Sunday, September 13, 2020

A Lifetime of a Depot: NOYES

Depot built 1906 (joint GN/SOO Depot) - 30' x 137' frame. 
Depot remodeled 1912. 
Burned 1921. 
Depot 30' x 138' rebuilt 1922.  
10' x 20' addition added 1924.
Remodeled 1943. 
North 32 feet of Depot removed in 1966 and Depot rebuilt 1967 (after 1966 flood) - platforms removed, landscaping built up to accommodate dike around town.

Torn down/demolished:  August 2020.









Tuesday, July 07, 2020

NEW Book: Pembina County @ 150

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1FGAe5IzVA-69YbhWI9F9a3pqa3-WRLNh

Jim Benjaminson shared today:  
Well, its getting closer to reality - "Sagas of Pembina County, 1867-2017" is at the printers.  A 148 page, fully indexed compilation of stories written for county newspapers in 2017-2018 with added material and historical photographs.  We'll let you know when it's ready!

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Images: Pembina to St. Paul on the Red River Trail

The beginning of the trip - Taking off from Pembina, to sell a year's worth of furs...


The end of the trip - Arriving at St. Paul, to sell their furs...

[Where they encamped - St. Anthony's Hill, now called Cathedral Hill]

Saturday, April 18, 2020

1918 Spanish Flu in Kittson County


Kittson County residents who died during the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic, included:

Gust A. Leonard Norberg: Died of Spanish Flu at U.S. Army Jefferson Barracks during WWI on January 19, 1918

Ida Swan, only 18 years old.

-  Henry Marius Hanson, son of Herman Hanson and junior member of the firm of Hanson & Son Cement Workers, was called to his eternal rest Thursday October 31, 1918. Death was caused by pneumonia following an attack of Spanish Influenza. (Source: Karlstad Advocate Newspaper/Nov. 15, 1918)
In 1918, Kittson County closed schools in November and they were not reopened until early spring 1919, because of the "Spanish Flu" epidemic (sources include:  Tri-County School History

Monday, April 13, 2020

Minstrel Show at Kittson Hall


A broadside announcing an upcoming
performance (apologies re: language)

[Published by Pioneer Express] 
In the late 19th and early 20th century, live entertainment was king.  In Pembina, a good share of it was performed on the local opera house's stage, Kittson Hall.

Kittson Hall was a modest venue, seating 250 patrons, managed by W. C. Short.  It brought in various music hall and vaudeville performing acts - singers, comedy, theatre.  

Georgia Minstrels were coming to town:
Touring Vaudeville Shows at the city hall

[Source:  Pioneer Express,  December 29, 1898]

Troupes such as minstrel shows also came through town.  This example (including acceptable language for that time period that is no longer tolerated today) is for a minstrel group set to perform a variety show.

Even in our small villages, through the seemingly 'innocent' acts of entertainment, racial stereotypes were continually reinforced down through the years...

Thursday, March 26, 2020

John K. McCulloch, Champion Skater

John K. "Jack" McCulloch

Jack McCulloch came to Pembina to put on an exhibition skating, the year he turned professional.  It was the year after he won the World Amateur Speed Skating championship in Montreal, Quebec. 

 




Jack was a local and regional sports celebrity, followed by many in the four corners (and far beyond...) It was an exciting event for him to visit and put on a demonstration, and even race locals!  Pembina residents made sure everything was ready, especially the skating rink...


McCulloch visited Pembina on January 5, 1899.
[Source:  Pembina Express, December 29, 1898]





Pembina  is one of four towns known as the corners.  Of these four towns Pembina is in Dakota, St. Vincent in Minnesota, and West Lynne and Emerson in Manitoba.  Emerson and St. Vincent lie on the right bank and the other two on the left bank of the Red River.  A favorite evening drive is to make the circuit of the four corners crossing the bridge between Emerson and West Lynne and the ferry between St. Vincent and Pembina.

Saturday, March 14, 2020

St. Vincent Union Industrial Association Fairs

In Minnesota fairs are older than the state itself, having "made their appearance ... in the early 1850's," just at the zenith of the golden age of such institutions in the United States. Compared with later exhibitions the early fairs were primitive indeed, yet they more than justified their existence. They gave the isolated pioneer farmer a chance to meet his fellows, to have a good time; and by showing him late developments in machinery, fine livestock, and new techniques in farming, they gave him an incentive to improve his own farming. - From a talk called, "Early Minnesota Agricultural Societies & Fairs," presented at the Minnesota Historical Society's annual convention, held July 26, 1941.

Walter John Strickland Traill

The first day of the St. Vincent Union Industrial Association Fair was favored with good weather.  

The native pony race was won by Jim, Shylock second, Kate third.  The trotting race was won by Julia, Dan second, Topsey third.  

The judges were Walter J.S. Traill, C.C. Law, and D. Livingstone (The St. Paul Daily Globe, October 10, 1889).







1918 Fair Results-War Gardens
1906 Fair Dates - Always late
Fall, for these local fairs . . .



...and these early fairs, are what were the seeds of our county fairs of today, including the Kittson County Fair in Hallock!


Monday, January 06, 2020

Dakota 38

Abraham Lincoln as the Puppetmaster of Death (of starvation, war, and executions)
Ledger Art by Travis Blackbird

by Prairie Rose Seminole
Remember the #Dakota38, hanged in Mankato, MN on Dec 26, 1862, under the orders of President Abraham Lincoln. It is the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

The hanging of 38 Dakota came at the culmination of the Dakota War, which started because of a treaty broken by Congress. 

The Dakota people were being starved to death.

“Let then eat grass or their own dung,” Andrew Myrick, a trader & store owner who withheld their rations.

Andrew Myrick was among the first to die. He was found with grass in his mouth.

The accused were subjected to sham trials held in English (a language foreign to them), and they had no legal representation. They were also not allowed to discuss the broken treaty, or treaty law. Many were innocent. They were hanged anyway, on a custom made scaffold, in front of a cheering mob.

Dakota women & children were forced to watch the hanging. One Dakota infant was reportedly snatched from the arms of a mother and killed on sight.

Around 1,700 Dakota, mostly women and children, were held as prisoners at Fort Snelling. Disease & death were rampant.

Chief Little Crow, a leader during the Dakota War, was later assassinated. His remains were mutilated by townspeople & displayed. They stuffed firecrackers in his nose & ears and lit them. Local doctors eventually took his body parts to study.

Two more Dakota leaders, Shakopee (Little Six) and Medicine Bottle, were later captured and executed.

After the hanging of the Dakota 38, the Dakota people were exiled from their stolen homelands in Minnesota. Banned from entering, unable to return to MN. The governor put a bounty on their scalps. The Dakota people were separated and sent to prison camps in other states where the women were raped by soldiers.

Following the U.S-Dakota War of 1862, the United States government hanged 38 Dakota men on December 26 in Mankato. It was the largest mass execution in United States history. A US military commission, tainted by racism and in violation of due process, hastily convicted two of the Dakota men of rape and all of them of murder in trials that lasted as little as five minutes. President Lincoln approved their executions. Here are the names and faces of some of the men known as the Dakota 38.
All things being ready, the first tap was given, when the poor wretches made such frantic efforts to grasp each other's hands, that it was agony to behold them. Each one shouted out his name, that his comrades might know he was there.  - From New York Times article, The Indian Executions