The fine piece of jewelry pictured above is actually a nail called a prairie ring! A blacksmith working at the Empire Mine Regional Park blacksmith shop in Grass Valley, California made one for me as I watched. He heated the two-inch metal nail using tongs and holding it in the fire until it softened, about ten minutes or so. Then he twisted it into a circle, cooled it off and, to my surprise, handed it to me. Pioneers and settlers used the prairie ring to wed one another when they couldn’t afford or couldn’t locate an actual wedding ring made of gold or silver, which was often. I incorporated it into Fire in the Springs, although I don’t know if my great-grandfather gave a prairie ring to my great-grandmother. Details like this one, though, make the setting of America in the mid-1800’s that much more real.
