Historic Locomotives

Bonanzaville houses a historic locomotive used for many years on the Northern Pacific. Number 684, a 4-4-0 configuration, built by the New York Locomotive Works in 1883. Everytime I walk on the grounds of Bonanzaville I stop to take a look at it. This was the type of engine that opened up the West and would have pulled the first trains through my hometown of Sheldon, onward to Lisbon, ending at Streeter. One source says about 25,000 of these engines were built by various companies.

The signage reads, “it was designed for both passenger and freight service. It was one of eleven purchased at that time. Each locomotive costing $10,500 delivered at St. Paul, Minn. Number 684 was used in main line service until 1928, when it was given general re-conditioning and on September 12, 1928 was sold to the Nezperce and Idaho railway…” NP found her abandoned in a field in 1948 and donated the engine to Bonanzaville.

My model is mighty colorful, while a working engine would not have appeared so nice. Note the bell-shaped spark-arresting smokestack.

Similar to Bonanzaville's

My model of a 4-4-0

The Hunter Times

Yesterday -Aug 17, 2019 - was for volunteering at The Hunter Times for the Bonanzaville Pioneer Days. I'm working on a story to weave different facets of history I learned from the experience.


Working at the linotype

Custer came in out of the rain

Allan Burke explains "things" to onlookers

Outside, The Hunter Times

A Dozen Roses

A dozen red roses fell into Mary's arms today, August 15, 2019.

Why I liked WHEN MONEY GREW ON TREES

Part 2 - Why I liked WHEN MONEY GREW ON TREES: A. B. Hammond and the Age of the Timber Barons

There’ve been a lot of ruthless, unscrupulous robber barons in our country’s history, and A. B. Hammond, while lesser known than people like Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Morgan, stole natural resources with wild abandon. He and his partners had received the contract to build the Northern Pacific railroad in Montana, and in the book I learned how much wood laying track ties and building bridges would take and how with no mind to conserve he started taking timber. The estimated number of railroad ties per mile of track amounted to 2,640 ties fashioned from thirty-three trees per mile. Some laws were on the books, but these he ignored as he stole timber off public lands to finish his project. He began acquiring private lands and clear-cut them. It was said he was the worst enemy a redwood tree ever had. 

Other authors and books have added thought to the conservation movement, but I doubt whether the definitive book has yet been written about all the straws sucking oil out of North Dakota ground. In such a short few years they have marred the pristine view we native North Dakotans loved, but most importantly this activity forestalls the development of practical alternative energy sources. Arguments arise in support: look at how many jobs are created by this activity. (that would be the Captains of Industry argument). Yes, in the short term I would agree, but I believe global warming is real and fossil fuels contribute to the problem. Alternative energy needs to be in the forefront.

I think of many other endangered components of this life we share on our little planet: national parks, wildlife, waterways, endangered species, plastic afloat in ocean waters, and (what have I forgotten…). It takes a book like WHEN MONEY GREW ON TREES to make me think about such things.

When Money Grew on Trees

Recently I remembered the book WHEN MONEY GREW ON TREES which so impressed me that I wanted to open and read from it again. One of the benefits of being a book reviewer for the Western Writers of America is that an occasional good one like this crosses my desk and I get to place it on my own shelves. My Santa Fe “boss” favored me with this volume of history about a robber baron who stole from the nation’s timber acreage. I certainly wasn’t going to discard it after making my positive assessment. Prior to our move from Mandan to Fargo I’d discarded some of my book collection; now, when I searched and could not find it, I began questioning my sanity for disposing it. After several searches, I gave up. A few days later and even without the help of St. Anthony, it showed up in the middle of a prominent shelf when I wasn’t looking for it. I believe I will blame this episode on my eyeglass prescription. But what about this book that appealed to me so? Read my thoughts on FaceBook tomorrow.

Oldest and Youngest

Our oldest and our youngest grandkids. He, a grad student at Kansas State; she, not in school yet.

Emmer Wheat

EMMER WHEAT

On Saturday morning I returned to the German from Russia convention to attend one more session — Emmer Wheat: Gift from Russia. Lowell Kaul from Harvey ND presented the topic and raises some on his farm, probably more out of curiosity than profit, because as he told us he has a bin full with no place to market it. Its history fascinated me, especially after I learned they started domesticating it 10,000 years ago. Some call it the wheat of the Bible. Presently it doesn’t meet with favor for milling because the husks are tough to separate from the kernels, But never fear since scientists at NDSU and elsewhere have placed it under scrutiny. German-Russian immigrants brought the wheat with them from the old country and they ate it, hulls and all. We were told millennials keep looking for pure and unmodified food products and the pure strain Emmer holds promise for that market. Someone asked if you can make beer from it, and the tongue-in-cheek answer came back, “Emmer beer built the pyramids.” He passed a bag holding a sample of it, and I “pinched” a few kernels.