1882

 H. A. Laughlin of Ransom County played a prominent role in the early history of the county. He was invited to speak at the Sheldon Old Settlers Picnic on July 27, 1907. It was a lengthy talk, and I’ve selected that portion where he tells of first coming to the county.

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     On the 26th day of January, 1882 I first saw North Dakota,

arriving in Kindred that morning via Wahpeton, with H. A. Palmer, who still lives near Lisbon. We unloaded a carload of Van Brunt seeders and started the next morning on foot for Lisbon forty miles away, as there were no teams going through. It was a bright, beautiful morning. They told us to take the old government road, and that there were three hotels or places where travelers were kept.  

     These were the only three houses along that forty mile road. About 10 o’clock a dark cloud appeared in the northwest and we were soon in the middle of a genuine blizzard. At French’s they could not keep us, so we tramped on to Porter’s, facing the blizzard nine miles. Mrs. Porter could not give us even a cup of tea, as they were entirely out of provisions. I asked her if she could spare a little heat from her stove.

     We rested awhile, when fortunately a four horse sleigh drove up loaded with merchandise for Joseph Goodman’s store at Sheldon. It was driven by Charlie Smart and Richard Jackson; we got permission to hang on to their sleigh. There was only room on one small box of goods for one to sit on, and as Mr. Palmer had been sick I gave him that privilege. A bundle of brooms stood upright in one rear corner, and by clinging to a broomstick I could keep my head in the shelter of the brooms and stand on the rear end of the runner.

     Once we were lost on the prairie and headed for the sandhills southeast, but Charlie took to the snow ahead of the lead horses and found the trail by intuition. He wore a wolf skin coat and cap, which may have helped him. 

     Arriving in Sheldon about five o’clock the boys stopped in front of the hotel kept by Robert Grieve. It was new and had two blocks of square timber for steps. I got one foot up one step and could not induce the other one to follow, and fell down, unconscious with cold and exhaustion. Mr Grieve and Mr. Smart carried me in and seated me near a good hard coal fire.

     I could not have been unconscious more than two or three minutes, for the boys moved very quickly. Then followed a couple of hours of severe pain, like the toothache in every nerve. Tramping through the snow all day without nourishment was a little too much for me. I felt the circulation stopping and the dull sleep of death, knew that I was freezing and used every possible exertion to keep the blood coursing. The last sensation was one of quiet restful sleep. The storm was so fierce we could not see the lights in the store twenty rods away.

     We slept upstairs and the next morning the snow was an inch deep all over the bed. Our hands were so badly frozen that the landlord had to assist us in dressing. It was forty-four degrees below zero. We arrived in Lisbon that day by the stage driven by Thomas Eastman via Bonnersville and Shenford.