By the Shores of Silver Lake

The weather turns colder, and the work at the Silver Lake camp draws to a close. With each passing day, more and more railroad workers claim their last paycheck and leave. Lena tells Laura goodbye and travels west with her family. Uncle Hi, Aunt Docia, and their two children set out before sunrise and keep their destination a secret because they’re taking three wagonloads of oats, equipment, and goods from the company’s stores with them. Ma questions why Pa allowed this as the company’s storekeeper, but he maintains that Uncle Hi “hasn’t got away with any more than’s due him for his work here and at the camp on the Sioux” (131). Ma and Pa worry that they’ll have to head east for the winter and spend all their savings to make it to spring because they have yet to claim a homestead. Fortunately, the surveyors offer to let the Ingalls stay in their sturdy house on Silver Lake for free in exchange for watching over the company’s equipment until spring arrives. The house is already stocked with coal and provisions to last the long winter months. While part of Ma was looking forward to the journey east and spending some time in a more settled region, she agrees with Pa that the opportunity is too providential to decline.