USA > North Dakota > Dickey County > History Of Dickey County, ND, 1930 > Part 6
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by which they secured the grade from Wahpeton to Milnor had rather a pretentious plan in mind in laying out their Northern Pacific, Fergus Falls and Black Hills Railway. A line shows on some old maps but it never be- came a reality beyond the city of Oakes. Finally, the St. Paul and Pacific which came to be known as the Soo Line bought out the rights of the old Dakota Midland but chose a different route for the actual construction of their road, giving the ambitious town of Hudson its second disappointment in regard to a railroad.
From the time when the first settlers had come up the James River to find homes there had been the expectation of a railroad up that stream. Columbia to the south and Jamestown to the north afforded excellent terminals and there was a rich country between these two towns awaiting development. The Northern Pacific quickly appreciated this opportun- ity and began construction from the north. The settlers of eastern Dickey County looked to the south for the new road and persistent rumors told them it was coming. Eaton, Port Emma and Hudson were all located on the west side of the James, Old Ludden on the east but close to Port Emma. Nothing more natural than that the railroad would come up the west side of the James. The preliminary survey left the matter in doubt and every town was willing to furnish inducements for the line to come to them. Says Wm. Wattula, one of the pioneers, "On one occasion in the early days a meeting was called in Eaton to raise funds to provide a bonus to the railroad to build through the country. After every one was pumped full of prop- aganda and they were about to take $100.00 subscriptions from each of the farmers a little old man got up on the table and told them they had better keep their money, that the railroad would come anyhow as long as there were so many people living in the country. The people cooled off, kept their money and the railroad soon came along from Columbia anyway."
This was the Northwestern which was looking for a place for a terminal at which to meet a line or lines from the north. The survey came up the east side of the river and reached the neighborhood of Port Emma in the afternoon. To humor the people of Port Emma the surveyor ran a line into Port Emma, and that night was one of great rejoicing and celebration, but the next morning the survey continued on its northerly direction and passed Port Emma a mile and a half to the east. At first it was thought the ter- minal might be across the river from Hudson but the survey took the track three miles further north, where the city of Oakes was later built. The construction of this line brought Ludden out to the track and removec Hudson to the new town of Oakes, while three towns ceased to exist, Eaton, Ludden of the old days and Hudson. The business part of Port Emma was removed to Ludden and Oakes. The Northwestern was constructed in 1886.
Meanwhile the Great Northern was building westward through this tier of counties. At this time it is difficult to say what Mr. Hill had in mind
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for this region but he was scouting for a line to the west, as he himself spent two weeks with his engineers in camp at the home of Mr. T. R. Shimmin, while looking around in the hills and had bought section thirty-one in town- ship one hundred thirty, range sixty-six for a townsite. His plans for that time were suspended by an agreement with the Milwaukee that he would not build west of them for twenty years. So the Great Northern was built into Ellendale and the new stations of Crescent Hill (the old Hillsdale), Newton, Port Emma, Guelph, and later Silverleaf, were located on the new line. Port Emma inherited the name of the old town but never developed more than a flag stop and for some years an elevator for the handling of grain. This new line passed a mile and a half to the north of the new town of Ludden but the people of that town wanted it so a mass meeting of its citizens was called in April, 1887, to discuss the best method of inducing the Manitoba (as it was called then) to run nearer . All the citizens were enthusiastic in supporting the attempt to get the railroad into Ludden and a committee consisting of F. E. Randall, I. J. Kemmerer and W. H. Ellis was appointed to go to St. Paul and wait upon President Hill; at the same time this committee was to interview Messers, Monango and Washburn of the Minneapolis and Pacific Railway (Soo Line). Informa- tion does not tell how well this committee was received but its mission was not accomplished. Hope was not abandoned as the chronicle of the times states that the following resolutions were drawn at a mass meeting of the citizens of Ludden and sent to the officials of the Manitoba railroad head- quarters at St. Paul, Minnesota, November 19, 1887: "Resolved, that the citizens of Ludden, Dakota, who being desirous of having a track from the main line of the Minneapolis and Manitoba railroad run into the town; and the removal of the Riverdale (now Newton) depot to this point, do hereby agree to give five hundred dollars in work on the grade, and at least an equal portion of our freight rates being equal to that of other roads which are or may be built to this point, provided that said railway company shall estab- lish a depot on the east side of the C. & N. W. railroad track, and within eighty rods of the C. & N. W. depot at Ludden; and run all regular trains over said line into town of Ludden." The Newton depot was later removed to the crossing of the two tracks but no nearer the city of Ludden.
Through these years the Soo Line was pushing westward from Hankin- son. This line built into Oakes and west from there to where the Milwaukee had built across the county. Here construction stopped for some years at the station known as Boynton. This is about a mile east of the Milwaukee crossing and the steel had not been laid that last mile. The ties were down but they made such handy timber for the farmers and others passing through that they were disappearing so the company hired Frank Northrop for five dollars to pick them up and take them back to Boynton. He had a helper but he reports it the hardest work he ever did for that money. Be- sides Oakes and Boynton a new town, Fullerton and a flag stop at Clement
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were located by this line. Later Norway Spur and the Baldwin elevator were made freight stops.
This new line went right through the townsite of Yorktown but did not establish a station, a story told in another place. Also it should have gone into the new town of Monango instead of running south a mile, but the Company felt that Monango was too high in its terms and since it wanted to control its townsite it missed this town. A few years later the Soo was built to Merricourt and then up the hills to a new town at Kulm, where it had its terminal for several years. On this new extension a good depot was built at Kilbernie two miles west of Monango from which place the station agent could look after Boynton and Merricourt as well as his own station. A little later this depot was removed to Merricourt and old Boynton has become just a passing track.
In 1905 the Great Northern built fourteen miles west of Ellendale to establish the new town of Forbes. It is also interesting to note that another Midland was scouted across Dickey County, for when the Midland Contin- ental Railway was projected some years ago from Winnipeg to the Gulf the map line showed the course from Jamestown to Edgeley, south through Merricourt and on to Forbes and then south across the intervening states to Galveston, Texas.
In the late eighties and early nineties a new group of settlers were hunting homes in the new northwest. This was the movement of the German-Russians. They were descendents of people who had migrated to South Russia in the eighteenth century who under the new slogan of Russia for the Russians were unwilling to be oppressed and came to America. They had been coming to parts of the west for some years, but the first migration to this part of Dakota was about 1889, when a number settled in McIntosh and Dickey counties. They are a thrifty and substantial people who by in- heritance and training are well fitted for pioneering. With education and the inspiration coming from contact with American ideals they make ex- cellent citizens and have contributed much to the upbuilding of Dickey County.
Dakota Territory was authorized to form two new states in 1889 and for delegates to the Constitutional Convention for North Dakota Dickey County with a part of LaMoure was constituted the 8th delegate district. The nomination of these delegates meant their election in this district and the convention for this purpose was held at the courthouse at Ellendale. Three delegates were to be selected and while the district was strongly Republican there were already quite well developed factions. In the con- vention Mr. Alexander D. Flemington was chosen early and soon after that Mr. L. D. Bartlett got a majority vote, but it was not so easy to determine the third place and many votes left it scill undecided. The meeting lasted into the night and some of the friends of the candidates did not dare go home for supper, so meals were brought into the hall for many of them and
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finally at about two o'clock in the morning Mr. W. H. Rowe of Monango was nominated. These three were later elected and they formed a strong delegation in the Convention that met at Bismarck on July 4th, 1889. At this convention an industrial school and school for manual training was located at Ellendale.
Judge Francis, Sheriff Strane and Deputies, Lawyers, Attorneys and Others at the First Term of Court held in Dickey Couniy
At the election in the autumn of 1889 a full set of county officers was elected but the change to statehood was so little real change that a citizen could tell the difference largely by a change in the name of the higher authority only. For legislative purposes Dickey County was made the Twenty-fifth Legislative District and has continued so to be. Mr. M. E. Randall was elected State Senator and this county being an odd numbered district drew the short term of two years for the senator. W. B. Allen and A. T. Cole were the first representatives in the First Legislative Assembly.
The early nineties were years of severe drought and many of the settlers became discouraged. Some sold their claims and left the country, but those who remained won a competence and saw better times. In the dry years a new weed spread over the country that proved troublesome. This was the Russian thistle a species of cactus. Ordinarily this is not a troublesome weed in a region with the moisture that this county has, but with a series of dry years it flourished. It not only took up space and moisture but would roll up in the wind in great windrows along the fence and wrapping a great roll around the wires would tangle them up and tumble over taking fencing. This thistle was so bad in many fields that farmers often had to put
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leather leggins on the legs of their horses in order to cut the grain.
The winter of 1896-1897 was a severe one with several great blizzards. The people were better prepared to withstand the rigors of such storms than in 1888, but a little hardship was experienced by those who had to get out for groceries or to care for stock. An experience of one of the pioneers is somewhat typical. James Glenn had been running a big threshing rig in the neighborhood of Monango and on Thanksgiving day of 1896 he and Beriah Magoffin started from Monango to his farm in the Merricourt neighborhood and were caught on the road by the storm. They wandered for miles and finally got into a shack which had recently been abandoned. They had no food with them and had to stay there for three days and nights till the storm abated. Fortunately they found some chickens in the little barn at the place and roasted them over a little open fire which they made in an old pan on the floor of the shanty. They burned the parti- tions for fuel, but were so cold they did not dare both sleep at once so changed off. The horses were in the barn and there was plenty of hay so they were all right. After the storm they walked five miles across the snow to get home, leaving the team for the men to get later. The big storm had drifted over the roof of Mr. Glenn's barn while he was lost and had broken down the roof. The horses had been rescued by some neighbors and sheltered in the kitchen of the house. This Thanksgiving Day storm was the first of seven big blizzards. Buildings were drifted under and the roads were lost. The railroads were blocked and the mail delayed. The Great Northern train did not come into Ellendale for several months, and the Milwaukee had to stop its train soon after the holidays. The mail for Ellendale was brought up to Frederick in some overland conveyance and taken on horseback from there to Ellendale. Many towns were without mail for weeks at a time. By this time the people had built quite comfort- able houses and with good crops the two preceding years were provided with food so there was little actual suffering by those who could remain near home.
When the Spanish War broke out in 1898 Dickey County had no military organization, but a few of the young men got into the service. The quota called to service from North Dakota was small and there were prob- ably three times as many men wanting to enlist as the state was to furnish the Army. With this as an example of what might be happening and to be ready to take their part in such an event a company of militia was organized at Ellendale. This became a part of the National Guard of the State as Company M and was kept up until about 1907, when there being no im- mediate need for such an organization it was disbanded.
The opening of the Industrial School and School for Manual Training at Ellendale in 1899 brought the history of the county to a close for the period included in the old century.
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CHAPTER VIII
THE STATE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL
[The published bulletins of the School and an article in the "Snitcher" written by Ina Randall Graham have been drawn upon for this chapter.]
A N Industrial School and School for Manual Training was established at Ellendale by the Constitutional Convention of 1889, with a land grant of 40,000 acres of the public lands. In the Legislature of 1893 a law was passed authorizing the governor to appoint a board of three trustees for the school. This board consisting of J. W. Bishop, Ed. N. Leiby and Dr. M. F. Merchant, all of the city of Ellendale, was appointed, and one of its first duties was to accept a donated site and land for the new school.
In 1889, Ellendale was about seven years old-a treeless prairie town in the pioneer stage. Nevertheless, the citizens were eager to get the school started, and in 1893 they raised by subscription a fund of $600.00 with which they purchased and donated to the school forty acres of land to be used as the site of the buildings. On looking up the best location for the buildings it was discovered that a better site could be obtained a little further north and nearer town, so the new Board purchased about two acres of land adjacent to the donated tract, paying for the new land in most part from their own pockets.
With this land secured the Legislature could be asked for an appropria- tion to erect a building. The law governing the organization of the school was changed in 1897, and a new Board of five members were appointed, consisting of J. W. Christian of Forman, T. H. Faus of Ludden, Dr. C. J. Sturgeon of Edgeley, T. W. Millham and B. R. Crabtree of Ellendale.
In the fall of 1898 ground was broken and a basement wall constructed, and in 1899 the first building was erected, now called the Home Economics Building. Fifteen Thousand Dollars was the first legislative appropriation and that was to cover the cost of the building, buy the equipment and pay all expenses including the teachers' salaries for the two years. It can be imagined how elastic that fifteen thousand dollars had to be to cover all these items. The dedication of the first building was in charge of the Masonic Order of Ellendale, Grand Master George H. Keyes of the State Lodge laying the corner stone. The principal address was given by J. H. Worst who at that time was President of the Agricultural College at Fargo. It is a matter of pride that when this school opened its doors in September, 1899, North Dakota had founded the only free manual training school in the
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Main Building, Normal-Industrial School, Ellendale, N. D.
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A HISTORY OF DICKEY COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA
United States, and was the first and only one of the higher institutions of learning in North Dakota to open in its own building.
School opened under the supervision of Warren E. Hicks, its first president, with a faculty of three other members. A. E. Dunphy was the instructor in Manual Arts, Lillian E. Tingle in Household Arts and Ellen S. Anderson in Fine Arts. The enrollment the first day was forty, and the total for the year reached 160. A fourth teacher had to be added in 1900, and the first class was graduated in 1901, consisting of three young women ;- Minnie Fait, Flora Millham and Ina Randall.
By this time the one building was inadequate for the large number of students and the variety of school work presented. Being unable to secure an appropriation from the Legislature, President Hicks, with the help of the Board, enlisted the services of Congressman Thomas F. Marshall and negotiated a loan of thirty-five thousand dollars from Andrew Carnegie, giving him notes or warrants, signed by officers of the Board and purporting to be secured by the land grant of forty thousand acres by which the school had been endowed by the constitution of the new state. With this money the second building known as Carnegie Hall was erected in 1902-03.
As this school was required to give instruction in Military Science the Legislature of 1905 made an appropriation for the erection of an Armory. This necessitated the remodeling of the heating plant, so a power house, just large enough to house such a plant was constructed. This was later enlarged to provide for a machine shop and in 1911 was further rebuilt to make the large two-story building and power house known as the Mechanic Arts Building. To afford better opportunities in mechanic arts a foundry for iron and brass work was built in 1911. At the time of the remodeling of the power plant an electric unit was installed which has furnished current for lighting and power for the school.
The attendance at the school was increasing rapidly. Dormitory ac- commodations were provided for the girls on the upper floors of Carnegie Hall, with a dining room in the basement. These accommodations were not adequate, so in 1907 more land at the head of Main Street was purchased and a beautiful building was built and christened Dacotah Hall. Besides the regular dormitory rooms for the girls it contains a spacious and beauti- fully furnished parlor, reception rooms, apartments for the matron and Dean of Women, a special room for many of the school societies and the dining room and equipment for the school boarding department.
To meet the demand for teachers of the industrial subjects normal training was added to the curriculum of the school and definite plans in this field were made in 1903. The Legislature of 1907 attempted to define the purpose and field of the different state schools. With this in view the name of the school at Ellendale was changed from the Industrial School and School for Manual Training to that of the State Normal and Industrial School and its purpose widened to include the training of teachers for the
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public schools. Under the recodification of the school laws in 1911, the double purpose of the school was recognized, and the survey of 1916 re- commended that the school train teachers for the public schools and con- tinue to function in the industrial subjects.
In 1917 a Demonstration Rural School was erected on the campus. For two years this served as a school for the pupils of the eastern half of Ellendale township, and then was used for several months in the early summer and in the fall for a public kindergarten, proving most successful. The State Normal and Industrial School entered into an arrangement with the Ellendale City Schools-one of the best in the state-and the cadet teachers of the Normal Department do practice work in the grades and junior high school.
The school continued under the administration of a board of five trustees until July, 1915, at which time the newly created State Board of Regents took over the management of this school with the others of the state until July, 1919, when all the higher institutions of learning passed into the control of the State Board of Administration.
The first president of the school was Warren E. Hicks, who served in that relation until 1905, at which time Wm. M. Kern from Nebraska entered upon the presidency and served six years, or until 1911. For the school year of 1911-1912 Mr. A. E. Dunphy, the head of the Mechanics Arts Department, served as acting president. Mr. A. S. Kingsford, from the Moorhead Normal, was president for the school year of 1912-1913. He was followed by Mr. W. E. Johnson from the Aberdeen Normal, who served one year and was called back to Aberdeen, at which time Mr. R. M. Black from the State School of Science was called to the presidency, a position which he is still holding (1929).
Beginning with the original faculty of three there have been a number of excellent instructors added until the number has reached twenty-two on the campus staff and nine in the practice school. The tendency has been to ward long service and consequently an excellent school spirit as well as high efficiency in instruction and attainment has been built up. The courses offered and the diplomas awarded show that the scope of the school is exceptionally broad and practical. An expression of the purpose of the school might be ;- How to operate and repair farm machinery, how to construct buildings properly, how to maintain the fertility of the soil, how to eliminate disease, how to safeguard health by preparing wholesome food, how to manage a home efficiently and economically, how to train the hands as well as the head, and how to teach the most efficient school. It has been a school that has taught things, a teaching that equips a person for life.
Founded as a school for the people it has been a living symbol of dem- ocracy. It excludes no one. Its courses are so varied that while some re- quire high school training for admittance, there are others open to the eighth grade student, who in addition to academic training may wish to
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Trades Building, Normal-Industrial School
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take a course in carpentry, blacksmithing, agriculture, home economics, music, painting, drawing or in some phase of business or industrial work for which a special aptitude or ability is shown. The alumni now number about nine hundred, a group of people who have had excellent success in their life work so far, and exemplify the training received at this practical school. This does not include the many others who have been inspired and helped by the school but did not have the privilege of completing for the diploma. The attendance has averaged about three hundred in recent years, a number not so large but that a personal acquaintance can be main- tained between teachers and pupils, a condition that fosters the human side of education. Since 1921 the summer session has been one of twelve weeks, making the fourth quarter for the year and in this way affording opportunity for many young people who have to make their own way by teaching through the school year.
In 1920 the school became a member of the American Association of Teachers Colleges, in this way becoming one of the teacher training schools of the nation. In 1926 the school was inspected by a representative of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and was ap- proved and admitted to membership in this standard classifying agency. In 1928 it was given rating of Class A by the American Association upon inspection by one of its officers.
The Legislature of 1925 passed a law authorizing the State Board of Administration to extend the curricula of the school to four years and grant its graduates the Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Education. Approval of the Board was given in 1926 and on June 9, 1927 the first degree class was graduated, consisting of Hugh L. Demmer, Frances M. Haskins, Clifford L. Herness, Ethel A. Lindeman, Burdette Mckinney, and Helen Hazel Meachen. Since then twenty others have received the degree in 1927 and 1928.
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