Morgan County had Colorado's only 2-story sod house

Editor's Note: This is part of a monthly series of stories by the Community History Writers, a group of area individuals committed to documenting and writing about local history and the people, places and happenings that created the various communities within Morgan County. This volunteer group first came together to create, "Morgan County: A Land of Immigrants," a booklet detailing the area's immigration history; copies are available at Fort Morgan Library & Museum, among other places.

A unique two-story sod house once stood on the Eastern Plains of Colorado southwest of Orchard, not far from the Union Pacific Railroad tracks. And as long as it stood there, it served as a monument to the early pioneers' imagination, their industriousness and their ability to adjust and to innovate.

This two-story sod house used to stand near Orchard in Morgan County. It is shown in 1983. (Thelma Downing / Special to the Times)

The utility of, or the need for, the early sod houses is closely linked to the Homestead Era, as it played out to open and settle the American West.

Beginning in 1862 by virtue of a series of Homestead Acts, a citizen could become the owner of a tract of federal land by obtaining and "proving up" on a Homestead Application.

One of the several legal requisites of "proving up" and obtaining title was the requirement that a habitable house be built on the land.

Persons interested in Homesteading had to first file their intentions at the nearest Land Office. A brief check for previous ownership claims was made for the plot of land to be claimed, usually described by its survey coordinates.

The prospective homesteader paid a filing fee of $10 to claim the land temporarily, as well as a $2 commission to the land agent.

With the application and receipt in hand, the homesteader returned to the land to begin the process of building a home and working the land, as requirements for "proving up" at the end of five years.

When the time had passed and all requirements had been completed, the homesteader was ready, finally, to take legal possession.

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Morgan County had Colorado's only 2-story sod house