Home|About Us|Contact Us|Donate|Shop|E-newsletter

Manuscripts - ND Oral History Collection - 10157 - Bowman County

Bowman County

Region Six
1 Mrs. Katie Cochran, Bowman
2 Mr. Fred Hirsch, Bowman
3 Mrs. Evelyn James, Bowman
4 Mr. Mid Byrne, Bowman
5 Mr. Roy Mesmer, Bowman
6 Mrs. Grace Dawes, Bowman
7 Mrs. Pete Erickson, Bowman
8 Mr. Walfred Swedberg, Bowman
9 Mr. Steve Tift, Bowman
10 Mr. and Mrs. John Schade, Bowman
11 Mrs. Mary Pittsley, Bowman
12 Mr. Olaf Soreide, Bowman
13 Mr. Christ Roen, Rural Bowman
14 Mrs. Leona Rotering, Rhame
15 North Dakota Stark, Beach
16 Mr. and Mrs. Ed Hedman, Scranton
17 Mr. Ed Brown, Scranton
18 Mr. Gus Riemer, Scranton
19 Mr. Harold Brooks, Bowman
20 Mrs. Ethel Eide, Scranton
21 Mr. and Mrs. William Porten, Scranton
22 Mrs. Hannah Fossum and Mr. Albert Fossum, Rhame
23 Mrs. Al Ohm, Bowman

Tape #1 Mrs. Katie Cochran (Bowman)
Tape A
000 – Introduction
024 – Family history; Comes to Bowman County
134 – Farming; Family; Impressions of land
231 – Cooking; Banking and doing laundry for threshers and bachelors; Selling churned butter
332 – Nationalities; Jewish farmer; Butchering meat; Farming with horses and oxen
423 – Breaking wild range steers for plow; Oxen teams; Freighters
548 – Use of earned money; Gardening; Canning meat; Meat in brine
683 – Smoking meat; Canning meat; Drying beef
831 – Sod shack
836 – SIDE TWO
836 – New house; Description of first furnace in area
928 – Comments on living through inventions; Loneliness; Illness
973 – Neighbors; First church built (Congregational); Ladies Aid
025 – Social activities; Fiddlers; Sociability of people; “Babysitters”
078 – Temperance; Comments on missing past friendliness of people and participation in present-day social activities; Card games
149 – Picnics; Baseball and football games; Coyote bounty by airplane to protect sheep
247 – Rattlesnakes; Bull snake; Shooting wild game; Compares past and present prevalence of wild birds
350 – Crops; Spelts; Land owned
435 – Government farms; Sells farm; Rufords (neighbors)
482 – Good and bad crop years; WPA
674 – End of Tape A
TAPE B
000 – Introduction
018 – WPA; Conditions during late 20’s and 30’s; Roosevelt’s order killing farm livestock
084 – Droughts in ’36; Dust storms; Grasshoppers
140 – Area towns; Trading center and County Seat; Marmarth
203 – People leaving during 20’s and 30’s; Opinion of large farms; NPL; IVA
269 – Cowboys and cowgirls; Doctors; Midwives
367 – Flu epidemic of 1918; 100 people die at New Rockford; Becomes ill with flu
474 – Characteristics of flu; Other epidemics; First cars in area; First car she saw
568 – Horses’ carriages (cars); Surreys; Barney O’Field (drives Dan Patch, automobile racer); Driving without roads
643 – 739 – Damaged tape
740 – Threshers; Straight combining; Families butchering; Making blood sausage
873 – Gives advice to young people
923 – End of interview
Comment:  Mrs. Cochran has an excellent memory.  She speaks articulately and is pleasant to hear.  Her interview is informative with a variety of early 1900 information.

Tape #2 Fred Hirsch (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
024 – Family history; Land relinquishment; Buffalo Springs
129 – Buying equipment; Crops; Goes to Montana; Works on Milwaukee Railroad
206 – Unions; Wages; Works for Great Northern Railroad
309 – Railroad reputation; “Blacks” on the railroad; Wages
410 – Alcoholism among railroad employees; Foreman on railroad; Railroad between Williston and Havre; Opinion of North Dakota
513 – Brother; Crops; Hobos
628 – Seniority Policy; Steam engines (Diesel engines); Hobo jungle
735 – IWW on railroad; Bachelor on railroad; Neighborliness
828 – Shifts on railroad; Railroad board; Unions
929 – Railroad employee insurance; Department seniority
031 – Staying with the railroad
087 – End of interview
Comment:  This interview is extremely informative on railroads.

Tape #3 Mrs. Evelyn James (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
024 – Family history; Father’s homestead
114 – Neighbors; Siblings; Sod shanty
174 – Nationalities; Building shacks; Laundry
220 – Prairie life for women; Water witching for homestead water; Machinery; Education; Textbooks
305 – Rural school; Childhood; “Good old days”; Cooking; Gardening; Livestock; Poultry
393 – Selling produce; Butchering; Crops
430 – Railroad comes to Scranton; County Seat; Big ranchers
515 – Teenagers’ happiness; Education; Husband; Buys house
637 – Husband’s family; County nurse; 1918 Flu Epidemic
709 – Working in store; Late 20’s and 30’s; Determining credit
778 – Population movement during 20’s and 30’s; Drought; Starving and driving cattle
808 – Morale during 20’s and 30’s; Neighborliness; Comments on lack of commeration (?) for pioneers
904 – Life style today; Compares 20’s and 30’s spiritual strength to today’s
069 – Comments on what qualities man should cultivate
098 – End of interview
Comment:  Mrs. James’ memory is good, a pleasing individual and an informative interviewee.

Tape #4 Mid Byrne (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
025 – Military service; Comes to area; Family history
088 – Feed mill; Area in 1916; Compares 1916 Bowman to present
139 – Cowboys; Ghost towns – Griffin, Ives, Ring, Swartwood, Paoli, Austin
209 – Discussion of cowboys (O. Hamilton, H. Kurlis); ;Bowman being wide open in 1916; Compares Bowman’s size to other towns; Marmarth and Amidon
280 – Characteristics of area early people; Studies law; Passes bar examinations
363 – Enters law partnership; Attorney for closed bank during 1930’s (foreclosing mortgages)
447 – County environment during 1930’s; Banks closing; 1930’s morale
506 – Radical population measures during 1930’s; Birthplace of NPL; Townley
560 – States Attorney and Secretary-Treasurer of hospital; Conditions better; Townley
615 – Conflicts between country and townspeople; Farm Holiday Association; Bill Langer
737 – NFO; Conditions during 20’s and 30’s; Discovering oil and claim rights
797 – Electric Cooperative; Delco plants; Wind chargers; Gas generator; MDU; Generator plant; Sewing area; Power source
940 – Social life; Sociability; Pace of life
105 – End of interview

Tape #5 Roy Mesmer (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
024 – Family history; Horses; Richardton
107 – Education; Farms; Gets marries; Leaves farming; Starts store
147 – Early Bowman; Hettinger; County seat; People leave the county
190 – Siblings; Doctors and midwives; Flu Epidemic of 1918; NPL; Farm Holiday Association
254 – Economy; Morale during 20’s and 30’s; Compares past neighborliness to present; Reason for change in people’s life-style
302 – Size of farms; Gasification; Strip farming; Storekeeper in 20’s and 30’s
412 – Families leaving and coming back; Banks closing; Coal; Opinion of society today
513 – Comments on present “bigness” of consuming and purchasing
534 – End of interview

Tape #6 Mrs. Grace Dawes (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
026 – Personal history; Homesteads; Area towns; Nationalities; Cowboys
096 – Homesteaders; Buys land; Fort Diltz; Price of land; Crops; Farm livestock; Buys tractor
170 – Social life; Religions; Threshing machine; Cooking; Coal mine
251 – Ives; Store and post office; Rhame; Morale and people leaving in 20’s and 30’s; Farm and grazing land
305 – Present-day and past friendliness; Automobiles; Radio; Electricity; Telephones and central; Early crops
409 – Grasshoppers; Vim (vanished town); Railroad; Prairie fires; Hobos
522 – Cooking Russian thistles for greens; Government slaughtering of livestock; Canning meat; Preparing pork
607 – Lights; Selling farm products; Hotel; Livery barn; Radio programs; WPA
722 – Sewing; Magazines; Newspapers; Religions; Flour mill
826 – Summer activities; Comments on today’s society
892 – End of interview

Tape #7 Mrs. Pete (Enga) Erickson (Bowman)
Tape A
000 – Introduction
024 – Family history; Area towns; Post offices; Father homesteads
140 – Single girl homesteaders; Nationalities; Immigrant cars; Scoria house; Father’s occupations; Trees
239 – Lumber and sod house; Scoria; Bad weather years
334 – Hail; Hail insurance; Rocks
418 – Social life; World War I basket socials; Large ranches; Feelings between ranchers and settlers
516 – Neighborliness; Schoolhouse; Church; Present-day and past sociability
605 – Education; Midwives; Hires out for families
708 – Sewing machine; Children delivered by rancher’s wife
860 – Doctors; Minister; Meets husband; Gets marries
037 – Flu Epidemic of 1918 and ’20; Kox Post Office; Using sulfur for antiseptic; Good and bad crop years
133 – End of Tape A
TAPE B
000 – Introduction
025 – Horses’ sleeping sickness; Husband homesteads; Buys more land; Husband becomes ill; Move into town
131 – Wells; Hauling hay; Bad winters
252 – Population leaving farmsteads; 1920’s and 30’s Depression; Grasshoppers; Dust storms
307 – Morale of people during 20’s and 30’s; Illnesses and home remedies
458 – Selling farm produce and dairy products; Packing and selling poultry; Turkeys
593 – Shipping point; Selling grain; Threshers; Threshing rig
684 – Hobos; Electricity; Telephone central; NPL
787 – WPA
837 – End of interview

Tape #8 W. A. (Shorty) Swedberg (Bowman)
Tape A
000 – Introduction
024 – Comes to North Dakota; Wisconsin; Family history; Homestead area; Nationalities
100 – Attitudes between ranchers and homesteaders; Badlands; Marmarth roundhouse and railroad; Area towns; Freighting; Sheep men and rancher wars; Ranches
205 – Shanty; Water; Works out; Marriage; People leave Slope County
322 – Social life; Settlers; Religion; Oxen; The 1930’s
402 – NPL; Farm Holiday Association; Langer; Townley; Oil wells; Early year crops; County Extension Service; County agents; Prairie hay
513 – People leave area; Morale of 20’s and 30’s; Comments on changes of last 25 years; Money; Threshing rig; Corporation farm
617 – Steam plowing rig; Breaking land; 1920’s and 30’s; Hunters
728 – Wildlife; “Dirty Thirties”; Bad winters
840 – End of Tape A
Tape B
000 – Introduction
009 – Crops; Planting by moon; Castrating and dehorning cattle by moon; Doctors; Military service; 1918 Flu Epidemic; Delco plants; Wind chargers; REA
097 – Telephone; Neighborliness; Baseball; Dances; Rodeos; Women; Works in grocery house
194 – Newspapers; mail route; magazines; Catalog; Fish peddlers; Gypsies
270 – Cars; Farming; Neighborliness; Threshing ; Cook cars
368 – Radio; Bootleggers; WPA; Farmers Union
474 – Boxcar shortages; Fuel; Digging and buying coal; Grasshoppers
557 – End of interview

Tape #9 Steve Tift (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
023 – Comes to North Dakota; Family history; Begins farming
155 – 1920’s and 30’s; WPA; Food during 20’s and 30’s; Arrowheads
247 – Wildlife; Rattlesnakes; People leave area; Morale during 1920’s and 30’s; Thistles for feed; NPL
344 – Social life; Sociability; Oxen; Cowboys; Ranches; Texas Longhorn cattle
450 – End of interview

Tape #10 Mr. and Mrs. John Schade (Bowman)
Tape A
000 – Introduction
025 – (Her) Family history; Homesteads; Dances; Railroads
126 – Post offices; Stores; Flour mill; Hulls for cattle feed
222 – Storing flour; Disputes between ranchers and homesteaders; Ranches; Terrain; Loneliness
329 – Coyotes; Sod house; Sod barn; Wells
487 – World War I Red Cross dances; Prairie fires; Immigrant car; Rattlesnakes
572 – Home life on winter evenings; Coal
840 – SIDE TWO
841 – Raising horses; Barn burns; Hail; Bad winter years; Winter sports
928 – Neighborhood; House parties; Sociability; Horses and buggies
017 – Preserving meat; Gardening; Canning; Education
104 – Meals; Homemade dairy products; Baseball; Swimming; Education; Teaching career
197 – His farming; WPA; People leave in 20’s and 30’s; Gasoline stove; Morale during 20’s and 30’s
285 – Discovering oil; Soil Conservation; Crops in 20’s and 30’s; Grasshoppers; Government slaughtering of cattle and pigs
387 – Surplus commodities; Heat in home
487 – Doctors; 1918 Flu epidemic
597 – Home remedies
665 – End of Tape A
TAPE B
000 – Introduction
015 – (His) Family history; Disputes between ranchers and “Hunuckers”; Land agents
125 – Tractor; Steam plowing rigs; Soil; Cutting prairie grass for hay; Prairie needles; Kinds of grass
228 – NPL; Farmers Holiday Association; William Lemke; IVA
315 – Sociability; Home entertainment; Mild winters; Comments on moisture
436 – Opinion of coal gasification and strip mining; Comments on the future
545 – Electricity; Telephone
657 – Factors influencing change in farming methods; Grain varieties; Dairy production
857 – End of interview

Tape #11 Mrs. Mary Pittsley (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
024 – Family history; North Dakota in 1921; Consolidate schools; More on school consolidation
147 – Post offices and towns; Homestead sites; Nationality; People leave in 20’s and 30’s; Sod shanties; Coyotes
216 – Moves from consolidated school; Buffalo Springs; Consolidated school; Child entertainment; Lignite
352 – School furniture; Wages; Sociability; Religion; Social life
437 – Morale during 20’s and 30’s; Horses; Teachers’ salaries and warrants; Comments on antagonism against economy; Cooperation in 20’s and 30’s; Family life; Parents and teachers; Family unity
553 – Affluence effect on church and school; Religion; Ideals; Ambitions; Society levels; “Good old days”; Population
643 – NPL; IVA; Republican Party; Farm Holiday Association
750 – Factors contributing to development of political organizations; Political infirmity; Franklin D. Roosevelt
845 – Surplus commodities; 30’s migration; County agents; Government opinion
942 – Past and present society cynicism
000 – End of interview

Tape #12 Olaf Soreide (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
024 – Family history; Comes to United States; Brothers; Land Security Company
171 – Milwaukee Railroad; Wells, Milwaukee labor
319 – Working area; Fargo State Fair; Towns; Working on farms
489 – Planting corn; Planters; Cultivating corn; Rattlesnakes
569 – Nester farm; Artesian well; Stable; Brewery
667 – Concordia College choreboy; Goes back to Norway; Comes to North Dakota; Moves West
749 – Military service
837 – SIDE TWO
837 – Military service; German Kaiser Bill
934 – North Dakota discharge; Buys land; Planting crops
006 – Balers; Leases and buys land; Crop years in 20’s and 30’s; Grasshoppers; Brothers
103 – Midway (town); Brothers; Marriage; Homesteads; Towns
200 – Nationalities; Leases land; Travels to Redwood Falls
344 – Buys farm from owner (Bill); Nationalities
440 – Disputes between ranchers and homesteaders; Large and small ranches; Marmarth
544 – NPL; IVA; Farmers Holiday Association; Haul cattle to Chicago; Illinois during the 1930’s
655 – Farmers Union
669 – End of interview

Tape #13 Chris Roen (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
025 – Family history; Comes to North Dakota; Problems between ranchers and homesteaders; HT Ranch; Draft horses
130 – Large ranches; Filing in area; Homesteaders; Father’s opinion of North Dakota
220 – Nationalities; Supply source and hauling; Helpfulness between neighbors
304 – Class warfare and religious problems; Halfway stations between Bowman and Belfield; Belfield supply area; Longhorn cattle; Railroad
409 – Austin Ranch butchers cattle for railroad; Railroad workers; Bowman growing; Early businessmen; Area competition
523 – Mother’s opinion of North Dakota; Loneliness; Sod houses; Sod barn
673 – Dugout; Fuel; Uncovering coal
773 – Comments on aerated coal; Croquettes
829 – SIDE TWO
829 – Compressed coal; Mining coal; Area coal abundance; Comments on future area resources
905 – Wells; Hand winches; Windmills; Gas engines; Amusing worship in Wisconsin; Lutheran Church
007 – Comments on changes in spiritual strength; Hailstorms; Hail insurance; Cloud control
110 – NPL; Farmers Holiday Association; A. C. Townley; Airplane; Political emotional conflicts; IVA
220 – Farmers Holiday Association; Anti-deficiency Law
273 – Crops and prices and weather factors from 1915 – 1930
452 – Federal Reserve Banks; Economy in ’29; Population leaves area
603 – Slope County owned by county; People rebuy land; Morale and attitudes during 30’s
657 – End of interview
Comment:  Mr. Roen’s voice and memory are very strong.  His memory of the early 1900’s is remarkable

Tape # 14 Mrs. Leona Rotering (Rhame)
000 – Introduction
026 – Family history; Comes to North Dakota; Locators survey land; “Dagos” (Bulgarians) working on railroad grade and gravelling roads
098 – Father’s art as woodsman and hunter; Lord in Canada (father); Father homesteads; Father dies
191 – Comments on land and ranchers and settlers; HT Ranch; Longhorn cattle; CY Ranch
245 – Texas cowboys; Norwegian settlers; Childhood games; Schools; Lawrence Duckhorn takes father’s log house
346 – Brother dies; People arrive in “immigrant cars”
429 – Husband files and homesteads; First man to receive $30 a month in area; Builds house
566 – Her father; Disputes between cattlemen and sheepherders
700 – Sheep ranches; Haul wool to Dickinson; Marmarth; Banks closing
800 – Discussion of Rhame and area towns; Horse ranch
900 – Population leaves during 1930’s Depression years; Tagging and shipping cattle; Husband becomes ill
991 – Works in restaurant; Sells land; Early businesses
096 – SIDE TWO
099 – Early businesses; Shopping area; School; Social activities; Consolidated school
198 – Rodeos; Comments on teaching of work; Stages
283 – Marriage; Childhood stature; Husband; Walking plow with Draft horses; Son-in-law
345 – Crops; Baking bread; Flour mill
435 – Gardening; Butchering beef and pork; Smoking pork; Rendering lard; Making soap; Laundry
513 – Wells; Cistern; Detergents; Sewing; Wolves; Parents use animal pelts for clothes; Coyotes
605 – Wildlife; Airplane coyote hunting; Horses and wolves
693 – Hunting buffalo; Indians; Dogs for food
738 – End of interview
Comment:  Mrs. Rotering’s memory is good and informative

Tape #15 North Dakota Stark (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
027 – Comes to area; Wolves; Indian policemen
101 – Indians chase father; Father becomes friends with Indians; 71 Bar Ranch; Post office; Trades in Dickinson; Supplies; Sells flour to Indians
204 – Price of supplies and horses; Miles City Horse Company; Drives horses from Montana to North Dakota; Saddle maker
300 – North Dakota surveyed; First sheriff; Teddy Roosevelt and Marquis de Mores come to Medora; Teddy Roosevelt’s brands; Maltese Ranch; Leaves area; Works on ranch
370 – Typical ranch day; Railroad; House in Bowman; Butcher shop; Putting up ice
462 – Stillwater buildings; First white baby born in area; Midwives; Buffalo; Riding for buffalo; Mining coal
556 – Ranch hands; Horse stealing; Father on jury
600 – End of interview
Comment:  This interview dates back to one of the earliest in our collection.  It is one of the few that relates incidents with early Indians and with the buffalo

Tape #16 Mr. and Mrs. Hedman (Scranton)
Tape A
000 – Introduction
025 – (Her) Family history; Father locates; Comes to North Dakota; Nationalities; Immigrant stopping place at Stillwater
113 – Stillwater businesses; Stillwater originates; Immigrant; Homesteader transportation; Proving up laws
218 – Meets husband; He comes to North Dakota; Homesteads in Canada; Comes to United States; Canada climate; Nationalities
318 – Canadian proving up laws; Canada’s growing season; Goes back to Wisconsin      
419 – Works for elevator company and county; Buys farm; Sells land; Rents farm; 1925 – 39 crops; Drought; Grasshoppers
519 – WPA eligibility; Sons
620 – Works for WPA; Government shooting of livestock; People’s morale during the 1930’s; People leave area
719 – Sand storms; Illnesses; Doctors; Dust and animals
818 – Hay in 30’s; Dust; NPL; William Langer
951 – Farmers Holiday Association; Emotionality about politics; IVA; Farmers Union
072 – Cooperation with equity
121 – End of Tape A
Tape B
000 – Introduction
024 – Brick plant; Briquetting plant; Scranton; People leave area; Factors responsible for new methods
110 – Farmer’s opinion of agricultural government aids; Magazines; Friction between “hunuckers” and ranchers; People leave area in 30’s
202 – Baseball; Dances; Music; Morale and neighborliness during the 30’s
309 – Comments on changes in family life; “Babysitters”; Visiting; Church; Wells
449 – Coal; Building a log house and barn
534 – Sod houses; Doctors; Midwives
688 – Telephone
742 – End of interview

Tape #17 Ed Brown (Scranton)
Tape A
000 – Introduction
027 – Family history; Father homesteads; Builds sod house and barn; 1908-11 crops; Trip from Dickinson to Scranton; Homestead location
132 – Comes to North Dakota; Father’s health; Threshing; Nationalities
218 – Lutheran Church; School; Wells
312 – Coal; Moving belongings from Minnesota; First crops; Farming with oxen; Mules; Horses
419 – Draft horses; 1911-40 crops; Stays home; Works out
522 – Marriage; Works on WPA; Buys tractor
612 – Steam outfits; Cash crop (flax); Headers and binders; Threshing and rigs
715 – Farmers working together; Threshers sleeping arrangements; Threshing
824 – Thresher’s breakfast
828 – End of Tape A
Tape B
000 – Introduction
008 – Flax straw; Steam engine stoker; Steam engine and plowing rig’s fuel
119 – Briquetting plant; Brick plant; Johnson Fuel Company Coal Mine; Klishec Coal Mine
190 – NPL; William Langer; A. C. Townley; Oil well; IVA
245 – Political emotionality; Farmers Holiday Association; Dances
314 – Driving horses through fog; Care of horses; Distemper; Wintering horses
440 – Wife; Smith Mine; Coal price; Burning lignite
514 – Railroad; Hobos; IWW; Farm improvement programs; Sweet clover; Strip cropping; Crop rotation
628 – Summer fallowing; Electricity; Telephones; Equity Elevator; WPA
700 – Digging trenches; Community businessmen; Flour mill; Creamery
805 – Grasshoppers
849 – End of interview

Tape #18 Gus Riener (Scranton)
000 – Introduction
027 – Comes to North Dakota; Family history; Railroad land price; Nationalities
130 – Buildings; Wells; Land braking machines; Scranton Mine; Accidents
226 – Threshing rig; Prices; 1912-35 crops; People leave area; 1920 farm; Present sized farm; Works in elevator
306 – Work in 30’s; 30’s sociability; 40’s morale; Social life; Scranton; County Seat; Declination of population causes; Big farms; Past and present personalities
404 – Model T’s; Farming with oxen; Preparing ground; Strip farming; Effect of farming programs; WPA; Government slaughtering
510 – NPL; William Langer; Political emotionality; IWW; Church; Conflicts between religions; Sociability
596 – Electricity; Telephone; Briquetting plant; Brick plant
689 – The Equity; Diltz farmers; Scranton Grain Company
788 – Competitive town elevators; Equity governorship; Farmers Union
848 – Comments on farm organizations; Baseball; Card parties; Movies
969 – Radio; Musicians for dances
085 – Prohibition; “Bootleggers”
109 – End of interview

Tape #19 Harold Brooks (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
024 – Family history; Files first homestead in township; Comes to North Dakota; Church at Chenoweth
103 – Nationalities; Disputes between ranchers and homesteaders; Post office; Early population at Slope County; Railroad land; People leave in 1930’s; Works for WPA
204 – Buys land; Comments on people leaving; Morale in 30’s; WPA; Theodore Roosevelt; Seed loans; William Langer; Dam projects; Surplus commodities
301 – Buys farm; Education; School system; Father works for railroad; Comments on North Dakota; More discussion on school system
406 – Works for Rudolph Hotel; Bowman; Farmland line; Stockyards; Marketing center; Trees
508 – Efforts to grow trees; Soil Conservation Agency; Shelterbelts; Rudolph Hotel
607 – Discussion of Rudolph Hotel; NPL; Political emotionality; Social life
708 – Religions; Dances; County seat; First meeting in barn to begin other counties
803 – County seat disputes; Area towns and stores and post offices
943 – Six-shooter Slim and Midway Hotel; More area towns and stores and post offices
039 – Flour mill
095 – End of interview

Tape #20 Mrs. Ethel Eide (Scranton)
Tape A
000 – Introduction
025 – Comes to North Dakota; Lives in old bank building and depot; Original depot (description of picture); Husband; Railroad living quarters
107 – Nationalities; Goes back to South Dakota; Comes back to North Dakota; Husband dies; Buffalo Springs; Floodlights
206 – Businessmen; Milwaukee Road watering stations; Moves to Milwaukee Road towns; Marmarth
316 – Kilcare Club; Utopia Club; Ladies Aid; Buffalo Springs; Moves to Bucyrus; General Store
400 – Milwaukee Road shipping point; North Dakotans get South Dakotans’ beer; 1911 passenger lines; Freight trains
510 – Depot agent; Wages; Railroad and bus and airplane competition; Bus lines
612 – Depot agent’s responsibilities; War ends; Western Union; General social life
713 – Weight Pound Social; Plays; Midwives; Heskin family
806 – Delivers babies; Home remedies; Convulsions
902 – 1918 Flu Epidemic
086 – Doctors
100 – End of Tape A
TAPE B
000 – Introduction
024 – Doctors; Daughter born; Sewing clubs; Playing cards; Visiting townspeople and country people association
100 – WPA dam; “Surprise party”; Buffalo Springs Dam; Hobos; Government slaughtering
200 – Freeloader railroad policy; A time freight; Dry Creek train accident
317 – Coal shipping; Kinds of freight; Passengers; Catalog ordering; Creameries; Sports activities
410 – Summer activities in relation to politics; Churches; Freedom train; Morale in 1920’s and 30’s; Electricity
517 – Telephone; Telegraph; Newspapers; Magazines; Movies; Chautauqua Theater
604 – Goes to Hawaii; Chautauqua group; Wild berries
714 – 30’s New Deal programs; Women’s Suffrage; Prohibition;
829 – End of interview
Comment:  Mrs. Eide has a good memory.  Her recollections of the early railroad days are extremely informative

Tape #21 Mr. and Mrs. William Porten (Scranton)
000 – Introduction
024 – Comes to North Dakota; Family history; Nationalities; Milwaukee Railroad
116 – Farming with horses; Steam rigs; 1910-39 crop yieldage; Starts farming; Lane in 30’s; Sharecropping
225 – Federal Land Bank; Buys land; Stolen flax; Marriage
283 – Her family history; Stillwater businesses; Little Falls (in Minnesota); Frank Diltz
394 – Comes to North Dakota; Oxen; Homestead population; Grasshoppers; People leave; Chewing pig hide; “Banana Belt”
491 – Bad winters; Making machinery; Farming in 30’s; Digging coal
624 – Brown coal; Lignite coal; Working on WPA
754 – WPA working requirements; WPA road; Scranton Coal Mine
832 – End of interview

Tape #22 Mrs. Hannah and Albert Fossum (Rhame)
000 – Introduction
029 – Comes to area; Family history; Meets husband; Homesteaded; Neighbors; Nationalities; Church; Ranchers; Frame shack
099 – Rhame; Rattlesnakes; Husband’s belongings; Railroad; Locating offices; Coyotes and wolves; Trading places; Social life
172 – Population leaves area; Crop productive years and prices; Dry years; Grass; Dust storms; Morale in 1930’s; Seeding
245 – Government livestock slaughtering; Shipping in hay and straw; Better years; Thistles; Weeds
308 – Grasshoppers; Grasshopper poison; Temperatures in 30’s
421 – Federal Land Bank; Submarginal land; Electricity; Telephones; Farmers Union
529 – Farmers Equity Elevator; GTA; NPL; William Langer
626 – Gas and oil exploration; Income from grain and cattle; breaking up land
721 – Strip cropping; Summer fallowing; Raising corn; Soil Conservation Agency
808 – Leafy spurge
825 – End of interview

Tape #23 Mrs. Al Ohm (Bowman)
000 – Introduction
012 – Comes to North Dakota; Railroad; Smallpox; Family history
102 – School; Homesteaders spirit; Schoolhouse; Nationalities; Father’s work; Soil; Gardening; Cellar
190 – 1910-11 conditions; Education; Midwives; Doctors; Sod houses
278 – Father goes to South Dakota to work; Sewing; Neighborliness; Social life
325 – Family sizes; Education; Hettinger; Food treats
407 – 1918 Flu Epidemic; Reeder doctor
445 – End of interview

Address:
612 East Boulevard Ave.
Bismarck, North Dakota 58505
Get Directions

Hours:
State Museum and Store: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. M-F; Sat. & Sun. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
We are closed New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day. We are closed at noon Christmas Eve if it falls on Mon.-Thurs. and are closed all day if it falls on Fri.-Sun.
State Archives: 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. M-F, except state holidays; 2nd Sat. of each month, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Appointments are recommended. To schedule an appointment, please contact us at 701.328.2091 or archives@nd.gov.
State Historical Society offices: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. M-F, except state holidays.

Contact Us:
phone: 701.328.2666
email: history@nd.gov

Social Media:
See all social media accounts