History of New Rockford - May 21, 2018

On Sunday, September 1, 1901, H.G. Lathrop came in from eastern Eddy County. Prairie chicken season opened that day, although North Dakota law forbade hunting on Sunday. The birds were very plentiful and more ducks were seen than there had been for several years. If the chickens were in a field of grain, they were almost impossible to flush. That afternoon Dr. MacLachlan, F.C. Davies, J.M. Mulvey and E. Severtson drove out to eastern Eddy County and returned the next day with 85 birds. That evening B.W. Rantz, H.C. Johnson, Fred Haver and George Flater went east and came home the next evening with 79 birds. Many other hunters, singly or in pairs, reported “the same type of success in proportion to their numbers.” Several men had gone out from 5 p.m. until dark and had returned with five to 20 prairie chickens.

On the morning of September 2, A.J. Richter was cutting his wheat crop when he came across a covey of prairie chickens. He dispatched his hired man for a shotgun which Richter used to kill five birds with a single shot, but the noise frightened his four horses which ran away, pulling along Richter’s brand new binder to be destroyed. After the horses tired and were led to the barn, Richter went to town and bought a new binder. Ben C. Larkin became the new manager of the Gull River Lumber Company’s yard in New Rockford. Larkin had lived in New Rockford five or six years and had been the assistant manager. At 11 a.m. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt gave an address at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds at Hamline. Mr. and Mrs. L.J. Brown returned from a week in Fargo. Barlow mayor P.C. Peterson, J.M. Shannon from his ranch in eastern Eddy County, and Mike Mulligan of Morris were in on business. John T. West came in to pick up his new Minneapolis threshing rig. D.D. Dailey was in from Morris; his boy was feeling better and he had started threshing that day. Mrs. Fred G. Haver returned from a visit with her parents at Oberon. Nels K. Mattson and his sister Mrs. H.C. Huyssen were down from the Sheyenne Valley. Mr. and Mrs. A.C. Buck and family went to St. Paul, where little Margaret would have more treatments in a hospital and to go to the Minnesota State Fair; they returned September 6.

Mike Geitl went through Barlow in his new J.I. Case machine. The first load of wheat of the season was brought into Barlow by Louis [Lewis] Mortensen; Thomas Turner bought it and it graded #2 Northern. That evening there was a dance at the Hotel Davies; George Hanson of Oberon attended.

At the Eddy County Commission (Braman, Schwoebel, Halverson) on September 2, the Commissioners voted to pay Viola Woodward $30 for repairing grades; George W. Johnson $84.50 on his grading contract; W.C. Hayes $60 as janitorial salary; and C.C. Hanson $25 dollars for some land used as a road.

On September 3, A.A. Powers of Little Falls, Minn., arrived to take a chair in John W, Oard’s barber shop. Peter P. Hallquist was in town, as were John Dutee Sr., and W.G. Carter. Rev. Paul Gulander of Sheyenne was in town. E. McLain went to his Pierce County farm to hunt prairie chickens. J.C. Fay was over from Fessenden on business; he would return to Fessenden the next week to buy grain at the railroad tracks. C.A. Dinnetz was in Jamestown on business. J.R. Engberg began threshing near Barlow.

On the morning of September 4 (or 11), a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. A.F. Weeks. Dr. L.G. Moultrie and Prof. A.P. Hollis of Valley City came in on the train for two tennis matches that afternoon. Moultrie and Hollis defeated John R. Arbogast and Dr. Charles MacLachlan of New Rockford 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, while in singles it was Moultrie over F.G. Haver 6-1, 6-0. Dr. J. Ross McKenzie was up from Carrington for the tennis matches. Mrs. M.A. Garry came down from Knox for a visit. Oscar Irwin came in from Tiffany on business. Former Eddy County resident John Senty was in New Rockford. Major C.H. Culver came in from the Twin Cities to look over his farming operation. Mrs. E.A. Gammell visited Barlow. Miss Elsie Keime left for Jamestown to attend school. That afternoon a street musician played a cornet and banjo on the city’s streets.

On September 4, George Flater and Edna E. Whiteman were married at the home of the bride’s parents (Mr. and Mrs. J.C. Whiteman) on Dakota Street by County Judge W.C. Beardsley. The marriage was not publicly known until September 19, when the marriage license was filed.

On September 5, a 10 lb. son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Culp. Martin Walsh and C.A. Berge were in town. J.A. Manly’s brother came in from Chicago for a visit. Andrew Mathies was over from McHenry on business. Former New Rockford blacksmith August Johnson came back to town after a winter in Sweden; after leaving New Rockford, he had moved to Minnewaukan for a while before he left for his old home on December 1. Hugh Scott bought George B. Stitzel’s dray and transfer outfit. William A. Hutchinson died that day on his homestead southeast of New Rockford. The newspaper notice said he was over eighty, but the Prairie Home Cemetery records say he 78 years old. [His grave in the cemetery had no gravestone.] He had been in failing health for some time. He left a son, Charles E. Hutchinson, who lived near his father. His funeral was on September 6.

The September 6, 1901, “Transcript” was Volume XX, No. 1.

The “New Rockford Provost” (aka “Eddy County Provost”) had a new editor, as C.J. Stickney had taken over from Captain D.F. Ellsworth; Stickney had learned his trade at the “Foster County Independent” and the “Transcript.”

Every Friday and Saturday Jacob Allmaras’ stallion “Jack” would stand at Rood’s Livery & Sales Stable.

J.F. Syftestad had a photography shop on Villard Avenue East. R.P. Allison had moved his law office from the second floor of the old court house to the building opposite the “Transcript” office. C.E. Clure, who had been a traveling representative of the Emerson & Newton Manufacturing Company and who headquartered out of New Rockford the previous summer, was the new cashier and bookkeeper at H. Peoples’ store.

Branch line conductor Humes said that one hundred threshing outfits had been taken north out of Jamestown and unloaded at the various stations along the line.

Mr. and Mrs. H.J. Mitchell’s residence at Stimson and Chicago was being painted.

E.S. Severtson was nursing a bad foot. L.J. Brown, “the portly and popular manager of H. Peoples’ collection department for several years,” had been ill for a few months, but was able to get around again. However, he had to resign his position because of his health inasmuch as he could no longer do the driving his job required. The McCormick Company had hired him as a supervisor with assistants to do any driving and outside work.

A little past 4 p.m. on September 6, the anarchist Leon Czolgosz stood in a reception line in the Temple of Music at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y., and when he got in front of President William McKinley shot the chief executive twice in the abdomen with a pistol he had concealed in his handkerchief. The badly wounded president was taken to the Milburn House, a private home where he had been staying during his visit.

On September 6, Mesdames R.A. Bill and W.O. Crane were up from Carrington. J.H. Bonney came in from Tiffany. Johnny Cahill was in Jamestown. At 3 p.m. the WCTU met at Mrs. J.W. Stoddard’s to choose delegates for the state convention. That evening Charles Lyman, Henry Johnson, and Bert Jones returned from several days at Lyman’s farm in northeast Eddy County, where they hunted ducks and prairie chickens and ate sweet corn, potatoes, carrots, onions, and beets which Lyman had raised. However, when they were off hunting, someone stole all their cooking utensils.