Historic Homesteads: Centennial Farms & Ranches of North Dakota 2021-22

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BOOTH FARM

HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

NOVEMBER 2021

started 139 years ago SUBMITTED BY DOLORES BOOTH

SAWYER -- The Booth farm got its start in July of 1882 with the arrival of John Francis “Frank” Booth from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He and his brother Ed had helped the Bill Wilson family make the trip north with their teams of oxen, horses and 25 head of cattle. John Francis Booth married Mary Ann Wilson in 1887. In 1905 he wrote a testimonial letter to a real estate agent about the Sawyer area telling that 1882 was the start of any white men making their home in the Mouse River Valley. The nearest railroad was Northern Pacific in Bismarck as well as the nearest post office. With only the willingness to work John owned three quarters of land by 1903. John F. Booth also had a firstclass set of buildings, a good house, a barn, a granary, two machine sheds and other buildings. The family raised raspberries, strawberries, currants, apples and plums. There were 95 head of cattle along with many horses. There was no better place in the country than in North Dakota! When the Soo Line railroad wanted to pass the farm John without hesitation gave his land freely without expecting payment. John Francis Booth wasn’t old enough to file on a quarter section of land for a homestead. He squatted on a 160-acre plot. After living on it for 14 months he was allowed to purchase it from the government for about $1.25 an acre. Later he owned a tree claim of 160 acres. A tree claim is where you had to plant trees and keep them alive for five years. John Francis Booth built the barn from logs off the farm and cut them into boards in a moveable sawmill. He built all the buildings and put brick in all the outside walls of the house for insulation. In 1908 he had a hot water furnace installed. Vance Dewey Booth took over the farm when John Francis died in 1926. Vance married Alma Schoenwald in 1921. They had five children. Vance added electricity and water to the buildings in the early 1930s. Vance was one of the first ones in the area to do this.

Submitted Photo

The John Francis “Frank” Booth family is shown in this 1905 photo. The farm started in 1882. From the left are Charlie, Ed, Verne, Mary Ann, Vance, Frank, Pearl and Lawrence.

Submitted Photos

LEFT: Dolores Booth, second from left, is shown in this October 2012 photo with her son, John Booth, and daughters, Susan Hill and Debra Sanderson. RIGHT: Alma Booth, second from right, is shown with her children. Front row, from the left, are Don Booth, Ed Booth, Alma and Lila Schlecht. Back row, from the left, are Cecil Booth and Robert Booth. Lila, of Longview, Wash., is the only one still living.


HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

NOVEMBER 2021 In the early 1930s a man was looking for work as a plasterer. He stopped and asked for food. They hired him to put a 10-inch molding along the ceiling and a diamond shape in the middle of the ceiling. These are still there today. At that time when the kids came to visit the farm they told Lila she lived in a palace. Robert Willard Booth married Dolores Ann Hanson in 1929 and took over the farm in 1950. They raised Charolais cross cattle, wheat and other small grains. In 1960, 1970 and 1980 the farm was awarded the Soil Conservation Award with pictures of the farm each time. In 1954 Robert bought the Larson farm consisting of 200 acres to the north across the Mouse River. There were 40 tillable acres and the rest timber and pasture land.

All three generations of Booths did their part in community affairs by serving on the school board, township boards and elevator boards in their respective years. Robert and Dolores have three children. Susan was born in 1950, Debra in 1952 and John in 1954. Robert died on April 7, 2010. All the buildings ever built are still in use today including the house. In 1982 the farm celebrated its 100th year reunion. About 150 family members gathered at the farm over the Fourth of July eating and talking about the past. Today, Dolores lives in the original farm house. Susan and Jeff Hill, and Debra and Bruce Sanderson also live on the farm. John and Jan Booth live in Grand Junction, Colorado.

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR This is the sixth annual year for the award-winning Historic Homesteads including Centennial Farms & Ranches of North Dakota, a publication of The Minot Daily News and The Pierce County Tribune in Rugby. This publication has undergone a slight change this year. Previous publications were in magazine form. This year it is a tabloid publication and will be included in Weekend Edition of The Minot Daily News. Many farms and ranches in our state have remained in the same families for many years. Some have been purchased by friends or other individuals. But all are part of the great history of North Dakota and its agriculture. We would like to thank numerous people and the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame who have contributed and allowed us to share their stories and photos in this 2021-2022 edition of Historic Homesteads. We hope you enjoy it. We look forward to tell more stories about Historic Homesteads of our state in future editions.

Eloise Ogden SEND YOUR HISTORICAL FARM OR RANCH STORIES, PHOTOS

Is your farm or ranch in northwest or north central North Dakota 50 years old or more? If so, please send us a story about your farm or ranch along with photos (not less than 200psi resolution). Email is preferred. Please send your information and photos to eogden@minotdailynews.com as soon as possible. Be sure to include your name, city and a daytime phone number. Your farm or ranch may be selected for the next edition of the Historic Homesteads: Centennial Farms & Ranches of North Dakota magazine.

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HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

BOHL FARM turns 100 By SUE SITTER

I had four sisters, but one of them died,” John added. Staff Writer John remembered using horses ssitter@thepiercecountytribune.com to cultivate cornfields when he was The ancestors of John and Alice young. “I hated that. I asked my dad Bohl came with a wave of German to get a tractor,” he said. “Later, he immigrants from Russia in the late got a tractor.” John would eventually take over 1800s to establish homesteads in his father’s farm. the Dakota Territory. In 1958, Andrew and MagdalePeter Bohl, John’s great-grandfather, settled with his family in na celebrated their 25th wedding Morton County. His family had em- anniversary with a dinner dance at igrated from Ukraine. Some of his Balta. It was there John met Alice children moved and settled in other Eisenzimmer, New Rockford, who parts of the state when they grew had attended with her father and up. Nicholas Bohl, John’s grand- brother to provide music for the father, settled in Pierce County’s event. John and Alice married in 1960. Jefferson Township, southwest of They settled in the white clapboard Rugby. “My grandfather established his house where John had grown up, farm in 1921,” John Bohl said. Alice where they reared their children, nodded, adding, “The contract for Curtis and Carla. John and Alice deed said, ‘Nicholas Bohl, Novem- still live in the home. A matching white barn and outbuildings stand ber of 1921’.” Nicholas and his wife, Magda- nearby, along with a structure forlena Burkhard Bohl, had nine chil- merly used as a milking parlor. dren. Nicholas would divide his “The house has been added onto, but it’s the house John’s dad built,” farmland amongst his four sons. “My grandpa was farming south Alice said. “When we got married sixty of (St. John) Blumenfeld Church, about 12 miles south,” John said. years ago, they used to milk with “That’s the home place. The oldest buckets. They had milking mawas Xavier, then Pete, then Jack (Ja- chines. But I learned how to milk cob) then Andrew, my dad. Grand- by hand, too,” Alice said. Carla Bohl Zunich, who came pa bought farms for all of them. He bought one for Pete, west of here a from Thompson with her daughter, couple of miles, then Jack stayed Callie to visit her parents, rememat his place. First, my dad stayed bered, “There was always somethere, then he switched with Jack thing to do, whether it was driving because he wanted to raise cattle. a grain truck or helping to milk So, they switched and raised cattle, cows. Then, they would plant new trees, so I would help with the trees Jack and Dad.” “We had grain farming and cat- and weed the trees, or work in the tle,” John said of his family farm. garden,” she said. I would help my “We had wheat, oats, barley and mom. When we played, we made dirt roads in the garden. I spent flax sometimes.” many hours up in the hayloft with The Bohls raised dairy cattle. “Dad married Anna Garman. the kitties.” “I didn’t know anything else at There were three Garmans married to three Bohls,” John added, noting the time. That was all I knew,” Zuthe families had known each other nich said of farm life. “I probably started driving earlier than most from the Balta area. John went to the Brazil School, a kids.” “I put her in a car with a straight one-room country school. After finishing at Brazil School, John said he stick shift,” Alice Boh said, smiling. “It was an old International pick “went right to work on the farm. My up in the middle of a hay field. dad needed me.” “I’m the only son in the family. There was nothing to hit,” Zunich

NOVEMBER 2021

Submitted Photo

Nicholas Bohl, right, and Magdalena Bohl, left, stand on the front porch of their farmhouse with their daughter, Johanna Bohl Kuntz.

Sue Sitter/PCT

BOTTOM LEFT: The Bohl Family poses in the kitchen of their farmhouse. From top left are Carla Bohl Zunich, Alice Bohl and John Bohl. A photo of Curtis Bohl, who died in a farming accident, hangs on the wall to the right.

Submitted Photo

BOTTOM RIGHT: Andrew Bohl, left and his wife Anna Garman Bohl, pose for a photo on their wedding day in 1933. laughed. Both Zunich and her brother, Curtis, attended Little Flower Catholic School and Rugby High School. Alice said over the years the family “got more and more cows. Then, when Curtis came home from college, he wanted to milk. Then, we added a milking parlor.” Curtis Bohl had studied farm and ranch management at Bismarck State College. He had planned to take over the family farm. Zunich studied business at the University of North Dakota, married her husband, Brent and settled in Thompson with their two daughters, Callie and Ciara. As the John Bohl Farm neared its 100th year, challenges and tragedy came. First, the creamery that bought and processed the Bohls’

milk closed. “It was the oil boom and they couldn’t find drivers,” John said. Then, in 2019, Curtis Bohl was killed in a farm machinery accident. The Bohls sold their cattle and rented out their land for farming. But the couple remains at their home place, keeping mementos and fond memories from a life of farming. They have a plaque awarded in 1993 by the Pierce County Soil Conservation District in recognition of their “responsible farming practices.” The award came at the same time the Bohls received an aerial photo of their farmstead. The photo hangs framed in their home. Palm fronds braided by Curtis Bohl ring the photo. “He got those on Palm Sunday,” Alice Bohl said. “He

would make little tiny braids with tweezers.” “I’ve always liked to milk,” Alice Bohl said. “We milked cows at about 6 a.m. and at 6 p.m.” “And I have chickens. I take care of my chickens and my garden. We have fresh eggs all the time,” Alice said. “I baked an angel food cake with fresh eggs,” Alice added, taking a cake from her refrigerator. “This is Charles Repnow’s recipe.” Carla smiled. “I was telling Callie today’s the start of deer hunting season, so even when I was in college and even after I was married, I would come home to help with chores during hunting weekend so Curtis could go hunting with his cousins. So, yes, there’s always something to do when it comes to farming.”


NOVEMBER 2021

HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

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Barn now serving fourth generation family SUBMITTED BY STEVE AND DELL RAE HAUSAUER OF KIEF

Submitted Photos

TOP: The barn on the Hausauer farm was built in 1933. It was painted white for many years. MIDDLE: The Hausauer barn was painted red in 2001. BOTTOM RIGHT: Steve and Dell Rae Hausauer are shown in front of the barn. It was recently painted again.

Our sturdy barn, built in 1933, is located in Granville Township of Sheridan County. The barn was built during the Depression and drought of the dirty 1930s. My grandfather, Edward Hausauer, along with neighbors, worked hard at building many big barns in the area. I once asked my grandmother what it was like in the Depression of the 1930s. Her reply was “we were so poor that we didn’t know that there was a Depression!” My two aunts, Frieda (1920) and Edna (1921), who were the oldest of six siblings, shared stories of the building project. My dad, Albert, was 6 years old. Part of the barn was built with used lumber from a barn that had no foundation. Frieda, age 13, had the task of pulling nails from a used barn wood. Edna cooked the meals while Grandmother Lena cared for her infant son Wally (1933), plus sons Albert (1927), Arnold (1925) and Edwin (1923). After the new white barn was done, they had one barn dance in the barn’s hay loft. The Johnny Feil Band played for the celebration. Pies and doughnuts were made and sold from the south side of the lean to. Thereafter, the barn loft was filled with hay for the dairy cows. A tall cement silo was put up in 1945. My parents, Albert and Marie, took over the farm in 1954. I have one sister, Deb Volk, and two brothers, Ed and Jim. We milked dairy cows until 1969, the year my older sister started college. The stanchions were removed and farrowing crates installed to raise pigs. When I went to college 1974, the pigs and crates were sold. The barn was converted to a calving barn for my parents’ beef herd. My father passed away in May 1985 and mother moved to town. We, Steve and Dell Rae, moved to the farm in April 1986 and are now the fourth generation. We have four daughters, Calissa, Kayla, Ashley and Jacy, and families including eight grandchildren. We use the barn for calving season, storage, a section for horse tack, grooming horses and barn cats. Our beloved barn is a family gathering place for the grandchildren, cousins, and visitors. It is the center of activities for all social events on our farm. Our barn has been referred to the “pet barn” with memories and pictures of enjoyment! The barn has had structural improvements over the years. Cement reinforcement on two sides, some windows were removed and a few replaced, electrical updates, the white barn was painted red in 2001, new tin roof in 2001 and new cement entrances 2011. November of 2020, the silo was taken down. We recently hand painted the barn with nine gallons of oil base paint. We rented a man lift to reach the peaks. It is costly to maintain old buildings, but our barn is a huge asset to our working farm. Our family is proud of our strong 88-year-old red barn.


HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

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NOVEMBER 2021

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HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

NOVEMBER 2021

ND Cowboy Hall of Fame reaches statewide, other states By ELOISE OGDEN

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HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

Page 8

NOVEMBER 2021

Submitted Photo

The Martell Ranch is shown in the late ‘30s/early ‘40s.

Charles Franklin Martell: A North Dakota pioneer

Charles Franklin Martell is in front of the homestead cabin in this circa 1908/ 1910 photo.

Branding is being done on the Martell Ranch in this 1910 photo.

Submitted Photo

Charles and Lila Martell family ranched in western ND

Submitted Photo

In 1908, a young man left his family dairy farm in New York going west to fulfill his dream in western North Dakota. Charles Martell arrived with nothing, worked for his uncles and was on his own by 1914. He established a ranch headquarters known as “Horse Camp,” running several hundred head of horses and cattle. Martell learned to identify and purchase strong breeding

stock and expertly break horses. The 1920s saw local horse markets declining, but Martell found new profitable markets for local horses in New York. As farming practices became more mechanized the horse market again declined, so he shifted his focus to cattle. Martell’s ranch grew to 3,000 acres where he ran over 200 head of cattle and raised hay and wheat.

Martell provided numerous opportunities for employment giving many their start, paying good wages and sharing his expertise. He was respected and admired for his generosity, honesty, skill and knowledge of animals. Martell contributed and facilitated much of the development of McKenzie County. Instrumental in getting roads

built in McKenzie County and postal and railroad service established, Martell also facilitated the establishment of a John Deere dealership and grain elevator in Charbonneau. Martell and his wife, Lila, were honored with the Dakota Territory Centennial Homesteaders Award in 1961. A founding member of the McKenzie County Grazing


HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

NOVEMBER 2021

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Submitted Photos

TOP: This is the Martell Ranch in 1956. Submitted Photo BOTTOM: In the early years of ranching in North Dakota, Charles Martell ran several head of hors- Vic Christensen was the son of pioneer ranchers. es and cattle, then shifted his focus to cattle. Association, his understanding of good grazing practices proved useful during his long tenure as director. Prior to his death he was helping establish a museum to preserve the history of McKenzie County. Ben Johnston, (NDCHF inductee in 2015), broke horses for Martell. Andrew Johnston, (NDCHF inductee in 2006) and Fifty Years in the Saddle author, was a friend and supporter. Martell’s investigation and single-handed pursuit

of a pervasive group of rustlers ultimately enabled the state’s attorney to put six in state prison in 1919. (Story published in North Dakota Horizons magazine.) A benefactor of Home on the Range and other charities, Martell created and self-funded the C. F. Martell Memorial Foundation; a self-perpetuating educational fund operating since 1962, assisting thousands of disadvantaged youth. His legacy

endures through the C. F. watermark Martell Family Endowment at the Fort Buford State Historic Site/ Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center. Martell was born in 1885 and died in 1966. He was inducted in the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in the Pre-1940s Ranching category in 2019. Ranching by the Martell family in North Dakota ended with the untimely death of Charles F. Martell

Jr., Charles and Lila Martell’s only son. The Martell Ranch, about 12 miles east of Charbonneau, is now owned and operated by Jesse Monson. Martell’s livestock brand was a C lazy F. The brand is still in use today and registered to the grandchildren of Mathias Koch, a friend and ranch foreman for more than 20 years on the Martell’s ranch. --Information from North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame

Christensen family lived on Figure Four Ranch

Vic Christensen was the son of pioneer ranchers Hans and Johanna Christensen. The Christensen family arrived in Dakota Territory at Fort Lincoln in the 1870s. They moved to a Dunn County site in the 1880s and then to the Figure Four Ranch near Fort Berthold Reservation in McKenzie County. Initially, the Figure Four was principally a horse ranch. Vic was born in 1895 and attended the University of North Dakota and the University of Minnesota where he earned a law degree. He then returned to the family ranch and, upon the death of his father, took over the operation 30 miles north of Killdeer. In addition to land holdings in Dunn County, the Figure Four also leased land on the Fort Berthold Reservation where Vic led the annual big lease roundup. Following World War I the price of horses dropped and the Figure Four became a cattle ranching operation. It became known as one of the finest cattle operations in the state. The Christensens maintained a home on the ranch and in Watford City. Vic became known as “The Flying Cowboy” because he often used a small plane to travel between Watford City and the ranch. Vic became president of the North Dakota State Cattlemen’s Association. He died in 1953. He was inducted in the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in the Pre-1940s Ranching category in 1998. In more recent years the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation) on the Fort Berthold Reservation purchased the historic Figure Four Ranch from ranchers Dean and Shirley Meyer in 1999. The roughly 9,300-acre ranch, east of Watford City, straddles Dunn and McKenzie counties. Today the ranch has buffalo and comes under the Three Affiliated Tribes’ Tourism. -Information from North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame


HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

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This is the Hiddenwood Picnic Pavilion. The picnic will observe its 120th consecutive observance on Sunday, June 19, 2022. Submitted Photo

Old 120 YEARS Hiddenwood Settlers Picnic stands IN 2022 the test of time By DOUG WURTZ

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Williams and Wright had an idea. A great idea. An idea that would stand the test of time for 119 years and counting. For Wright, it would be a success. For Williams, it would be a disaster. For future generations, it would be a lasting tradition. Esten R. Williams and Walter W. Wright were promoters. They were the first homesteaders on the south bank of Hiddenwood Lake, 8 miles south of present-day Makoti. Williams staked his claim in 1889; Wright in 1900. The Homestead Act of 1862 granted any adult citizen who had never born arms against the United States the right to claim 160 acres of government land. Williams and Wright claimed their land and helped other settlers do the same through their firm of “Williams and Wright...at West 1st St., Minot (with a) Branch Office at Hiddenwood, ND.” They also anticipated the need for provisions, mail and a place to worship for the other homesteaders that would settle in the area. They built the Hiddenwood Mercantile Company on Mr. Williams’ 19- acre claim. The two-story frame building quickly became the gathering place for area farmers and their families. In 1903, Williams and Wright spread the word that a community picnic would be held on the grounds surrounding the Hiddenwood Mercantile Company. The gesture was bound to increase business at their new retail store as well as spread the word of their land office at Hiddenwood. The first Hiddenwood Picnic in 1903 must have been a success because they hosted the second picnic on Monday, June 20, 1904. This one didn’t go as well as the first. News accounts of the second picnic appeared in a local paper. Excerpts of that story include: “most rotten affair...blind pigs (illegal alcohol establishments)... fighting commenced by E.R. Williams...if the old man had got his revolver there would


HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

NOVEMBER 2021

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tSubmitted Photo

The barn on the Robert Appelt farm was built by Submitted Photo The Hiddenwood Old Settlers Picnic began in 1903 at Hiddenwood Lake, eight miles south of Makoti. a former owner around 1935. probably have been a lynching...”1 When the haze cleared, Esten R. Williams was gone from the community and Walter Wright was left to run the Hiddenwood Mercantile Company. The business eventually fell on hard times. The little retail store was liquidated and the building was sold at auction to Mr. Anton Frier. The Elizabeth Huntzinger family, mother and three children originally from Iowa and all with separate homestead claims around Hiddenwood, assumed management of the business. The little store on the prairie would continue for a number of years, serving as retail store, post office and first place of worship for the community. It was still the focal point of the annual picnic. In 1917, Esten Williams, banished from the community but still with the title to the original homestead and picnic site, transferred the lot to C.H. Christiansen, bank officer of the First State Bank in nearby Ryder for “One Dollar and other valuable

Hiddenwood Old Settlers Picnic in June 1922, had one of the largest crowds in the history of the picnic. Submitted Photo

consideration.” In 1919, Mr. Christiansen sold the lot to a new corporation, The Hiddenwood Old Settlers Association, “in consideration of the sum of Four Hundred Dollars.” By 1921, the annual picnic had become the major event of the summer for the Hiddenwood community. The news reported that “Dancing in the pavilion in the evening wound up the picnic. A crowd of between three and four thousand persons attended, the largest crowd the annual affair has ever attracted.” Through the years, atten-

dance would fluctuate as world events influenced the annual affair. World wars, the Depression, the “Dirty 30s,” the Spanish Flu and other disruptions would cause the attendance to rise and fall, but the picnic was never cancelled. The 118th annual picnic in 2020 was observed with face masks and distancing, but held in spite of COVID concerns. The Hiddenwood Mercantile Company store is gone, Mr. Williams and Mr. Wright are gone, the crowds of three and four thousand people are gone, but the picnic continues. It has never

missed an observance in its 119-year history. The 120th annual Hiddenwood Old Settlers Picnic will be observed on Sunday, June 19, 2022. It will commence, as it has for 119 years, with an all-faith’s church service followed by lunch, kids games, door prizes and fellowship. A great idea that has stood the test of time.

Appelt barn at Martin continues to be used

(Doug Wurtz was raised one mile southeast of the Hiddenwood Picnic Grounds. He BY ROBERT APPELT OF MARTIN estimates he has attended 60 of the 119 annual events. He MARTIN — This barn and farmstead is locatcurrently lives in Bismarck ed northeast of Martin, North Dakota. My parents, with his wife, Linda.) Emanuel and Pearl Appelt, purchased this farm in 1947. They moved here with their four children. This barn was built around 1935 by a former owner. My parents milked cows and sold their cream to a local creamery in Harvey, North Dakota. They also grain farmed. Later in years, my wife and I moved back to the farm where we raised our six children. We bought the farm from my mother after my father passed away. We increased our dairy herd and purchased electric milk machines and milk tank. Our milk was picked up every two days. In the summer, we put up our hay into stacks, and in the fall we hauled it and put it in the barn with hay straps, praying that the ropes did not break while pulling it up into the hayloft in the barn. Eventually we started making the small bales which we stored in the hayloft. Our children helped haul the bales and they also enjoyed playing in the loft making forts and swinging from the ropes. One of our sons is taking over the farm now. We do not milk cows anymore but raise beef cattle and grain farm. We still use the barn, mainly in the spring when our cows are calving.


HISTORIC HOMESTEADS

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NOVEMBER 2021

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