Where Did That Name Come From?

 

In our estimation television programming suffers for quality, except for public television, namely the Prairie Public station in this area. They produce a lot of thoughtful and satisfying viewing for our household. One program that always gets checked out on Friday nights is Austin City Limits as well as other music shows that follow it. Recently the one called Songs at the Center featured a singer/songwriter with the interesting name of Erin Enderlin.

     I’ve heard stories that Enderlin’s city name refers to the progress of building the Soo Line and is simply an alteration from its one time “end-of-the line.” So if it was such a unique made-up name, it probably does not exist elsewhere. Wrong! 

     A family member named Dean A. Enderlin posted a lengthy article in 2000 titled “The Origin and Meaning of the Enderlin Family Name.”   He concludes the name is Germanic in origin and literally means “The Line of Ender.” Elsewhere we can find where a man named Henry Enderlin arrived in South Carolina in 1738, and the family grew to the point where Family Ancestry found 42 Enderlin families living in New York. Someone in the early days must have thought it was the right name for this new town. Furthermore, if you want to hear see and hear Erin Enderlin sing, find her videos on Youtube.

     We’ve written before about Ransom County’s being named after General Ransom which seemed appropriate in 1873 at the time of the county’s formation. Towns sprung up and all needed an official name for post office purposes. Here’s a bit of name history. For instance the county seat Lisbon was founded in 1880 by Joseph L. Colton who named it after Lisbon, New York, his wife’s hometown.

     Sheldon came into being with E. E. Sheldon’s purchase of the land and having it surveyed and platted in 1881. He never lived there, instead maintained his residence in Michigan. Sheldon only held title to the land for a year or so before selling it for a probable profit.

     Mail to McLeod was originally addressed to Sandoun for the many sand dunes in the area. It was renamed McLeod for local realtor J. J. McLeod. Many other town sites have been identified on maps through the years: Elliott, Englevale, Owego, Buttzville, Jenksville, Plymouth, Ruscoe, Brockway, and maybe more. Some still exist, each has its own history. We don’t have room to get into more depth on them but we know somebody had reason for giving them their name.

     A question arose after the recent article I wrote as to what I meant by calling the old railroad engines 4-4-0s. It refers to the wheel arrangement where the front four wheels of the undercarriage pivoted to help guide the engine into curves followed by four powered wheels to propel the engine with no trailing wheels. As engines developed many other configurations came into being. One of the biggest was the Union Pacific’s Big Boy engine with a 4-8-8-4 wheel arrangement.

     At any rate the 4-4-0s had quite a history in the United States. This region developed rapidly after railroad tracks reached into the countryside. The photo displays my model of one of them that was commonly used to pull trains filled with people, livestock, merchandise, and machines that allowed towns and farms to grow.

     About 25,000 engines of this type were built. In 1882 to demonstrate the strength and safety of the new railroad trestle over the Missouri River at Bismarck the Northern Pacific Company parked eight of them. The bridge held.

     Two 4-4-0s sat parked head to head in 1869 when the golden spike was driven at the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad line. In the movie The Great Locomotive Chase a 4-4-0 engine was seized by Union volunteers to raid and destroy Confederate infrastructure. The Bonanzaville Museum in West Fargo displays one built in 1883 that remained in service until 1945.

     I’ve not been a railroad buff except for being interested in some of its history, and only recently I came into possession of a model engine which clearly illustrates the wheel arrangement. The accompanying picture of it happens to be featured on the front cover of my latest book titled Faint Echoes. They will cost $24.50 which includes tax and postage. If interested in ordering one, email me at lynn.bueling@gmail.com.