"We can talk good roads," he continued, "until we are blue in the face if there is not that great highway running between the hearts of the people of the country which binds them together in one common cause. The people hunger after comradeship these days, and, after all, the real test is that after this sacrifice that we are great enough to be conscious of one thing — to act as brothers. We must get away from that which tends to draw away one community from another. A road ought to be a binding tie between the communities through which it passes, and only when men pull apart is it that their problems cannot be solved."
- Said at State Meeting in Little Falls, MN on October 9, 1917; Delegates and Commissioners from all the Counties along the Jefferson Highway participated in the Great Little Falls ConventionAccording to the Jefferson Highway Declaration, much of the Jefferson Highway north of Wadena all the way to the Canadian border, was paved only with gravel. This was due mainly to the rural nature of that geographical portion of the road together with the financing available thereof.
 |
| Vintage St. Vincent High School pennant from 1920s |
[Note from Trish: In-between StVHS closing and St. Vincent consolidating with Humboldt, students had the choice of attending Pembina High School, or other schools in Kittson County like Hallock...]It was an unexpected joy to find yearbooks from the St. Vincent High School from the 1920s. This was a yearbook from a small town in NW Minnesota prior to the Depression. High school life in St. Vincent was marked by lots of school spirit judging from the many activities. St. Vincent fielded a football team, basketball team, hockey team, track team and baseball team in [school year] 1927/28.
 |
| Chris Misson, chief Customs and Border Patrol officer, stands in front of the former Customs and Immigration Station at Noyes, Minn. Wednesday. The station, closed several years ago, is being sold on an online auction. [Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald] |
 |
| "The Greatest Show on Earth..." |
Another View
by Rev. Hugh Bell
It's been almost one year since my last "View" so when I received a copy of this enclosed letter I thought it a most opportune time to catch up on correspondence in the Enterprise.
The enclosed letter was sent to Alfred Rustad, Jr. "Rusty" 60 years ago this month. For those of us old enough to remember WWII, we remember a time when just about everyone was in the same boat. It was a time of sacrifice and unbelievable hardship. It was also a time of great family support and great national support. Something that perhaps is lacking in the most recent of our wars including the present day battle in Iraq and Afghanistan. WWII was a time when the whole country pulled together for a common good. Today it seems as tho more energy is put into political rhetoric and profit seeking than into freedom in the Middle East. If we could just stop blaming others for our problems, wouldn't it be a wonderful world. Enough sermon, now to Rusty's letter.
 |
| Iconic sign still on depot roof... Photo by Bill Reynolds |
From MINNESOTA GEOGRAPHIC NAMES: Their Origin and Historical Significance by Warren Upham (Minnesota Historical Society, 1920/1969) Caribou township, organized January 8, 1908, had a few reindeer, of geographic limitation in the wooded and partly swampy region of northern Minnesota and Canada, named Rangifer caribou. The second word of the name is of Algonquin Indian origin, meaning a pawer or scratcher, in allusion to the habit of this animal in winter, pawing in the snow to eat the reindeer moss beneath.As Greg Breining says in his article A Sense of Place, "Good place names are like that--they may describe a place's shape or the animals that inhabit it. They may tell stories, of the people who settled it, who shaped it, and who fought for it."
Clow township commemorates several brothers of that name, early settlers there, who came from Prince Edward island. [NOTE: My great grandmother was Elizabeth Jane Clow, daughter of Samuel Clow, one of those brothers...]
Information has been gathered from "History of the Red River Valley," two volumes, 1909, the chapter for this county, by Edward Nelson, former register of deeds, being pages 923-966; and from interviews with Mr. Nelson and Axel Lindegard, a merchant in Hallock, the county seat, during a visit there in August 1909, and Edward A. Johnson, clerk of court, and gain with Mr. Lindegard, in a second visit there, September 1916.
Noyes, a station of the Great Northern and Soo railways adjoining the international boundary, was named in honor of J.A. Noyes, the U.S. customs collector there.
St. Vincent, organized March 19, 1880, is opposite to Pembina, N.D. Its name had been earlier given, before 1860, to a post of fur traders here, in honor of the renowned St. Vincent de Paul, founder of missions and hospitals in Paris, who died September 27, 1660, at the age of eighty years.
Soo Motor Car-Gas Electric Cars-Soo #1 - Gas electric built by McKeen -day local passenger train between Thief River Falls & Noyes, MN -1914-only 1 or 2 years - sold to: Electric Shortline RY
From Clarence Bingham comes this story of life as a Customs Officer back in 1950s Pembina (and surrounding area...) 
I heard from another expatriate of our area a few days ago. His name is Clarence L. Bingham. As many do, he found my website serendipitously, reading the post about Dick Lapp, who he knew and - you'll read below - worked with...A great blog. I went to work for Railway Express at the Noyes depot in January 1949. Scottie and I lived upstairs in the Fitzpatrick house in Pembina. In late 1949 I started work with U. S. Customs, assuming Dick Lapp's job as supply and seizure clerk when he was promoted to liquidator.I asked him if the Fitzpatrick home he stayed at was perhaps my great uncle Richard Fitzpatrick's home, and who was Scottie? He replied...
Yes, a big brick home just south of the hotel. We called him Dick and I cannot at the moment think of Mrs. Fitzpatrick's name. He was depot agent for the GN at St.Vincent.
Scottie was Mary Helen Scott Bingham. My wife of 59 odd years, who died in 2007 here in Oregon. We were married January 22, 1949 at Muscoda, WI. Took the train a couple days later to Noyes, MN. where I had taken a job with Railway Expess. I had heard of the job through my uncle Sheldon Joyner,who was depot agent at Noyes for both the GN and Soo Line. Our office was in the north (cold) end of the depot, so was acquainted with all of the section hands and depot clerks. C. L. Bingham
This is the Rustad store in Noyes that was owned and run by great Uncle Carl Rustad and his wife Aagot. It was a store/post office. Carmen Curtis later ran the store for many years and it was a fixture in Noyes from the 1940s through the 1960s and beyond.
- Mike Rustad
If only it was that simple, eh?!
The site is located on the international border within the small village of Noyes.Noyes to Have Beautiful ParkThe park was designed by A. R. Nichols, the Roadside Development Division's Consulting Landscape Architect. As befitting the importance of a site on an international boundary, Noyes Roadside Parking Area Noyes site is among the most formal of his MHD wayside rests. The original plans even include a drawing of an elegantly dressed man and woman standing near the flagpole.
Efforts of beautification sponsored by the Minnesota State Highway Commission, will soon be appreciably recognized at Noyes, Minn., where work is steadily progressing on what will perhaps be the most attractive park in the northwest corner of the county. An asset to Highway 75 and its tourists will be this triangular formed garden of nature, now taking shape on the left side of the highway, upon entering Noyes from the north. A rare sight to greet tourist Canadians.
The land, a donation to a worthy cause by Mr. McKay of Noyes, is receiving the hands of experts in tree and shrubbery planting. Beautiful elms, spruce and many other lovely plantings numbering 2,000 individual sets, will make their home in the rich soil. Ideal walks and an inscripted monument will form a border for the numerous flowerbeds. We urge you to make a visit to this lovely park, that symbolizes America's welcome to Canadians ("Noyes To Have" 1937).
There is a house in Noyes (I think it is still there...) that a good friend and her family used to live in. They weren't the first family to live there, nor probably the last. But this story isn't about the residents; it's about the house itself.
NOYES, 0.1 m. (792 alt., 64 pop.), is a small village and a United States port of entry, with an almost cosmopolitan air of bustle and excitement emanating from the U.S. Customs and Immigration Offices. The American and Canadian flags flying not far apart, the trim uniforms of the officials, and the constant commotion usual to international boundaries contrast with the quiet of this remote north-woods country. A large force of railroad officials is necessary to take care of incoming and outgoing passengers and freight on both the Soo Line and the Great Northern Ry. passing through Noyes.
The land in this vicinity is typical Red River prairie, an open expanse of gently rolling fields, broken only by farmstead windbreaks. The soil is clay and sandy loam, adapted to diversified agriculture, and so fertile that descriptions of the farms sound like Paul Bunyan legends. Records show the yield has been as high as 45 bushels of wheat or 500 bushels of potatoes to the acre, and farmers here have plowed furrows straight ahead for 7 or 8 miles without a twist or turn.
The Florence Farm at Northcote (open to visitors), once owned by James J. Hill, consists of about 25,000 acres (15,000 under cultivation in 1937) and is one of the largest successfully operated grain farms in the United States. The farm residence alone, built by Walter Hill in 1912, cost $49,000. Among the other structures are a powerhouse large enough for a city of 1,500, two immense silos, and two grain elevators with capacities of 55,000 bushels and 25,000 bushels respectively. Of the 15 tractors in use, 9 are equipped with Diesel engines and 6 with 10-horse-power gasoline engines. In a recent year the planted acreage of this completely mechanized farm was 3,600 acres of wheat, 4,000 acres of flax, 500 acres of rye, 2,000 acres of barley, and approximately 1,500 acres of oats.
HALLOCK, 20.4 m. (820 alt., 869 pop.), seat of Kittson County and in the area abounding with game, was named for the journalist and editor, Charles W. Hallock (1834-1917), founder of Forest and Stream magazine. In 1880 Hallock, who was a great sportsman, erected in the newly founded town a $10,000 hotel with water on every floor, bathrooms, speaking tubes, a barber shop, kennel rooms, gun rooms, and other facilities unusual in the far Northwest at that time.
Honey from more than 3,000 colonies of bees is extracted centrifugally and shipped in carload lots, some of it to European markets. Pollen carried by the bees fertilizes the sweet clover seed, and important source of revenue to the local farmers...
Hudson Leighton from the GN Goat shared with me these great photos of the Noyes Depot* and border crossing area, from the early days until 1970; I found a newer image online myself to finish it all off, not sure how new, but it looks fairly recent. Hudson also shared stats on the depot, which I found rather fascinating since my Dad worked there for many years. It's also interesting to me because it was one of many such towns across the country lining the US/Canadian border that ensured trade between our countries over generations, and still do.
I found this online - a summary of original proposal to close Noyes port and consolidate port entry for rail to be covered by Pembina port. The latest word about line abandonments does not list the line going up to Noyes into Canada as such, but other lines in the region are being abandoned for economic reasons due to decreasing traffic.
Emerson has its supporters also for their recent loss of the port just north of Noyes. I didn't realize until I read this article that "In Emerson, the history of protection is not restricted to the presence of Canada Customs. Known as Manitoba's First City, Emerson was home to the original headquarters of the Northwest Mounted Police. Like many border towns, Emerson has a proud heritage of standing on guard for thee...."
THE END: In circa 2020, the old depot, on the original site throughout all its years, was demolished to make way for a new combined-agency building [U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) , and U.S. Customs & Immigration Enforcement (ICE)/Soo-Line/BNSF/CP]In 2005, in anticipation of the 2006 Noyes port-of-entry closing, a Federal ruling stated, "...CBP is extending the limits of the Port of Pembina to encompass the railroad yard located at Noyes, Minnesota, owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. The Port of Pembina will assume responsibility for processing trains as they arrive at Noyes. However, other traffic must utilize the border crossing within the City of Pembina and will no longer be processed at Noyes. The office facility at Noyes will continue to be used to support the needs of several Border Patrol agents and ICE agents. Security gates and surveillance cameras have also been installed at the Port of Noyes to ensure continued remote monitoring of that location by the Port of Pembina." After 2006, CBP and ICE maintained staff on an as-needed basis in the old depot. Drones have also been added to assist in border security.
