Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
June 13, 2018 — One of Abraham Lincoln’s personal bodyguards was Smith Stimmel, who later practiced law in North Dakota. In his book, “Personal Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln,” he wrote that the president’s hat was always dented and messed up. One evening he learned why. As Stimmel accompanied Lincoln’s carriage to his summer home, they met a military officer on horseback. The officer recognized Lincoln and lifted his hat in a graceful salute. Lincoln was busy with some papers and didn’t see the salute until the last second.
“He threw up his long arm and knocked off his tall hat,” Stimmel wrote, “and then tumbled it back on his head and brought his big hand down on the crown to press it firmly in place. That was his return salute, and it was easy to see what rubbed up the fur on that hat... It was his business to get that hat off quickly, and the quickest way he could get it off was to knock it off.”
Migrant Workers in the Valley
June 15, 2018 — Given the recent news coverage concerning undocumented immigrants and the Mexican border, today’s story is an interesting look back at our state’s relationship with Mexican migrant workers.
At this time in 1944, The Fargo Forum reported, “Over 2,000 Mexican sugar beet workers are in the state and many of these men will be available to North Dakota farmers when the haying and harvesting seasons begin, NDAC (North Dakota Agricultural College) extension service leaders report.
“H. W. Herbison, supervisor of the emergency farm labor program, says about 600 of these workers are Mexican nationals from Mexico, the remainder from Texas. The extension service, the United States employment service and the American Crystal Sugar Beet [Company] of East Grand Forks co-operated (sic) in the movement.
The article continued, “Some 200 are working in the McKenzie county area, the others, for the most part, are in the Red River valley, which has the largest beet acreage, Herbison said. North Dakota county extension agents are completing a survey of farm labor needs so that arrangements can be made to bring in additional labor for the small grain harvest.”
The critical shortage of farm laborers was, at that time, precipitated by many North Dakotans being overseas during World War II. When those men later returned home, however, the call for migrant workers continued. Farmers built permanent housing for their migrant workers, many of whom returned to the same farm year after year.
Jim Norris, associate professor of history at North Dakota State University, has written extensively about the role of migrant workers in the Red River Valley’s sugar beet fields.
Norris writes, “The power balance between beet producers and as many as 26,000 migrant workers who traveled to the Red River Valley fluctuated with national events and advances in beet-growing technology.” He added that American Crystal Sugar and valley growers promoted family-like relationships with Mexican workers to ensure an adequate supply of field laborers each year.
In the late 1950s, North Dakota, Minnesota, American Crystal Sugar and community groups came up with a new plan aimed at hiring local youth instead of migrant workers.
Norris says, “The Youth Beet Program, as it was officially designated in 1961, was supposed to reduce the number of migrants coming to the Red River Valley, while at the same time discourage juvenile delinquency.”
Norris concludes the Youth Beet Program didn’t work, because teenagers thought the work was too difficult. The young workers also weren’t as productive as the migrant workers.
“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council. See all the Dakota Datebooks at prairiepublic.org.
