to-back blizzards were actually true.

She used all the tools she could to find out how severe the winter was back then in the South Dakota region. As it turns out, the low temperatures and terrible snow storms described in Little House on the Prairie were actually true. Another win for Wilder!

Going Blind From Scarlet Fever?

Since Wilder describes her character Mary’s blindness in the books as a result of scarlet fever, Bath Tarini, a medical student turned assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan, also decided to do some research of her own.

She found some real newspaper articles about Mary’s blindness back then and with her resources and knowledge, was able to make a diagnosis. She explains that Wilder likely describes the cause in Little House on the Prairie as scarlet fever because it was well-known back then. Wilder really was spot on with a lot of her writings, making them a great (and accurate) read.