"OUR PIONEERS" The Wing Area r rvjifw^' . M "My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. Proverbs 1:8 $ f 18D2-197G F Our pibheers; the Vihg. area I892-I976. • W57 08 7z c.l NORTH DAKOTA STATE LIBRARY BISMARCK 58505 CT 1 8 19>f5 u "(•' ti; r.Arr.'t' ; NORTH DAKOTA STATE LIBRARY i. ''Uf.; /-rrij:!,,, ;' ; 3 3105 00040 6056 r n DEDICATED, TO "OUR PIONEERS - WING AREA"; '' - ' .,-••.- This is my Story, This is my Song, "' ••• -•• .; . L To show love and honor to pioneers strong. They struggled along Through visions of horror Of Drought and Depression. They fought strife and sorrow Built hope for the 'morrow. Forget them? No, never! ' ' We'll love them forever! —Edna Eide Helgeson FOREWORD To the people of the Wing Area and to those former residents and relatives and friends who so generously gave of their time and mat­ erial, to make this as comprehensive and complete a history as pos­ sible, we extend our Thanks. Since perfection is not for any one of us, please excuse errors, and no doubt, omissions. It was the intention of this committee to present a history of the pioneers of this area, of those families who were established in this area before 1925. The limit of our area would be that which is now the Wing Public School District # 28. Some one said we are 25 years too late in this venture, you have lost so much in that time, but, it is time it was being done. So, this is the result of the combined efforts of all. We Thank Our Pioneers, and all who helped to bring them closer. Wing Bicentennial Committee The Committee: WINB, II. DlUL 58484 Ann Schwartz, Secretary Delia Koski, Treasurer Lindy L. Lein North Dakota Stst-i Library Harris Crimmins Harold Williams Bismarck, N. D. 58505 Emma Olson, Chairperson f .u)S'l "OUR PIONEERS" 6 27* Wing Area TOWNSHIPS (ANDREWS) CANFIELD In 1958 a project was started by the Homemakers Club to write the history of the Canfield Township area. The following information is given by S„ L. Jordahl of Marcus, Iowa. Permission was given for this material to be used in part or as a whole for the history of Canfield. Dated: April 6, 1958 The first homesteaders came to Canfield in 1900 or 1901. Some came as late as 1905. I shall give a list of Jewish homesteaders first. These were shipped out from Chicago sweatshops by a Jewish Association in New York City. These people were furnished credit for all they needed for 5 years at jfo interest. Here follows the names and section in which they homesteaded: Harry Weinberg Sec. 4 Bernstein Sec. 26 Harry Weinberg & Marcovich 26 son Ab " 30 Kremenetsky & Jewish Cemetery " 30 Sons 24 These are Norwegians: S. L. Jordahl Sec. 10 Jim Krogstad Sec. 30 Ole Wold 1! 8 Ole Olson 11 22 Rud Jenson II 8 John Howe 11 4 0. K. Olson It 8 A. Lien 11 22 A. N. Strand II 8 Ben Larson 11 24 Jo W. Olson II 30 Mrs. Mo Fjelde ti 20 The following may be classified as Americans: L, J. Grunan b6Cc 6 Fred Johnson Sec. 2 Henry Mowder II 6 George Uricks 11 2 Charlie King II 6 Charlie Our 11 2, Art Worsham II 6 Mrs. Church 11 12 Archie Patterson II 4 Irene Our 11 12 -3- , U" ' i^' imm mm ,H-*n 0 ffr** 7& Fyc-t/-.irvCo/^ -4- John Standly iec 4 Clarabelle Our Sec. 12 Wm„ Standly ii 10 Peterson it 14 Bert Parks I! 14 George Lindsey tt 14 Albert Bros. II 28 C. F. Lindsey it 14 John Grunley II 10 Melvin Hanson ti 28 About half of the above came from Iowa, the other half came from' Minnesota, South Dakota and eastern North Dakota. All the homesteaders came by railroad, either to Wilton or Menoken. The early history of Canfield would not be complete without making mention of the great improvement caused by the building of the Pingree- Wilton branch of the N.P. Railroad in 1910 and put into operation in 1911. This gave Canfield closer markets, as well as a telephone exchange at Regan. This added motive for the consolidated school built in 19l6e The Canfield Ranch was started by Mr. Canfield. He died and was buried on the Ranch. Then Mr. Andrews became owner. Later the ranch was bought by Louis McMunn. At the time I came in 1903, a Mr. L. H. Ong had bought the ranch and cattle. A good cow could be bought at $25 at this time and a good fresh cow and calf for $30. So, it was not a gold mine. Mr. Ong soon had a large herd of sheep (about 3000). Besides improving and building large sheds, he built a modern blacksmith shop and hired D. C. Bailey, a master mechanic, to run it. A good share of the time Herby Bailey also was employed as blacksmith. Besides, Mr. Ong induced a young man, Axel Lundberg to build a general store at the ranch. This store continued until 1912. Mr. Ong was at this time, also carrying mail three times a week for the home post office, at that time named Andrews. Some time later, through some interference by local politicians and at Washington, the post office was moved to Section 30. But, after a year the Ranch had a new post office. This time it was named Canfield. Mr. Ong was also president of the newly organized school, then located in section 19 and later moved to section 7. Mr., Ong, also built the first telephone in Canfield, from the ranch to section 14. A short time later a cooperative farmers' company was organized that built a line from section 4 south and south and west to Regan and north to Alta. About that time Canfield Township was orginized, 1912 or 1913, and named Canfield by C. F. Lindsey and S. L. Jordahl. The arrangements were made and a consol- idated school was built by John Skei in 19l6n The plat (1912) shows approximately the old Indian trail from Fort Lincoln to Devils Lake0 Many signs of early Indian occupation, but noen better than those found on S„ L„ Jordahl's building lot and in the hills back of the buildings, may be seen todaye Here are the remains of about 15 teepees and a large tent about 30 feet across,, HISTORY OF HARVESTING AND THRESHING IN NORTH DAKOTA SINCE about 1890 By David TRygg There has been a wonderful improvement in the method of harvesting and thresh­ ing in the last 50 years. In the nineties all of the harvesting was done with the reaper and self binder. The grain was either stscked or remained in the shock until threshing time. The threshing, in those days, was done with a horse­ power threshing machine. Fourteen horses hitched in pairs went around and around the horsepower which furnished the power for the threshing machine. The thresher in those days had no self feeder and no straw blower, and no elevator and weigher to handle the threshed grain. It was hand fed by two men who changed off at the job about every 20 minutes. There was also one man at either side of the feed­ er to cut the bands on the bundles as they were pitched from the stack. The straw was carried away about 20 feet from the rear of the machine by a straw carrier while two men kept busy stacking away the straw. The grain came out of a spout at the bottom and side of the separator into half bushels measures, which were counted and tallied automatically in what was called a tally box. The half bushels were emptied into sacks and loaded into wagons and hauled to the granary. Just before or at the turn of the century the grain header came into use to re­ place the binder to a consideragle extent, especially in the wheat fields. It was pushed ahead of 4 or 6 horses and guided by a driver and a heavy steering wheel. The grain was elevated into what was called a header box, drawn alongside the head­ er by a team of horses. The grain was stacked in stacks about 25 feet long in such a way that the threshing machine could be pulled between them and threshed the same as bundle grain, except no band cutters were needed. Along about this time the steam engine came into use to replace the cumbersome horsepower, which had to be staked to the ground and while moving from one setting to another all the accessor­ ies had to be loaded into a wagon and hauled by team. The steam engine was a wonderful improvement, as all that was needed to transmit the power from the engine to the threshing machine was a long belt from the engine to the thresher. In most, cases the straw was used for fuel. The straw was caught in a rack behind the thresher and hauled to the engine. It did take considerable help, though, to keep this ourfit going, as there had to be one man looking after the engine, one fireman to keep up steam and a man and team to haul water, as the engine took about 45 barrels of water a day. Also, one boy to keep the fireman supplied with straw. About the time the steamer came into use, the straw blower, the self feeder the grain elevator and the weigher were added to the threshing machine.