Barnyard News: Homesteading In the Yakima Valley

It was 1980 in Prosser, Washington, when the oldest daughter of Yakima Valley pioneers, Annie and Ed Rice, passed away, deeming it necessary to finally open and examine turn-of-the-century camelback trunks. Buried under the dolls, clothes, and toys were several faded, hand-sewn booklets that told stories of a small world ruled by autocrats and peopled by the denizens of the barnyard.

At the turn of the twentieth century, Dorothy “Tottie” Rice was born, destined to die of heart failure within years. Her sister, Mary, devoted her days to nurturing and entertaining Tottie. As part of their make-believe world, the girls created several newspaper editions for relatives, providing a glimpse into what it was like in 1909 for two children with busy homesteading parents. When the Barnyard News copies surfaced after nearly one hundred years, Margaret Ann Young made it her mission to commit them to print—and to history—and pair them with a fascinating generational odyssey.