Grant County
Region 3
1 Mr. Fred Kurle (see Tape 4 in Morton County), Bismarck
2 Mr. J.A. “Burt” Rock, Elgin
3 Mr. Adam Vilhauer, Elgin
4 Mr. Quentin Michelson, New Leipzig
5 Mr. Victor Provalt, New Leipzig
6 Mr. Albert Boyer, Elgin
7 Mr. Ed Brinkman, Leith
8 Mr. and Mrs. Fred Sept, Leith
9 Mr. and Mrs. Art Nelson, Carson
10 Miss Anna Striegel, Carson
11 Mr. Vincent Muggli, Carson
12 Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Peters, Lark
13 Mr. and Mrs. Bill Morrison, Raleigh
14 Miss Eva Dilley and Mrs. Fred Neal, Shields
15 Mrs. Carrie Weinhandl, Shields
16 Mrs. Mamie Weeden, Shields
17 Mr. Bob Evans, Shields
18 Mr. and Mrs. M.V. Davison, Killdeer
Portions of the following interviews apply to Grant County:
Bert Gwyther #10 Sioux County
Mr. and Mrs. Louis Johnson #33 Burleigh County
Tape #1 Mr. Fred Kurle (McIntosh County)
This interview is housed on Side 1 of Tape #4 in Morton County
000 – Introduction
021 – Comments on his religious faith
065 – Family history; His homestead; South Russia; His schooling; Travel from New York to Eureka, SD
289 – Early settlers in the Wishek area; Family history; Pioneer life
400 – The German-Russian immigrants
459 – His move to a homestead in Grant County; Rambling comments on farming, horses, his wife and children
592 – Making a living during the 1930’s; Dust storms
715 – Thoughts on North Dakota
736 – Memories of the Nonpartisan League and Bill Langer
855 – His wife’s family history
880 – Farming with oxen
936 – End of interview
Tape #2 Mr. and Mrs. J. A. “Burt” Rock
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Her parent’s homestead near Glen Ullin
144 – His parent’s homestead near Elgin; Description of the area in the early 1900’s; Early settlers near Elgin
238 – Small towns in the area
252 – Early Elgin; Laying track into town and workers on the track crew
304 – Traveling to North Dakota in an immigrant car; Recollections of a remarkable farm dog
364 – Sources of fuel; Mining his own coal; Problem of finding water
477 – Sod, stolen, and mud brick houses built by early settlers
533 – Farming with oxen, horses, mules, and mixtures of horses and oxen
586 – First crops planted on new breaking; Story of a good flax crop and waiting for a good price for it
721 – Raising oats and spelt; Buying oats for horses; Good and poor crop years
735 – SIDE TWO
784 – Flood on the Cannonball River in 1950
812 – Steam plowing rigs; Threshing machines
869 – Breeds of farm horses; Horse ranchers; Memories of horses he had
925 – His first tractor, purchased in 1939
958 – Owners of threshing rigs in the area; Firing steam engines with carious fuels and straw; Threshing in general; Cooking for threshing crews
156 – Their courtship, marriage, and children
196 – Raising a family during the 1930’s
213 – Working in the coal mines near Leith in the winter from 1917-1959
340 – Running a road grader during the 1930’s
384 – Neighborliness of people, formerly and presently; His liking for people, regardless of race
466 – End of interview
Comment: Mr. Rock is a good story teller, has a good memory, and is entertaining to listen to. The tape is informative throughout.
Tape #3 Mr. Adam Vilhauer (Elgin)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Large ranches in Grant County around 1900
064 – Experiences as a youth in Idaho
101 – The general store in Heil; General comments on running the business from 1916-1930; Comments on the 1930’s; Collection debts; Cattle prices; Prices during the 1920’s; All of this is intermingled with family history and accounts of his sources of income, including running a funeral parlor prior to refrigeration
346 – Funerals in the 1920’s; Getting coffins; His first car and first hearse; Funerals in general; Morgues in New Jersey during the flu epidemic of 1918
472 – Ease of obtaining credit in the 1920’s; Cattle prices in the 1930’s; Collecting debts
665 – Hard times in 1921 and in the 1930’s; Drought, grasshoppers, and army worms; His cattle business
745 – The average size farm in the 1920’s and in 1974
813 – Changes in attitudes of people since the 1920’s
878 – Prohibition and blind pigs in Elgin
940 – SIDE TWO
942 – Observations about North Dakota
958 – Early doctors in Elgin; Reasons for Elgin’s survival
998 – Elgin’s baseball team; Social life and entertainment
077 – His opinion of government farm programs in the 1930’s
120 – Buying cattle on Standing Rock Reservation for the Department of Agriculture in the 1930’s
136 – Strong support for the Nonpartisan League in the Elgin area
160 – Training of US troops during World War I
195 – WPA projects in the Elgin area
235 – The decline and end of Heil, ND; Obtaining electricity in Heil, Other methods of lighting
276 – The origin of Heil, ND and an account of the Heil family
316 – Businesses and businessmen in early Elgin; Early settlers in the area
395 – Harsh winters of 1915-1916
419 – Coal mines near Heil and Leith
580 – Castrating calves and butchering cattle by phases of the moon
686 – The Grant County Fair
711 – Trading horses; A pony he had as a child; Race horses his father had
881 – End of interview
Tape #4 Mr. Quentin Michelson (New Leipzig)
000 – Introduction
020 – Old Leipzig
039 – Family history; His father’s roller mill in Old and New Leipzig
096 – Nationalities in the Grant County area; Finnish and Germans
150 – Religious groups and churches in the area
203 – Importance of the railroad in the development of towns in Grant County
247 – Development of graded roads in the area
270 – New Leipzig’s and Elgin’s trade area
315 – Ordering from catalogs; Traveling salesmen; Favorite foods of various nationalities
380 – Fishing in the early 1900’s for food rather than for sport
443 – Progressive Grant County Commissioner
485 – Family history; Closure of the New Leipzig mill in 1924; Operation of the mill; Merits of stone-ground flour
606 – The average size farm around New Leipzig in 1918 and today
654 – Expansion of his father’s farm
668 – Relatively poor crop yields during the 1920’s; Diversified farming as the salvation of many farmers; Selling cream
752 – Family history; Making a living during the 1930’s; Preserving food and garden produce
941 – SIDE TWO – Family history; Inadequacy of early medical care; The flu epidemic of 1918; Home remedies for illness; Diphtheria epidemic of 1914
020 – His schooling in New Leipzig and at Dickinson State College
057 – Schools where he taught; Teaching in rural schools
085 – Small coal mines in the New Leipzig area
191 – Requirements for getting teaching certificates in the 1920’s and 1930’s; His teaching career in rural schools
328 – Changes in education since the 1920’s; Financing textbooks
404 – Games rural school students played
546 – Preparing rural school students for high school
607 – Changes in the relationship between farm and city people
658 – Neighborliness of people, formerly and presently
709 – Morale of children during the 1930’s; Hardships children endured; Effect of the Depression on schools; The school as a social center
882 – End of interview
Comment: The interview covers the 1920’s and 1930’s in Grant County. Mr. Michelson’s recollections of teaching in rural schools are valuable.
Tape #5 Mr. Victor Provolt (New Leipzig)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history
065 – The first telephone system in New Leipzig, run by his father; Their problems with Bell Telephone
189 – The New Leipzig Power Company
220 – Coal mines in the area
259 – Old Leipzig; Selecting a site for New Leipzig
274 – Operation of the early coal mines
398 – Origin of New Leipzig; First settlers and businessmen in New Leipzig; Brief account of Odessa, ND; Doctors and blind pigs in New Leipzig
663 – Reasons for New Leipzig’s survival and prosperity; Businesses in the town in the early 1900’s
728 – SIDE TWO
765 – Bank failures in the 1930’s; Morale during the Depression
871 – Support for the Nonpartisan League in Grant County; Memories of Bill Langer
920 – Working in the New Leipzig drugstore; The first theater in New Leipzig; Silent movies; Social life and entertainment; Baseball teams
180 – Neighborliness of people, formerly and presently
198 – The New Leipzig and Carson newspapers; Reading material in homes in the early 1900’s; First radios in the area
256 – WPA projects in the area; The 1930’s in general and popular support for Franklin Roosevelt; Problems collecting debts
382 – End of interview
Comment: This is an informative interview throughout. Portions on the early telephone system, the coal mines, and the first motion pictures in New Leipzig are particularly revealing.
Tape #6 Mr. Albert Boyer (Elgin)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Account of Fleak, ND; Early settlers in the area south of New Leipzig
045 – First impressions of North Dakota; His father’s homestead near New Leipzig and nationalities in the area; Change of the family name from Nelson to Boyer
093 – Prairie fires; Making fire breaks
126 – Buildings on the homestead; Traveling from Nebraska to the ND homestead
186 – Coal mines used by farmers in the New Leipzig area
260 – Finding good water on the homestead; Account of Old Leipzig
296 – First breaking and crops on the homestead; The flour mill in Glen Ullin
354 – Drilling water wells
389 – Expanding farm land on the homestead
409 – Threshing; Lack of threshing machines in the area
457 – Rural schools in the area
490 – Family history
529 – Good and poor crop years and varying prices
624 – Coming of the railroad in 1910; Railroad land grants and railroad service in early New Leipzig
655 – Prohibition; Home brew
707 – Loss of population in the area during the 1930’s; Morale during the Depression and the 1930’s in general
767 – Social life and entertainment
826 – Neighborliness of people and family life, formerly and presently
880 – The flu epidemic of 1918 and early medical care; Midwives
930 – End of interview
Tape #7 Mr. Ed Brinkman (Leith)
000 – Introduction
020 – His work as “water monkey” for a steam engine
056 – Family history (some homestead experience in South Dakota)
104 – His parent’s farm south of Leith; Early settlers in that area; Raising cattle
191 – Threshing; Firing steam engines with straw and coal; Coal mines in the Leith area and the operation of those mines
310 – White relations with Indians
358 – Prairie fires; Making fire breaks
377 – Selling cream; Shopping trips to town
414 – Description of Leith, ND in 1913; Businesses in the town
510 – His marriage; Family history
582 – Leith’s trade area
599 – The flu epidemic of 1918; Early medical care; His father’s death
646 – Hard times during the 1930’s and 1920’s; Family history; The Carson, ND flour mill
735 – Problem of finding good water; Gardening and preserving food
800 – Stone and sod buildings in the area
925 – Finding feed for livestock during the 1930’s
939 – End of interview
Comment: This interview provides brief but informative coverage of the history of the Leith area from 1913 to 1940.
Tape #8 Mr. and Mrs. Fred Sept (Leith)
000 – Introduction
020 – Father’s homesteading near Heil; Sheep raising in early 1900’s; Driving sheep and cattle overland to Glen Ullin
089 – Family background; Mrs. Sept’s family settling in ND; Early farms and modern farms
150 – Early ranchers and farmers in the Leith area; Nationalities in the area
200 – Marketing in Glen Ullin; Frequency of trips to town; Old Leipzig; Heart River halfway point between Leith and Glen Ullin
263 – Father breaks prairie; Begins farming; Oxen farming in the area; Family history
352 – Railroad comes to Leith and its effect; Old towns in area now gone; Why towns failed and population thinned
409 – Leith in its heyday; Towns in the area today; Grant County Fair in Leith
469 – Septs go into store business; Brisbane; Heil; Locating the County fair; White relations with Indians
590 – Events at Indian rodeos on Standing Rock Reservation; Ben Bird from Almont; Chautauquas; Leith gets a high school; Their early schooling
804 – The flu epidemic of 1918; Mrs. Sept’s mother dies; Burials; Family life
945 – Religious life and churches in the area; Progressive businessmen in early Leith; Leith band
011 – House parties; Dances; Granary dances; Baseball teams; The influence of cars on social life
137 – Their marriage; Fred’s business; Civic and fraternal groups in Leith; County seat fight
250 – The Depression in Leith; Welfare and relief orders in the 1930’s; Credit policy in Sept’s store; Commodities sold
388 – Foreclosures in the 1930’s; Thistles; Grasshoppers; Dust storms
483 – Telephone in Leith and the area; The town generating plant; Early lights and lamps
611 – Area politics and politicians; The Nonpartisan League; Independent Voters Association; Republican Organizing Committee; The effect of Watergate
889 – End of tape
Tape #9 Mr. and Mrs. Art Nelson (Carson)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family backgrounds; Her family’s contributions to early Carson
084 – Early settlers in the Carson area; Wells and water around Carson; Homestead houses; Wood and coal; Sims memories.
183 – Prairie fires; Rattlesnakes and coyotes; Mrs. Nelson’s father’s store on the farm and in Carson; Supplying the store
230 – Nationalities in the area; Immigrant cars; Selecting a site for Carson; Mrs. Nelson hauls meat to railroad grade contractors; Italians on the railroad crews; Baking bread
326 – Early Carson businessmen and businesses; Effect of the railroad; Her father’s cattle buying business; Driving cattle to holding pens; Muggli flour mill
418 – Early small towns in the area; Size of farms in 1912; Newspapers in early towns
483 – Sheep raisers before settlers; Relations with Indians; Leith fair; Early Carson businessmen; Rural post offices; Feelings about North Dakota
637 – Coal mines for fuel; Early schooling; Mrs. Nelson reading about Roosevelt School District; Carson schools
751 – Mrs. Nelson talking about horses; Old cowboys; Ben Bird from Almont; Horse races and early gatherings
837 – Train schedules; Hotel; Traveling men; Peddlers and gypsies
902 – Gardening; Roads in the area; County seat fight; Cars and their effect; Garage and car dealerships
988 – Threshing; Steamer explodes
063 – Dry years; Exodus in late 1920’s and 1930’s; Using thistles for hay; Buying feed in the 1930’s
183 – The Nonpartisan League
250 – The Farmers Union; Thoughts about farmers; Milk route in Carson
302 – The Carson baseball team; Social life
358 – Social life; Churches
409 – Banks unite to stay open; Brisbane bank takes over United Carson bank
456 – End of tape
Tape #10 Miss Anna Striegel
000 – Introduction
020 – Family background; Homesteading in Grant County in 1907; Germany to Minnesota to South Dakota to North Dakota migration
094 – Miner Post Office; Freighting supplies to the family store; First impressions of the area; Sod house; Furnishings
156 – Early settlers in the area; Discouragement of homesteading by cattlemen; Breaking sod and getting settled
207 – Area coal mines; Coffin Butte coal mine; Starting trees
265 – Area nationalities; Coyotes and rattlesnakes; Homesteading; Peddlers and traveling men stop at family store; Story of a Syrian peddler
350 – Gypsies traveling thought; Area water supplies; Indians in the area
412 – Area towns; Social life; Bootleggers around Pretty Rock; Texas longhorns butchered by homesteaders in the area
486 – Threshing machine; Steam plowing rigs; Farming with oxen
533 – Mail routes; Delivering mail on horseback in winter
605 – Type of farm family had; Selling cream and using wet blankets to keep cream cool
662 – Her father’s death; Family’s financial status after his death; Raising chickens, selling eggs; Doing farm work herself after her father’s death
754 – The flu epidemic of 1918; Home remedies for the flu; Early medical care and doctors
823 – Crops in the 1920’s and 1930’s; Finding feed for livestock; Dust storms and grasshoppers
869 – Importance of gardens; Making sauerkraut and pickles
925 – Politics; Bill Langer; Picnics; Fishing in the Cannonball River; Current farming practices in that area
972 – Baseball teams; Irish settlers; The Miner Catholic Church
021 – Ordering food and goods from catalogs; Pretty Rock Woodmen’s Hall; Dances
098 – Thoughts on the differences in life formerly and presently; Progressive card parties
143 – Living without REA; The telephone switchboard in her home
198 – Reading material in early homes; Use of the German language at home and in the store; Syrian peddlers
346 – WPA projects; Discussion about her photographs
472 – End of tape
Tape #11 Mr. Vincent Muggli
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; The Glen Ullin flour mill
066 – Operation of the flour mills in Glen Ullin and Carson; Labor requirements; Marketing flour
125 – Getting started in Carson; Business and competition; Marketing area in miles; Proportion of wheat to finished flour; Uses and desirability of flour byproducts
237 – Tenure of mill in Carson; Family history; A large family near Carson; Living in the mill
310 – Carson elevators; Keeping the mill open during the Depression; Flour from different varieties of wheat, rye
391 – Straw for cattle feed; Morale during the 1930’s; Credit during the 1930’s
430 – Determinates that kept some farmers going through hard times; Cream buyers in the area; Labor for the Carson mill; Farmers sleeping in the engine room at Roller mills in Glen Ullin
523 – Hauling wheat in bulk versus sacking it; Storing flour
590 – Restoring the Carson flour mill; Farmers sleeping in the engine room at the Glen Ullin mill
636 – The kerosene engine in the Carson mill; Changing social life in Carson; Schooling of the Muggli family; Carson’s school system
730 – WPA projects in the area; Water quality; First impressions of North Dakota; Background of Glen Ullin roller mills; The market for Wild Rose flour
861 – A. C. Townley and the Nonpartisan League; Purchase of land Langer sold; Impressions of Langer; The Carson mill and elevators; Birdsall elevators and businesses
981 – Elevators ownership and management; Box car availability; Milwaukee versus Northern Pacific Railroad
050 – Raising a family in the early 1900’s; Entertainment for children in Carson; Train service in the early 1900’s
132 – Cleanliness of grain from threshing machines and combines; Cracked grain from combines and threshing machines
169 – End of interview
Tape #12 Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Peters
000 – Introduction
020 – Mr. Peter’s background; Hyde Lumberyard in Lark; Brown Land Company
077 – Early settlers in area; Lark Post Office; Nationalities in area; Dutch settlement in area
122 – Saturday night in early Lark
134 – Mrs. Peter’s background; Holstein dairy circuit near Lark; Family dairy operation in early days; doing chores as children; first impressions of North Dakota; Prairie flowers; Bull snakes and rattlesnakes
282 – Early Lark and its business places; Businessmen and store keepers in Lark; Breeds of cattle in area and in family during early teens
388 – Area towns other than Lark; Schooling of the couple; Lark School; High school in Carson; Carson High School basketball team; Rival athletic teams in area high schools
613 – Decline of area towns; Current Grant County high schools; Problems of consolidation
728 – Their experiences in teaching; Depression teaching; Changing attitudes about high school and college among students
823 – Fuel for heating homes and schools; Lignite stoves; Area attitudes about high school and college among students
960 – Self-sufficiency in families prior to 40’s; Icebox refrigerators; Construction of root cellar
022 – Cattle feed during the 30’s; Milk and cream from Lark to Mandan in teens and 20’s
090 – Light plants and wind chargers in area; Books instead of veterinarians in early days; Colic treatment
153 – Community threshing rig; Water in Lark area; Water table in area
239 – Ice for icebox from creek; Louse Creek; Wick’s range near Lark
273 – Area social life; Baseball team; Importance of Lark Hall in social life; Picnics on Heart River; Fourth of July celebration; Churches; Plum and chokecherry picking
361 – Relationship with Indians in area
422 – Politics in area; W. D. Noyse – Langer organizer
465 – WPA; CCC; Progressive farmers and businessmen in area; Alfalfa and corn; Outstanding young people and schools in area
584 – Changing size of farms in area
642 – End of tape
Tape #13 Mr. and Mrs. Bill Morrison
000 – Introduction
020 – Family background; Father’s relinquishment in ’07; Fences and wintering horses; Plowing and breaking horses
088 – Nationalities in area; Early families in area; Mamie Weeden; Mrs. Morrison’s family background
160 – Early towns in area; Railroad comes in; Hauling grain to Almont before Raleigh was begun; Doc Shortridge story
218 – Early Raleigh; Early businessmen; Raleigh’s marketing area; Early inland post offices
262 – Relationship with Indians; An Indian murderer and aftermath; Recollections of early Indians
340 – Sod houses; Dugouts; Coyotes and rattlesnakes
426 – Raleigh’s good years; More on businessmen
499 – Early social life; Wedding dances and shindigs; Selling cream
552 – Milwaukee versus Northern Pacific in area; Train service on Milwaukee in early days; Catalog buying in early days
630 – Grinding flour in fall at Carson; Area water supply; Area coal mines; Prairie fires; Fire drags
802 – Indian life on reservation; White settlers move onto reservation; Influence of AIM on reservation
854 – More on Mrs. Morrison’s background; Early schooling; Early school bus and foot warmers
914 – Mrs. Morrison’s teaching experiences; Depression conditions around Raleigh; Sand drifts and drought; Buying hay in the 30’s; Slough grass, thistles, and rye straw
037 – Changes in farm size over the years; WPA work; Morale in the 30’s
089 – NPL; Buying cattle for the government in the 30’s; Butchering locally and distributing meat
210 – Threshing rigs; Matheny’s forty-eight inch Altman-Taylor; Steam and gas early plowing rigs; Churches in area
332 – Gardening in early days
374 – End of tape
Tape #14
Mrs. Eva Dilley and Mrs. Fred Neal
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; 1908 homesteading; Early impressions of North Dakota and its people; Health motivates move to North Dakota; Old Goshell Ranch; Early Flasher celebrations and social life
118 – Sod house; “Honyockers”; Living in Mandan while waiting to be “located”; Father carpenters to make money; 1907-08 ranchers and farmers around Flasher
200 – Mrs. Dilley’s schooling and work at home before schooling; Family’s two sod houses; Sand fleas; Warmth and coolness in sod houses
280 – Porcupine and Shields; Plowing up a wagon getting a garden ready; Locater owens; Early people in area; Other immigrants from Ohio; Area ranches
389 – Nationalities in area; Ladies drag dead horse over hill when men are gone threshing; Rattlesnake threatens baby
480 – Relationship with Indians over the years; Teaching experiences with Indians; Sod store at Porcupine; Mr. Neal works on R.R. grade; Breaking sod and proving up
561 – Doc Shortridge from Flasher; Forty mile ride in rainstorm for medicine; Talk while looking at pictures
660 – More on Mrs. Dilley’s teaching experiences; Teaching in Sioux County and Shields; Water from spring to the house
842 – Father’s work as carpenter in Shields; Business places in Shields; Decline of Shields
933 – End of tape
Tape #15 Mrs. Carrie Weinhandl
000 – Introduction
020 – Personal background; History of uncle, Denny Hallihan; Interesting people Carrie met in Shields in early 20’s; Recollections of Moustache Maud, Ott Black, Don Stevenson, Other old-timers; William Wade
141 – Temper of early Shields; Bootleggers; Tommy Twiggs; Frank Fiske; Early relationships with reservation Indians
200 – Early stores in area; Stud Murphy; Boss Farmers on the reservation; Irrigation and community root cellars at Porcupine; Shields as marketing center; Shields marketing area; Early mail route
258 – Early Shields businessmen; Progressive early Shields people; Weinhandls in Sims and Mandan; Mrs. Frank Mann Weinhandl as a midwife in early Mandan area
333 – Weinhandls move to Flasher then Shields; Whites leasing Indian land in Sioux County for flax; Carrie’s memories of working at the Shields Hotel; More on old cowboys; Jerry Foster; Jack Guyer; Fergusen boys and McGregor boys
418 – Threshing rigs; Sheep shearing; Threshing time; Preserving meat; Gardens; Chores for kid’s “kidkillers”; Digging wells and root cellars
511 – Shields businessmen, store keepers, blacksmith, etc.; Decline of Shields; Exodus of people; 30’s; Grasshoppers and dust
596 – WPA road and dam work; NPL; Memories of Langer; Langer picnics; Involvement in politics
657 – Early social life; Baseball team; Joe Day, pitcher; ; Churches; Worshipping together with different nationalities; Father Bernard; Father Francis; Bishop Marty; More on Fiske; Surplus commodities in the 30’s; Area bank closings
895 – Community attitudes regarding bank closing; Family loses everything in banks; Thistles used for hay
948 – End of tape
Tape #16 Mrs. Mamie Weeden (Shields) (Sioux County)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Her father’s construction work on Fort Yates military post and as a woodcutter for Gayton’s wood yard in the 1870’s; Indians her father knew including Chief Gall and Sitting Bull
181 – White relationships with Indians
192 – Early settlers in the Sioux County area; Andy Marsh’s ferry and wood yard; Grant Marsh; Other “old timers” who lived around Winona, North Dakota
361 – Family history; Her father’s service as deputy US Marshall in 1884; The jail in Williamsport; Her parent’s homestead and ranch in Sioux County
600 – Operation of her father’s ranch and store southwest of Shields; Her mother’s attitude toward life on the prairie; Freighting goods from Mandan to their store; Raising and selling cattle and horses
935 – SIDE TWO – Wildlife in the area in the early 1900’s
967 – Early settlers in the Shields area
016 – Her childhood on the prairie; Family life
075 – Her education; Traveling to school in Mandan; Her teachers
151 – Early Mandan and the ferry to Bismarck
217 – Her father’s Indian friends; Indian food; Early Fort Yates
309 – Her father’s acquaintance with and dislike of Custer
433 – Her marriage; Her parent’s ranch; Her husband’s homestead
517 – Early towns in Grant and Morton Counties
550 – Their homestead and cattle ranch
650 – Her mother; The flu epidemic of 1918 and early medical care; Doctor Darby
734 – Family history; Her children
798 – The 1930’s
819 – Closing the store and post office on her parent’s ranch in the 1920’s
852 – Recollections of Mustache Maud and Ott Black
879 – End of tape
Comment: This is a very informative and entertaining interview. Mrs. Weeden has a remarkable memory, particularly of stories her father told her about the 1870’s and 1880’s.
Tape #17 Mr. Bob Evans
000 – Introduction
020 – Personal background; Army in the Philippines; Work in Sequoia National Park; Recollection of cavalry experiences; Description of individual soldier’s gear
146 – Recounting of forced march from Mandan to Fort Yates to Mandan in November, 1902; Childhood on farm near Baltimore; Driving a sixteen mule pack team in Sequoia Park
193 – First impressions of North Dakota; More on march; Cutting ash posts on Missouri bottoms in ’03; Old timers around Shields in ’03; Open range in Grant and Sioux in ‘02
285 – Wade; Fergusons; Tenbrook; Stevenson; Anchor range; Nationalities of old timers; Getting supplies from Mandan; Roundups; Cattle drives
348 – Ranchers working together; Driving cattle to Mandan; Cattle prices; Breeds of cattle; Different ranchers Bob worked for; Cattle rustling and horse rustling; Wild horses; Cow ponies
470 – Social life in area; Dancing in area in earl days
534 – Summer celebrations; Fourth of July; State fair in Mandan; Difference between bronc riding now and then; Impromptu bronc riding
614 – Frank Fiske; Picture talk; Maude Black; Winona; Early stores and supply stations
861 – Early Indian relationships; Indians prepare for winter; Making pemmican
932 – More on Winona; Blind pigs in Winona; Old cowboys and cow outfits; Turkey Track Bill; Jack Guyer; Horse rustling
094 – Bob goes broke on his place in 30’s; Bob’s marriage; Raising a family
152 – Farming starts around Shields; Sheep raising around Shields; Germans move in around Shields and farming starts
212 – Shields in its peak; Business burnings hurt town; Porcupine and its background; Relations with Indians
272 – Boss farmers; Move on Porcupine; Bob works as Boss farmer on Rosebud Reservation
330 – Superintendent Mossman at Fort Yates; Surveying on reservation; Small talk; Story of a fight in the army; Small talk about historic coins; Kid Silk and Silk family
575 – Soldiers from Fort Yates; Soldiers marry Indian girls or Winona “girls”; Bob’s work in Washington; Sioux County in the 30’s
715 – End of tape
Tape #18 Mr. M. V.”Vere” Davison (Killdeer)
000 – Introduction
021 – Baseball; Flasher; St. Joseph; Mail route; Post office; Heil; Elgin; Kaiser pictures; Railroads
113 – Family history; Homestead buildings; Steam engine; Header; Elevator; School building; Carson passenger train pictures
225 – Elgin; Kaiser Hotel; Elgin railroad pictures
283 – Works in Bismarck Post Office; Medicine Hole
385 – Medicine Hole; Capitol Building fire
457 – Capitol Building construction; Mail car; Mail hooks; Works out of Aberdeen
552 – Mail train routes and rules; Train incident; Bismarck Post Office
630 – Family history; Moves from Iowa to ND; Pine shanty; Glen Ullin for supplies
703 – Family history; Relatives and their professions; Teaches school
812 – Homestead; Black and Blue Trail; Stage
909 – Homestead; Stays in coal shed
944 – SIDE TWO
944 – Parents; Pine shanty; Furniture
998 – Homesteading reason; House burns; New house
051 – Stone buildings; Settlers; Doctor
113 – Diphtheria; Doctor; Haul grain to Glen Ullin
199 – Water; Radio; Glen Ullin trip; Sleds; Wagon boxes
276 – Catalog grocery ordering; Prairie fires
376 – Prairie fires
456 – Attends school with mother; First primer; School term
537 – Sod house school; Teaching wages; School desks; Teaches school
595 – Elm Post Office; Move to Kaiser; Kaiser; Move depot from Elgin to Brisbain
749 – Social life; Chautauquas; Theaters; Knights of Pitheus; Modern Woodmen of America; Women’s Auxiliary
843 – Newspapers
Comment: M. V. Davison talks extensively about “Medicine Hole”. His postal information is valuable and his description of prairie fire destruction is more detailed than many in this collection.
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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:
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