James Gang Java

Lest We Forget by Hedvig Clausen Svore,1959

CONCLUSION

As I look over the pages of this “Companion Book”, I realize with keen regret that the biographies of many worthy pioneers are incomplete and some are missing due to various reasons.

Only a few of the early settlers remain among us, and some of these are stooped with the weight of years so that when one meets them, he cannot but wonder at the things these pioneers have seen or experienced in their lives.

Over half a century ago before any railroad was built through this country, he wended his way from some other state, or he was an immigrant from The Land of the Midnight Sun or some other European country. He has seen these prairies blossom like the Garden of Eden under the tillage of the plowman.

All the joys and sorrows and hardships of pioneer life he experienced; all the pioneering changes that we read about and thrill over today-he lived-and recollects. He knew at
first-hand what life in the prairie in a “shack“ was like and “gee-hawing“ of his faithful oxen as he broke the first furrows of the sod, the long hours and tedious tasks, scant food, bitter cold, long lonely winters, and few pleasures.

He has seen times change, men change, conditions change. He has seen the ox at work, then the horse, later the tractor and automobile; and now he is watching the airplane outdo all other means of travel. He has seen the lignite coal and kerosene lamp give way to gas and electricity. He has seen the rural free delivery established. He has seen the telephone wires being stretched all over the country and witnessed radio and television become common place in the homes.

As he looks back over the pioneer days, it is with the most tender feelings, and he recalls only happy memories. Those were busy years, sad years, glad years-each filled brimful of living.

His life was dedicated to the bidding of this raw country into a good and prosperous community. What a wonderful example of courage. What a heritage that pioneering must have given him.

The End

Lest We Forget by Hedvig Clausen Svore,1959

October 16 – Rawson‘s most dominant building, located on the corner of Main Street and Broadway, which served for about 34 years as the Rawson Lutheran Church, was moved October 16 to a plot just east of the Williams school and about 7 miles southeast of Johnson’s Corner, to become the house of worship for the Faith Lutheran Church of the Keene parish.

The building, the first to be erected in Rawson, was constructed in 1913 and served as the headquarters for the Farmers State Bank of Rawson throughout its duration until 1923. It was later purchased by the Rawson Lutheran congregation to become its church home.

Rawson Lutheran Church was organized in 1917 by Rev. Theodore Haakenstad, as a part of the Alexander parish, and held its first services in the homes of its members and in the community hall until 1924, when appropriate changes were made on the former bank building to be its church. Further steps in remodeling were made in 1931. Rawson has been a self-supporting congregation, but in 1957, because of its diminishing membership and lack of financial support, plans were made to disband. On February 2, 1958, members from Rawson, as well as others, were accepted into the membership of Trinity Lutheran Church of Alexander.

Last regular services to be held in Rawson were on Sunday, August 25, 1957, held by Rev. L. W. Jacobson, and the last of its organization activities was a potluck dinner on Friday, November 8, served by the WMF, followed by its regular monthly meeting.

Pastors who have served the Rawson Church are: Rev. T. O. Haakenson, 1914 – May, 1918; Rev. O. R. Svore, July, 1918 – July, 1948; Karsten Baalson, July, 1940 – July, 1941 – Rev. A. I. Edmonds, July, 1941 – January, 1944; Rev. O. E. Doely, July, 1944 – January, 1947; Rev. R. M. Williams, July, 1947 – January, 1950; H. F. Hofstad, July, 1951 – July, 1955; O. L. Bolstad, November, 1955 – June, 1956; L. W. Jacobson, June, 1956 – August, 1957, Rev. Carl Nelson, will arrive shortly after the first of the year, is the present pastor at Alexander.

Faith Lutheran Church was organized about two years ago, and is one of the congregations of the Keene Lutheran parish of the ELC, served by Rev. Harold Vold. It has a confirmed membership of 36, also a Sunday School and a ladies aid.

– Mrs. Oren Forthun, 38, wife of a well-known Alexander rancher was found dead by her husband Sunday morning in the rear seat of the family car after the couple had stopped to take a nap along the highway 23 about 17 1/2 miles northeast of Keene. They were returning from Minot where they had attended a rodeo, as members of the Badlands Saddle Club drill team.

According to coroner Clarence Leiseth, Mr. Forthun reported that after leaving New Town, where they had stopped for supper, he became sleepy and asked his wife to drive. However, she refused, saying she was also tired, and so they stopped for a nap. During the night, Mr. Forthun said he awakened, and started the car motor for warmth, then turned it off and went back to sleep. When he next woke, about 7 a.m. he was unable to rouse his wife who was sleeping in the backseat. He hailed a passing motorist who took him into New Town, where McKenzie County authorities were called.

Mrs. Forthun was taken to Minot where examination by a pathologist disclosed she had passed away of pulmonary edema, resulting from a heart condition. She had been in ill health for some time.

Lillian Bernada Madson, daughter Anders and Bessie Madson, was born at the Birdhead ranch near Alexander, on June 25, 1920. She attended Bull Flat elementary school from 1926 to 1934, and graduated from the Watford City High School in 1938. She attended the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks in 1938 and the North Dakota Agriculture College in the fall of 1939. During the winter of 1940–41. She attended Christie Beauty School in Bismarck.

On October 22, 1939, she married Oren Forthun at Fargo; and they lived in Fargo until 1940 when they went to Bismarck. 1941. They returned to the Birdhead ranch where they had since made their home.

Mrs. Forthun was a member of the First Presbyterian Church Watford City; a member of the Watford City Eastern Star,
4-H leader and member of the drill team of the Badland Saddle Club.

Survivors are her husband, two children, Barbara, 15 and James, 13, both at home; her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Anders Madson of Watford City, and one sister, Mrs. Archie Holms of Dickinson.

Funeral services will be conducted from the First Lutheran Church in Watford City on Thursday, October 23 at 2 p.m. Rev. Clayton Parcels, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church will officiate, assisted by Rev. K. Wylie of Dickinson, and Rev. Gordon G. Belzer of Alexander. Mrs. Clarence Leiseth will be organist and Mr. Leiseth soloist.

To be continued…

Lest We Forget by Hedvig Clausen Svore,1959

– One of North Dakota‘s largest real estate transactions since the railroad – building and homesteading era – the acquisition of land for the Garrison Dam and Reservoir project – has been virtually completed, Col. Lynn W. Pine, Garrison District Engineer, said.

The program resulting in the government‘s purchase of 462,850 acres of land at a cost of $21,188,000 has been in progress for approximately 12 years under the direction of Roy Dory, Chief of the Real Estate Division of the District Corps of Engineers. During that time, 3324 tracks were acquired, 1350 of them within the Fort Berthold Indian reservation.

The program involved also the acquisition of three towns, Elbowoods, Sanish, and Van Hook, and their relocation and consolidation into the city of Newtown; the purchase of the Lewis and Clark irrigation project and the east bottom and continuous lands of the Berthold-Trenton irrigation project in the Williston vicinity. A few little clearance problems and pending compensation settlements are all that remain for final cleanup in the acquisition program, Dory said.

Thousands of acres of reservoir land, Mr. Dory, pointed out, are being developed for public recreation and cottage site areas, while other tracks have been set aside as wildlife sanctuaries, and transferred for operating purposes to the State Game and Fish Department.

Land not needed for a reservoir purposes is being leased for grazing and farming, Dory said, with 75% of the lease income coming back to the counties where the land is located.

July – The total of deposits in all banks in North Dakota stood at $696,685,556 on June 23, according to G. H. Russ, Jr., state examiner. This compared with $638,372,364 a year before.

– Funeral services for Ole R. Iverson, 78, Alexander community pioneer, were held in the Trinity lutheran Church at Alexander at 2 p. m. Tuesday, July 22. He passed away at the community Memorial Hospital in Sidney, Montana, on July 17 of a heart condition from which he had suffered for several months.

At the services Mrs. Garvin Jacobson was organist. And George Iverson was soloist. Burial was made in the Highland Cemetery 17 miles south of Alexander. Pallbearers were six nephews, Ralph and Morris Cross, John and Iver Brostuen, Henry Lebak and Dietrick M. Iverson.

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Iver Iverson, he was born at Ringebu, Norway, August 23, 1879, and was reared and educated in that country. In 1905 he came to the United States to join his brother, Matthew, who had immigrated earlier, and together they worked in lumber camps and on farms in Minnesota and Canada. In 1906 homesteaded south of Alexander and after proving up returned to Minnesota to farm for a brief period. In 1911 he returned to his homestead at Alexander and continued to make his home there until he retired in 1953 and moved to Sidney, Montana, to make his home with his brother, Matthew.

Other survivors include a brother, Dietrick Iverson of Alexander, three sisters; Mrs. Ella Brostuen, Williston, Mrs. Oline Cross and Mrs. Julia Furstad, Alexander.

July 29 – A long-standing interest in sub-Arctic vegetation has taken a former McKenzie County man, Knut Norstog to Iceland for five weeks of research and study. Dr. Norstog is now associate professor of biology at Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio.

He arrived in Iceland, June 11 to begin an intensive period of study of Icelandic plant life. His purpose is too fold: one, to become more familiar with sub-Arctic vegetation, and two, to study, particularly, the characteristics of one plant species – Seneca grass, which is found in Iceland.

Seneca grass is a plant relic of the glacial period, according to Dr. Norstog, and for that reason can best be studied in a country which has glacier regions. The plant is relatively uncommon in the United States, and differs from that found in Iceland.

In 1956, Dr. Norstog received a $4500 research grant from the National Science Foundation for a three-year study of the cellular development of three grasses, Seneca, English Rye grass, and barley. Dr. Norstog has been growing tiny plant cells from the three grasses in test tubes. Part of his goal is to solve the riddle of the cells, rapid growth and the answer as to why they do not develop into actual plants.

His period of study in Iceland is being financed by a portion of a grant received recently by Wittenberg from the Esso Foundation. Since Dr. Norstog teaches conservation courses, he is also interested in the forests being started in Iceland by importing trees from Alaska.

Mrs. Norstog also is a former McKenzie County girl. With her sons, Jon, Erik and Paul, she arrived last Tuesday to visit with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Evanson while Dr. Norstog is in Iceland.

To be continued…

Lest We Forget by Hedvig Clausen Svore,1959

July 17 – Mr. and Mrs. Morris Martin and family of Illinois, were guests at the 25th classroom reunion on Monday evening at the American Legion Hall. Class members and friends from Watford City, Arnegard, Rawson, Cartwright, Fairview and Alexander were present. Potluck was served and much handshaking and a very enjoyable time was had by all.

– Mrs. Mathilda Oian passed away last Tuesday at the hospital in Watford City. Funeral services were held Friday at 2 p.m. from the Trinity Lutheran Church. She was buried in the Alexander cemetery.

July 22 – a 62-your-old farmer drowned where he had been swimming.

The body of Joseph Lien was recovered three hours later with grappling hooks by volunteers from the western North Dakota village directed by the sheriff Joe Zitek of McKenzie County.

Lien, whose home was in Charbonneau community west of Alexander, had driven to the Skedsvold Dam, on a creek 3 1/2 miles north east of here, accompanied by C. A. Berklund, 78, of Alexander.

Berklund said that Lien parked his car in the vicinity of the reservoir, took off his shoes and plunged into the pool, swam across it and climbed out on the opposite shore. Berklund said he watched Lien on the bank for a time, then returned to the car to rest.

After he had sat in the car for about half an hour, he said, he became concerned because Lien did not return to the vehicle. The elderly man went back to the reservoir shore, and when he could see nothing of Lien, he raised the alarm.

Lien‘s body was recovered in 10 feet of water about 40 yards from shore.

July 28 – Retiring North Dakota Rep. Usher L. Burdick, 79, had some choice remarks to make Sunday during the fifth annual Old Settlers Picnic at Epping-Springbrook Dam, northeast of Williston.

Burdick, who looked slightly wan after his recent illness, but whose voice still commanded attention, told his audience he expected to live another 20 years “so any woman who marries me for my money and expects death is going to get fooled.“ He reported he intends to spend his future time “buzzing around the area and having a good time.“

Referring to his recent illness, Burdick said, “All my cash has been spent for doctors. “He reported he was being charged $20.50 a day for a hospital room in Washington, D.C., so when he decided to correct that situation he went to Boston “where they charged me $29.“

Burdick also said he didn’t expect to see any water in the Williston area (from the Garrison Dam) at any time “in the next 20 years.“

– Latest nation-wide traffic accident records show that for the first four months of this year in North Dakota was in the unpopular position of last place in the prevention of traffic test in the United States.

In fact, the state record for the January-April was so bad that the 47th place holder was 25% better than North Dakota – and that state (Idaho) showed a 65% increase in traffic deaths. North Dakota came up with a whopping 90% increase.

In 1956 North Dakota established its all-time high for traffic deaths. The record for the first four months of this year makes the 1956 record look like a school picnic because the January-April record is 52% higher than in 1956.

For the same period last year, North Dakota registered 20 deaths. This year the records stood at 38 at the end of April.

To be continued…