By the Shores of Silver Lake

Laura proudly shows Pa the fruits of their labors; they earned $15.25 by feeding and boarding travelers while he was away. His surprise and joy motivate Laura as she cooks and cleans that night and the following morning. The provisions the surveyors left run out, so Ma has to purchase food, which cuts into her profits. The Ingalls family isn’t required to begin construction on their homestead for six months, so Pa starts building a store in town to sell. Laura wishes that she could talk with him, but he eats and sleeps with the boarders now, and they are both so busy working that they have no time to talk.

In a matter of weeks, De Smet’s Main Street springs up on “the brown prairie where nothing had been before” (242). A man opens a hotel in town, and travelers stop coming to the surveyors’ house for meals and lodging. Although the Ingalls are glad to have made $42.50 from taking in strangers, they are relieved to have the house to themselves again. Laura hopes that the money will go toward Mary’s college education.

Expecting the surveyors to return any day, Laura helps Ma clean the house. A flock of geese flies over Silver Lake, and Pa tries to shoot a bird for dinner.