Low Water: The Wreck of the Steamboat Dakota

Late this past summer, this was posted on the St. Vincent Memories Facebook page:

Looking to see if anyone might know or have any more info on the story that might be behind this. As you all know the mighty red is far from mighty right now but I still decided to take my boat down to check things out. Came across what looked to be an old sunken boat of some sort. Brought it up to my dad and he said that his grandparents (Bud and Jean Feick) had said that it was an old steamboat that used to run from Forks to Winnipeg in the late 1800s but had gotten hung up and then just left in the river. They had also said that long ago you were able to see one of the masts sticking out of the water once the red would get lower. It sits about 3½ miles south of Pembina. Obviously most is completely covered with mud and/or missing but you can see about 30ft worth of deck right now. These boards are way bigger than they look in the pictures...

There was much excitement in the group in reaction to the post.  Over 70 comments exploded the discussion:

Paul Maloney: What do the nails look like, if any survived? And I think remnants of the boiler would still be there if it was a steamboat.

Jake Cosley:  All the main nails used to hold the planks down are ¼x¼" square. There were a few large ½-⅝" round spikes used as well

Julie Lindegard: I will ask my dad Bob Cameron if he has any further info.  Dad recalled hearing that Humboldt kids (St. Vincent kids were too far away) would often swim in the river and get on the boat and jump off. I can imagine it provided hours of entertainment for kids! He said that the Bockwitz family found and retrieved the anchor. They contacted my dad to take it to the museum in Lake Bronson at least 30 years ago. That's where it is now.  

 

At Right:  Evidence of scorched and burned decking could still be seen, over 140 years later... 

Hetty Walker: Chuck always talked about the steamboat, that got hung up …that could be it

Janine Rustad: Talk to DeeDee Bakken---she used to say her dad knew exactly where it sunk 

Julie Lindegard: Yes dad mentioned it was near/in the area of the Giffen farm. 

Donald Burroughs: Does North Dakota have a historical society? Would be an opportunity to salvage some of the boat, those nails and boiler parts, paddle wheel hardware plus its coordinates to build a story around it.

Trish Short Lewis: They have already been contacted about this. State Historical Society of North Dakota's chief archaeologist, Andrew Clark.

Brandon Lee Legvold: Three (3) miles above Pembina it says which in Red River terms would be south of town so I would definitely say that is the hull of the Dakota that was found.

Trish Short Lewis: Since it’s only partially burned and witnesses say the ship burned, I think the idea of these being one of the two barges might be right. I reserve final judgment until we hear from DeeDee Bakken (hopefully) on what she recalls her father seeing… 

[Note from Trish: I later spoke with DeeDee and got some very interesting information from her!  Also, the pump in the photo at left, was found by her, and then taken and donated to the Kittson County History Center & Museum, where it is today, along with the Anchor found many years ago by Humboldt's Bockwitz family...]

 Brandon Lee Legvold: [The source of the quoted newspaper article, which is pictured above, is...] the Worthington (Minnesota) Advance. August 19, 1880. Which oddly enough is today. I found this on Chronicling America.

Trish Short Lewis: Full reference citation for article is The Worthington Advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, August 19, 1880, Image 1 Image provided by Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN (Chronicling America)

Jim Benjaminson: Preservation of the site is paramount. 

On August 26th, I took a field trip up to the wreck site south of Pembina.  The person who discovered the wreck - Jake Cosley - was kind enough to take me in his boat to the site, which was on the North Dakota side of the Red River of the North.  It was an adventurous ride out, the boat hitting bottom and getting stuck at one point, the water levels were that low (that was why the wreck was revealed in the first place...)  After a bit of creative  'jiggling', we broke free and were on our way again.  

It was pretty exciting to be at the site of a 140 year old wreck!  It became more and more apparent -  between the onsite examination of the wood, old hardware, and what could be ascertained on the construction - that this was remnants of one or both of the barges that the Dakota had been towing full of freight, and that the ship was likely down the river a ways on the Minnesota side near the old Giffen farm.  All the pieces fit, however - this had to be the wreck of the Dakota, it was the only thing that made sense from the evidence so far.

That said, a proper survey and investigation needs to be done.  And to that end, I contacted the State Historical Society of North Dakota's chief archaeologist, Andrew Clark.  Andrew was intrigued about the find, and expressed a desire to come in-person to evaluate the wreck.  However, as always, there is red tape.  Funding, authorizations needed, etc.  I had several conversations with him about what I saw, and he explained that at the very least, the location of the wreck needed to be updated.  There was erroneous information in some records that needed correction.  After my site visit, I was able to give him GPS coordinates of the wreck to update any official records out there.  I also notified the Minnesota Historical Society about the wreck's connection to Minnesota (the steamboat itself was likely within Minnesota jurisdiction).  

It is my hope that next summer the SHSND can make an on-site visit to document this important vestige of our region's transportation history. Andrew Clark shared this about a similar discovery made on the Missouri River last year; it would be amazing if they could do the same depth of investigation with the Dakota - it is a fascinating slice of our local history, for sure!

Part of the Dakota steamboat barge wreck as revealed during 

Summer 2021 low water on the Red River of the North . . .

Mansion on the Prairie

[Courtesy:  Kittson County History Center & Museum]

At the Zenith of its production years, the early elevated view seen above of the mansion and surrounding farm buildings - taken from the top of the farm's nearby grain elevator - comprised the 'Northcote Division' of the Humboldt bonanza farm.  At its height, J.J. Hill owned over 45,000 acres of Kittson County farm land, and had over half of it under cultivation at any given time. 

Elevated view looking over Northcote, Minn. bonanza farm.  Visible is a
large two-story brick house with hip roof, several barns, and a water tower.
[Source: Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU, Fargo, ND (2023.42.11)]

Swathing & Bundling during harvest, at the Hill Farm
[Source:  Minnesota Historical Society]

Hill's personal train, often used to travel to Northcote farm
[Source:  Minnesota Historical Society]

Until I track down interior photos of the Walter Hill home (hopefully in its prime, before modifications), my old school friend Dee Dee Giffen Bakken has graciously agreed to share her memories of inside the mansion:

I cleaned for Marva and Byron Hanson who owned the house [until 2004]. 

The front of the house as you come to it from the road is actually the back of the house. When Walter Hill lived there the road came to what is now the back close to the river and came around in a circular drive. That face of the house is the grand entrance with a fancy little roofed porch. 

You enter into an entry with the staircase facing going upstairs. to your left is the great room with a fireplace, a very large room. Behind that is a porch which was open in Walter's day but is now enclosed. To the north of it is an office and bathroom. To your right of the entrance is the dining room with a beautiful chandelier and wood paneling. 

Almost all of the woodwork in the house has unfortunately been painted as Marva told me there were many different varieties of wood used on the doors, paneling, trim and so on. I don't think the paneling in the dining room is painted, but don't remember for sure. 

Beyond the dining room to the east is a sun room which overlooks where the pool was. Going north from the dining room is a huge kitchen which in Walter's day was sectioned off with part of it being the butler's pantry where the food was prepared for serving. It is now a homey big kitchen with a table. 

To the west of the kitchen is an entry where guests come in now with beautiful old tile floors. The entry also has a door going to the hallway which leads to the bathroom, and an office to the north of the great room with some built in closets. The kitchen is now linoleum.  I don't know what it was before [possible wood flooring originally]. In the kitchen as well is a door that leads to a staircase upstairs; this was once a servant's staircase that now leads to a small sewing room and bathroom. Originally, this would have been a servant's bedroom. 

As you go up the grand staircase to the upstairs, you come to a landing which goes to your left then rises to the top floor. As you go to your left you can go northeast which goes  to the servants bedroom. Direct left is the master bedroom with a beautiful fireplace with tiles from either Belgium or Italy. Off this room to the east is a sun porch.  To the north is a huge walk-in closet. To the west is the master bath with a shower made of marble. It is walk-in and huge. There is a tub the size of a Buick and old fashioned toilet and pedestal sinks. The floor is white octagon tile. 

To the right of the staircase is a den or possible bedroom. I think it may have been the library. Down the hall at the end is a woman's bedroom with a fireplace with blue tiles of sailing ships (I think) that came again from either Belgium or Italy. I believe the library had a fireplace too. It's a large room with a walk-in closet. A door to the north leads to a sun porch that is shared by another large bedroom that has a huge bathroom that is attached to it. Again, there is a Buick sized tub and old sinks and white tiles. 

I don't remember how you get up to the attic from the upstairs, it's been a long time. But I was up there a few times and it is as big as the house. Marva told me the boys in Walter's family slept up there and there is a big space in the middle that they held dances in I think. There is a huge basement where they have a pool table from the old pool hall in Hallock here. (Of course I forget the name but I think it was Blado's Billards & Restaurant. It was in the basement of a building near where our business is today.) 

The window wells for the basement have squares of amethyst. Sadly, many people have chipped pieces out for souvenirs over the years. 

Marva's son Marvin was a Minnesota state senator.  In conjunction with his political activities, they held parties at the mansion; even Hubert Humphrey was once there for an event.

NOTE:  The Hanson family moved to the Hill farm in 1967 and their grand daughter Kate lives there part-time, to this day. Check here for more photographs and information about the farm itself...

The amethyst glass blocks are still over the basement window wells
at the Northcote Hill Mansion to this day, a very innovative design

A brief overview of the farm the mansion was part of:

The J.J. Hill Mansion was really Walter Hill's mansion (J.J.'s son) although J.J. Hill probably financed it. Northcote Hill farm was a subdivision off of the Humboldt Farm or Humboldt Division (subdivided in 1910). Before that, it was part of Humboldt Farm.

There is a dam on the Two Rivers, west of the house, downriver. It is small and old, and beginning to fall apart, but still working. By it on the north bank is a falling-down brick building, possibly a mill house.

Over the basement windows were coverings of concrete and glass with a brass sign labeling it as made by the American Luxfer Prism Co (Boston, New York, & Chicago)

UPDATE 10/5/2019:

Found in an old issue of a regional small press paper, "Our Northwest Corner"
recently, is the only interior photograph of the Northcote J.J. Hill mansion...

Recently discovered by collector Brandon Lee Legvold, this 1909 RPPC
shows what appears to be the same image as the one from NDSU shown
at the top of this post, although more complete and it has more clarity. 
Still not a perfect copy, but definitely better!  

Fighting Back

One of the reasons I began writing this blog was because I saw my village, even as I was growing up within it, declining before my eyes.  My mother bemoaned the same observation, even moreso in her case, going from a thriving, vibrant town with many families, businesses, social events, and promise, to one in obvious decline.  I had known nothing but decline.

It is a story being observed all over Minnesota and beyond.  And that, Dear Readers, is one of my main reasons for my posts here:  To document what was here before even the town, to learn how the town came to be, what it was through the years, and yes, even viewing it as I pass it by and it passes me in turn.

Everything has a time. And then...it's gone.

Scrapbook: Local WWII Veterans

ABOUT THIS ALBUM:  Hetty Walker lent an old scrapbook to Jamie Rustad Meagher.  Jamie is a fellow local historian, and she was interested in scanning some of the scrapbook's photos to share online.

The scrapbook was originally put together by a third, unknown person, who gave it to Hetty and Chuck Walker, two other local historians, for safekeeping.

Part of its contents are newspaper clippings, documenting many of Pembina and St. Vincent's WWII veterans during their service in the 1940s.

Spotlight: KCHS

Readers of this blog may have noticed several sections on the right-hand sidebar.  One of those sections contains links to various local and regional history sites.  And one of those sites is for the Kittson County Historical Society.

Recovered Grave

Gravestone for John Bruce, St. Vincent resident - buried
in old Emerson, Manitoba cemetery (reason unknown)
[Photo Courtesy:  Wayne Arseny]

I recently contacted the mayor of Emerson, Manitoba concerning the upcoming St. Vincent 155th Celebration in 2012.  We got to discussing local history.  He shared this... 

...I was clearing some graves in our abandoned old Emerson cemetery.   It's situated directly east of our current one; abandoned in 1900 because the Bradley Creek made it too difficult to cross due to flooding.. a higher/closer spot was chosen.  The old cemetery was simply forgotten and lays tucked away in heavy bush cover.  The grave I was clearing was from someone who died in 1895… which stated he came from St. Vincent.  My thoughts then were how interesting that someone from there would be buried here...

Christ Church Revisited

At this point, Christ Church was still considered a Mission...

In 1971, attempts were made to preserve Christ Church, the Episcopal church in St. Vincent. 

QUESTION:  If Christ Church was bought, restored, and donated to the St. Vincent Historical Society, how did it get back into private hands, the situation it is in today?  Some possible answers follow the article below, which documents the 1971 preservation efforts...

Legacy

According to my statistics service, this website had the following stats over the last 30 days:

I hadn't checked my stats in months, and was surprised (but very pleased) to see the increased traffic. My main goal in creating and working hard on this website, is to showcase and promote my hometown area's local history, that it will not be forgotten, and that it can be a gift to those that come after me.

I've had emails upon emails upon blog comment from current residents, former residents, expatriates, descendants of early settlers, and authors researching our local history, etc. who contact me about the content. Many have said that this website has provided one of the few - sometimes the only - resource for a subject matter they are researching. I do not claim that all of the content is original or even the majority. It is the nature of such a website that I feature others' work(s) and am happy to do so. Some of the work I quote from others are from private collections that are not online. There are many resources online now, but not all local history is there yet, and some probably never will be.

But some of the work here is original also. Some of it is local history of a very personal nature but of broad appeal, not just personal/familial, but true local history, just that my family was intimately involved since we have deep roots in the area. Some of it is all original research and writing by me on a local history subject with no personal connection except that it happened in the region I grew up in.

I was recently in touch with the Minnesota Historical Society and asked them if any funding through the Legacy Grants could apply in preserving this website. They worked hard with me to find a way, even huddling one afternoon and discussing my situation (bless them).  They couldn't see a way for the existing guidelines to apply to my rather unique situation with a history blog.  

There are many history blogs, but not a lot of this particular type with such a narrow focus.  They gave me some alternative ideas I am now exploring, but most are long-shots.  If anyone reading this has ideas on how this blog could be preserved, I'm all ears, and would love to hear from you! For me, it's all about the history, of making sure it's not hidden or forgotten, and is accessible for generations to come...

RRV Website Restored

Recently I updated readers about the status of the Red River Valley Website, an early and important website documenting my hometown region's history, created by a distant cousin of mine.

Another native of my area, Kris Baldwin Ohmann, has been working behind the scenes to obtain the over 6,000 files that make up the site. In the past month, Kris was able to visit in person with Dennis, and obtain all the files from his computer. She then came home and obtained information from me to remotely upload the files to the Ancestry.com community Rootsweb, where the site was given a free home in perpetuity. It will be, we are hoping, it's final and secure home long-term...

Thank you SO much, Kris. We - those of us today, and those of us to come tomorrow - thank you for helping preserve our history!

History Detectives, Local Style

Wow, the news keeps coming on all the websites and history that our area encompasses, and changes to them. The following news is extremely exciting, because we've been working on resolving this problem for over a year: What to do about losing the Red River Valley history website started by Dennis Matthews, one of the earliest websites documenting my hometown area and surrounding region. It's a long story but in summary Dennis lost his host for the site and all the data is locked on his computer. A fellow expatriate wrote to say this, just this past weekend:

Meant to email you sooner. I am out in Seattle for a graduation and I am trying to set up a meeting with Dennis Mathews to see if I can get a back up of all of his historical data for you on Monday or Thursday of this week.

I wrote back to her to express my delight at hearing this news, and that her inquiry about if the Rootsweb site was still available and a viable option, to reassure her that yes, indeed it was!

The hundreds (probably thousands) of hours Dennis has put in on putting this website up is just amazing. He transcribed historical essays among other documents into web pages that had before only existed in rare hard copy format up until then. We owe him a LOT, and thus are going the extra mile to help him recover and preserve his work...

Historical Society Website News

Glenn Brown, administrator for the Kittson County Historical Society website, wrote today to say that the website will be moving. The need was precipitated by the current site switching from being free to charging fees.

As anyone reading this probably knows, historical societies have a hard enough time surviving without this added financial stress. But there is good news! Glenn has found a viable and free alternative!

I encourage anyone reading this that cares for local history in the upper Red River Valley of the North, Minnesota, or Kittson County in particular, to join this site and participate. Read the details below...

...I have spent considerable time checking a dozen sites out and I picked Spruz.com as the most appealing. I have spent considerable time checking a dozen sites out and I picked Spruz.com as the most appealing.

I could write pages about the good and bad things found in my search but we have to act fast before our present pages on Ning.com are deleted.

Ning.com is preparing software in order to allow us to migrate our sites to other providers. That will not be ready until July 2010. Our site will be condensed into a special import file and when ready Spruz will be able to migrate our site and everything in it. Sorry, but I expect many trials and tribulations before this is all done.

Small uncomplicated Ning.com sites simply deleted their files and started all over on a new site. They then had to contact all their old members and sign them all up again. We cannot do that because we have too many groups and photos that would be lost, not to mention the data.

I have opened the new site that can be located at here. I have started a Blog that you can read but you cannot add any comments or suggestions unless you are a member. There is nothing else on the page and there will be little but the blog until at least July. I suggest you hold off joining and contact me at my email address if you have any comments or suggestions. I will also post information on my blog on the old ning page. If you would like to open a topic of discussion under the forums please do so.

In the 13 and a half months since our [original] web page was created I have contributed a great deal of time and effort and to lose it is irritating. If you are unhappy with recent developments I fully sympathize. I will keep you informed of developments as they arise.

Glenn Browne
Kittson County Historical Society (old site, up until July 2010)

Glenn, best of luck on the new site. From small acorns grow great trees!

Depot, City Hall, and U.S. Census

William Ash sent me this link a few days ago, knowing how I'm interested in all things railroad, especially as they relate to my local area/region. What's especially cool about this particular link is, is that it features history about my new hometown, Thief River Falls!

The building in the photo I feature in this post (from that article), shows the 1914 depot in TRF that is now used as City Hall, and in which I will be spending the rest of this week studying and training to be a U.S. Census enumerator for the 2010 Census...

Changes

To anyone trying to access the Red River Valley website in the last few days, you will have noticed it was down. The good news, is it's back...

I've been working with Dennis Matthews to get the site back up. We were able to obtain permission to host it on Rootsweb, which is a great solution since they permanently host some of the most important local and regional genealogy and history websites out there, and do it all for free. It's long-term and secure. Which is a relief since Dennis has worked so long and hard to preserve our local history.

The new website is located here; please note that the website has to rebuilt from the ground up from files retrieved from the Internet Archive (long story), so be patient - it'll be awhile until all the pages are back up...

Fur Trade Project (1990)

In 1990, the Department of Anthropology of the University of North Dakota, undertook a survey and testing project known as The Fur Trade of Northeastern North Dakota: The 1990 Fur Trade Sites Project. Some of the sites surveyed were in and around Pembina.

This project, more properly entitled "Survey and Testing of Fur Trade Sites in Northeastern North Dakota (Ecozone #16), 1738-1861," was financed in part with Federal funds from the National Park Service under grant agreement #38-90-50177-2 with UND and administered by the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
_______________________

The fur trade was the commercial medium through which much of the early Euroamerican intrusion into North America was made. Through the fur trade Euroamericans and Native Americans had their first contact. These contacts, in turn, led to the opening of Indian lands to Euroamericans and associated developments. This is also true for the history of North Dakota. It was a fur trader, La Verendrye (aka Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Verendrye), and his men that were the first Euroamericans to set foot in 1738 on the lands later designated part of the state of North Dakota. Others followed in the latter part of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries. The documents these fur traders left behind form the earliest known written records pertaining to the region. Through these records we can learn much about the early commerce of the region that tied it to world markets, about the indigenous populations living in the area at the time, and the environment of the region before major changes caused by overhunting, agriculture, and urban development were made. This history ties many of us to the early people and interests of the region.

In terms of North Dakota history, the fur trade of northeastern North Dakota provided the context for some of the earliest Euroamerican intrusions into what was later to become the state of North Dakota. The trade along the lower Red River, as well as that along the Missouri River, was the first organized Euroamerican commerce within the bounds of the modern state. Fortunately, a fair number of written documents pertaining to the fur trade of northeastern North Dakota have been located and preserved for study. These documents provide a plethora of data on various historical subjects. They do not, however, provide a detailed accounting of all the activities related to the fur trade. For this we must seek other sources of data, such as archaeological sites. No doubt various remains were left behind by fur traders when they abandoned the region and under favorable conditions of traders when they abandoned the region and under favorable conditions of preservation should be present within the northeastern North Dakota. These remains would be of immense use in learning more about the lives and activities of fur traders and the Indians with whom they had contact. Until the present time no comprehensive study of the fur trade in northeastern North Dakota had been undertaken, nor any systematic attempt to correlate written information on the furt trade with archaeological remains. In an attempt to overcome these deficiencies the 1990 Fur Trade Site Project was initiated...

From Introduction of the project report
_______________________

A main goal of the project was to identify the locations of the various fur trade operations (of which there were many) in the Pembina area. There is limited documentation of the locations, and there has been much development of the area disturbing the original sites (not to mention many floods...)

Auger probes were used. The few items found were excavated to be studied further offsite, i.e., clay (kaolin) pipe fragments, bone fragments, ceramic doll parts, cut nails, glass and pottery sherds, brass buttons, ax heads, padlocks, brass bells, gun flints, arrow points, marbles, silverware, beads, and thimbles. So far, I have not found out what information was gleaned from these items, if any, at a later date, but hope to track that information down and share it here.

The project reports concludes saying it was "...designed as a preliminary study of the historical and archaeological data pertaining to the fur trade in northeastern North Dakota between 1738 and 1861." They go on to say that their reconnaissance survey findings greatly encouraged them to recommend further intensive archaeological testing. They feel that despite flooding and modern construction disturbances, using modern analytical techniques such as soil and chemical analysis, to name but two, could still reveal substantial information.

"It is hoped that the fur trade site leads, and insight provided by this project, will be used to guide future studies of this interesting and important topic in North Dakota history."

World Archives Project

I'm participating in the project shown in this video, and I highly encourage anyone reading this to do so, also.

It's so true what they say - the records we leave behind is all we finally are. Even the memories of those who love us eventually are gone.

Pembina Chippewa Métis Cemetery

After recently reading about a trip by a teacher and her students to the Pembina Metis Cemetery, I got in touch the instructor, Leslie Peltier.

I asked Leslie if she could share with me about the ties between Turtle Mountain and the Pembina area by answering the following questions:

1. Why is the Pembina Metis Cemetery important?
2. Does anyone have relatives buried there?
3. Does anyone have any biographical information and/or stories of people buried there?
4. I grew up with many Metis families, went to school with them, but didn't know they were Metis never hearing the term until many years later. I seriously doubt many Metis I knew really knew their own history. They were heavily integrated into our communities. Which is ironic, because after studying the history of our area, the Metis were the first and the majority in the Pembina area when it began being a settlement. Most Metis left, for various reasons, but some stayed. How do you see the legacy of the Metis people to the Pembina area?
5. Why did you choose to study about the Pembina Metis and/or the cemetery?

Their answers are below...

Dear Trish,

Thanks (Miigwech) for waiting for answers. The class is now over and the students are dispersed, doing other things this summer, but are still interested in the ongoing struggle to maintain our generational connections by ceremonies and grounds clean up as was done by our group on May 20, 2008 with tribal councilmen and Turtle Mt. Tribal dept. of Natural Resources. I spoke with the students and told them to answer your questions as they want. I will try now to do so.

1. The Pembina Chippewa Métis Cemetery is important as a direct line to our ancestry, as a part of our people’s gynecological history and to our cultural roots.

2. Yes, there are many Chippewa people here at Turtle Mt. Chippewa Reservation that can trace back to Pembina relatives 3-4 generations.

3. Such information would have to come from the elders memories. To do that and record it are another matter. It would be on an individual to individual family basis, family stories.

4. ...Yes it is ironic that the very people who worked so hard to make money for the big fur trade companies all moved on and were left penniless and unwanted, or ashamed to admit to being Indian. That is the one essential element that the faculty and students here at the Turtle Mt. Community College insisted on upholding in our research – that our sense of pride in being Chippewa extends to those ancestors buried there in Pembina and in all the other yet to be discovered places along the Red River cart trails extending from the Red River all the way across the present-day state of North Dakota. Today we teach that we (members of T Mt. Band of Chippewa) should have pride in our people’s knowledge of the land, the methods and techniques of the hunt and in our Indian customs.

5. Because there is so much unfinished and misleading information out there about us as a people. We also felt that a serious injustice has been done to our people that needed to be addressed. We studied it to uncover the truth and to look at the alternatives we have available to make wise decisions in the future if other burial sites are in peril both here on the reservation and off.

Hope this is what you wanted. Miigwech! Leslie

Background:

They are maintaining the cemetery now, showing respect by keeping the grass mowed and fixing the markers as needed. The tribe is also talking about sponsoring an archeological survey to verify grave locations and individuals' indentities in those graves.

Custody of the site was given to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa after an unsuccessful bid to make the area a state park by the Union Nationale Metisse, a Manitoba-based organization founded to preserve Metis culture. Earlier the same year, the group from Canada planted simple, wooden crosses to mark the graves of some of those buried at the site.

Controversy stirred in 2005, when the Union Nationale Metisse said members of Turtle Mountain weren’t taking proper care of the cemetery.

That’s not the case now, according to Brady Grant, the tribe’s natural resources director. For the past three years, he’s made the 300-mile roundtrip about six times a year to mow the grass and re-seed bare spots at the site.

Learning About the past

Leslie Peltier, who teaches Contemporary Indian Issues at the Turtle Mountain Community College, stood for the first time Tuesday at the cemetery’s edge. She offered tobacco — a sign of respect — as she stepped onto the site. It wasn’t until she glimpsed an eagle overhead that she said she felt their visit was the right thing to do, she said.

The visitors prayed and performed ceremonies of respect to honor the dead. A drum group from Turtle Mountain sang and prayed there as well.

Peltier and two of her students, Symone Morin and Alexis Zaste, visited the site as part of a class project.

“Since these are our ancestors, we decided to look into it. We didn’t know the history of it; I didn’t even know this was here,” Zaste said. Her class put together a presentation about the site, titled “Plowed Over,” and presented it to other students from tribal colleges in the state.

There are about 50 markers at the site on about two acres of land, but there’s an additional eight acres preserved. The additional acreage is covered by tall, unkempt grasses and possibly hides the remains of many more unidentified Metis.

Those in attendance talked about ways to improve the site, including adding a place for prayer and possibly planting trees.

Wilkie said the tribal council should fund an archaeological survey on the rest of the site.

“We need to take this back to the council and expand on it. I’m 85 years old, and I want to see the fruit of it come around,” she said.

Preserving the American Historical Record

PAHR (Preserving the American Historical Record Act) proposed to increase federal support for state and local archival records held by government agencies, historical societies, libraries, and related organizations. This initiative would establish a program of formula-based grants to states for re-grants and statewide services to support preservations and use of historical records. The program, to be administered by the National Archives, will provide a total of $50 million per year nationwide. Each state would receive a portion of these funds for redistribution to organizations within its borders. This program would be in addition to the existing national grants program within the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

How can you help?

Contact your Representative in Congress and urge them to sign on as an original sponsor of PAHR. Write a few sentences telling him or her how PAHR would help his or her constituents — you! (Tell them how vital it is to have records preserved and available to the public.) Also, spread the word about this action alert!

Time is critical. Deadline for action is Saturday, May 10.

Faxing your Representative is the preferred method of communication. The Humanities Advocacy Network maintains a website with all of the contact information for legislators.

Further information about PAHR, including the bill, background information, and the amount of funding for each state can be found here...

Town Ephemera

A school certificate, signed by (among others), Duncan Cameron...



A sale bill for an auction of the Hugh Griffith farm in 1916...

Local Museum/Society Wins Scholarship

The Kittson County Historical Society has been chosen as one of the 6 pilot sites for an AASLH Small Museum Scholarship.

This is a fantastic opportunity for the staff and volunteers of our local historical society and museum. Congratulations!

Featured

This website has been featured on the Family Matters genealogy blog this week, and has driven a lot of new traffic through here. Welcome to those of you who have just discovered us, and I hope you will come back soon. There are a lot of stories to explore in the archives, which you can easily search using the search bar on top, or the labels, available on the right-hand sidebar towards the bottom.

If you haven't seen it yet, I encourage you to take a look at the amazing slideshow in which we were featured. It does a great job of demonstrating how genealogy has radically changed due to increased availability of records and ways we can record them, present them, and share them online...