1912

Agnes talked so enthusiastically about her new state, so I suppose I must try to tell a bit in this journal, about what I know about our state.

Agriculture is by far the most important industry of the state, and, owing to climatic conditions, it is commercially limited to summer wheat, as the growing season isn’t enough for corn or winter wheat. We have some hardy small fruits as currants, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries and strawberries which grow in abundance.

The average size of the farms was 345 acres in 1900. Our land is 160 acres mostly in wheat which is the state's most important product. In 1909 North Dakota ranked first among the states of the Union in producing both wheat and flax, raised for the seed. Other crops are oats, barley, hay, potatoes, rye and corn.

The total railway mileage within the state on the 31st of December 1908 was over 4000 miles. The main line of the Northern Pacific, from St. Paul to Portland, enters the state at Fargo and runs almost due west throughout its length for about 380 miles. Parallel with this road, but farther to the north is the main line of the Great Northern system, running from St Paul to Seattle. Both of these systems have numerous branch lines.

The population of the State in 1910, is about 584,000. The number of the foreign-born population was 35.4%, the highest proportion to be found in any state of the Union. The principal elements composing the white foreign population are as follows: Norwegians 30,206, English Canadians 25,004, Russians 14,979, Germans 22,546, Swedes 8419. They didn’t even mention the Dutch, which annoyed Nick somewhat.

The colored population of the State consists of 4692 Indians not taxed, 2276 Indians taxed, 286 Negroes, 148 Japanese and 32 Chinese. Most of the Indians not taxed live on reservations, of which there are four: Devils Lake Reservation, with a population of 980, consisting of Sisseton, Wahpeton, and Cut Head Sioux; Turtle Mountain' Reservation, in Rolette county, had a population of 2588, being for the most part a mixture of Pembina (or Turtle Mountain) Chippewa with French Canadians; Fort Berthold Reservation in the west central part of the state, on the Missouri River, had a population of 399 Arikara, 453 Hidatsa and 252 Mandan Indians; and Standing Rock Reservation, which is partly in South Dakota, on the Missouri River, has a population of 3399 Sioux.

The larger municipalities with the population of each in 1905 were: Fargo (12,512), Grand Forks (10,127), Jamestown (5093), Bismarck, the capitol, (4913), Minot (4125), Valley City (4059), Dickinson (3188), Wahpeton (2742), Mandan (2714), Grafton (2423) and Devil's Lake (2367).

As far as churches go, in 1906 the Roman Catholic Church had the largest number of members, 61,262, compared to the next largest, 59,923 Lutherans.

All citizens of the United States residing in North Dakota are declared to be citizens of the state. Voting is confined by the constitution to males twenty-one years of age, who are citizens of the United States or have declared their intention of becoming citizens, and who have resided in the state one year, in the county six months, and in the voting precinct ninety days preceding the election. Civilized Indians who have severed their tribal relations two years before an election are entitled to vote. Women may vote for all school officers and upon all questions relating solely to school matters, and are eligible to any school office.

The amount of homestead exempt from seizure for debt is limited in value to $5000, and may not include more than two acres in a town plot or more than 260 acres elsewhere.

North Dakota is one of the few American states whose constitution forbids the manufacture, importation or sale of intoxicating liquors. Apothecaries may secure a license to sell liquors for purely medicinal purposes upon a petition signed by twenty five reputable free-holders and twenty-five reputable women. In 1909 the advertising of liquors, solicitation of orders for liquors, and the sale of cigarettes to minors were prohibited.

Schools are open to all pupils between the ages of six and twenty-one years. For children between the ages of eight and fourteen attendance for twelve weeks, six being consecutive, is compulsory. The total enrolment in the public schools in 1908 was 131,582, with an average daily attendance of about three-quarters.

Educational facilities are also furnished by the University, near Grand Forks, normal (teacher training) schools (opened in 1890) at Valley City and Mayville, an agricultural college and experiment station at Fargo, an industrial school at Ellendale, a school for the deaf at Devil's Lake, a scientific school at Wahpeton, and a school of forestry at Bottineau. The state supports a hospital for the insane at Jamestown, an institution for the feeble-minded at Grafton, a home for old soldiers at Lisbon, a blind asylum at Bathgate, a reform school at Mandan and a penitentiary at Bismarck. There is a state sanitarium for tuberculosis.

Another bit of news that I thought I should mention is that the state's first Presidential preference primary was held this year.

*****

October, 1912

Dear Pa, Berte, Mary, Oscar and Agnes,

It is nice that I can write to so many of you at once. I send one letter, and I should get five back. But I know that at least Agnes will write, so she can tell me all your news if the rest of you don’t have time.

I have enclosed a snap that I thought you might like to see. If was taken by Nick’s brother Leonard when we were busy digging potatoes. You can see that little Chester is quite at home on the horse now, and that he doesn’t mind being out in the fields with us. There is so much to do, and the potatoes are so much of our staple diet, but luckily we have a good crop this year.

We think we will be having a little brother or sister for Chester come next summer.

Love from,

Laura

*****

Christmas 1912

Dearest Laura, Nick, and Chet (I shall call you that, even if the others don’t),

I am enjoying being out here in Montana. I live at the nursing school, and Oscar has come out here now, and he lives in a boarding house near by the place where he got a job mining coal. Mary is thinking of coming out and starting her nurses’ training in September.

You asked what it is like here.

Butte began as nothing more than a bunch of mining camps back in the early 1870’s. Then, silver and copper were discovered. This discovery began to bring in a flood of new companies and new people to Butte. By the late 1870’s, a large and bustling city center had emerged – and was growing larger literally by the day. Then, as fate would have it, a fire in 1879 burned down the entire central business district. Following this disaster, the Butte city council passed a law that required all new buildings downtown (known as "uptown Butte") to be built from brick or stone – which make Butte such a unique city.

While silver and gold were actively mined in Butte, it was copper that truly put Butte on the map. Following the development of electricity, the demand for copper mushroomed. Indeed, it is estimated that Butte supplied around 1/3 of the copper for the United States in the late 1800’s and the early part of the 1900’s.

Butte lies in the Southwest portion of Montana. Helena, the state capitol, is about 80 miles to the north of Butte

The location of Butte is both beautiful and, well, rather ugly, all at the same time. On the good side, Butte is located right on the western edge of the Continental Divide in Montana. Granted, the mountains that form this portion of the Continental Divide here are not that tall (not rising above 9000 feet). Still, the Continental Divide, in combination with several other taller, nearby mountain ranges (the Anaconda-Pintlar Range is about 20 miles to the west) do provide a nice, scenic backdrop for Butte.

The whole area itself is also a nice mix of open fields and wooded hills. As such, lots of various outdoor activities can be done in Butte – hiking, hunting and fishing.

Yet, detracting from this whole thing are two big ugly scars that won’t be going away anytime soon, unfortunately. First, the legacy of active strip mining can be seen from everywhere. These strip mines essentially take apart a small mountain and with the wasteland that surrounds some of the old mining rigs in around town make that part ugly.

Just down the hill from Uptown Butte is Silver Bow Creek, which has some nice walking and biking trails with several small park areas. The population of Butte is nearly 100,000 people but of course that is small compared to Chicago where I lived for the last few years.

Love

Ida

*****

Christmas 1912

Dear Laura,

I’m pleased to hear that you are having another baby. But I still haven’t managed to see Chet yet (ha,ha, that rhymes) so perhaps when I come I will have several nieces and nephews to get to know.

I need some help if you would again, Laura. I know you are the one who knew most about our Norwegian background. I am doing a project on Norway, and want to add in some personal details about who our great grandparents were and where they came from and what they did and stuff like that. I asked Ida first but she knows only what Aunt Bertha told her when she was living there as a young girl, and she says she has forgotten most of it. But I know you are the one in the family who likes to keep track of things, so you are my best source of information. I know you are busy too, but just think how much busier you will be when you have another baby, so best make use of your spare time now. I expect you are doing your knitting. Have you done pink baby clothes for the new one to come, or are you sticking to white or yellow?

Love from Agnes

Farming is hard work. After we have a few acres broken I drive the wagon up and down the field, Chester asleep at my feet, while Nick broadcasts the seed from the back. Then he harrows it, walking behind the harrows. There was a cold rain and sleet falling part of the time while we were seeding.

We stack all of our first crops. We never knew how long it would be before a threshing machine came around. Mr. John Fisher has a small threshing machine run by four horses. They drive around in a circle. He threshes for himself and then near neighbors. The Scott family have the first large outfit run by steam. Then Mr. Benderick got one. I had 21 men to cook for when they threshed our wheat.

The first tractor near us (Minnesota Steel & Machinery contracts to build Case 30/60 tractors for Case Threshing Machine Co.) was bought by our near neighbor, William Vogel. It often sat in the field while William drove around with his horse and buggy trying to find some one who could start his tractor, while the neighbors were getting on with their seeding with horses. It was not a good recommendation for tractor farming. It sat in the corner of his field for a long time.

The wild animals we see in our district are the coyote, rabbit, badger, skunk, porcupine, weasel and gopher. On rare occasions deer and antelope are seen and very rarely wolves are heard. Skunks, weasels and badgers kill chickens; a skunk got into our hen house and killed and mangled thirteen old hens. He was still there when we went out and we killed him. Coyotes sometimes come into farm yards and run off with chickens and turkeys.