Title: Henry Walz
Dates: 1930-1950
Collection Number: 10730
Quantity: .25 feet
Abstract: Two scrapbooks of correspondence, news clippings, letters, photos and other memorabilia covering topics that interested Henry Walz and were related to events in his own life. Walz was a ranch hand who worked for Theodore Roosevelt at his Elkhorn Ranch near Medora (ND) in the 1880s.
Correspondence in the scrapbooks relates to reminiscences about life in the Medora area during its ranching days in the 1880s and 1890s. News clippings show that one of Walz’s chief interests was his former employer, Theodore Roosevelt. Included are a few items form 1919 newspapers at the time of Roosevelt’s death. Other news clippings relate to railroads, elderly Civil War veterans, and tourist attractions in the northwestern United States. One of the volumes contains comments that Walz wrote under various photographs and other items. The photographs in the scrapbooks are included in the inventory below and include locomotives and workers, whaling, dog sledding, Medora (ND), hunting, mail boats on the Snake River (ID). The inventory does not include news clippings, correspondence and other items.
Provenance: The collection was donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota by Susan Appel in September 1997. Janean Rambough created the inventory to the photographs in May 2013.
Property Rights: The State Historical Society of North Dakota owns the property rights to this collection.
Copyrights: Copyrights to this collection remain with the donor, publisher, author, or author's heirs. Researchers should consult the 1976 Copyright Act, Public Law 94-553, Title 17, U.S. Code or an archivist at this repository if clarification of copyright requirements is needed.
Access: This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Citation: Researchers are requested to cite the collection title, collection number, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota in all footnote and bibliographic references.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Compiled by Janet Beltran
Henry Walz was a ranch hand who worked for Theodore Roosevelt at his Elkhorn Ranch near Medora (ND) in the 1880s. Very little is known about Walz' life except information gleaned from the scrapbooks in the collection. His name does not appear in articles about Badlands ranches of the late nineteenth century.
Walz was born in 1876. At age 14 he began to work as a harvester. He was married, and, from one of the letters in the scrapbook, we learn that Mrs. Walz was ill in 1949. We do not know if any children were born to the marriage.
In the late 1880s Walz worked for Theodore Roosevelt, but Roosevelt left ranching after the disastrous winter of 1886-1887. Walz owned the Elkhorn Ranch after Roosevelt left and lived on it for about a year. Then he worked on various farms. In 1901 he was threshing in Taylor, ND, and recalled hearing of McKinley's assassination while he was in the field.
Walz left the Badlands in 1903 and later moved to the state of Washington. In 1943 he began to work for the Great Northern Railroad and lived in Republic, WA. At one time he also lived in Tonasket, WA. Letters to him are dated as late as 1954.
INVENTORY
Photograph Album 1
10730-001 Locomotive at Republic (WA)
10730-002 Too fat to be any good (railroad man)
10730-003 Tough bunch look like it but not. Second from left, Albert Lowe as Sheriff of Stevens Co., hard man to argue with (group of men next to locomotive)
10730-004 Man eating watermelon beside locomotive
10730-005 Cold (locomotive in winter)
10730-006 Hot Work (man inside coal box of locomotive)
10730-007 This is a small one, 594 ¼ Tons (locomotive)
10730-008 Three unidentified railroad men
10730-009 Don’t care to say (men in Great Northern Railway engine)
10730-010 A big bluff (railroad man working)
10730-011 Park Entrance, Medora (ND)
10730-012 Stage Coach, Medora (ND)
10730-013 The church built in 1883 for Ms. De Mores, Medora (ND) (as it looked in 1948) by Walz
10730-014 Woman outside teepee, 1908 (the spot where Lewis & Clark wintered in 1803 and 1804 on the Clearwater River among Nez Perce Indians)
10730-015 Medora (ND), 1948 (Theodore Roosevelt’s home town while a cowboy) by Walz
10730-016 Statue of Marquis De Mores in Medora, ND badlands
10730-017 Man standing in front of statue of Marquis De Mores in Medora (ND), 1948
10730-018 Teddy Roosevelt in the Bad Lands of ND in 1883
10730-019 Balanced Petrified Stump in Cedar Canyon North Dakota Badlands
10730-020 School children at Medora (ND), 1948. I knew Medora when it had no school.
10730-021 School children at Medora (ND), 1948. I knew Medora when it had no school.
10730-022 Gas station at Medora
10730-023 Mr. and Mrs. Jake Cammickel. Jake is still living. One time a cowboy for Teddy
Roosevelt.
10730-024 The chimney is all there is left of De Mores Slaughter house, 1948
10730-025 Medora from the Chateau, 1948
10730-026 Four that are left of Teddy’s cowboys. Second from right used to be Teddy’s body guard across North Dakota when Teddy was President.
10730-027 Chateau built in 1883. Chateau of Marquis De Mores in 1948
10730-028 Painted Canyon Lodge and Observation Point in the Bad Lands of North Dakota.
10730-029 Cathedral Buttes, ND Badlands
10730-030 Roosevelt Cabin, Capitol Grounds, Bismarck (ND)
10730-031 Iron Log in Cedar Cabin, North Dakota Badlands
10730-032 Historic Chateau de Mores at Medora, ND Badlands
10730-033 U.S. Highway 10, in ND Badlands
10730-034 East Entrance, Roosevelt Park in the Bad Lands of ND
10730-035 Mr. E. S. Foley with the beast of burden in Hells Canyon. I was his guide.
10730-036 Marquis de Mores at Medora. The statue was shopped from France by his son.
10730-037 Mr. E. S Foley and guide. Mr. E. S. Foley was an employee of U. S. Land Department for 30 years. His brother James W. Foley was the only poet North Dakota ever produced.
10730-038 I was his guide when any work to do in Hells Canyon. A lifelong friend of Teddy Roosevelt he was, and a good one.
10730-039 Sundown on the Pacific (whaling on the Pacific, 1926)
10730-040 Putting air into a whale so he will float (whaling on the Pacific, 1926)
10730-041 Watching the Gunner getting ready to shoot a whale (whaling on the Pacific, 1926)
10730-042 Whaler in port (whaling on the Pacific, 1926)
10730-043 Storm (whaling on the Pacific, 1926)
10730-044 Whale gun (whaling on the Pacific, 1926)
10730-045 Whaling on the Pacific, 1926
10730-046 Whaling on the Pacific, 1926
10730-047 Whaling on the Pacific, 1926
10730-048 Whaling on the Pacific, 1926
10730-049 Whale coming up – Gunner ready to shoot a whale (Whaling on the Pacific, 1926)
10730-050 The William Crooks. First Railway Locomotive in MN. This Civil War Engine hauled first train between St. Paul and Minneapolis, June 28, 1862. Owned by Great Northern Railway, and placed on permanent exhibition in St. Paul Union Depot in 1954.
10730-051 – 59 Starting out at the age of 14 to haul a portable engine with oxen. I became a traction engineer at 18. About 36 harvests were spent, the last six in Okanogan County, the last one in 1937 on Siwash Creek (see also 10730-015)
10730-060 Pulling a sturgeon from the water on horseback
10730-061 Woman with sturgeon
10730-062 Hell’s Canyon, head of navigation
10730-063 Couple pulling sturgeon out of water, 1947
10730-064 Men with sturgeon
10730-065 Rough water
10730-066 Man with sturgeon, 1947
10730-067 Head of navigation
10730-068 Scenic view, Snake River (ID)?
10730-069 Packing lumber to build a house
10730-070 Coming in to get the fish and get me, 1947
10730-071 Coyote in trap
10730-072 Dogs with coyote in trap
10730-073 Head of navigation. Here is where you eat, dance, and go to the movies
10730-074 A Hell’s Canyon trapper, 1918
10730-075 Bye-bye. Headed for Lewiston
10730-076 Bucks
10730-077 Dogs
10730-078 Looking into Hell’s Canyon, a seven Devil Peak ahead
10730-079 Dog sitting by snow shoes
10730-080 The Van Pool Ranch on Snake River
10730-081 Sending a letter out 42 miles to P.O. by ship, June 9th, 1947
10730-082 Captain Steep, he got his boat to 12 miles of Hell’s Canyon
10730-083 1951. Captain Steep put his boat within 12 miles of Hell’s Canyon – 90 miles up Snake River from Lewiston, ID
10730-084 A big buck
10730-085 Proud of the catch (dogs with bobcat)
10730-086 A morning’s kill (two mountain lions)
10730-087 A good garden
10730-088 Man on horse drawn sleigh
10730-089 Wolf in harness (dog sled)
10730-090 Scenic view
10730-191 The engine I took to Blue Lake to pump water
10730-092 Man in automobile
10730-093 The engine I took to Blue Lake to pump water
10730-094 Cabin, 1938
10730-095 Man (Walz?) in front of ship
10730-096 Cabin, 1938
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