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

Manuscripts - ND Oral History Collection - 10157 - Griggs County

Griggs County

Region 8
1 Sig Romsaas, Hannaford
2 Delia Sonju, Hannaford
3 Percy Nelson, Walum
4 L. G. Olson, Cooperstown
5 Harold Auren, Cooperstown
6 Christine Koch, Cooperstown
7 Clara Mable Brown, Cooperstown
8 Nora Mohberg, Cooperstown
9 Sophia Stokkeland, Cooperstown
10 Theo Hovel, Jessie
11 Eva and Adrian Anson, Binford
12 Mr. and Mrs. Irvin A. Kirkeby, Binford
13 George Standal, Binford
14 John and Mabel Maurer, Binford
15 Joe Stahl, Binford
16 Hazel J. Alm, Binford
17 Harry Koplin, Sutton
18 Richard Bailey, Sutton

Portions of the following interviews apply to Griggs County:
A. M. Paulson #5 Burleigh County
C. P. Dahl #20 Burleigh County

Tape #1 Sig Romsaas (Hannaford)
000 – Introduction
023 – Comes to United States; Family history; Jobs he held; Military Service; Kinds of guns; Last World War II military drive in Germany
176 – Poorness of German people; German reception to American forces; German girls working in grape vineyards
227 – Nationalities; Works with farmer; Rents farm; Buys tractor; Rents another farm
315 – Buys farm and more land; Keeping his land during 30’s; Buys more land
413 – Gets married; Earning a living during 30’s; Compares past and present dollars spent for pleasure; Milking cows; Selling cream and keeping his land in 30’s
463 – Building the railroad; First store at Revere; Other businesses at Revere; Sutton
563 – Early businesses and doctor at Hannaford; Farm failures; Banks fail and people lose money in 30’s
635 – His responsibilities while working for farmer; Salary; Kind of farming horses and caring for these horses; Threshing machines; Purchasing tractor parts; Travelling with a cook car; Sleeping in barn during threshing season; Plowing with steam powered tractor
771 – Going from farm to Hannaford on Fourth of July; Card parties; Baseball
819 – Buys car; 1918 Influenza Epidemic; Securing his citizenship papers
SIDE TWO
937 – NPL political strength; William Langer’s political character; Farmer Holiday Association; Usher Burdick; NPL popularity; IVA popularity
007 – Gardening; Raising turkeys; Foxes; Coyotes; Sig and wife share farm income
090 – Electricity; Standby plants; Delco plants; Milking machines; Telephones; REA
120 – Keeping hay for livestock; Paying rent on his land and crop failures during 30’s; Flour mill; WPA’s Roosevelt’s cabins (toilets) in 30’s
149 – Franklin Roosevelt’s political popularity; Compares differences between Farmers Union and Farm Bureau; Comments about North Dakota’s trend toward larger farms
218 – Compares past and present neighborliness and family togetherness; Bootleggers; Prohibition; Home brew; Churches
317 – Adjustment from working with horses to driving tractors; New see grains; Shelter belt and Garrison Diversion aid to farms; Opinion of present government control
438 – Large farms in area; Comments about Graduated Land Tax and Land Reform
489 – End of interview
Comment:  This is a broad interview, but it is generally lacking in outstanding information about any particular topics from the 1900’s.

Tape #2 Delia Sonju (Hannaford)
000 – Introduction
022 – Comes to Revere; Revere businessman; Family history; Revere begins to lose population; Other towns; Revere Machine Shop
074 – Nationalities; Husband’s family history; Works out for families; Doing the laundry
180 – Canning berries; Storage preparation of pork; Storing lard
226 – Flour mill; Compares past and present flour contents; Homemade yeast; Her impression of ND; Travelling to Hannaford with a handcar; Hannaford Movie Theater; Opinion of movies; House and Card parties; School picnics; Activities of Barley (school) at Hannaford
317 – Compares past and present neighborliness; Reason for “good old days”; More about neighborliness; Quilting parties; Neighbors butcher meat together
388 – 1918 Influenza Epidemic; Nearest doctor; Caliber of doctors; Home remedies
442 – Gets married; Discouragement in 30’s; Raises poultry; Sells cream; People leave
513 – William Langer’s popularity; Popularity of politics as a conversational topic; Gardening; Root Cellars; Transients; Gypsies; Salvation Army visits farms; Gypsy foul play; Peddlers; Catalog ordering; Fish peddlers
670 – Hobos; Husband’s threshing machine; Farmers thresh together; Atmosphere of the threshing season; Compares past and present religious toleration; Marketing towns
783 – Hannaford’s reputation as a town; Town’s housing ability; Revere’s housing is removed; Spiritwood’s recreational facilities; Compares past and present family togetherness and use of “babysitters”; Sewing with flour sacks; Compares past and present use of sewing machines; Her first washing machine
884 – Delia’s appreciation of an electric ironer
Comment:  The listener will notice that the town of Revere which is no longer in existence is mentioned frequently at the beginning of this interview.  Another topic of special interest to our women listeners is quilting parties.

Tape #3 Percy Nelson (Walum)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Inland post offices; Family history; Nationalities; A Dutch Settlement; Family history; Walum established
142 – First grain elevators; Regulation of grain prices; A cause of NPL organization; His first job with State Highway Department; Early Walum businesses; Businesses fail; Bank closes; Political appointments to offices at the State Highway Department
241 – IVA political strength; Political rallies at Spiritwood; Begins work with State Highway Department; Construction of Highway 1; Contracted road construction; Walum businessmen; Compares past and present pace of life; Card parties; Compares past and present neighborliness; Early farm population; Farmer exodus in 30’s; Walum begins failing as a town
345 – Walum schools; Marketing area; Great Northern Railroad; Elevator manager hours in 1915; Unloading grain at elevator; Loads of grain handler per day; Boxcar shortage; Railroad passenger service; Livery stable; Compares past and present happiness of people; Stature of farm men
421 – Blind Pigs; Pool hall; Law enforcement; Gambling; Bootlegging; Electric Cooperatives; Telephone Centrals; Hannaford is a railroad town; Hobos
531 – IWW “bugs” thresh machines; Farm and IWW confrontations; Custom threshing rig operators; A successful businessman and custom thresher at Hannaford; Comments about trend of large scale farming
611 – Percy leaves Walum; Earning a living in 30’s; Discouragement in 30’s; Grasshoppers; Army Worms
703 – 1918 Influenza Epidemic; Nearest doctor; Funeral procedures; Churches; Compares past and present religious disputes
808 – Farmers Union and Farm Bureau strength in county; Far co-op commonality; Elevator Manager difficulties; Description of a good farmer; Raising livestock and poultry inside of town; Gardening; Baseball
924 – End of interview
Comment:  Percy’s father worked as an Elevator Manager for a cooperative and therefore, our listener will probably find the conversation about early elevator operations one of the more informative topics.

Tape #4 L. G. Olson (Cooperstown)
000 – Introduction
020 – Reasons for coming to United States; His marriage; Works as tailor; A consolidated clothing store; Second marriage; Family history; Comments about trip to United States; Early businesses; Nationalities; Family history; Opera House
115 – First impressions of ND; Sidewalks at Cooperstown; Comments about lack of trees in ND; Other towns; Early businesses; A J.C. Penney store; Other towns; German and Norwegian friendliness with each other
205 – German-Catholics in the area; Works as tailor at SD; Enters into clothing store partnership; Compares past and present quality of clothing; His suit supplier; Dry cleaning
294 – Entertainment; Opera House; Movie Theater; Fraternal Lodges
337 – Where Cooperstown began; L.G.’s credit terms with farmers; His clothing supply in 30’s; Reasons for selling out his business; Wife’s illness; Lack of clothing suppliers during 30’s and after World War II
385 – Comments about John Moses, William Langer and William Frazier; NPL political strength; A. C. Townley’s oil well; Political feelings between IVA and NPL; Comments about William Lemke and his house at Fargo; Nye works as Newspaper Editor at Cooperstown; General opinion of Nye; Tea Pot Done (Trial)
472 – Travelling clothing suppliers; Early and present quality of fabric; Clothing fashion changes; L.G.’s clothing stock; Reasons for J.C. Penney business failure; Chain store companies versus the independent store
562 – Depression in the 30’s in general; Dust storms; Bad years at Cooperstown; Bank failures; Earning a living in 30’s; WPA; FDR’s popularity
670 – The Bank Holiday; Comments about FDR’s presidential ability; WPA road work and dams; 1918 Influenza Epidemic; L.G. cares for clothing owned by epidemic deaths; Crop conditions during epidemic; Women work in fields during these years
761 – End of interview
Comment:  L. G.’s profession was working as a tailor and therefore, his comments about an early tailoring business and other facets for the clothing business, independent and chain store, are the elite topics in this interview.

Tape #5 Harold Auren (Cooperstown)
Tape A
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Early settlers
172 – Family history; Leaves home; Family history
276 – Nationalities; Present home location; Life in dug outs and sod houses; Anecdote about a settler being separated from his wife on a train
387 – Midwives; Bachelor homesteaders; A graveyard north of the highway; Teachers teach school in student’s homes; Schoolhouse location; Walking to school
471 – Father’s hunting ability and the kind of food prepared while living in dug out; Builds flour mill; Homesteader and Indian friendliness; Harold finds stones Indians used for sleds and arrow flints; A homesteader recalls Army service and battling with the Indians
580 – Prairie fires; Farming with oxen; Firebreaks
665 – Father seeds first crops; Location of flour mill powered by horses
726 – Card parties; Kind of floor in dug out; Cooperstown gets its beginning; First building at Cooperstown; R.C. and Charley Cooper; Other towns
818 – Mardell businessmen; Funeral procedures; Area minister; Receiving center for mail before delivered to Cooperstown; Location of Atcheson and Harold’s home from father’s homestead
TAPE B
820 – Introduction
838 – Cooperstown’s growth after railroad comes in; R.C. and Charley Cooper’s land at Cooperstown
935 – Ways in which homesteaders came into area; Neighborliness; Reasons for “good old days”
005 – Compares past and present neighborliness; Anecdote about his father getting into a physical argument with another man; Hauling liquor with a load of lumber
114 – Reasons for changes from past to present neighborliness
155 – Description of early prairie grass; Grass catches snow in wintertime; Cutting and raking grass; Farming with oxen and horses; Working with a breaking plow
256 – Breed of cattle that were raised; Handling oxen while working; Farming with mules; Farming with oxen; Prairie Chickens; Rabbits; Coyotes; Fish; Preparing jackrabbits for meals; Homemade cheese
342 – Early cleanliness of Sheyenne River; Father digs well; A particular well dug by a man named Frost (had cabin where everyone would dance); Curbing in the wells; Description of the well
463 – Father builds forge; Harold finds remains in father’s blacksmith shop; Father dies
SIDE TWO
545 – Fish caught in Sheyenne River; Preparing fish; Raises farm livestock; Homemade sausage and dried beef; Working with and early binder
615 – Seeding by broad casting; Working with a Brush drag; Cutting hay by scythe; More about working with binders; Tying bundles with grain; Commonality of the smoking habit; Using coffee grounds for tobacco in pipes
740 – Goes to live with uncle; Hires out to work with farmers; Salary; Gets married; Anecdote from bad winter of 1987
859 – 1900-1936 crops; Kinds of wheat raised in 30’s; Harold begins farming; Farms father’s homestead; Rents land from uncle; Buys land in 1928; Price of that land
952 – Reasons for homesteaders failing at farming and leaving; Thoughts on how people farm today; Returning to farms and cost of farming
082 – NPL political strength in 30’s; Opinion of William Langer; Comments on changes in farm prices and laws; How a particular neighbor purchases machinery
208 – Old timers enjoy life without inventions
269 – End of interview
Comment:  Harold describes a dug out living quarters, funeral procedures, a water well with curbing and the commonality and variation of that times smoking habit.

Tape #6 Christine Koch (Cooperstown)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history
140 – Midwives; Nationalities; Early settlers; Transportation route for settlers from Minnesota to Cooperstown; Business manners; personalities; Place of residence and wealth of Cooper brothers
268 – Early businessmen; Area of land that Cooper’s owned; Homestead house; Whooping Cough; AN Indian Medicine Man administers home remedy for Whooping Cough
381 – Plants that the Indian Medicine Man used for remedies; Feelings between the Whites and the Indian man when trading horses; Description of a sod shanty; Other kinds of houses; Farming with oxen
459 – Father forecasts weather by signs of nature; Anecdote about father walking home with oxen during a winter day; Hauling wood from Sheyenne River for fuel
547 – Prairie fires; Firebreaks; Fighting a fire by placing a washtub over a well; How prairie fires began; Water supply at Jessie area
646 – Railroad comes to Jessie; Other towns; More railroad comes to Jessie; Buildings at Jessie
SIDE TWO
718 – Father operates livery business and rents land; Anecdotes from winter of 1897 also called “The Winter of the Big Snow”; Father’s land ownership
775 – Her education; Location of schoolhouse; A postmaster at Lake Jessie; Cooperstown receives mail for area and serves as main trading area; Description of the Palace Hotel
814 – The town’s reputation; Bootleggers; Present and past businesses at Jessie; Husband’s family history; She lives at Minneapolis
872 – Earning a living in 30’s; WPA; A bad crop year in 30’s; Using a harrow for plowing; Dust storms; Kind of soil at Cooperstown area
908 – Father raises livestock; Town serves as dairy market; Milking cows at home; Hay for livestock in 30’s; Distinguishing a good farmer from a bad farmer in 30’s; Jessie Bank closes; Jessie is destroyed by fire
004 – Business at Jessie declines; 1900-1935 entertainment; Compares past and present neighborliness; Autos contribute to present day lack of visiting; Railroad service in area; The “Galloping Goose” railroad route; Ordering from catalogs; More about railroad service; Peddlers; Gypsies; Compares past and present honesty and sociability of people; Gypsy morals
119 – Baseball; Nationalities; Church social life; Barn dances; Compares past and present morality levels, family life, and use of “babysitters”; Women’s sewing circles
200 – Farmers Co-op at Jessie; Her opinion of state’s trend toward large farms; Electricity; Windmills used to pump water; Telephones
259 – Home remedies; Watkins Liniment; Gardening; Raising poultry; Storing vegetables in root cellar
358 – Homemade Cottage Cheese; Canning pickles and homemade sauerkraut
429 – End of interview
Comment:  Christine’s interview is varied and informative.  The town of Jessie is mentioned here often.  A few of the more elite topics are an Indian Medicine Man administers remedies to white settlers, personal feelings between Indian and White people, forecasting weather by signs of nature and anecdotes from the severe winter of 1897.

Tape #7 Clara Mabel Brown (Cooperstown)
000 – Introduction
028 – Family history; Reasons for homesteading in ND; Works with R.C. Cooper; Cooper family’s personality and business management reputation; Description of Palace Hotel; Wealthy businessmen
128 – More about Palace Hotel; Andrews Hotel; WPA project in which women sewed mattresses; NPL political strength; D. Bartlett serves as Lieutenant Governor; C.P. Dahl works at Binford; Wife is postmistress at Jessie; Obtains farm through marriage; His political affiliations and moves to Cooperstown; Political rivalry between parties; Cooperstown serves county as largest town; William Langer leads rallies at Cooperstown; C.P. Dahl works as auctioneer; Opinion of Langer’s political ideas’ Farmer Holiday Association; Growth of Cooperstown; Serves as County Seat
198 – Cooperstown in 30’s; Reasons for people leaving Cooperstown; Hotels; Restaurant; Churches; Religious tension; Electricity; Telephone; Works as telephone operator
318 – Location of telephone office; Location of Cooper house; Farm party telephone lines; Compares past and present neighborliness; Fraternal Lodges; Masonic Hall is built; Opera House and kinds of entertainment; Church choir; Churches
435 – Listening to radio
472 – End of interview
Comment:  Clara’s interview is short and not very informative; however, the comments about the telephone system and the Cooper family may be valuable to our listener.

Tape #8 Nora Mohberg (Cooperstown) (Sargent County)
000 – Introduction
021 – Family history; A Normal School is built at Milnor; Family history
128 – Earning a living with a quarter section of land; Raising fruit; Watering the orchard; Reasons for coming to United States; Storing of vegetables in a root cellar; Canning; Unusual way of storing cabbage; Storing watermelons
209 – Compares past and present neighborliness; Social life; Church Song Fests; Religious tension; Funeral procedures
314 – Prairie land at Sargent County; Nationalities; Nora’s education; Merits of attending rural school; Names of early teachers in this area
430 – Teaching at a rural school; Allowing students to pass more than one grade at a rural school; Her education
508 – 1918 Influenza Epidemic; Nora teaches school; Buys land; Challenges and rewards of teaching Grade One; Teaches at UND; Differences between teaching college and high school; Other places Nora taught; Disciplinary problems; She furthers her education
635 – Works as Librarian with State of North Dakota; Moves to Cooperstown; Teaching and disciplinary problems; Husband dies; Lives on farm during 30’s; Dust storms; The men’s idleness during 30’s; Butchering cattle
729 – Discouragement during 30’s; Buying groceries and shoes during 30’s; Keeping hay for cattle; Hauling straw for cattle from Valley City
832 – People leave in 30’s; County’s early year population; Present deserted farmsteads; More about people leaving; CCC; WPA; NPL political strength
903 – End of interview
Comment:  Nora’s interview is mainly concerned with teaching at rural schools and the early educational system in general.

Tape #9 Sophia Stokkeland (Cooperstown)
000 – Introduction
026 – Family history; Moves to United States; Family history; Moves to Grand Forks; Sophia learns to read Norwegian; More family history; Her childhood home
150 – Nationalities; Meets her husband; Family history; Post office at Ottawa; Mail routes; Other towns
241 – Her education; Length of school term; Dangerous coyotes during the winter time; Comments about the sounds of coyotes; Decision to remain in United States
315 – Teachers at Aneta; Size of school; People leave; Burning wood for fuel at school; Breaking sod; Description of a breaking plow; Learning to drive horses; Other children in family
412 – Farming with oxen and horses; Severe winter of 1897; Coyotes during wintertime; Describes the hide-a-way beds in her childhood home; Moves into valley; Buys a cow
503 – Homemade cottage cheese; Gardening; Describes root cellar; Straining milk and storing it in root cellar; More about gardening; Planting potatoes; Potato bugs in the garden
633 – Storing carrots in sand; Main foods; Flour mill; Their living standards at this time; Preserving flour
SIDE TWO
721 – Hauling water while they lived in valley; Stepfather builds house; Brothers move log house; Doing the laundry
814 – Sophia attends college; Her needlework; Her marriages; Her philosophy of life; Her first husband; She farms alone; First husband’s homestead
913 – Sells farm; First husband dies; Her second marriage; Lives on farm with second husband; Feeding Russian thistles to cattle; Crop and hay conditions in 30’s; Feeding flax straw to cattle
009 – FDR’s popularity in the area; Buys a radio; NPL political strength; WPA; Discouragement in 30’s; Kinds of food that was eaten during 30’s; Sewing with flour sacks
118 – Gardening; Preparing rutabagas, turnips, and potatoes; Sells dairy and poultry products; Kinds of chickens that she raised; Shopping at Cooperstown; Inland post offices
237 – Electricity and REA; Delco plants; Buys refrigerator; Milking cows; Feeding skimmed milk to pigs
331 – Telephones; 1918 Influenza Epidemic
432 – End of interview

Tape #10 Theodore Hovel (Jessie)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Moves to Jessie; Homestead location; How Jessie originated; Using oxen for transportation; Hauling grain with horses; Businesses at Jessie; Farmer’s Cooperative Elevator; Meat market and bank
098 – Nationalities; Location of Jessie Lake; First post office; A dance hall at Jessie Lake; A store and dance hall building; Musicians at dances; Compares past and present dances; Compares past and present sociability; Pool halls; Buying alcoholic beverages; Playing cards and gambling at pool halls
178 – Railroad service; Father buys livery barn at Jessie; Comments about father’s dray line business; Doctors; Jessie has a snowstorm on May 6; Farming with oxen; Threshing machines 
262 – Early settlers in area; How homesteaders got their land; Farming with oxen and horses; Flax is first crop planted; Breaking land by back setting
310 – William Langer and Lynn J. Frazier speak at Jessie; NPL; Farmer’s Store at Jessie; William Langer’s political philosophy; Farmers Holiday Association; William Langer helps to stop farm foreclosures; Farm opinion of foreclosures; NPL members in general; Political offices that William Langer, Lynn J. Frazier, and William Lemke held at this time
419 – Baseball; Dances; Lake Willow is build; Card parties; Other towns; Cooperstown’s reputation
511 – Bootleggers; Home brew; Prohibition; Anecdote about bootleggers at Jessie
566 – Good and bad crop years; 1928 marks beginning of better farming years; Bank closes; Reasons for being refused WPA; Feed loans
652 – Earning a living during 30’s; Keeping hay for cattle; Feeding cattle Russian thistles; Government buys cattle; Stockyards; Farmers lose farms and insurance companies get the land
753 – Discouragement in 30’s; Salaries during these years; What men did to occupy time during 30’s; Compares past and present value of dollar; Comments about whether or not our state could handle another depression
805 – Plays in school at Jessie; People begin to become more independent; A Homemakers Club is organized; Card parties change through the years; Past and present social life
867 – An unusual comment:  Reasons for farming with horses instead of machinery
Comment:  Theodore’s interview is not an exceptional one.  Early farming life in the Jessie area is the context of most of his comments.

Tape #11 Eva and Adrian Anson (Binford)
000 – Introduction
020 – Eva’s family history; Nationalities; Large farms; Early population; A country store south of Sutton; First County Superintendent of Schools; Her education; Length of school term; Where the teachers came from
125 – Early businessmen; Town’s first storekeeper, blacksmiths, and elevators; Farming with horses; Family history; Earning a living during early days; Farming with oxen; Tough times in early days; Father works at Chicago and does trapping
245 – Father’s farming livestock and second house; Sod houses; Father’s shanty and dug outs; A cattle company; Quality of water and surface wells
303 – Gardening and canning; Owning a root cellar; Food items that were stored in root cellar; Nearest town; Binford has its founding
332 – Dancing serves as entertainment; Card parties; Baseball; (Adrian) Largest crop he had; Family history; Father hunts coyotes during 1913-1919 to earn living; Hunting coyotes with dogs; Coyote bounty
454 – Places where father would trap coyotes; Other animals that were trapped; Hunting skinks; Feeding skunks horsemeat; More about hunting skunks, weasels, badgers, and coyotes
538 – Processing coyote furs; People eat rabbits for meals; Diseased rabbits; Hunting wild fowl
610 – 1918 Influenza Epidemic; Their present home is built; Depth of the depression in 30’s; PCA Loan; Cash income that he earned during one year; Works with WPA and gets assistance from them
667 – (Eva) NPL political strength; Father is member of Socialist Party; Speakers; Headquarters and members of the Party; Criticism of the Party; Socialist join NPL; NPL live on farms; IVA members; Farmers Holiday Association serves in area
753 – William Lemke; A. C. Townley speaks in area; Percentage of farmers belonging to NPL; Compares past and present political emotionality; Opinion of League’s store and packing plant; NPL arouses curiosity of people; (Eva) NPL laws passed in legislature
873 – Using cow chips and flax straw for fuel at home; Burning coal in schools
920 – End of interview
Comment:  Eva comments more frequently in this interview than her brother.  There is extensive discussion about hunting skunks and coyotes.  There is also some information here about the Socialist Party.

Tape #12 Mr. and Mrs. Irvin A. Kirkeby (Binford)
000 – Introduction
020 – His family history; Buying land instead of homesteading; First settler to place plow into ground at Sutton; Hauling grain with grain tanks; Shoveling grain by hand; Hauling grain by bobsled; Reasons for coming to United States
119 – Raising horses; Works with farmer during 30’s; Kirkeby family survives 30’s; Banks close at Sutton; The name of a bonanza farmer; Selling cattle in joint account with a bank
231 – Past and present shrewdness of women; An example of financial shrewdness during 30’s; Federal Land Bank Loans; The Moratorium begins; opinion of William Langer; Quentin Burdick and William Langer as orators; Quentin Burdick handles land cases during moratorium; Political supporters of the Moratorium and the Farmer Holiday Association; Bankers and wealthy businessmen buy land during Moratorium; Family history
304 – Compares 1800 and present man’s financial preparations before marriage; Father’s farm settlement location; Mother’s first opinion of ND; Electricity; Nationalities; Country church is built; Importance of religion; Raising horses; Father’s land area
427 – Sutton businessmen; Banks; Other businesses; Blacksmiths
514 – Sutton is plotted; Electricity; Railroad is built
616 – Her family history; Reasons for coming to United States; Walking is dangerous because of coyotes; Homesteading location; Buys first car; Description of that car
752 – Family history; Leaves home
SIDE TWO
942 – Father’s financial status during 30’s; NPL activity; Political rallies; Attends Governor William Guy’s Ball
040 – Farmer Holiday Association stops foreclosures; People leave farms; Bad crop years and grain rust during 30’s; FHA Loans; Land prices; Bank closings at Sutton
153 – Baseball; Prohibition; Veterinarian works sat Sutton; Bootleggers; Dances
271 – Discouragement in 30’s; WPA employment requirements; Telephone; Father farms with diversified farming; Raising sweet clover
399 – Large farming trend in ND; Vacant farms
500 – Comments about the changes of becoming older; Changes from the past to present sociability
669 – Compares past and present satisfaction of people; Social levels; Family togetherness changes; Buying radios
780 – Family togetherness and neighborliness; Intermarriages within different religions
Comment:  The Kirkebys are very responsive people.  Their interview includes early 1900 farming, politics from that time, and family life

Tape #13 George Standal (Binford)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Railroad construction; Family history
116 – Nationalities; Inland post offices and country stores; R. C. Cooper’s land, railroad, character, and farm
238 – Father’s work with railroad; Building a railroad; Salaries in 1899
305 – Section crew turnovers, hours, and work; Motorcars and pump cars; Section gang responsibilities
410 – Railroad employment benefits; Location of section house; Building water tanks and pump houses; Kinds of railroad train service
507 – Railroad stops service; Hauling grain via truck and rail; Passenger service is discontinued; Removal of railroad mail contracts; Local freight discontinued
612 – Great Northern Railroad profits; Conductors steal ticket fares; Railroad “bootleggers”
SIDE TWO
703 – A local section foreman; Reputation of railroad men; Railroad Unions and strikes
817 – Public opinion of railroads; Future railroad contributions; George’s work with railroads
907 – Changes in Binford’s size; Binford’s early businessmen; Other towns; Present businesses; Fires at Binford; Fire Departments at Binford
970 – 1918 Influenza Epidemic; Doctors; Livery stables; Telephone
015 – Town rivalry between Binford and Cooperstown; Banks; Changes from past to present sociability; Card parties; Dances; Location of Willow Lake
125 – Fishing at Willow Lake; William Langer and Usher Burdick political rallies; Compares past and present changes in political emotionality; NPL political strength ; Location of Lake Jessie and Long Lake
205 – Lake Jessie dries in 30’s; People lose money and leave in 30’s; Large farms today; Grasshoppers in 30’s
292 – Discouragement; Feed for cattle; crops and salaries in 30’s; Statements about fear of a future depression
369 – Government buys pigs and produces fertilizer from them; Government buys cattle
Comment:  George speaks very clearly.  One of the most informative topics is the discussion about section crews and other railroad conversation.

Tape #14 John and Mabel Maurer (Binford)
000 – Introduction
021 – His family history; Location of Union House Hotel at town of Cooperstown; Family history
099 – Nationalities; Family history; Homestead locations; Reasons for coming to ND; John homesteads at Montana; Homesteading at Canada
191 – Buys a steam rig; Goes to Montana; Breaks land for other homesteaders; Burning green coal for fuel
242 – Kinds of houses that parents and John built; Problems at area with coyotes; Durability of his house at Montana; More about his steam rig; Discing sod with horses
335 – 1918 Influenza Epidemic; Changes in Binford’s size; Comments about his parent’s hotel; Banks and businesses at Binford
447 – Works with State Highway Department; Working with a blade and horses; Early power gliders; Kinds of roads
577 – Length of days while working with grader; Snowplowing during wintertime; His salary; Plowing a road for second time
SIDE TWO
720 – More about snowplowing; Clearing snow with dust in 30’s; Care, handling, and description of snowplow; Working with snowplow and truck
836 – Reasons for “washboard” roads; Correcting these roads; Doing snowplowing for personal emergencies; Working with snowplow and truck
933 – Distance covered with snowplow; Use of truck that worked with snowplow; John’s opinion of state employment; Regulations in relation to plowing farm driveways
058 – Compares past and present neighborliness
076 – Mable comments about difficulties of being a snowplower’s wife; Changes from past to present prices; Plowing drifts with dust during 30’s
197 – Compares working with grader in summertime and snowplow in wintertime; Keeping work in 30’s; Working with WPA
312 – Doctors; Changing from working with horses and grader to power; Purchasing, care, and kind of horses worked with grader
Comment:  John’s speech is blurred, and therefore, rather difficult to understand.  His interview includes a number of small topics about snowplowing in the early days and grading with State Highway Department which make up most of the interview.

Tape #15 Joe Stahl (Binford)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Nearest town
148 – Other early settlers; A German settlement; Nationalities; Inland post offices; Location of local trail; Other post offices; Main post office at area; Family history
256 – First town at area; Railroads serving area; Other towns begin building; nearest town; Settlement expansion during early days; Anecdote about homesteaders staying and leaving
330 – Homesteading hardships; Family history; Homesteaders borrow money; Prairie fires; Firebreaks
444 – School is built; Teachers; School term; Chores after school; Oldest settler in township; Farmers thresh together with horse powered threshing machine; Stationary engines are worked at area
555 – Seeding grain; Farming with horses, oxen, and mules; Anecdote about an early settler; Joe buys farm; His education
647 – NPL and A. C. Townley serve area
SIDE TWO
717 – NPL organization; Popularity and membership; Political emotionality; A slanderous newspaper article about Lynn J. Frazier; The Leader newspaper circulates area; William Langer’s personal character; NPL radicalism; Farmer Holiday Association activity at area
807 – Grain prices following World War I; Earning income during 30’s; Weeds on early prairie; Kind of seed planted; A “bumper crop”; Rust problems; His wife and marriage
952 – Providing a livelihood during 30’s; Keeping hay and feed for livestock during 30’s; Lack of communication during 30’s; Cutting Russian thistles for feed; Sells cattle to United States Government; Loses farm; Changing from farming with horses to tractors; Kinds of horses worked
058 – Joe stops telephone service and newspapers during days of the depression; Compares past and present neighborliness and states reason for change in sociability; Change in past to present envy of material things; “The good old days”; His optimism for the future; Opinion of state’s large farming trend; Tractor prices during the early days
173 – Social life; Baseball; Political rallies at area; Dancing; Musicians; Fishing area
236 – Religious group tolerations; Churches; Town rivalry; Incidents of vandalism
328 – Hobos and IWW at area; Joe’s land acreage; Statements about farming success and machinery prices today
Comment:  Joe talks clearly.  Our visit with him included farming, political, religious, and social topics.

Tape #16 Hazel Alm (Binford)
000 – Introduction
020 – Family history; Hotels; Social levels; More about hotels; Hazel’s mother is one of first two women and Hazel is first female child at Binford; Family history; Inland post offices
165 – Description of hotel that parents’ built; Family history; Board and room costs during early days; Meal provisions at hotel
279 – Binford’s rate of growth; Livestock reared within town; Cites incidents from strange characterized people
345 – Barber shop; Orchestra visits Binford; A particular musical instrument at barber shop; A Norwegian folk dancer
419 – Anecdotes about an exceptional doctor; 1918 Influenza Epidemic and the doctor
528 – Doctors’ salaries; More of the doctor’s experiences; Hazel works with doctor; General social status of doctors
622 – The doctor and Hazel work together; Practicing with Chloroform; The doctor’s office
SIDE TWO
707 – The doctor’s house calls; Kinds of appointments done at doctor’s office; Dentist; Anecdote about a man breaking both legs; Home remedies; Terminal and epidemical diseases; Appendectomies
796 – Family history; Prosperity of hotel; Problems with gypsies
870 – Fires at Binford; Public opinion of hobos; Small railroad train “runs” in area; Salesmen; Syrians at Binford
960 – Reasons for “good old days”; Opera House and movies; Social entertainment; Lodges; Baseball; Dances; Musicians
060 – Picnics; Church social events; Her education; Schools; Hazel’s marriage; Husband’s family history; Burning gas lights; More about baseball
203 – 30’s depression at Binford; Discouragement; Banks fail; WPA roads; Neighborliness
303 – Effect of radio and television; “Market Days”; Opinion of World War I and patriotism at Binford; Prohibition
Comment:  Hazel is one of the informative interviews that we had at Binford.  I consider the factual information about an unusual doctor at Binford to be the most valuable topic from this interview contributed to North Dakota’s medical history.

Tape #17 Harry Kolpin (Sutton)
000 – Introduction
021 – Reasons for moving to ND; 1916 rust year; NPL elections; Local businessmen; Establishing Bank of North Dakota and State Mill and Elevator; NPL and IVA elections at the town of Cooperstown (Larson, Berg)
133 – NPL Miklethun moves to ND; Political appointment (Gerald P. Nye, A.G. Sorlie, Fred Graham); Nye’s personal character; Newspaper publishing and election to Senate; Newspaper editor at Cooperstown before Nye; Newspaper articles about the organization of NPL
256 – Twitchell’s session with NPL for Grain Grading Law; Dishonesty of grain dealers and elevators; Comments about Senator DeWitt and Grade Trade; A. C. Townley’s personal character and his political life
364 – A. C. Townley’s oil business and NPL popularity; William Langer deserts League; The Recall Election; Lynn J. Frazier is elected to Senate; Federal Reserve Bank removes bank funds
443 – Political newspaper publicity during Ragnvald A. Nestos and Arthur G. Sorlie gubernatorial election; Nestos’ personal characteristics; Reasons for NPL losing Recall Election; Reasons for Ballot of 1921 going to NPL (limiting funds to State Bank); Attorney General William Lemke borrows money from Home Loan Association; Explanation about Recall Election and lack of support for NPL
540 – Nonpartisan Leader serves as most popular magazine; Lynn J. Frazier’s personality and political ability; William Lemke’s ability as orator and support for monetary reform
640 – Local NPL leaders; Women’s Auxiliary supports NPL; Humanities Association is organized at Griggs County
SIDE TWO
713 – NPL and IVA “feelings” of political rivalry; Names of IVA leaders; Compares strength of NPL and IVA rallies; The IVA mode of campaigning; Acceptance of postdated checks for dues; A rally at Fargo to save Scandinavian American Bank
809 – Legislative dispute between NPL and IVA (Farmers Union and Taxpayers Association Bills); Farmers Union is organized; Oil Company is started; Elevators are built
920 – Crop conditions and grain prices in 1920; Resistance to co-ops; Ole Olson organized Farmer Holiday Association; “Barnyard Loans”; Active Farmer Holiday Association members
061 – Farmers Union and Farmer Holiday Association members are one of the same; Usher Burdick holds speeches at Sutton; Sutton businesses in early days; Banks fail
915 – Relief Fund and WPA at Sutton
323 – Harry serves as AAA representative
Comment:  This is a very informative Nonpartisan League and political interview.  Most of the conversation is about the NPL and its political leaders.

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