2017-2018
Historic Homesteads
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F a r m s & R atan c h e s Of North Dako
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Letter from the Editor
Welcome to the second edition of Centennial Farms & Ranches of North Dakota, a celebration of historic homesteads and the families who carved our great state from the wild frontier and whose imprint on North Dakota remain today. Once again this year, CF&R brings you a handful of tales of some of the state’s early pioneers and the homes they built for themselves, many still owned and operated by the same families. Considering the state just celebrated its 128th birthday, one can see why century-old farms and ranches present such a fascinating study. We’ve added a handful of new touches this year to help bring CF&R to vivid life and hope to introduce more bonus elements in issues to come. Plenty of people contributed to the production of this edition. We would like to particularly thank the North Dakota Centennial Farm Program, the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, the amazing artist Walter Piehl, David Borlaug at The Capital Gallery and the State Historical Society of North Dakota. We would also like to thank those readers who submitted or shared their stories with us. Participating in Centennial Farms & Ranches of North Dakota is a lot easier than you might think! Read below for how you might get involved. In the meantime, enjoy the 2017-2018 issue of Centennial Farms & Ranches of North Dakota! – Michael W. Sasser
Send your historical farm or ranch stories, photos
Is your farm or ranch in northwest or north central North Dakota 100 years old or more? If so, please send us a story about your farm or ranch along with photos (300 resolution and not less than 200 resolution). Email is preferred. Please send your information and photos to eogden@minotdailynews.com. Be sure to include your name, city and a daytime phone number. Your farm or ranch may be selected for the next edition of the magazine.
Centennial Farms and Ranches of North Dakota 2017-2018 A publication of Ogden Newspapers of North Dakota Inc. Brought to you by the Minot Daily News and The Pierce County Tribune.
Publisher Dan McDonald
Advertising Director Jim Hart
Editorial Director Michael W. Sasser
Editorial Content Eloise Ogden
Designer Jonathan Starr For advertising inquiries, contact jhart@minotdailynews.com For editorial inquiries, contact eogden@minotdailynews.com
4 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
Table of Contents Kennedy Ranch 5 6 Ward County Settler Homesteaders arrive by 8 wagon train Eaton ranch was 10 established in 1890 CP Ranch 12 Mostad Farm 14 Homesteaders 15 16 Ranchers and Homesteaders 18 Nygaard Farm 20 22 Taylor Ranch 24 Cows on the Bottom, 26 Chickens on the Top NDCHF: Preserving the 30 Western Lifestlye 31 Recognizing Family Farms From Texas 32 to Dakota Territory Walter Piehl helped Pioneer Contemporary Cowboy Art Movement
Birdhead Ranch One of McKenzie County’s Oldest Ranches
Angus Kennedy Sr. and other men gather by the chuck wagon. Standing, from the left, are Angus Kennedy Sr., Anders Madsen, Danny Shea and Ober Kobs. The man seated at the stump is not identified. This photo is a MDN File Photo
y d e n n e K nch Ra T
he Kennedy Ranch, through good times and the poor years, established a great legacy for the family of Angus K. Kennedy Sr. and Jessie Kennedy, and for western North Dakota. With decades of hard work, livestock knowledge and land stewardship, the legacy of the Kennedy Ranch in McKenzie County, was shaped by the Kennedy family. Angus Kennedy Sr. was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1886. In 1901, when Angus was 15, he moved to the Jordan and Miles City, Mont., area to work for his uncle. He arrived in the Tobacco Garden Bay area of McKenzie County in 1904 with just a saddle and a pack horse. Angus found jobs with local ranchers but soon went into the cattle business himself, running them on the open
Angus Kennedy Sr. and his wife, Jessie, established the Kennedy Ranch. This photo is from the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame.
range and in the river breaks until 1915. He married Jessie Folland in 1908. The first part of the Kennedy Ranch was Jessie’s homestead. After Jessie was widowed, she came to this area where her aunt Lena Olson had homesteaded. Angus and Jessie then bought the August Hast homestead along with Hast’s cattle and horses. They then added Olson’s “line camp” to their land holdings. In 1915, Angus acquired a lease on the Fort Berthold Reservation (the “Big Pasture), which he and other well-known ranchers operated for nearly 50 years. The Kennedys also had other land through the years. The roundup of cattle from the “Big Pasture” range, west of the Missouri River, was a regular event. Big Pasture roundups for years have been the most colorful of the western North Dakota
The Kennedy Ranch in the Watford City area established a great legacy for the Kennedy family. This photo is from the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. roundups on account of the number of cattle involved, the long drives to the shipping points, and the adherence of the Big Pasture operators to the routines of typical western ranch life. The ranchers loaded their cattle at such shipping points as Sanish and Dunn Center. Angus would often say McKenzie County and the western part of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation were the best country for range cattle. Angus was a charter member of the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association and served as director and president. He was also a founder of the McKenzie County Grazing Association. He also was instrumental in the founding of the 50 Years in the Saddle organization. He died in 1965 and is remembered by family members as an honest, hard-working man
who cherished his family and community. Jessie Kennedy died in 1956. The Kennedy family ran the ranch until 1982. The core Kennedy ranch was acquired by Delmar and Marcy Rink. Mark and MariBeth Johnsrud of Watford City now own it. Angus Kennedy Sr. was inducted in the Pre-1940 Ranching Category in the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1998. The Kennedy Ranch was inducted in the Ranching Category in the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2016. – Information from the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, Medora; Jess Anne Knutson, great-granddaughter of Angus and Jessie Kennedy of Watford City and Minot Daily News files.
2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |5
Y T N U O C D R A W ETTLER S Paul Kukach used his team of eight or nine horses to break sod and dig rocks out of the ground for himself and his neighbors in Anna Township, Ward County, where he settled in 1906.
Submitted Photo
Paul Kukach never looked back but made ND his home By ELOISE OGDEN
N
orth Dakota was still in its infancy as a state when Paul Kukach arrived in America in the early 1900s. He had never heard of a place called North Dakota where he eventually would spend the rest of his life. Born in Kolo in Poland, he left his homeland like countless others to find a new and better life in the United States. He hoped it would bring him good job opportunities. One version of how he got out of Poland is by rolling logs into Russia, eventually traveling to Germany to board a ship to travel to the U.S. When he landed in New York, this fairhaired young man intended to go to Chicago to work but immigration officials in New York advised him and two families to go to North Dakota because there were labor strikes in Chicago. When he got to Minot, a city in the valley of the rolling plains in North Dakota, he went to work for Peter Ehr who was building
blocks of buildings. “I remember he said he helped build sidewalks in Minot,” said Elinor West, Paul and his wife Ida’s niece, of Woodburn, Ore., originally from Ryder. He also worked for the Scofields making hay for their livery stables in Minot. He bought a farm at Logan, east of Minot, in 1902, where he raised flax but later sold the farm when he decided to take up a homestead at Ryder, He moved to Ryder in 1906, the same year Ryder was incorporated as a city. There, he settled northeast of the city in what is now Anna Township in southwest Ward County. According to North Dakota State Archives information, he applied for a homestead but opted not to use his homestead rights and instead purchased the land – 160 acres for $1.25 per acre. Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862. The law permitted anyone 21 years old who was a U.S. citizen or immigrant with the
6 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
intentions of becoming a U.S. citizen to lay claim to 160 acres of prairie land. After living on the land and farming it for five years plus paying a filing fee, the homesteader became owner of the land. Paul Kukach worked hard, breaking sod and digging “tons” of rocks out of the ground for himself and his neighbors, using his team of eight or nine horses. He and his neighbors plowed the section lines to mark Anna Township. Although most of his time was spent developing his farm, he was one of the original members of Immanuel Lutheran Church, the German Lutheran church which operated in Ryder for many years. He became a U.S. citizen as soon as he could. Electricity, thanks to the Rural Farm Electrification Administration and Verendrye Electric Cooperative, came to the farm around 1948. At some time in the earlier years he pur-
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Paul Kukach, who came to the United States from Poland in the early 1900s, settled on land near Ryder in 1906, the same year the town was incorporated. 2215 16th St. NW, Minot 701-857-4070 chased a Thomas A. Edison Amberola photograph for listening to music when not working outside on the farm. The Amberola had a handle to wind it, cylinder recordings of music slid onto a circular stem, and the needle would be dropped down to play the music. It gave him great pleasure to relax and listen to the instrumental and vocal songs on the cylinders. Running water was added to the farm house at some time. Eleven years after his arrival at Ryder, he was married. His wife, the former Ida Pflugradt, came to Ryder from Crookston, Minn., with her sister, Martha, working in a cook car for a threshing unit. Paul and Ida Kukach lived on the farm where they raised livestock and grain, chickens, sheep and goats while continuing to develop their farm. “Your grandpa raised goats for awhile,” Elinor West recalled in a letter to a relative. “He kept the nanny goats and your grandma and your mother milked them. In those days, sometimes the doctors would tell patients to use goat milk instead of cow’s milk. I suppose it was for people’s allergies to cow’s milk. Your grandma sold it along with her cream, eggs and butter to the stores in Ryder.” She also recalled they had a sleigh pulled
by their horses. “They used to go to Ryder to shop, church, visit, haul grain, etc. In the summer it had wheels.” Paul and Ida had two daughters, Regina and Lila, but Lila lived for only three months. Through the years, Regina helped with much of the farm work. In later years, Regina purchased one of the first cars for the farm – a 1929 four-cylinder Model A Ford Tudor. Originally costing $500, she bought it in December 1937 for $179.10 from Westlie Motor Co. in Minot. When applying for insurance for the car, she listed her occupation or business as “farming” and the reason for purchase as “pleasure and business.” The insurance for the car cost her about $125 a year. Times were tough on the farm during the Great Depression in the 1930s, but the family worked hard and were able to make it through those years. Soon another generation became part of the Kukach farm when Regina married Eugene “Gene” Dustin from southwest of Minot. His uncle and aunt, George and Dena Bowman, were neighbors to the Kukach family and George Bowman was another early settler in Anna Township. More land was added to the farm over the
years. Both Gene and Regina spent much time working on the farm raising grain and cattle, and also were active in the local community. The farm though always had a lot of activity. Neighbors frequently stopped by the farm to visit. Whenever someone stopped by usually there was time for some lunch – coffee and whatever was home baked from pie, cake, cookies to fresh bread for sandwiches. If it was close to dinner time, neighbors and others were invited to join in. Neighbors also would help each other with farm work or whatever else needed to be done. Paul Kukach died in 1959 and Ida Kukach in 1966. Regina Dustin died in 1965 and Eugene Dustin in 1989. Eugene and Regina Dustin’s daughter, Eloise, has owned the farm near Ryder since 1989. The farm includes the land that Paul Kukach settled on more than a century ago. In 2012, the farm received the North Dakota Centennial Farm certification as a farm operated by the same family for more than 100 years. – This story includes information written for the Ryder Centennial Celebration book in 2006.
2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |7
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This photo shows the Haagenson farm, south of Rolette, in Rolette County in 1947. The homestead still remains in the Haagenson family.
s r e d a e t s Homerive by Ar Train n o g a W
Submitted Photo
T
he year was 1888 when a train of 12 or more oxen-drawn covered wagons arrived in the Rice Township area of what later became Rolette County, North Dakota. This train had its beginning in the Pelican Rapids area of Minnesota. One of the several homesteaders, Bernt Haagenson, along with his brother-in-law, had been to this area the previous year to scout out conditions and to file for a homestead in the federal government office in Devils Lake. In this previous excursion they had arrived by train to Devils Lake and then traveled by stagecoach to the Island Lake Post Office and then walked the remaining prairie miles to the land on which they wanted to file for under the Homestead Act. The trip from Minnesota to what was known as Rolette County, Dakota Territory, took about three weeks by wagon train. Bernt, his wife and son were among the hardy homesteaders on this trek. There were also about 75 head of cattle, 100 sheep, and some chickens and turkeys. Equipment included
walking plows, flails, spinning wheels, and other such necessary articles. There were no roads, bridges, etc. Mrs. Haagenson remembered that there were few houses along the way. Homes on the prairie were usually built of the available sod, as trees were almost extinct, except along rivers and larger streams. Upon reaching their homestead, south of what is today the city of Rolette, in what is called the Ox Creek area, the three Haagensons lived in their covered wagon until their first house/soddy could be built. This first year, Bernt broke up 5 acres of sod and seeded wheat but nothing grew. The second year Bernt seeded 20 acres into wheat, oats and potatoes, but it was too dry for any of the seeds to grow. In 1900, Bernt seeded 30 acres into wheat and got a yield of a thousand bushels. The following years were poor again as there was not enough moisture to produce a crop until 1905. Oline’s (Mrs. Haagenson) first home was a 14-foot by 16foot soddy. The floor and walls were plastered with clay from the
8 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
hills. Poles were laid across the room forming the ceiling, which was covered with a layer of sod from the prairie. For a floor covering, Oline gathered reeds from a slough near her house and made them into rugs. The rugs were soft to walk on and were much warmer than the clay floor. The next year, the Haagensons built an addition to their sod house. This room was 16-feet by 18-feet. A basement was built under the room and a plaster and clay mixture was applied to the earthen walls. Poles were hauled from the Turtle Mountains to use as supports for the wooden floor.
The Haagenson’s first daughter was born the next year after arriving in Dakota Territory. Seven of their eight children were born on their Dakota Homestead. The first son had been born in Minnesota. In 1892 Bernt proved up his Tree Claim Quarter and his Preemption Quarter. He also homesteaded another quarter of land. On this quarter he built a log house. The house was 16-feet by 16-feet with a 12-foot by 16-foot half story upstairs. The logs for this house were hauled from the Turtle Mountains by mule team. Bernt and his hired man moved
The Haagenson barn, built in 1910, was 100-by-100 feet.
Submitted Photo
The Haagenson house, built about 1903, is shown with Olga, Milla, Hellick, Emma, Bernt and Oline.
The Haagenson Family are, front, from the left, Bennie, Hellick (standing), Bernt and Oline; back, from the left, Emma, Lottie, Olga, Edwin, Tillie and Milla.
Submitted Photo
the logs to the homestead. During the summer of 1892, the building was completed and the family moved to the log house. In 1903, a six-room house was built, which became the final home for both Bernt and Oline. Their youngest child, Hellick, also died there, as it was the home of his family of five children. This house still stands but is not livable. The house and barn were equipped, plus a yard light, with electric lights produced from a 32-volt Delco plant in the house basement. A large cistern provided rain water into
the kitchen from a small pump at the clean-up sink. Both the house and the barn were protected from lightning by lightning rods. In 1910, a large barn was built. The barn had two large cupolas, each with a running horse weathervane. It was used not only for horses, but was also used to house the registered shorthorns Bernt raised and sold to others. This barn no longer stands, as it was flattened by the weather. Other buildings, such as a twostall garage, a blacksmith shop, and two granaries were also built. The garage and the granaries still
Submitted Photo
stand, but have been vandalized as has the house. Both the garage and much of the barn had cement floors. There were four schools built in the Ox Creek school district and a lovely country church, also named Ox Creek after the area. The Ox Creek Lutheran Church was built in 1889, but burned in a recent winter. Bernt Haagenson helped build the schools and the church, of which this family and many of the descendents were members. Both Bernt and Oline and many of their children are buried at this rural church cem-
etery. This homestead still remains in the Haagenson family. A grandson bought it and farmed or rented it until his death in 2015. A great-great grandson of Bernt’s farms it today. Yes, the homesteaders had a peacock, too. – Written and submitted by Carol Haagenson Wenberg, Fargo, family historian who grew up on the Haagenson homestead.
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This photo of Jonathan Chase Eaton is from the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame.
n o t a E Was h c n a R blished esta 1890 in Submitted Photo
T
he Eaton Ranch was established in 1890 and is located in the Mouse River Valley in the Denbigh area about seven miles southwest of Towner. The principle brand, the 7E, was first registered in 1899 by the founder, James Briggs Eaton. “J.B.” was born in 1858 and raised on a farm in Illinois. After completing a couple of years of college, he took the train to (or) near Fargo then drove in a wagon to Devils Lake in 1882. In 1890, he drove west and established the ranch in the valley with its highly nutritious grasses and hay meadows. J.B.’s wife, Mabel Chase, was the daughter of Jonathan Chase, a pioneer Minnesota lumberman. Jonathan established the first McKenzie County ranch near Schaefer, a few miles north of Watford City. The ranch and its timber holdings in Minnesota were swept away in the farm depression of the 1890s. J.B. died in 1930, and his son, Jonathan (John) Chase Eaton Sr., became the owner. Under his man-
agement, the ranch more than doubled in size and now covers about 7,500 acres southeast of Denbigh. John was very active in agricultural, civic and political organizations and helped found the Mouse River Cattlemen’s Association and organize the Eaton Flood Irrigation Project and the annual horse shows held in Velva through the 1940s. He served as president of the North Dakota Stockmen’s Association and vice president of the American National Cattlemen’s Association. On John’s death in 1963, the ranch passed to his son, Jonathan Chase (Jock) Eaton Jr. Mary Eaton, the daughter of Jock and his wife, Betty, has been living on the ranch since 1980. Mary Eaton manages the overall operation. Her son, William Eaton Mueller, also lives on the ranch. The ranch was inducted in the Ranch Category of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2001. – Information provided by the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, Medora.
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CP h c n Ra Clarence Parker made ranch famous for buffalo
This ranch in the Foxholm area near Lake Darling, shown in this 1980 photo, was owned for a number of years by the late Clarence Parker of Minot. The ranch became famous for Parker’s privately owned buffalo herd.
By ELOISE OGDEN
MDN File Photo
K
eeping alive the traditions of the old west, pioneer rancher and prominent Minot businessman Clarence Parker developed and maintained the finest buffalo as well as Hereford cattle herds on his ranch in the Foxholm area near Lake Darling in Renville County. Parker’s buffalo herd was said to be the largest or one of the largest privately owned buffalo herds in the Midwest, some broadening that area to the United States. One of Parker’s acquaintances said he was always a rancher at heart. Parker was only a year old when he came to Minot with his parents, the late William H. Parker,
where they built and operated hotels. Clarence Parker purchased the Henry Stamen Ranch on the Souris/ Mouse River in Renville County in 1923. Stamen came to the ranch in 1887. After Parker purchased the ranch, it became the headquarters on which the CP Ranch was developed. He sold 1,165 acres of meadow and pasture to the federal government in 1935 for the upper Souris Wildlife Refuge and the Lake Darling Reservoir. In the mid-1940s, he sold the ranch to Ben and Viola Eckert. The ranch’s name was changed to the E-7 Hereford Ranch and became known for their award-winning cattle. Phil Fleming, who
12 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
Clarence Parker maintained in the early 1900s what was said to be the largest privately owned buffalo herd in the Midwest. The herd was on on the CP Ranch in Renville County. MDN File Photo
worked for Parker and then for the Eckerts, told the Minot Daily News for a story published in 1980 that Parker raised Herefords and had a herd of 104 buffalo. He said Parker butchered as many buffalo as he raised. One was dressed for the ranch and others provided meat for conventions. Parker built a summer cabin with a fireplace and nearby bathhouse in 1924 on a hill overlooking the ranch. He and his wife stayed at the summer cabin. He also built a barn.
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“Thousands and thousands of persons had visited the ranch to see the shaggy herd, and sportsmen from far and wide had taken part in buffalo shooting there at seasons when the surplus animals were beng removed,” reported the Minot Daily News in a story about Clarence Parker’s death in January 1953. “One such sporstman, who has never ceased to boast of the buffalo shooting sport he had there, is Lauritz Melchoir, the Wagnerian tenor of Metropolitan Opera fame.” Influential men would come from the East Coast every year to hunt at the ranch near Lake Darling, said Lucille Parker of Minot, Clarence Parker’s granddaughter-in-law. Parker’s interest in buffalo hunting dated to a day in 1887 when a member of an area Indian tribe shot a stray buffalo near Wallace, west of Berthold, and steaks from the animal were served to diners in the Parker House hotel. Parker was about 14 at the time. Years later in 1924, after he had acquired the CP Ranch on the upper Mouse River, Parker bought some buffalo from the Scotty Phillips herd at Fort Pierre, S.D., and started his own private herd. The Minot Daily News said Parker’s ranch was also widely known for his registered Hereford cattle. “He was one of the first in North Dakota to bring bulls of
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high-rated blood lines from Colorado to strengthen his herd, and frequently paid prices for registered sires which were record-breakers for North Dakota breeders,” the newspaper said. “Steaks from the Parker buffalo were served at many a banquet not only in Minot but in other parts of the country and they brot prices far higher than Parker had paid for grass-fed beef in his first years in Minot,” the newspaper said. In 1932, after he purchased the Billy Adams ranch on the Missouri River in Williams County, Parker made that spread his principal range for running beef cattle. He called it the C Bar P. Kim and Kathy Dufner now are the owners of the ranch in Renville County. They recently purchased it from the Eckerts. Clarence Parker was inducted in the Great Westerner category in the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in June 2017. – Sources: North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, Lucille Parker of Minot and Minot Daily News files. 2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |13
This log home at the Ward County Historical Society Pioneer Village was built in about 1891 and was the home of Ole and Guri Sundre and their family southeast of Minot for a number of years until it was replaced by a larger frame house.
d a t s Mo rm Fa
Photos by Eloise OGden
O
le Sundre (1840-1928) and his wife Guri Braaten Sundre emigrated to the United States in 1881. In June 1886, they moved to the Mouse River Valley in their covered wagon drawn by oxen. They filed on land southeast of Minot. The original land purchase of 160 acres was purchased March 9, 1889. Their first home was a hillside dugout and sod. Approximately in 1891 a log home was built using trees cut from the homestead. The logs were squares and notched by hand, using a rare lock-notch method on the corners of the home. This was to be their home until 1908 when it was replaced by a larger frame house which is on the homestead today. Ole and Guri Sundri had four children: Ole Jr., Anker, Carl and Anna. Anna married Alfred Mostad July 2, 1921, and lived on and farmed the Sundre homestead. Two children, Kermit and Elaine (Elmer) Jacobson of Finley were born from this marriage. Kermit married Deloris Alm. This marriage brought
Family arrived in Minot area in 1886
five children to the Sundre homestead: James, on the homestead; Gerald, one mile west of the homestead; MaryAnn (Dennis) Rowe; Rolland; and Gloria (James) Stables. Elaine married Elmer Jacobson. They had six children: Bruce, Darrell, Brad, Deanna, Dean and Elroy. Elroy died at age one and a half and Elmer in April 1986. Jim and Pam Mostad are the current owners of the Mostad Farm. He is the son of Kermit and Deloris Mostad. The Ole Sundre Log Cabin was given to the Ward County Historical Society in 1982 by the Mostad family, grandchildren of Ole and Guri Sundre. Many of the furnishings in the cabin were part of the original Sundre furnishings and are on loan from the Kermit Mostad family. The log cabin has been restored by many volunteers and a donation by the Minot Association of Realtors. The Mostad Farm has been designated a North Dakota Centennial Farm. – Sources: Ward County Historical Society Pioneer Village and North Dakota Centennial Farm program.
14 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
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Map from State Historical Society of North Dakota
The Legal Requirements Constituting Homesteading The “Berthold Reservation Directory” compiled by The Parshall Leader, gives a brief synopsis of the Homestead Laws. The directory was a compilation of all the new settlers homesteading on the Fort Berthold Reservation coal lands thrown open to entry May 1, 1916. “The Government’s idea of homesteading is that the settler must make the land his home, and a great deal of latitude is given where the settler’s good faith is shown. A married man’s family must live on his homestead, with one exception: if it can be shown by competent medical authority that the settler’s wife would hazard her health by living on the homestead, the family need not live on the claim; or where a wife will make oath that she positively refused to live on the homestead does not invalidate a man’s right to home-
stead, but in either case the settler must make the claim his or her home. A single man or woman must make the claim his or her home. Working in the neighborhood to earn a living, and sleeping at home, is permissible. In Three-year Proofs a single person who is obliged to earn a living, is permitted to do so if that person will visit and sleep on the claim over Sunday. The land laws do not so state this as constituting residence – this statement merely relates to Three-year Proof as accepted by the land office. Homesteading dates from the establishment of actual residence – when the house is built and entryman takes up his residence therein. “The Homestead Laws had two kinds of final proofs required for homesteading: Commutation Proof and Three-year Proof.
“Commutation Proof is made after 14 months actual residence, and it need not be continuous. Absences may be taken during the winter months. The homesteader must also cultivated at least 10 acres of land and built a habitable house. It is not necessary to have a well. However, the more improvements made, the better the showing of good faith. “In Three-year Proofs 20 months of actual residence is required. The settler and his family may take five months leave of absence each year. The homesteader also must have planted three crops in making Three-year Proof, and at least 20 acres must be cultivated. A habitable house also is necessary, though the more improvements made the better the faith shown. Time is figured from the establishment of actual residence.”
2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |15
Ranchers and homesteaders By ELOISE OGDEN
F
or most of the state, the pioneer period began with the building of the railroads and continued until about the time of statehood in 1889. North Dakota became a state on Nov. 2, 1889. “The Story of the Flickertail State” by W.M. Wemett, 1923, said the settlers “alighted from the trains at every station and bought a piece of ‘railroad’ land or filed a claim under the homestead law. The poor prairie trails were worn into roads by the ox carts and covered wagons of those who drove in from other states. The country began to swarm with settlers as it had teemed with Indians and buffaloes. “The crudest kinds of dwellings served for those eager people. Some dug recesses from convenient banks along the wooded streams and roofed them with logs and sod. Such homes were called ‘dugouts’ and were the most humble of pioneer huts. “Much more common than the dug-out were the sod house and the tarpaper shack. The former had the advantage of being warmer in winter and cooler in summer. The latter was easier to build, where material could be obtained, and could be moved if necessary. The furniture of these pioneer homes was scanty and poor. Newspapers from “back home” often served as wallpaper, table cloth and the only reading matter. Luxuries were unknown, conveniences few, and necessaries often lacking, though these little homes were sometimes as clean and tidy as modern residences. “Pioneer life was that of patient toil, sacrifice and frequent suffering. Pleasures were few and
short. It was a stern test of manhood and womanhood. Many are the harrowing tales of Indian attacks, blizzards, prairie fires and starvation; many are the stories of self sacrifice by heroic men and women which cannot be told in brief space. Their annals parallel those of the Saxon, Norse, and Pilgrim, whose blood mingled in their veins. The people who now enjoy the bounty of this state, the products of the pioneers toil, should erect a fitting monument in their honor.”
COWBOYS
“The Story of the Flickertail State” books report on cowboys said:
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“It was evident from the first that the country west of the Missouri River was better suited to stock-raising than to the raising of grains. The rainfall was light and uncertain. Much of the land, especially in the Badlands, was too rough to be tilled.”
16 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
“Cattle men naturally went to that region. It was not necessary to build fences. For many years much of the land was held in common. Later great tracts were purchased for from 50 cents to $2 per acre and fitted out as ranches. Horses and cattle were branded and turned out for the summer. In the fall, all of the men in the neighborhood had a “round up.” This name has been given to the practice of working together to find the cattle in their feeding places in the hills and ravines and to drive them into the corrals at the ranchhouse. Here they were divided among the owners, according to their brands, and many were shipped to market. “A Brief History of North Dakota” by Fish and Black, 1925/1926, described the new
state of North Dakota and its ranchers and settlers in the late 1800s. “After the Civil War it had been the custom of the Texas cattlemen to range their cattle northward and market them at some good shipping point. Some of these herds came as far north as the old buffalo ranges in North Dakota. Great herds were soon acquired by ranchers in the state. Dickinson, the center of the ranching region, was a great shipping point and was said to be the wealthiest city per capita in the state. “A great cattleman from the great ranges of the Southwest is said to have paid the Northern Pacific agent at Dickinson about $90,000 for freight charges in a single year, most of which was
301 E Central Ave Minot, ND 58701 701-852-3385
for the shipment of his cattle to eastern markets. “The northwestern part of the state was also a fine cattle country. Minot, founded in the early 1890s as a city of tents and tepees, soon became noted as a stock shipping point. Williston became well known as a clearing place for the stock industry. “The story of the Flickertail State” said the city of Minot grew up where the Great Northern railroad crossed the Mouse River. “An early picture shows the te-
pees of a friendly band of Indians camped near the settlement in 1890. One of the prominent industries of the early days was the shipping of buffalo bones which were found in great quantities on the surrounding plains.” The census of 1890 showed a population of 182,719 in North Dakota. This was a time of great immigration and many of the home seekers from foreign lands came to North Dakota, according to “A Brief History of North Dakota.”
It went on to say:
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“The hard times of 1893, which affected the whole country, brought economic depression to the new state; but the settlers had come to secure homes and remained, with faith in the future. The year 1895 brought one of the greatest crops in the history of the state. The price was low, much of the wheat bringing only 40 cents a bushel, but with returning confidence, prosperity again smiled on the new state and a steady growth continued. “Before this depression there had been a time of railroad extension. The Great Northern had built its line to the Pacific Coast, and both it and the Northern Pacific built several branch lines in the state. The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway completed its line across the state from Fairmount to Portal where it united with the Canadian Pacific and made the third transcontinental line through North Dakota. “Along with improved railroad facilities came improvement in wagon roads and other means of communication like the telephone. A better appreciation of the new Northwest gained and more people began to plan permanent homes.”
Map from State Historical Society of North Dakota
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2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |17
d e p l e H l h e y i r P a r r e o t p l Wa Contem ent r m e e e v n o o i m P oy art b w o c n e d g O e s i o by El
Submitted Photo
W
Submitted Photo
alter Piehl is widely recognized today as one of North Dakota’s senior painters and one of the artists who pioneered the contemporary cowboy art movement. Piehl grew up at Marion, southeast of Jamestown, in a family raising rodeo stock and riding horses. He turned to art as a way “to get off the haystack,” he said. Piehl was interested in drawing but had no training until he went to Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn. “And that was a little terrifying.” Here he was, he said, a prairie dog in a rather elitist setting, art students who knew art, he told the Minot Daily News for a story published in 1976. After getting his degree at Concordia, Piehl received his master’s degree from the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks. His career includes teaching art in Dickinson, Valley City and Mayville and joining the staff at Minot State University in 1970 to teach art. He has also done postgraduate work at the University of Minnesota. When he arrived at graduate school at the University of Minnesota, fellow student Bill Goldston, who later became owner of Universal
Walter Piehl of Minot is one of the pioneers of the contemporary cowboy art movement, shown in this photo by Wendy Kimble.
“Trail Drives: Northern Plains National Heritage Area Suite” by Walter Piehl. It portrays the cattle drives from Texas to North Dakota back in the mid- to late 1800s, before the railroad arrived. Photo courtesy The Capital Gallery, Bismarck.
Limited Art Editions, said that from the beginning Piehl drew with great confidence and skill. “We were beginning students and he arrived fullblown. He put his hand to paper and the lines flowed. And he drew horses,” said Goldston. Piehl went on to draw and paint horses, year after year, never tiring of his subject in his quest to create contemporary Western art. In the beginning he worked alone, one of the very first to turn his back on the established ways of painting rendered into cliche by followers of Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. By 1978 Piehl and his horses were well on their way. As Piehl matured, his artistic skills matured.
As an abstract painter of Western subject matter, especially rodeos, Piehl captures on canvas the action and energy of the horses and riders. The Capital Gallery, a new fine art retail gallery in Bismarck, where some of Piehl’s works can be seen, noted: “Walter Piehl of Minot, ND, recently retired from a nearly 50-year career teaching art at Minot State University. His works, heavily influenced by his early experiences on the rodeo circuit and grounded in an expansive art education, have earned him the admiration of collectors everywhere. His “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” series is especially popular and much sought after by discriminating collectors.” “The Sweetheart of the Rodeo” series is dedicated to the bucking horse, the real “sweetheart of the rodeo.” Piehl has served on the board of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame for about 20 years. His work can be found in numerous art galleries throughout the Southwest, Midwest and West. Because his work has been featured at numerous galleries in these areas, it also has been distributed to a much wider audience in other areas of the country. Besides The Capital Gallery in Bismarck, his work can be seen locally at the Suite 1 Gallery in ArtSpace and Artmain, both in downtown Minot.
Editor’s Note: The artwork on the cover of this magazine depicting early homesteaders, “North Dakota or Bust: Northern Plains National Heritage Area Suite” is by Minot artist Walter Piehl. Photo courtesy The Capital Gallery, Bismarck.
2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |19
d r a a g y N rm Fa Submitted Photo
A.J. Nygaard: Early homesteaders endured severe conditions
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nders Jorgen Nygaard, known as A. J. Nygaard, came to America from Denmark. He worked on a farm in Nebraska for a time before coming to Flaxton where he filed on a homestead in Richland Township, Burke County, in 1899. He and Margrete Andersen, who also emigrated to America, were married in 1904 and had three children: Norman, Helmer and Margaret. Homesteaders endured severe conditions. Many left because of dry weather and cold climate, poor crops and poor prices. Ground water for wells was hard to find in adequate quantities. A good well was hard or impossible to find on many farms. A.J. dug for water many places on his farm but he finally like many others had a well drilled, It was 365 feet deep. Besides giving up water it also gave much trouble; it had to have new leathers installed in the cylinder once a month the first year and later not so often. A. J. Nygaard died in 1946. Margrete Nygaard died in 1924. Norman Nygaard related stories he
heard about the early years. They are as follows: There was tall grass cover seen by the first homesteaders. Fire, however, burned it off and this had no doubt happened every now and then in the past. The year 1906 is remembered as the year of unusual snow. Much snow around buildings and covering smaller shacks or buildings was not unusual. Sleigh tracks drifted full, building up higher and higher where there was much travel. Near town they became so high that rigs could
20 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
The three children of A.J. and Margrete Nygaard are, from the left, Helmer, Norman and Margaret Urton Nygaard taken in 1986.
Submitted Photo
not meet without risk of tipping over or getting stuck. The unloaded outfits tried to find a turn-off or take a chance and get off the track. When spring came, these roads were slower to melt so they looked like bridges or something. Dry years were not unusual. The years 1912 and 1915, however, were very good crop years. In 1916 there was a very bad hail storm in Richland Township. There were crops lost and windows were all broken on the west sides of buildings. Our cows and horses were driven before the storm towards the east and through the pasture fence. Chickens were dead in the yard. The years in the early ‘20s were poor. There were more Russian thistles than grain in the bundles. At the age of 14 I, and others my age, hauled bundles to the
threshing machine. We were not good bundle haulers, but worked hard at it and stayed on the job with blisters and sore places here and there. In 1916 my father bought a quarter of land for $5,300. It took until 1929 to have it paid for and then the Depression came and we lost it for taxes. In 1932 my brother and I went to Ambrose, North Dakota, and hauled bundles for 25 days. We got $2 a day. Wheat was 32 cents a bushel and it cost the farmer 8 cents a bushel to have it threshed, not to mention other costs. We came out with more than the farmer. Norman and Helmer farmed the place what had been their parents’ land one and a half miles north of Flaxton. Norman and Mereith Urton Nygaard and their four children lived on the farm. The Nygaard Farm was designated a North Dakota Centennial Farm in 2005. Marcia Olney and Connie Ann Nygaard, Norman and Mereith Nygaard’s daughters, now own the farm. – Information from, story written by Norman Nygaard for “Pioneers and Progress Vol. I.”
Submitted Photo
Submitted Photo
Back, from left to right, Norman and Mereith Nygaard, Marcia and Leland; and front, left to right, Patricia and Connie Ann are shown in this photo taken about 1956.
This is the Nygaard Farm at Flaxton.
A. J. (Anders Jorgen) and Margrete Nygaard are shown in this photo taken in about 1910.
Submitted Photo
2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |21
Submitted Photo
Dustin and Sara Ceynar now own the Birdhead Ranch. Shown in this photo are, from left to right, Nathan Egeberg, Jake, Sara, Clay, KayDee and Dustin Ceynar.
e n o h c n a R s ’ d y a t e n h u d o r C i B Kenzie es h c c M n f a o dest r ol
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he Birdhead Ranch, McKenzie County’s second largest, was established in 1891 by Joseph and Robert Stroud. Located on the Missouri River bottoms near the mouth of Timber Creek, it was sold to Landers and Green in 1892 and, in 1893 to the Morning Star Cattle Company – Jeff Hanley; Cornelius, Robert and Elijah Jaynes; Martin and Thad Uhlman; James McEwen “Mac” Uhlman; and other small investors from Wisconsin. In 1905, a small log building on the ranch was leased to McKenzie County for its first courthouse. The town of Alexander developed
The Birdhead Ranch site was named a historic site in 1986 and the ranch house was also recognized in 1987. This photo is from the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame.
around it. A large house was moved to the site from Fort Buford and used as the county’s first post office. Frank Banks bought the ranch in 1904. In the spring of 1913, he purchased 150 registered Hereford cows. He sold half of the ranch to Anders Madson in 1917 and retired to Williston. He died there in 1920. Anders became sole owner of the ranch with its 800 head of cattle and 75 horses. He increased it to 7,000 acres and raised registered Herefords, leasing summer grazing land on Fort Berthold Reservation. He was named North Dakota’s outstanding cattleman in the late 1930s and a charter member of the North
22 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
Dakota Stockmen’s Association in 1941. The Garrison District Real Estate Division bought the ranch’s bottomland in 1952. Anders then retired, leaving operations to his son-in-law and grandson, Oren and James Forthun. By 1972, the building site was abandoned because it was often flooded by Garrison Dam waters. The range and farm land were sold to various parties. The ranch site was named a National Register of Historic Places historic site in 1986 and in 1997, the ranch house was also recognized. James Anderson bought the 2,677-acre ranch and the Birdhead brand in March 1996. Dustin and Sara Ceynar of Arnegard now own the Birdhead Ranch. He is the greatgreat-grandson of co-founder James “Mac” Uhlman. They also have the Birdhead brand. The ranch was inducted in the Ranch Category of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2002. – Information provided by the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, Medora.
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r o l Tay ch Ran Submitted Photo
Four Taylor brothers started Taylor Ranch 117 years ago This is the original homestead shack on the Taylor Ranch, shown in this photo from the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame. “On the porch is my greatgrandmother Mary Taylor, seated is my great-grandfather Harvey Taylor. The young boy sitting with the fiddle is their son (my great uncle) Marshall Taylor,” said Ryan Taylor. “The one on the right is grandfather Clyde Taylor.” The man on the left is not identified. “All three of those men – Harvey, Marshall and Clyde – died rather suddenly and tragically in a short span of time in 1922/23,” Ryan Taylor said.
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he 117-year-old Taylor Ranch is situated in the sandhills of McHenry County, the third most populous cattle county in North Dakota. The four Taylor brothers arrived in Towner in 1900 from Montgomery County, Indiana. They operated a livery stable in town, a brick plant east of Towner and the cattle and horse ranch toward the southeast. In 1927, part of the livery stable was moved to the ranch by teams of
horses. That barn is still in use today. Cattle and horses were grazed on Taylor pastures and on unfenced and unclaimed surrounding land. The Taylors were raising registered purebred Herefords as early as 1915 and, although a series of tragedies took the lives of the three men on the ranch within two years, their widows regrouped, put the cattle out on shares and moved into town with the children. Pearl, the matriarch, had bought those Herefords with her
24 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
Ryan and Nikki Taylor are the current owners and operators of the Taylor Ranch at Towner. They are shown here with their children: Marshall “Bud,” right, named for his grandpa Bud Taylor; Olav “Ole,” left, named for his great-grandfather on Nikki’s side; and Sylvia, center, named for her great-grandmother on Nikki’s side. Submitted Photo
school teaching pay and in her own name. When Pearl’s youngest son Bud turned 18, he moved back out to re-claim the family’s cattle- and horse-raising legacy. After serving in the South Pacific during World War II, Bud came back home and began ranching again. The Taylor family helped build the rodeo arena in Towner for the first RCA Rodeo in 1951. And it was the Taylor Ranch that intro-
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“The ranch isn’t the biggest in the state, comprising 3,200 of mostly contiguous acres of sandy rangeland and native hay meadows, but it’s never been a passive investment for distant shareholders or a holding that came without great hardship and sacrifice. It’s not a farming outfit, as 90 percent of the ranch land has never been broken. It’s a cowboy outfit that’s still managed from the back of a horse.”
Three significant factors about the Taylor Ranch are: • It’s a family homestead that was started from scratch—no railroad acres, open range or land purchases made with outside money. • Strong, resilient ranch women persevered and kept the ranch intact. • There are cattle in that area because there is abundant grass and hay as the land is too poor for farming. Where there are cattle, there are horses to work the cattle. Where there are horses and cattle, there are cowboys and ranchers, genuine ones and good ones.
duced one of the area’s first registered Quarter horse studs in 1956. Ryan Taylor is the fourth generation to own and run cattle on the same place, with a fifth generation in the wings and learning the ropes. Ryan and Nikki Taylor are current owners and operators of the Taylor Ranch. The Taylors have three children: Marshall “Bud,” Olav “Ole,” and Sylvia. The ranch was inducted in the Ranch Category of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2010.
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– Information provided by the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame, Medora. 2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |25
Cows on the bottom, Chickens on the top by KIM FUNDINGSLAND photos by kim fundingsland
26 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
T
he Lyle Gravseth farm is located near Souris, just a quarter mile from the Canadian border. Iver Gravseth, Lyle’s grandfather, homesteaded the property in 1898 and the land has passed from one generation to another. Iver Gravseth’s story is an intriguing one, but perhaps more typical of early day farmers than generally realized. Gravseth was born in Lesjeskagen, Norway in 1877. In 1895, still several months shy of his 18th birthday, he emigrated to the United States and settled in Minnesota. Three years later he made the decision to homestead in Scandia Township in Bottineau County. Gravseth obtained his U.S. citizenship in 1902. The title to his homestead bears the signature of President Theodore Roosevelt. Iver Gravseth worked and improved the homestead until his death in 1946. It was then that his son, Harold, took over the farm. Harold and his father had been working the farm together since Harold returned home from the Army in late 1945. That Harold Gravseth even had a chance to work the farm was remarkable. He had survived some harrowing moments in World War II. He served in the 95th Infantry Division, known as the “Iron Men of Metz” for their role in fighting back fierce German counterattacks and liberating the French town. In a family scrapbook he detailed his narrow escape from death. “I carried a bazooka. I shot three times with the bazooka before I was hit with a 50 cal. German machine gun. I was hit three times in my chest, one missing my heart by an inch, just missing my spine and one through my spleen, one shot went through my shoulder and lodged between my helmet and helmet liner. I remained conscious the whole time.” Harold Gravseth was taken to a Catholic Convent that had been turned into a field hospital. Incredibly, one of the doctors assigned to him was a Dr. Stone. Stone was a former Westhope resident. Westhope is located a few miles west of Souris. “Two days following surgery General Patton came through the hospital to see his troops. I was quite dazed but conscious enough to know what was going on,” wrote Harold Gravseth. “I was in a dark corner but Patton ordered that I be moved to the brightest part of the room right away. Within one hour I was moved.” According to Lyle Gravseth, Harold’s son, his father didn’t tell of his experiences
in World War II until very late in life. Harold Gravseth worked the Gravseth acres from 1946 until his passing in 1996. It was then that Lyle was given the responsibility of keeping up the family tradition of operating the homestead. Lyle Gravseth farmed the original homestead until 2011. He still resides in the farm house built in 1915. Gravseth never married and has no children to follow in his footsteps. He does have a sister who has expressed interest in living on the farm should her brother ever need to vacate the old home.
“
“I’m really proud to be living on the land and I’ve tried to take care of it as much as possible,” said Gravseth, his voice breaking slightly. “I want to be a good steward of the land. Of course, family is important to me even if I don’t have any immediate family anymore.”
“We’ve made up some estate plans. In dad’s family there was five kids so it’ll be divided up a little more than it is now,” speculated Gravseth. One of Gravseth’s earliest memories of working on the farm, he was born in 1948, involves an old Jeep. Gravseth thought he was about six years old at the time. “We had a John Deere tractor that they seeded with and it would not run all day on a tank of gas. We’d park the Jeep, no top, by the pump in the yard. I’d fill all the gas cans and when it was time to go out to add gas I’d drive the Jeep. I couldn’t reach the pedals and shift gears, but I could put the key on and press the starter button,” laughed Gravseth. “Then I’d drive out to the field. I did that for about two years before we got a bigger tractor.” In one of the storage buildings located on the farm today Gravseth can sometimes be found admiring a reminder from the past a 1946 Jeep. It is not the one he originally drove on the farm. This one he purchased and, using some ingenious mechanical skills learned while working on farm machinery, brought back to life. Not far from the Jeep is a 1934 W-30 McCormick-Deering tractor. Gravseth saw the tractor at an auction sale and made the purchase. He recalled the days his father drove a W-30 on the farm. “Dad bought a new one and wore it out,” said Gravseth. “This one needed some work.
This aerial view of the Gravseth farm was taken in 1946. Although the barn is gone, the main home is still in use today.
Submitted Photo
2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |27
We monkeyed around with it and pulled it and got it to run. It needed tires and a radiator. I guess we had it pretty much done when my dad died. I’ve had it in a parade or two.” Among the old black and white photographs in a family scrapbook are pictures of a W-30 on the Gravseth homestead. Today, literally in the shadow of much bigger equipment, the restored tractor serves as a vivid reminder of the early days on the farm. Another “relic of the past” sits underneath a shelter on the Gravseth farm, an old International truck that remains in service. “This one was bought new in 1948 by my dad and it still runs,” said Gravseth. “I drove it out and hauled a whole load of junk this past summer. This is the one I probably drove a lot on this farm.” Several buildings on the farmstead have been removed and replaced throughout the years. Some, like the farmhouse and garage, remain courtesy of renovation and upkeep. Gone is the old barn, a 36-foot by 70foot structure that was once a center of activity. “It got moved off in 1982,” recalled Gravseth. The barn had a colorful history. During its peak use milk cows were at ground level and chickens occupied the loft above. “In 1964 or so mom said we had to have chickens, so she ordered a hundred,” said Gravseth. “Dad said if we are going to have chickens we may as well have a lot of them. He changed the order to a thousand, so we had cows on the bottom and chickens on the top.” The Gravseth’s had about a dozen milk cows, twice that in beef cattle and, at the peak, 5,000 chickens. The laying hens supplied fresh eggs to customers throughout the Souris region.
Submitted Photo
Iver Gravseth homesteaded in Bottineau County in 1898 at age 20. The farm remains in the Gravseth family today.
“We delivered them to Metigoshe, Mohall, Lansford, Westhope and Souris I suppose,” remarked Gravseth. “We had enough of a reputation that sometimes we had to go to Minnesota for more eggs!” The growing work load and increasing regulations eventually led to the abandonment of milk cows and laying hens. “My dad said it was a luxury we couldn’t afford any more,” laughed Gravseth. Gravseth has witnessed numerous other changes on the farm throughout the years. One of the biggest changes, he says, is in the size of farm equipment today and the implementation of technology such as use of Global Positioning Systems, or GPS. “It changes things. New combines, if you get all the headers and stuff you need, could be a million dollars,” remarked Gravseth. “I sometimes wonder if farming is a goofy way to make a living, but I like it. It’s fun.” Gravseth leases out much of his land today but still takes advantage of the opportunity to work it when he can. Machinery, some of it from days long gone, is neatly positioned in rows a about 50 yards from the farmhouse. Included is a 1947 International truck similar to what would have been used on the farm when Gravseth was grow-
28 | Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota • 2017 - 2018
ing up. It reminds him of his family’s attachment to the land. About two miles from the Gravseth farm is another reminder of the stature of those who settled the area - the Lesje Lutheran Church. Down to about a dozen or so regular members, the impressive church closed its doors about three years ago. Gravseth had the honor of ring-
ing the bell to announce the final service. “It’s a Norwegian-style church. The roof is leaking a little so we’re putting a new roof on it,” said Gravseth. A monument at the entrance to the church cemetery reads: “We declared this monument in honor of the pioneers in this community who believed in the freedom of speech and religion and remembering the veterans who served to keep us free.” Earlier this fall, across the dirt road from the church entrance, several farm trucks, a tractor and a combine sat quietly in a stubble field. “I’ve only been away from here three winters when I went to college,” said Gravseth. “Some days it gets kind of lonesome but it’s kind of peaceful out here. I just really like it.” Somewhere Iver Gravseth must be pleased to hear those words.
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2017 - 2018 • Centennial Farms and ranches of North Dakota |29
The Hall of Honorees featuring those inducted in the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame is located in the N.D. Cowboy Hall of Fame’s Center of Western Heritage and Cultures: Native Americans, Ranching and Rodeo in Medora. Photo by Eloise Ogden
NDCHF: Preserving the western lifestyle By ELOISE OGDEN
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ach year the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame accepts nominations and inducts those selected as honorees in the Hall of Fame. Trustees from 12 districts in North Dakota and a 13th district for those living outside the state are the final decision makers for those inducted each year in the Hall of Fame. Categories for induction into the Hall of Fame rotate on a varying schedule, year by year. Since the Hall of Fame began, a lengthy list of individuals, ranches, events and animals, including from the Minot area, have been selected for induction. The deadline for 2018 Hall of Fame nominations is Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017. Any N.D. Cowboy Hall of Fame trustee in good standing can submit a nomination. Those not affiliated with the N.D. Cowboy Hall of Fame who would like to submit a nomination or have questions can contact a local trustee or the N.D. Cowboy Hall of Fame office in Medora at 701-623-2000. This year’s categories for the Hall of Fame are Leaders of Ranching and Rodeo; Ranches; Ranching Pre-1940s; Ranching Modern-Era; Rodeo Pre-1940s; Rodeo Modern Era; Rodeo Arena; and Rodeo Livestock. The N.D. Cowboy Hall of Fame board of directors select the list of nominees for 2018. That list will be presented to trustees for discussion at the organization’s annual meeting
set for Feb. 16-17, 2018, in the Sleep Inn in Minot. This will be the first time the annual meeting has been held in Minot since the organization was formed in 1995. Trustees will vote on the list of nominees by mail-in ballots. Inductees will be announced at a later date and will be formally inducted during the annual induction ceremony in summer 2018 in Medora. Each inductee will be enshrined with their name, picture and history displayed in NDCHF Hall of Honor-
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ees in Medora. Those who would like to become a member of the N.D. Cowboy Hall of Fame can call or email the office in Medora. More information about the organization also is available at northdakotacowboy.com. N.D. Cowboy Hall of Fame also has openings for district trustees. Anyone interested in becoming a trustee can contact the office in Medora.
Each North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee is enshrined with their name, picture and history displayed in NDCHF Hall of Honorees in Medora, shown in this June 2017 photo. photo by eloise ogden
Recognizing Family Farms ND Centennial Farm program honors agriculture & families
By ELOISE OGDEN
Submitted Photos
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tarted by the North Dakota Department of Agriculture in 1988 as part of North Dakota’s centennial observance the following year, the North Dakota Centennial Farm program honors those families who have owned their farm or ranch for 100 years or more. The program celebrates North Dakota’s rich agriculture heritage by recognizing families who have lived on and/or owned their farms or ranches for more than a century. The Homestead Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862. Daniel Freeman became the first person to file a claim under the new act. Between 1862 and 1934, the federal government granted 1.6 million homesteads and distributed 270,000,000 acres of federal land for private ownership. The Lewis & Clark Fort Mandan Foundation took over the N.D. Centennial Farm program from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture several years ago. “The program is administered by the Lewis & Clark Fort Mandan Foundation, with an interactive display at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. We took over in 2008,” said David Borlaug, Foundation president. The interpretive center is located off U.S. Highway 83 at Washburn. “Just over 1,000 farms are currently in the system, with many more eligible and coming in regularly,” Borlaug said. “Estimates are that there are 2,000 or more addi-
An interactive display about the North Dakota Centennial Farm program is located in the “Our Agrarian Heritage” area in the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center at Washburn. The program is administered by the Lewis & Clark Fort Mandan Foundation.
tional farms that qualify at this time.” Borlaug said they are working with their partners to create an online presence. To be eligible for Centennial Farm status, applicants must show that their family has continuously owned or lived on the farm or ranch for 100 years or more. The nomination form is available at www. fortmandan.com. When filling out the application, a farm family member is asked to provide ownership information including names of the farm’s present owner(s), farm address, county and township, number of acres in present farm, name of person who farms the land (if different from owner), relationship to owner, and major crops or livestock produced. Historical information also is requested including year of original acquisition of farm by member of the family, how was the farm acquired (homestead, date of application and
date of patent and/or purchase and if purchased, from who, number of acres in original acquisition, number of acres still retained and original cost per acre, and legal description of the land. A list of all family owners, to present, beginning with the original owner also is requested. Applicants are also asked to include additional information available about the original owner and their descendants as well as information on the farm such as houses, buildings and improvements, etc., plus include non-returnable copies of documents or photos, preferably digital images or scans of documents. There is no charge to become a Centennial Farm. The application goes to the ND Centennial Farm Program at the Lewis & Clark Fort Mandan Foundation, P.O. Box 607, Washburn, ND 58577.
The North Dakota Centennial Farm Program celebrates North Dakota’s rich agriculture heritage by recognizing families who have lived on and/or owned their farms or ranches for more than a century.
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s a x e T m o Fr akota D o t itory r r Te oise Ogden by El
This photo shows a Texas trail map on display in the Long X Visitor Center in Watford City, shown in this photo by Frances Olson. Cattle were driven from Texas and north to Dakota Territory starting in about the late 1880s.
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attle drives started arriving in Dakota Territory, now North Dakota and South Dakota, in the late 1880s. The drives were done for economic reasons for the cattlemen to reach the railheads to ship to markets in the North where prices were high and the supply was low as well as to use new grazing lands and furnish beef to military posts and Indian agencies along the Missouri River and its tributaries. The trail drives were primarly comprised of longhorns driven across the fenceless prairie in the center of the U.S. Bob Cory, who wrote a column called “Tumbling Around These Prairies” for the Minot Daily News for 50 years, said the first man he ever met who had ridden the cattle trails from Texas to northern Dakota was Jay Grantier of McKenzie County. Cory met him in Watford City in the 1930s and at the time was just becoming aware of what he called “that remarkable assortment of ex-cowboys who had become North Dakota ranchers.” “He became one of a very few individuals of northern Dakota to ride all the way to Texas and help bring a trail herd of cattle to Dakota Most of the cowboys for the Reynolds Brothers’ Long X Ranch were from Texas or other southerly states,” Cory wrote. The Reynolds Brothers were prominent Texas ranchers who established ranching enterprises in what is now North Dakota. According to information about Grantier, he
Longhorns are driven through the street during the Great American Cattle Drive. The 1995 cattle drive re-enacted cattle drives of years ago. It started in Fort Worth, Texas, and ended in Miles City, Mont., shown here. Photos by Eloise Ogden
was 18 years old when he was sent alone from the Long X summer camp with a remount of saddle horses to meet the Reynolds’ trail herd. Unknown to the foreman of the summer camp the trail herd was detained at the Texas border because of an outbreak of Texas fever. Grantier ended up going all the way to Texas with about 40 head of horses before he finished his trip. Twice, Grantier accompanied Reynolds Brothers’ herds all the way north from Texas and several times he helped drive Texas cattle part way from Texas to northern grazing grounds. Grantier recalled the first trail herds from Texas came into what is now North Dakota in 1884, and that few herds of any size were driven all the way north from Texas after 1893, according to a story in the January 1939 “Watford Guide,” republished in “50 Years In The Saddle: Looking Back Down The Trail, Volume 3.” Grantier said no trail herds entered what is now McKenzie County until 1885. The long cattle drives ended for several reasons including railroads expanding in the U.S. and open range ending with the invention of barbed wire used to make fences on property and blocking the cattle trails. More than 100 years later, a six-month enactment of the great cattle drives of the 1880s became the summer sensation in 1995. The Great American Cattle Drive started at Fort Worth, Texas, and ended at Miles City, Montana. En route it went through six states, 22 counties and about 100 cities. Five historic cattle trails were used along the way.
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PLU #507
Expires 12/31/17