Archival Anecdotes: Men of Sheyenne, circa 1890

At 20 years of age, Sveinung A. Olsness left his home in Vinyo Telem, Norway and traveled by steam and sail to New York, ultimately making it to North Dakota by rail in 1886. When Olsness began farming, wheat sold for 64 cents a bushel in New Rockford.

At that time, farming was done by oxen, horse and mule. Breaking was done by walking plows, and the land was then disced and seeded with a broadcast. When harvest time came, it was done with a cradle, a scythe with wooden tines which kept the grain in even rows as it fell. The next step was to gather it up in bundles. These bundles were tied and quite often the grain was stacked on the farm.

Also of this era was Fredrick Jackson Turner of the University of Wisconsin. While Olsness and friends were tending to the harvest and celebrating with group photos, Turner was busy writing a lecture titled, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History."

At the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, Turner delivered his thesis which claimed, "The frontier is gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American History." Turner contended that the frontier moved American culture away from its European roots, and ultimately created a distinct type of rugged individualism that would see the nation into the future. He said, "That coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness, that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients, that masterful grasp of material things, lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends, that restless, nervous energy, that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom."

I imagine the men of Sheyenne would have welcomed Turner to join in a game of cards, but I do think they would have challenged his thesis. They might have defended the value of less rugged characteristics like ingenuity, cooperation, tolerance, creativity and resolve. If the conversation was really flowing, they might have informed Turner that true individualism can never be defined by the words or expectations of another. I could be wrong, but I get the sense that these men of Sheyenne knew far more than we could imagine.

Another page from the "Calendar of Cheer"

At the beginning of 2023, I shared an excerpt from the 1919 Calendar of Cheer which was given to Laura Pomrake Bessert by her students. Now that February is upon us, I bring you a little more cheer from 1919.

The selection includes a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live as well as to think." For those of you needing a brief lesson in American Literature, between the 1830s and 1840s Emerson wrote dozens of essays and delivered over 1,500 public lectures. Topics of his essays include self-reliance, nature, and individuality. Emerson died in 1882, but his words became immortal.