Hometown Hallmarks 2020 Part 1 of 2 by MinotDailyNews

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Pasta City (Carrington)

Parshall Bay Recreation Area

Minot’s namesake

Small town radio delight (Harvey)

Surrey offers choice of parks

Heilman family hallmark of today’s small family farm (Voltaire)

Historic trestle

39 46

(West of Minot)

Burlington’s fun place

Publisher Managing Editor Interim Ad Director Design Editor Writers

49 78

Contents Mohall’s beautification is visual treat

Mohall show is holiday tradition

Bob Patchen Kent Olson Elaine Gunderson Mandy N. Taniguchi Jill Schramm Eloise Ogden Andrea Johnson Kim Fundingsland

Hometown Hallmarks 2020 edition is published by The Minot Daily News which is located at 301 4th Street Southeast in Minot, North Dakota. An Ogden Newspapers company. www.minotdailynews.com

Dear Readers:

Kenmare’s Danish windmill

Tommy the Turtle (Bottineau)

65 70

A national fixture

Geographical Center Monument (Rugby)

Minot Daily News

Taking care of one another (New Town)

The Pines creates a special place in Stanley

Hygge Hotel offers unique stay (Powers Lake)

Wally celebrates Garrison and walleye

A tribute to the Rough Rider (Minot)

Hallmark of the prairie

City of parks (Watford City)

Bringing happiness to many (Minot)

Scandinavian Heritage Park is a Minot hallmark

Iconic Old Main (Bottineau)

Rugby Jaycees continue tradition

Welcome to North Dakota’s Cattle Capital (Towner)

Monumental hallmark

Minot symphony celebrates 95th season

Welcome to The Minot Daily News' annual edition of its award-winning Hometown magazine, dubbed Hometown Hallmarks for 2020. This edition's theme revolves around "hallmarks." Each town has a "hallmark," something it is known for: it can be a statue, a building, or a myriad of other things. From historic diners welcoming hungry patrons, statues commemorating famous founders, businesses that have employed generation after generation of families, or even the local library or town hall. When tourists arrive, the hallmark welcomes them with open arms, directing them to find their way into the hearts of each community. Communities built around the friendly people who inhabit the region that we call friends and family. Hometown Hallmarks is designed to be a year-round resource, acting as a guide and inspiration for things that make our communities distinct and rich in heritage. Those things that make North Dakota so unique and beautiful. We hope you enjoy this edition of Hometown and refer back to it often. We have learned a lot about our communities, and we hope you do too. Publisher

Bob Patchen

MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

Dreamfields is a brand created and manufactured by Dakota Growers.

Submitted Photo

carrington

Pasta city

Dakota Growers produces for Carrington

By JILL SCHRAMM

Senior Staff Writer jschramm@minotdailynews.com

arrington and pasta-making have become indelibly linked during the 28 years that Dakota Growers pasta company has made the community its home base. “Our town wouldn’t be what it is today without Dakota Growers,” said Laurie Dietz, executive director for the Carrington Chamber of Commerce. “I really believe that the startup of the Dakota Growers company those years ago really saved the community. It was at a time where we really needed something to turn the tide of the economy in our community. And it did that.” Dakota Growers employs around 200 people in the Carrington facility in manufacturing, quality assurance, maintenance and administration. Employees come from a 50-mile radius of Carrington. “The facility itself was designed with some good process controls and automation in place to handle the different types of wheat that we process and produce roughly 100 different shapes of pasta products,” plant manager Jason Jarrett said. “We are able to manage the operations in a relatively automated fashion, and it helps us maintain a pretty consistent labor team.”

Hometown 2020 • MinotDailyNews.com

Dakota Growers Plant Manager Jason Jarrett

That streamlining of the facility is important because the labor pool in central North Dakota is limited by the rural population size. When Dakota Growers sought a location, Carrington was selected over other choices after local business leaders came together, saw what was needed to attract a pasta plant and made that happen, Dietz said. “It has lent itself to providing many good jobs in the community, and then what I think is particularly great is that we have such an influx of workers from a radius of Carrington,” Dietz said. “That really helps the economy of our small businesses in town. They shop for groceries. They buy gas coming and going.” Employees who live in Carrington also raise children there, buy homes and pay taxes.

Dakota Growers works closely with the chamber on improving the quality of life to attract more people to community, which has an estimated population of just over 1,900 in Carrington and about 3,200 in Foster County. “We’re always looking for the next team to step into our businesses as employees and help run our businesses so we’ve partnered closely with the Chamber of Commerce over the years to try to drive those kinds of marketing plans and communication plans out to the world to say ‘hey, come visit us here in the middle of nowhere. We’ve got a lot to offer,’” Jarrett said. Dakota Growers also is committed to helping in other ways. As a company, Dakota Growers has supplied its products to local food banks and school backpack programs. It supports area emergency medical services, both volunteer fire departments and ambulance squads. Jan Bakke, co-coordinator for the Carrington Daily Bread food pantry, said it is encouraging to know they can always call on Dakota Growers. “We haven’t had to buy pasta since we started. It has been 14 years. Whenever we run low, we just call them,” she said. “It’s a staple and it’s easy. People know how to cook it, and then we just purchase cans of spaghetti sauce and it’s a healthy meal.” Dakota Growers also has been a source of pantry volunteers. Bakke’s family, for instance, has been in Carrington since Dakota Growers

brought them there 25 years ago. Dietz considers Dakota Growers an integral part of the community. Not only has the company supported the chamber but its employees have contributed in many ways through community service and even in elected offices. Dakota Growers impacts the state’s agriculture sector, too, because of its purchase of grains for its products. Spring wheat supplies largely come from farmers in the plant’s area. “The durum is primarily sourced from western North Dakota, northeastern Montana, as those are really the better, more premiere growing areas for durum wheat,” Jarrett said. “Over the last two decades really, it migrated westward and it continues to migrate westward even more so into Montana. versity also has been involved in preliminary “All the players in pasta manufacturing “Our town research to determine whether a proposed look to the Northern Plains to produce that wouldn’t be what it product might be viable. high-quality durum wheat for pasta prodis today without “Without that flexibility and commitucts throughout the country,” he added. Dakota Growers.” ment to versatility, we would not be as Dakota Growers buys both directly from successful as we have been over the Laurie Dietz, producers and through commercial venyears,” Jarrett said. “We’ve been very executive director for dors, which helps manage the volume the open-minded to listening to the customer the Carrington plant needs. needs and just really capable at making Chamber of “One thing that we’ve done in the last most of those requests happen. It’s really kept year is we’ve added a grain merchandising poCommerce the door open for us to continue to grow with sition in Carrington – a relatively new position our customers over time when we’re committed within the last year – and that position is really to changing to the needs of the market.” charged with working on being proactive with the individual Traditional pasta still leads the way, however. producers, to make contact with those producers, build a rela“Simple shapes like spaghetti and rotini and elbow macaroni tionship with those producers and then just keep the lines of com- are really the bulk of what the American consumer demands. munication open for the marketing potential for spring and From a volume standpoint, that’s where most of the products go,” durum wheat,” Jarrett said. Jarrett said. Dakota Growers started in 1990 as a farmer-owned cooperative Dakota Growers products are in all 50 states under various lawith about 1,100 investors. It broke ground in 1992 and began bels, primarily store brands. production in October 1993. Jarrett said the demand on Dakota Growers grew quickly after it was founded, resulting in the farmer-owners buying another plant in New Hope, Minn., in 1998. That plant produces similar products to the Carrington plant, but all the grain handling and milling is done in Carrington. Dakota Growers converted to a corporate firm in 2002. It was sold to Viterra Inc. in 2010 and later to Post Holdings in 2014. “We started with the mindset right out of the gate that we wanted to be focused on continuous improvement and making quality products, while protecting the safety of our employees, and those ideas that started with Dakota Growers have obviously transferred very well into the different ownerships that we dealt with over the past decade,” Jarrett said. “But every owner has maybe some different focal points and different management requirements, and the good thing about Carrington is it’s been adaptable to that. It’s a versatile facility, and I think what helps us with that is the longevity of our workforce. “We are really lucky in this facility to have a leadership team that has a pretty long tenure, so they understand the business. They understand the industry. The operations team that works with those leaders has a lot of tenure as well. It’s a people-powered business, and we’re fortunate to have a really solid core group of people with well over 15 years of experience, on average,” he said. Also, over the years, Dakota Growers developed its own label, called Dreamfields, which has evolved into a non-genetically modified (non-GMO) product known for its fiber and plant protein. The Carrington plant also produces products that are organic, whole wheat, whole grain or that include vegetable additives. Find us at the junction of Jarrett said customers share their ideas with the sales team, Hwy 200 and Hwy 281 which then works with the commercialization team to assess the Carrington, ND feasibility of any potential new product. North Dakota State Uni-

The Dakota Growers pasta plant has operated in Carrington since its construction in 1992.

Submitted Photo

“The store brand part of our business is really who we are,” Jarrett said. “Providing pasta products for those different store brand labels throughout the country is really what we do best, and that’s the majority of our business.” Jarrett said the company was never built to be focused on marketing and building its own brand and label. “It was to be the best producer we could be of pasta for those that wanted to put pasta into the marketplace. That’s where we’ve been successful all along over the years,” he said. Supplying food services such as restaurants is another important piece of Dakota Growers’ business, as is the ingredient market. Some of Dakota Growers’ production finds its way into ready-made products such as frozen dinners or soups. Dakota Growers celebrated 25 years by hosting Pasta Days in Carrington in 2017. The company sponsored a community meal and children’s activities. “The Carrington Chamber of Commerce and the local community really did a neat job of putting together a list of events through that week. It was kind of fun,” Jarrett recalled. “It was more of a community celebration.”

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MAIN: A fisherman in Parshall Bay is headed to the entrance of the main body of Lake Sakakawea’s Van Hook Arm. INSET: The West Ramp at Parshall Bay Recreation Area is popular with fishermen eager to get on the water, mostly in pursuit of walleye on Lake Sakakawea.

Parshall

Photos by Kim Fundingsland/MDN

Parshall Bay Recreation Area By KIM FUNDINGSLAND

Staff Writer • kfundingsland@minotdailynews.com

t seems to get more popular every summer. The entire area around Parshall Bay Recreation Area is growing too. Toss in a closed border with Canada and the coronavirus pandemic and you’ve got more visitors than ever at one of the best locations on Lake Sakakawea. “It’s been very, very busy this summer,” said Morgan Olonia, co-manager of PBRA. “I call it COVID camping because everyone was cooped up this spring and they all wanted to be outside. We’ve been pretty much at maximum capacity since the end of May and we opened May 15.” One look at the area and it’s not hard to understand

why. Parshall Bay is situated on one of the most scenic sections, and there are many, on Lake Sakakawea. PBRA has a Main Park as a centerpiece but also includes the nearby West Ramp area and South Point. “There’s over 100 campsites. Fifty-nine are electrical, seven full service with water and sewer, seven with electrical and water, three boat launches, two fish cleaning stations, two playgrounds, a bathhouse, swimming beach and public pavilion,” said Olonia. Grounds maintenance and facility cleaning are the responsibility of Olonia, co-manager Mallory Goff, and five other employees. “They are essential in ensuring that the park looks and operates the way it does,” remarked Olonia. The brilliant water of Lake Sakakawea is a colorful contrast to the bright green foliage along the shoreline

at Parshall Bay. The tall trees in the Main Park provide shade and what a proper outdoor environment for a popular campground. While the appearance of the park is appealing, so too is the fishing at Lake Sakakawea. It is the main reason many flock to PBRA and this year, due to coronavirus, the demand for the facilities at PBRA has increased. “A lot of people that we talk to at the fish cleaning stations say they go up to Canada to fish but this year they can’t cross the border so they are coming here,” said Olonia. “Some of them say if the fishing is always like this, they are not going to go back to Canada.” The fish cleaning stations at PBRA have been busy all summer, an indication of angler success. Some boats return with a limit of 14 to 22 inch walleye,

MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

Kim Fundingsland/MDN

Morgan Olonia, Parshall Bay Recreation Area co-manager, greets a customer and his dog at the entrance to the main park.

others say their fish were too big to keep. “Everybody does something different,” laughed Olonia. “Some say shallow. Others say pull cranks in 35 feet. Then the next person says they only use leeches because nightcrawlers won’t work. The same day someone says nightcrawlers are the only thing that will work! Some people are working hard for their fish and others are finding a pile of fish and limiting out right away.” The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which leases the PBRA land to the Mountrail County Park Board, uses traffic counters to monitor use at the park. Not surprisingly, given all the construction underway at nearby expanding housing areas, and the coronavirus pandemic, the number of vehicle visits has increased. “The Corps said the numbers are just out of this world compared to other years because there is just so many people,” remarked Olonia. “People want to be along the water and are getting more interested in outdoor activities rather than inside.” 2020 has been Olonia’s first year overseeing the park, but she can see the need for ad-

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ditional camping sites. Any such improvements would have to come from the Mountrail County Park Board, but there is ample room available for expansion if the county should decide to do so. Additionally, said Olonia, the park is not just an attraction for those from outside the immediate area. Locals make good use of it too. “We do get a lot of locals that come down,” stated Olonia. “They are so close. They shore fish and use the beach for swimming. They definitely recreate around the area. It’s a pretty place and I am not saying that just because I work here.” There’s no arguing that. Those thoughts are shared by numerous homeowners of fast growing developments near the park, such as the Brendel’s Addition and Packineau Addition. The main park at Parshall Bay Recreation Area opens each year on May 15 and closes Sept. 31. The latter date is when the gate closes to the main park. However, boaters will still be able to access the West Bay and South Point boat ramps after that date.

Hometown 2020 • MinotDailyNews.com

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MINOT’S NAMESAKE Henry D. Minot & Teddy Roosevelt classmates at Harvard; both shared interest in natural history By ELOISE OGDEN

Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com

enry Davis Minot and Teddy Roosevelt, friends from their Harvard University days, both had ties to North Dakota. Minot was named for the late Henry D. Minot, a naturalist and railroad executive, al-

Eloise Ogden/MDN

ABOVE: This portrait of Henry Davis Minot, the city of Minot’s namesake, is displayed at The Minot Daily News. The portrait shows Minot when he was 28 years old.

Submitted Photo

RIGHT: Henry Davis Minot, left, is shown in this photo with his friend, Herbert Parker. Both were birding enthusiasts and went to Harvard College. Parker was a prominent trial lawyer who served as Massachusetts attorney general. This Herbert Parker should not be confused with the late Herb M. Parker of Minot whom the Minot State University football stadium was named after. Photo from the Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston.

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though it is believed Henry D. Minot never visited the city bearing his name. Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt spent time in the Badlands of North Dakota before he became the 26th U.S. president. A great deal has been written about Teddy Roosevelt and his time spent in North Dakota but Henry D. Minot is relatively unknown in the state. Minot and Roosevelt were classmates at Harvard and both shared an interest in natural history. At the age of 17, Minot had authored a book entitled, “The Land Birds and Game Birds of New England.” The book has descriptions of the birds, their nests and eggs, their habits and notes. The city of Minot was very young when Henry D. Minot died from suffering injuries in a railroad accident in the east. According to The Minot Daily News files, Henry Davis Minot was born Aug. 18, 1859, in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, the fourth child and sixth son of William and Katherine Sedgwick Minot. Henry D. Minot’s parental home was comprised of about 30 acres of land, sheltered by

large trees and abundant shrubbery, according to biographical information with the second edition of his book. “From early childhood, Mr. Minot showed a great fondness for Nature, and her influence and charm increased with every added year of his boyhood. He never wearied of wandering through wood and field, exercising his habit of keen and patient observation, and unconsciously the lad trained himself to be an ornithologist. Nature was his teacher, and he proved himself an apt pupil,” the biographical information said. He soon formed the habit of recording his observations daily and prepared the text for his book when he was 17. Minot’s eldest brother, a good amateur naturalist, was asked for his opinion before Henry D. had the book published. According to the biographical information his brother was struck with the thoroughness, accuracy and originality of the work and procured its publication in an edition of 1,000 copies. The book was well received, sold rapidly and soon became out of print. In the meantime, Henry D. Minot entered Harvard College in 1876. His health failed him in his sophomore year and he relinquished his studies. He then devoted himself to more active occupations connected with the management and construction of railroads. In 1888, Minot was entrusted with the construction of the Eastern Railroad in Minnesota, a road extending from St. Paul to Superior City, Wisconsin. When that railroad was completed he was appointed president and manager of it, being at the time the youngest railroad president in the United States. When Henry D. Minot’s professional prospects were at the highest, his life was terminated on Nov. 14, 1890, in a railroad collision in Pennsylvania, according to biographical information. Minot published a number of books and essays during his lifetime. He always contemplated a second edition of his book, “Land Birds and Game Birds of New England.” Several years after his death, in 1895, Houghton, Mifflin and Co. published a second edition of the book. In June 1954 a park near Gloucester, Mass., was dedicated in the memory of Henry Davis Minot. The ceremony included the unveiling of a bronze head of Henry D. Minot.

MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

SMALL TOWN RADIO DELIGHT Still making waves By KIM FUNDINGSLAND

Staff Writer • kfundingsland@minotdailynews.com

harvey

HND radio has been on the air for 40 years and is still going strong. What’s more, it is a fixture in the community and a throwback to what small town radio is all about. In the lobby you’ll find old 45 rpm records on the wall, a few large and bulky old radios and even a radio control room board from days gone by. It’s what radio used to be. Today the equipment at KHND has been upgraded but the emphasis on promoting the local area remains, from covering local events to keeping an ever watchful eye on the weather. “I get up early in the morning and it’s not work for me. I’m having fun,” said Rick Jensen, owner. “I love being on the air. It goes back to when I was a little kid with a tape recorder. I’d hear things on the radio and mimic it on cassette. I’m doing the same thing, just actually talking to people now. I love it!” Jensen isn’t kidding when talking about his passion for radio. He says it was in his blood at age 3 or 4. He recalls being a young kid with a tape recorder who created his own home radio station, call letters KCIR, Rick spelled backwards. “Never did I dream I’d own a radio station,” said Jensen. “Albeit in a small town but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” R. David Adams is a notable on-air talent at KHND. He got his start in radio many years ago at KDLR in Devils Lake and later became a very well known radio personality in the Minot market. “My cousin told me to check out Harvey and I’ve been here since 1978,” said Adams. “I wanted to fill in and such and Jensen locked me down. The thing about small towns is that the corporate thing isn’t there. You still know your advertisers and the listeners.” Jensen called the history behind KHND “fascinating,” explaining that the station was originally started by a man who owned successful furniture stores in the area. He decided, said Jensen, to start a radio station and use it for advertising his businesses. “I was on the air here back in th 1980s,” recalled Jensen. “My wife and I, Sheila, who has passed away, had the opportunity to get this in 2001, so we purchased it.” In 2019 Jensen was named “Weather ambassador of the year” by the National Weather Service in Bismarck. It was a honor that recognized what KHND means for area residents. “We’ve developed kind of a reputation over the years for weather and storm coverage,” said Jensen. “People have tuned to us for many years when there’s a dark cloud in the sky. They turn on 1470 to see what’s happening with the weather.” Jensen describes himself as a weather “junkie,” so keeping an eye on the weather has always been part of what he does. While Jensen acknowledges his appreciation for the Weather Ambassador award, such honors are not his most important motivation. “I don’t worry about that stuff. I just do our thing,” explained Jensen. “My reward is when a listener says I like what you did on air or thanks for the storm coverage. To me that means a whole lot more than any plaque you can put on the wall.” Nevertheless, KHND’s dedicated listeners place a high value on local and area weather cov-

Hometown 2020 • MinotDailyNews.com

Photos by Kim Fundingsland/MDN

LEFT: Rick Jensen, owner of KHND radio in Harvey, is also a well known on-air personality. The station, and Jensen, have become fixtures in the Wells County community. RIGHT: Sitting at the control board is R. David Adams, a popular voice at KHND radio. Adams has an extensive broadcasting career and thoroughly enjoys the air waves in Harvey. erage and the station’s commitment to the listening area that goes well beyond keeping an eye on the sky. “We encourage people to shop local,” said Adams. “We talk about it all the time, keeping that money in Harvey so it doesn’t go somewhere else.” This year has been unusual, to say the least, because of coronavirus concerns that have effected almost every business and individual in one way or another. “It has been particularly interesting because of the Wuhan flu,” said Jensen. “Our local advertisers have been great. They stuck with us to promote their products. We have had a lot of national stuff that went bye-bye.” KHND has helped out advertisers too, running additional complimentary ads for businesses coping with the coronavirus pandemic. “It’s our way of trying to help them out,” said Jensen. Local sports team coverage that Jensen calls “bread and butter for us” has not happened this year with schools canceling classes this past spring. KHND coverage at various county fairs and events has been adversely effected too. Through it all though KHND has remained a valuable institution for Harvey and the surrounding area. “Pretty much. It’s been a fixture for 40 years,” said Jensen. “We’ve got a smaller staff than what it was 40 years ago, but everyone does their thing and it seems to fly.” Listeners and advertisers will attest to that as KHND has earned status as a hallmark in Harvey. The station will soon be adding more to the community too. Simulcasting on 99.5 FM is expected to become a reality later this year, furthering the station’s commitment to small town radio.

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akota Cruisers Car Club member Ralph Llewelyn hasn’t missed a week of the club’s cruises on Broadway. The local car club’s been cruising Minot’s Broadway every week since April. Initially this year in early April, the group hosted a Rolling Car Show in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to help brighten up people’s day. Leaving from the Home Depot parking lot, vehicles traveled Broadway and then veered off on other streets to travel in groups driving by assisted living facilities, nursing homes, etc. Since the Rolling Car Show was such a success with just under 150 vehicles – it followed weeks of people staying home due to the pandemic – the car club decided to “get back in action” according to George Master, club president. The group normally met at South Hardees every Wednesday night throughout the year but so many vehicles showed up for the April 15 cruise that the gathering place was moved to the Kmart parking lot and has met there since. The organization also has dedicated the majority of the weekly cruises to a specific group such as law enforcement, front-line pandemic workers, kids, educators and daycare providers, veterans-active duty and retired military, graduates, farmers and ranchers, parents and grandparents, small businesses and the list goes on. Llewellyn owns three cars used in the cruises. He drives his ‘89 Z-28 IROC T-top and two of his grandchildren drive his two other vehicles. Grandson Kristian Strietz and granddaughter Kayla Streitz drive their grandfather’s ‘02 Camaro convertible and ‘05 Ford Mustang convertible. Kayla, half owner of the ‘02 Camaro, is on the car club’s board of directors. If one of them can’t drive that week, then friends will drive. Llewellyn takes pride in not having missed a week

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Eloise Ogden/MDN

From the left, Ralph Llewellyn, Minot, and his granddaughters, Lanie Llewellyn and Kayla Streitz are shown with Ralph’s vehicles that cruise on Broadway on Wednesday evenings. The vehicles are, from the left, an ‘89 Z-28 IROC T-top, a ‘02 Camaro convertible and an ‘05 Ford Mustang convertible. Kayla is half owner of the ‘02 Camaro.

Dakota Cruisers’ cruises on Broadway: Good time for everyone

cruising Broadway, even when he had eye surgery. During that time instead of driving he was a passenger in a vehicle for the cruise. “I’ve been in every one of them,” said Llewellyn in an interview in July. He said he was very much in support of wanting to start weekly cruises on Broadway. “We did this because we could no longer have meetings and we wanted to do something. We had people bored,” Llewellyn said. He said when they started the cruises this past spring they thought they might have about 20 cars. “The first night we had 83,” Llewellyn said. George Masters, club president, and Llewellyn said the highest number of vehicles in the cruise has been 311. For most weeks the number of vehicles has averaged around 200, Masters said. On July 29 when the car club held a car show and vehicles 1970 and older were inspected by the National Street Rod Association at the Kmart parking lot along with the weekly cruise on Broadway, “just under 300 vehicles” took part in the events, Masters said. “We have people come in from out of town, and other car clubs come in. They found out what we’re doing, they really like what we’re doing,” Llewellyn said of the weekly cruises on Broadway He said the car club has too many members to hold a meeting indoors and keep them safe during the COVID19 pandemic. Not only do the vehicle owners and their passengers have a lot of fun cruising on Broadway but likewise for

spectators gathered along Broadway each Wednesday evening. Llewellyn said one week when his granddaughter, Lanie Llewellyn, who turned 12 in early September, was along and other passengers, “I have never heard so much hollering, screaming, waving to people. Schoolteachers were hollering at them. We’ve just had a blast.” He said he’s never been out on a cruise when someone hasn’t give a nice compliment about it. “I enjoy it,” he added. Llewellyn said they don’t have sponsors. “We’re on our own,” he said. “Our first week we went to all the senior citizens (facilities),” he said. He said people in the facilities would sit by the windows and watch the vehicles as they drove by. Llewellyn often leads the group when they leave the Kmart parking lot at 6:30 p.m. each week to set out on the cruise on Broadway. “We wanted the first one out to honk the horn that we’re coming,” Llewellyn said. “If I lead out I’ll go to International Inn, go back to Kmart and make one or two more (trips),” Llewellyn said. He said his grandson often makes quite a few trips on Broadway during a night and sometimes doesn’t finish until 10 or so that night. The vehicles travel Broadway. “We turn at International Inn by the bowling alley,” Llewellyn said. We go to where people are sitting alongside the road.” Llewellyn has been a member of the car club since he bought his Mustang about six years ago. “I always wanted a convertible since I was in high school,” he said. “George (Masters) lives across from me. I think he brought an application (for club membership) right over.” Llewellyn said he still doesn’t have a car he would really like to own. “I haven’t got my dream car,” he said. He said it’s a 1963 Corvette. “That’s when I graduated,” he said. But Llewellyn enjoys his other cars and the weekly cruises on Broadway that have brought so much happiness to people – those cruising and those watching. It’s an event many look forward to each week.

MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

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Minot

Scandinavian Heritage Park is a Minot hallmark By ANDREA JOHNSON

Staff Writer ajohnson@minotdailynews.com

o Photos by Andrea Johnson/MDN

Pictured are sights at the Scandinavian Heritage Park, including a statue of Hans Christian Anderson (center), and a statue of a Dala Horse (bottom left).

Hometown 2020 • MinotDailyNews.com

n any given day, visitors to Minot’s Scandinavian Heritage Park can be seen wandering through the park that celebrates Minot’s Scandinavian heritage. Nearly 10,000 people from across the country and around the world had visited the park in 2017, according to a story that appeared in the Minot Daily News a few years ago, The park is also a popular gathering spot for people in the area and many a wedding and

graduation picture has been taken in front of the beautiful Gol Stave Church, a replica of a 100-year-old stave church in Oslo, Norway, that is situated on a hill that overlooks the park. The stave church is 60 feet by 45 feet at the base and 60 feet high. It was built in the park and dedicated in 1999, according to information shared by the Scandinavian Heritage Association and published in a previous story in The Minot Daily News. The wood carving in the interior is equally intricate and beautiful. Twelve faces on the post represent the 12 apostles, while the four corner posts represent the four gospels. Wood carvers Philip Odden and Ella Bigton of Barronet, Wis., worked on the interior.

Pictured are the Stave Church (main), statues of Lief Erickson (left), skiers Casper Oimoen and Sondre Norheim, and the Sigdal House (right).

Photos by Andrea Johnson/MDN

The stave church had been closed for a time during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic but reopened on July 15. It is open to visitors from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, seven days a week, according to the Scandinavian Heritage Association’s website. Other special sites in the park, according to the website, include the Danish windmill built in 1928 by Carl Olson in Powers Lake. It was donated to Roosevelt Park in the mid 1960s and was later moved to its present location, where it was dedicated in October 1992.

A statue of children’s author Hans Christian Andersen, holding a duckling, was sculpted by Shari Hamilton of Westhope and dedicated in October 2004. The statue was funded in honor of Lynn and Marilyn Odlund of Mitchell, S.D. in honor of Lynn Odlund’s mother, Alice Nelson-Odlund, who had read the Andersen fairy tales to the children she taught. Other statues in the park feature explorer Leif Erickson; Sondre Norheim, who has been called the father of modern skiing and who is buried south of Denbigh; Minot resident and Olympic skier Casper Oimoen; a 30-foot-tall Dala horse

statue, which is a symbol of Sweden; a Finnish sauna; a flag display featuring the flags of the Scandinavian countries; a man-made waterfall and stream; and a stabbur, a replica of a Norwegian storehouse from Telemark, Norway, among other attractions. The Scandinavian Heritage Center also features the Norsk Hostfest Office and the offices of the Scandinavian Heritage Association as well as Visit Minot. It is also a meeting place for the Sons of Norway as well as for local Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, and Swedish societies.

MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

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Teddy Roosevelt & his horse proudly stand in Minot’s Roosevelt Park

Regional Editor • eogden@minotdailynews.com

eddy Roosevelt on his horse stand tall and proud in his namesake park – Roosevelt Park in Minot. Since the “Rough Rider” bronze statue’s dedication on Sept. 11, 1924, depicting the life and spirit of the West although Roosevelt is attired as the famed Rough Rider in the Spanish-American War, has been moved a time or two and lost his saber, then got it back. Initially, the statue faced in the direction of the setting sun. A rustic base was created to represent the unique earthen and rock formations in the Badlands of North Dakota, with the statue standing “as a remarkable tribute to the memory of the ex-president, statesman and one time citizen of the commonwealth of North Dakota,” according to The Minot Daily News. The figure of the rider is clothed in the regular Army uniform of the days of the Spanish-American War, with the hat worn in characteristic Roosevelt style. Other parts of the uniform consist of leggings, gauntlet gloves and the six-shooter strapped to the

Minot

A tribute to the Rough Rider

By ELOISE OGDEN

The bronze statue of Teddy Roosevelt and his horse towers above the pedestal on which it stands in Roosevelt Park, Minot. Sculptor A. Phimister Proctor closely studied Teddy Roosevelt before producing a sculpture as lifelike as possible of Roosevelt, in his Army uniform, riding his horse.

MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

right side. The rider carries a saber and his feet are thrust into the hooded stirrups of a McClellan saddle. According to The Minot Daily News for a 2014 story, the statue was commissioned by Theodore Roosevelt’s longtime friend Dr. Henry Waldo Coe after Roosevelt’s death in 1919. The two men met in the early days of Dakota Territory, where Coe was practicing medicine and Roosevelt was ranching. Coe had arrived in Mandan in 1880 and worked as a surgeon for the Northern Pacific Railroad. He served as Mandan mayor and in the territorial legislature. He moved to Portland, Ore., in 1890. Coe had commissioned several statues for the city of Portland during the 1920s. One was a large-scale “Rough Rider.” In all, he had three such statues made. The second is a smaller scale model of the original that was cast in 1922 and donated to Mandan in 1924. The third is an exact replica of the Mandan statue, cast in 1923 and donated to Minot in 1924, according to the history. The bronze statues were the work of A. Phimister Proctor, a New York sculptor who was acquainted with Roosevelt. Proctor spent several months studying Roosevelt in order to produce as lifelike a figure as possible. Another sculpture was cast from the same mold many years after Proctor’s death in 1950. It was dedicated on Oct. 29, 2005, at Oyster Bay, New York. Coe paid the entire cost of $40,000 for the statue, but left the raising of an additional $1,500 for the pedestal up to the city of Minot. Among those rallying behind the cause were children. In all, 3,166 children donated their coins to raise the money necessary, and their names were written in a book that was sealed in a copper and brass box inside the statue’s base.

Minot selected for a statue

Coe chose Minot for his donation because of Roosevelt’s love for North Dakota and because of the city’s interest in public park development, The Minot Daily News reported. “The success which came to Theodore Roosevelt, he freely and at all times admitted, followed his life in Dakota,” Coe said at the dedication of the statue in Minot attended by thousands of people from all parts of North Dakota. James Johnson, pioneer Minot attorney who served with Coe in the early legislative days of North Dakota, presided over the dedication. Actually two dedications were held in Minot that September day in 1924. Coe dedicated the statue and F. B. Lambert, former president of the park board, formally pronounced the rechristening of Riverside Park to Roosevelt Park and dedicated a driveway surrounding a portion of the park as Coe Drive, in honor of the statue’s donor, according to The Minot Daily News files. Gov. R.A. Nestos formally accepted the statue for the people of the state, remarking that North Dakota would never cease to honor Roosevelt and added it was a great privilege to aid in the unveiling of a monument to “North Dakota’s favorite son.” W.M. Smart, state representative from the 29th District, and then mayor of Minot (population 16,000) rendered Minot’s appreciation. Hon. Tracy R. Bangs, Grand Forks, one of the outstanding orators in the northwest, delivered an address on Roosevelt. At the dedication ceremony, Coe said, “... When Minot shall have 50,000 people, something sure to come, or even when but 25,000 shall live here, every citizen will rise up and call these blessed, who, looking far ahead, purchased and laid out the plot of ground you are now naming Roosevelt Park.” A large number of school children from Minot and Ward County represented the children of North Dakota to whom the statue was dedicated. A parade and pageant preceded the dedication. In 1960, after a member of the Minot Park Board made an inquiry about removing the green color from the bronze statue

Eloise Ogden/MDN

Teddy Roosevelt, the Rough Rider, and his horse have been a hallmark of city attractions, in Minot’s Roosevelt Park since 1924. Dr. Henry Waldo Coe, a North Dakota pioneer doctor, selected Minot as the site for the statue because of Roosevelt’s love for North Dakota and Minot’s interest in public park development. of Roosevelt and his horse, an eminent National Park Service official advised park board members it would be “a little short of sacrilegious” to take off that color, The Minot Daily News reported. In his opinion, Ira B. Lykes, chief of park practice for the U.S. organization, explained that often authorities will go to considerable limits to preserve this natural patina and it has a distinct artistic value. He said “most of the bronze statuary in the nation’s capital and elsewhere is allowed to “mellow” through this natural patinating process and the results are aesthetically pleasing and fully acceptable to the beholder. But Lykes conceded the choice rested with the Minot board whether to retain or remove the green color from Teddy and his horse. He advised an occasional cleaning with soap and mild detergent is generally the only maintenance required, The Minot Daily News reported. The statue under went a restoration in more recent years.

A new location

After the 1969 flood, due to emergency flood work, in April 1970 the statue was moved a short distance to a spot under the trees – its first move from where it had stood for 46 years. It remained in that spot under the trees until a new location was selected. A new channel for the Souris River was dug, going through the site where the statue stood for 46 years. The statue got a new location in fall 1970 when it was

Hometown 2020 • MinotDailyNews.com

moved to a site in the main lawn area of the park. But an editorial in The Minot Daily News running a few days after the statue was placed chastised whoever chose the direction the statue was placed. The editorial writer maintained Teddy, the onetime North Dakota rancher and onetime president, astride his noble beast, faced south but should be facing west because the West is the direction in which Roosevelt said he regained his health; and the West in which he made his mark as a cattle rancher and proved himself as tough as the next guy in those days. At one point during its moves, the box that had been placed inside the pedestal was opened and the book containing the names of the children who donated to the cost of the pedestal 40-some years earlier was retrieved but the floodwaters had rendered it illegible, according to Theodore Roosevelt history. Over the years Teddy’s saber, attached to the statue, attracted vandals at times – at least twice in the 1960s when vandals ripped it loose. It was found nearby in the park and reattached with bolts. Again, Teddy was “disarmed” when vandals removed the bolts and took the saber. This time it wasn’t found immediately but later a Minot teenager found the saber partly submerged in the river, covered with mud and silt. The 40-pound saber was cleaned and reattached to the statue. Today, Teddy and his horse continue to stand tall in Minot’s Roosevelt Park, watching over the many children, teenagers and adults who enjoy visits to the park.

Hallmark of the prairie Kim Fundingsland/MDN

Purple coneflowers are a native plant that add color to the vanishing prairie in North Dakota. Coneflowers have an extensive root system, making them capable of surviving drought and dry conditions in either full sunlight or partial shade.

Native Americans used the plant for many medicinal purposes. Today purple coneflowers are disappearing from the landscape, due primarily to dwindling habitat.

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ooking for a place to park an RV, shoot some hoops, take the kids to the playground? Surrey has the parks for that. A small town that puts emphasis on having plenty of open space and recreational areas, Surrey has increased the size of its park system in recent years and continues to make improvements. Surrey has 25 acres of parks throughout the city, said longtime Surrey resident Charles Tollefson, who has donated countless hours to aiding the park district and to community beautification. Tollefson has helped with mowing, weeding and other tasks because he sees the need to stretch the limited resources of the park district. He has dedicated much of his effort to the park deeded by the developers of the Silver Springs housing subdivision that was built several years ago. He also seasonally decorates the monument at the entrance to Silver Springs in an effort he says is to “spruce up” the area and add to the natural attractiveness.

Photos by Jill Schramm/MDN

TOP LEFT: Named for a former city employee, the Ron Burns Park provides greenery and a playground near Silver Springs housing. MIDDLE: A gnome treehouse designed and built by Charles and Connie Tollefson serves as a corner rest stop and tourist attraction in Surrey. The treehouse is the subject of Connie’s children’s book, “Magical Mirror Tree Stump Home.” BOTTOM LEFT: Surrey’s Inspiration Park features a picnic shelter and playground.

MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

“I think we have potential here, and I’ve got to have something to do,” said Tollefson, who is largely retired from his cabinetry business. “We’ve got a 10-acre park with a little creek running through it,” he said. “It’s a really nice walking, jogging area.” Called Inspiration Park, the property includes a playground, shelter, bridge and walking trails. The developer constructed recycled asphalt trails, which the Surrey Park Board is considering upgrading to reduce maintenance issues. Also near Silver Springs is the Ron Burns Memorial Park, a green area with a playground, named for a former city employee. In addition, Surrey has a park featuring a small playground with an old-fashioned merry-go-round. It includes a picnic shelter and volleyball court. Four ball diamonds are nearby. The community offers youth baseball and has a popular T-ball program for youngsters.

Surrey has a recreational vehicle park that has served area construction crews, overflow from major events in Minot and other occasional use by travelers. A nearby park provides a small playground and basketball courts. Park Board President Steve Quist said the board wants to step up efforts to offer more activities for youth. Surrey’s population has grown from fewer than 1,000 people 10 years ago to around 1,400 today, according to Census Bureau estimates. That growth has left the bedroom community with a number of new residents who are still forming the kind of strong community ties that help a city thrive. Quist and Tollefson both see a well developed park system as having the ability to bring people together and form that sense of community. As part of that effort to offer more, the park district and city have been developing a new park on the south side of town. There hasn’t been a park in the southern portion of Surrey, and that’s raised safety concerns related to southside children having to cross railroad tracks

CROSBY

to get to a park. The idea for the new park gained traction when in February 2019, the park district received a $20,000 grant from BNSF Railway. Keith and DeWayne Streyle of Leeds, who hold ownership interests in United Community Bank, agreed to donate nearly five acres of development property in a cul de sac in southwest Surrey that had come into the bank’s possession. The donation came with two residential lots that the park board sold to raise money. Kelsey’s Bobcat & Backhoe Service donated time, labor and equipment to serve as match for a $7,500 grant from Trinity Health Foundation. The playground manufacturer provided a BCI Burke’s Play20 50% matching grant. The erection of a playground has been phase one in the development plan for the new park. The playground is designed for children ages 5 to 12, and the board would like to add additional equipment for younger children, picnic shelters and other features.

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MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

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The Heilman family has a solid operation. From left to right, Leo, Heath and Angie Heilman all do their parts to keep everything running smoothly.

Voltaire

Ciara Parizek

Heilman family hallmark of today’s small family farm Hometown 2020 • MinotDailyNews.com

By CIARA PARIZEK

news@minotdailynews.com

eo and Angie Heilman are carrying on a cherished tradition in North Dakota. They and their son, Heath, run their family farm and ranch operation in the Voltaire area, each having their chores and areas of responsibility. The Heilman’s have been living on their land since they were married 25 years ago, raising cows and crops. Angie Heilman grew up in the Voltaire area and Leo Heilman was raised in the TownerKarlsruhe area. Both of them had cattle when they met, so it was an obvious choice to continue on with their Angus cattle. Only three structures were present when they bought the land: the house, a chicken coop and a barn. The house was built in 1913 and one part of it used to be the Methodist church in Voltaire. They did some remodeling in 2011 to keep things “more modern.” Their barn used to be a “party spot” for school kids before the Heilman’s took ownership. “They had lots of barn dances in it, I guess,” Angie Heilman explained. “From what we’ve heard, the kids all came out and had their fun.” As the years went by, more buildings were erected and now the number is up around nine. Their 15-year-old son, Heath Heilman, has brought more animals home. The pigs and goats started as 4-H projects for him when he was younger. He liked them so much that he obtained more of them. As of July 2, they had 15 pigs.

The pigs and goats are all used for consumption. If anyone wants goat meat, they purchase the goat and butcher it themselves. Angie Heilman said that her son has been thinking about breeding and selling some of his pigs, too. As a child, Heath Heilman would sell chicken eggs. To pick it back up again, he bought 38 chicks. “If there’s any roosters in there, we’ll probably turn them into soup,” Angie Heilman said. “But the chickens are mainly there as layers.” In the last few months, 12 chickens have been killed by a mink that managed to dig its way between the cinder blocks that make up the base of the coop. One of Heath Heilman’s favorite times of year, according to his mom, is calving season. To ensure the health and survival of their calves, he and his parents are planning to put up a hoop barn. It consists of four enclosing walls with metal curved trusses covered with a plastic material that will absorb the heat from the sun. The goal is to keep the temperature inside the structure warmer without having to use a lot of electricity, if any. “I haven’t seen a whole lot of them up in this area,” Angie Heilman added. “When you get down in the southern part of North Dakota - we have a couple friends that have them down there and they run cow calf operations and they’ve been really happy with them.” The trusses that hold up the plastic-like cover are curved enough that the amount of North Dakota snow should just slide right off, decreasing the chances of the roof caving in. With that in mind, it will be kept up all year round. As long as the covering doesn’t tear, the hoop barn will be a warm and dry place for calves to be. In the barn across the yard from the house, a small area for calving is walled off and kept warm with a heater. “We usually calf out anywhere between 70 to 100 heifers,” Leo Heilman said. “If they’re first time mamas, you can just leave them hanging out for a while and mother up. We’ve actually used that room for that a lot.” As a lot of ranchers do, the family has horses. One of them is Heath Heilman’s and is getting up in age. Instead of getting what the other horses do for food, the older one gets a senior feed and some alfalfa cubes. A lot of the food that the other animals get is grown and harvested by the family. Leo Heilman used to grow a variety of different crops, but a few years ago, he started using his fields just for hay and corn. This spring, he planted barley for hay that will be given to all the animals come harvest season. The pigs are given a mix of oats and corn, along with some other food items that the Heilman’s cooked and cannot finish. Pigs are omnivores, so they eat meat, plants and insects. “Usually over the winter,” Angie Heilman said, “(the cows will) be on a feed ration. Last winter was silage, chopped hay, maybe some soybean meal or corn screenings.” The recipe for the cows’ food is put into a feed wagon, mixed up and fed in a line. To give them a little extra support, the feed is mixed with a liquid mineral. To ensure the health of their animals, the family works with a trusted nutritionist who advises them of the best food to give their cattle. “It’s kind of a big planning process,” Angie Heilman continued. The calves have a growing ration that they’re put on until they are ready to be taken to the market. Bulls are on a developer program. Two different mixes are also made for the heifers and the rest of the herd. Not only do the Heilman’s run their own operation at home, but Leo and Angie Heilman both have full-time jobs. Angie Heilman works with Dakota Mill and Grain in Surrey and Leo Heilman is a crop adjuster. “When it hails, I’m busy,” Leo Heilman said with a laugh on the evening of July 2. “I got a few claims next week.” Not too long before, hail had fallen near Surrey and Killdeer. Heath Heilman’s parents are busy on the weekdays with their jobs. Last year, he did a vast majority of the hay cutting. “He stayed ahead of the baler,” his mother complimented. To help round up and keep the cattle in order, Annie, the family’s Border Collie, uses her instincts to herd them and prevent them from getting into too much trouble. If anyone at home is feeling a bit down and needs a little pick-me-up, their Great Pyrenees, Haas, is there to offer kisses and share his fluffy white coat. Despite Leo and Angie Heilman having full-time jobs and Heath Heilman still being in high school, they get everything done they need to and much more. Farming and ranching can be difficult, especially when done by only three people. In regards to her son’s future after school, Angie Heilman said, “I’m pretty sure he’s going to stay. He’s got it.”

Photos by Ciara Parizek

TOP: Heath Heilman feeds one of the twin calves with a bottle on July 2. LEFT: Heath Heilman feeds one of his goats on July 2 as it jumped up on the fence.

BELOW: Heath Heilman uses a five-gallon bucket to feed the pigs their supper on July 2.

MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

About 50 freight trains a day cross the Gassman Coulee Bridge –officially Bridge 4.7, Glasgow Subdivision – west of Minot. The current rail bridge has stood at that site since the late 1800s.

Eloise Ogden/MDN

The first Gassman Coulee Bridge was made of wood, shown in this photo from BNSF Archives. When a tornado extensively damaged the bridge in 1898, a higher and longer bridge made of steel was built. That bridge stands today west of Minot.

Hometown 2020 • MinotDailyNews.com

Submitted Photo

Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com

t’s high, impressive and been standing west of Minot for more than 130 years. BNSF’s official name for the rail trestle is Bridge 4.7, Glasgow Subdivision, according to BNSF Archives. Many people know the historic landmark about three miles west of Minot as The Trestle or the Gassman Coulee Bridge. The spelling of Gassman for the bridge has been questioned at times – should it be Gassman, Gasman, Gasmann or Gassmann? Historically, the railroad has used the Gassman spelling, according to BNSF Archives. Prior to the bridge’s construction, during 1886, 120 miles of tracks were laid from Devils Lake to Minot, a distance of 120 miles, at the rate of about a mile a day. Track from Rugby to Minot, a distance of 63.6 miles, was laid in 40 working days, according to The Minot Daily News in an October 1971 story about railroad history. Minot, referred to as the “Front Yard,” or the farthermost point of rail, was merely a group of flimsy, crudely contrived shacks and roughly fashioned buildings, some of them occupied by saloons, gambling rooms and dance halls, according to the newspaper. The first train arrived at Minot in October 1886. There’s various versions of the story circulating but one is Casper Sands, a conductor on the run from Devils Lake, would announce the approaching end-of-the-line magic town with a shout: “Minot, Minot!” The next stop. Prepare to meet your God.” During the following winter the Gassman Coulee Bridge was completed. Hank Brown, a local railroad enthusiast, wrote in the Minot-Ward County centennial book that Gassman Coulee Bridge “as it stands today was the first to span the coulee” and the first structure “was built in 1886/1887 under the direction of ‘Empire Builder’ James J. Hill for his St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway. It was constructed of wood and contained nearly a million and a half board feet of timber.” According to Brown, the bridge was 1,610 feet long and 110 feet high. With the rails completed to Minot, James J. Hill, the ‘Empire Builder,’ pushed west with the railroad. Minot served as the location for the materials yard for the

west of minot

Historic trestle

Gassman Coulee Bridge impressive to many

By ELOISE OGDEN

SOME TRESTLE FACTS

Following are some facts about the trestle:

1. Historically, the railroad used the Gassman spelling. 2. About 50 freight trains a day cross the bridge.

3. The current bridge was originally constructed in 1899, with major strengthening in the 1920s.

4. Major work conducted over the years: 1899 constructed by Great Northern, one of the predecessors of BNSF Railway. 1920s – strengthened by the addition of a third steel girder line and additional steel tower legs centered under the railroad track. 1940s-1950s – the bridge was extended to its current length of 1,824 feet with the reconstruction of the east and west abutments. Early 2000s – repairs to steel towers. On-Going – regular inspections, steel maintenance and renewal of the timber bridge ties.

5. With a height of 117 feet at its tallest point, it ranks as 24th tallest on BNSF’s system of more than 13,200 railroad bridges.

6. Every bridge receives one comprehensive inspection per calendar year by a qualified bridge inspector, with a more frequent inspection schedule occurring in some cases. BNSF has a staff of trained bridge inspectors, as well as structural engineers, consultants and specialized contractors. BNSF owns six and leases two Bridge Inspection Vehicles (BIVs) that are specially equipped to allow safe access to inspect the entire bridge structure; BIVs conduct more than 600 inspections per year. When a portion of the bridge foundation is underwater, BNSF deploys a team of divers to inspect it. BNSF also conducts supplemental bridge inspections using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). 7. Here’s a video on how BNSF inspects bridges: https://youtu.be/VO0aItRhtlg.

– Source: BNSF Archives

Eloise Ogden/MDN

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MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

File Photo

Minotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first train arrived Oct. 10, 1886. It was powered by a Class B-14 Baldwin locomotive built in 1882 for the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway, later the Great Northern. The rail trestle west of Minot was built in the late 1800s. A tornado damaged it in 1898 and then another trestle was built that stands there today.

railroad as it pushed its line to Helena, Montana, in 1887. Gassman Coulee Bridge was the point from which the railway began laying rails to Montana, according to The Minot Daily News files. On Aug. 14, 1898, a tornado destroyed a 750-foot section of the bridge. The railroad decided to replace the first bridge with a steel structure, a hallmark of the railroadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s investment in Minot. To keep the trains operating while the bridge was being rebuilt a temporary bypass track was laid for one and a half miles in the coulee. Three engines were required for a train to traverse the hill â&#x20AC;&#x201C; two pulling the train and one pushing, Brown wrote. The new structure measured 1,792 feet long and 117 feet high. It had a single track for trains to run east and west. In later years the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway became the Great Northern Railway, according to Brown. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BNSF Railway is the product of nearly 400 different railroad lines that merged or were acquired over many years. Over the years the Gassman Coulee Bridge has been strengthened, extended, reconstructed and repaired. Bridge inspectors and other experts frequently inspect this bridge and other rail bridges. BNSF has around 80 bridge inspectors who work to keep rail bridges safe. A spectacular sight, especially when a train is crossing it, the bridge is a favorite spot for photographers. Photographs of the bridge can be found in print and now often online. When Minotâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new $43 million airport terminal was designed, features in the building, the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest airport terminal as of 2016, were added to bring attention to the trestle along with other features including Minot Air Force Base and agriculture. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BNSF freight trains and Amtrak passenger trains pass over the bridge regularly on its way east or west.

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Burlington’s fun place Sports Complex is focus of summer By JILL SCHRAMM

Senior Staff Writer schramm@minotdailynews.com

I Burlington

t’s probably the most fun place in Burlington. The Burlington Sports Complex is all about good times and outdoor enjoyment. Its summer programs have drawn youth from outside the community in years past, but the sports complex has particularly been important to families and youth in the town of about 1,200 residents. “It’s definitely been a camaraderie thing. People have come together. It gets used a lot. People are planning birthday parties around it, family picnics and gatherings,” said Burlington Mayor Jeanine Kabanuk, a member of the Burlington Recreation Commission that operates the complex. “Kids are down there all the time on the playground, and pickup games are going on all the time. It’s a safe place for kids to go during the day.” A history of the recreation program in Burlington dates back to a huge building boom in 1980 that brought more than 200 families. According to the history, in March of 1981, Kabanuk, Cindy Yale and Paula Bachmeier met to discuss what could be done to create summer sports activities for the children who came with that boom. They formed the Burlington Recreation Commission and sent letters through the school to gauge interest. The summer of 1981 saw four softball teams and six T-ball teams participate, playing their games on the rocky playground at the elementary school in Burlington. Throughout the years, the program grew. The board members changed, and with those changes came the dream of building a “real” park, where games could be

Photos by Jill Schramm/MDN

ABOVE: Youngsters enjoy the splashpad in Burlington on opening day in August 2019. RIGHT: Children play on the playground at the Burlington Sports Complex July 29. played, picnics held, family could gather – just a central gathering place for the community. Through the hard work of the board and volunteers, along with gaming funds, the Burlington Sports Complex became a reality. The park opened in the summer of 1991. The focal point of summer, the complex has had as many as 750 children a year participating in the events sponsored by the recreation commission. There are now three age groups of T-ball teams, softball teams, pee-wee baseball, Cal Ripken baseball, Babe Ruth ball and Sr. Babe Ruth/American Legion baseball teams. There is also a league for adult co-ed volleyball. The sports complex is used outside the summer season by the school archery program, high school boys baseball and girls softball and practices of a YMCA football league program. In 2011, the Burlington Sports Complex

lost everything to the Souris River flood but the equipment rescued from buildings on a half day day’s notice. The recordbreaking flood inundated the park with 17 feet of water. The devastation of the 2011 flood was a major blow, falling especially hard on the volunteers who had worked so diligently to maintain the park. The community rallied to restore the park, first hiring a contractor to reset fence lines and level the ball diamonds again. The North Dakota Lions Clubs came with equipment to help tear down damaged buildings and carry away garbage. Help came from volleyball players from Williston, who joined local volunteers, many of whom were taking time from repairing their own flooded homes. About two-thirds of the

town had flooded. The community began fundraising for a rehabilitation project that would cost more than $1 million. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided some reimbursement but much of the money was raised locally. Thanks to the generosity of the DeSour Community Development Corp. in Burlington, the Minot Area Community Foundation, St. Joseph’s Community Health Foundation and other donors, the park was rebuilt with even more amenities, including dugouts for teams, new playground equipment and a concessions stand.

MinotDailyNews.com • Hometown 2020

Young people enjoy a pickup volleyball game at the Burlington Sports Complex July 29.

JLG Architects volunteered some work on design of the concessions facility and Mattson Construction gave a price break on construction. The recreation commission also replaced its picnic shelter and volleyball and horseshoe courts. The project received funding assistance from the Minnesota Twins and from the Philadelphia Phillies. Jeremy Horst, who had played for Des Lacs-Burlington High School and the Burlington Bulldogs Legion team, had gone on to play Major League Baseball, including with the Phillies. During the complex reconstruction, Ward County allowed use of its Old Settlers Park in Burlington for the Tball program and Berthold shared its facilities for the baseball program. The restored park, built to FEMA flood plain guidelines, will be protected from another flood of the 2011 magnitude with completion of the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project. Construction is in progress. Ten years ago, the family of Paul Damberger donated the land adjacent to the park to the recreation commission. Partnering with the DeSour Community Development Corp., the recreation commission started work on the dream to install a splashpad. The dream was realized in 2019 with the help of fundraising and grants from the development corporation, Minot Area Community Foundation, Garrison Diversion Conservancy District, United Community Bank, Enbridge

Jill Schramm/MDN

and St. Joseph’s. Not every significant donation was large, however. Two children donated the proceeds of their lemonade and cookie stand to the project. The donation of more land by the Andy Fimrite family and the help of Burlington city voters in passing a small bond issue for paving also were instrumental. Opened in August 2019, the splashpad is free to use and showcases 14 different water features. The complex is maintained largely by volunteers, including the nine-member recreation commission, although summer staff are hired for mowing, tree trimming and other groundskeeping. “It’s truly a joint effort by everybody involved. Everybody has worked together so hard. I can’t thank them enough,” Kabanuk said. “We are not quite done with it yet. We have some additional grants that we are seeking and always looking for donations.” Paula Bachmeier, recreation commission chairwoman, said anyone who visits the complex will see beautiful grass, trees, ball diamonds, picnic areas, and just a wonderful facility. “To me, it means it’s just one more selling point, one more community plus that we can offer to any family looking to come to our city. It’s a place for their kids to play and have fun,” Bachmeier said. “It’s just one more thing that makes Burlington ‘God’s Country.’”

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