| Summary: | not stop. They were adrift four days before help came and towed them to St. Johns, Newfoundland, where they stayed ten days while their ship was repaired. From there they went to New York and then overland by railroad to Granite Falls, Minnesota. The trip took them seven weeks. Meanwhile, the women and children left Norway and arrived soon after the men did. These travelers stayed at Granite Falls with the Christian Aarestads, their friends, for two weeks. Since the land there had been claimed, they moved to North Dakota. Klubben and Sven Loge bought three oxen, a covered wagon, a plough, and a harrow. When they unloaded in Fargo, they found that one ox had caught his horn between the boards of the wheat car and had been killed. Upon coming to Sverdrup in June, 1881, they found a great deal of land available. Tired after their long tedious journey, they decided to settle there. Some chose to live by the Sheyenne, but Waldemar chose the prairie. He filed this claim in Valley City and settled on Section 26. The land was not surveyed until later that summer. The first year Klubben was able to break up only five acres of land, since it was so late in the season. He had only one ox, but the neighbors let him use one of theirs. The land was seeded to wheat and oats. Wheat sold for ninety cents a bushel that first year and averaged 20-25 bushels per acre. Christian Lee had a reaper and cut all the grain that was cut in the area, but they had to tie it by hand. R.C. Cooper had a threshing machine and threshed for the settlers. Klubben had his grain threshed fourteen days before Christmas the first year. The grain was cleaned and seeded by hand. The grain farming did not provide enough income to keep them through the winter, so Klubben, Sven Loge and others went to Valley City to get work threshing. SU. .,1 v:%5 *****., 'M&k. ' "R> ^kd:^c^^m&i ,ii The Klubben Homestead, Cooperstown, between 1912-1918. The next spring, when they were out of provisions, they had to make a trip to Valley City, the nearest town, a distance of thirty miles. They were within twelve miles of town when they had to turn back, the Sheyenne River at Sibley Crossing was so flooded it was impossible to cross. They obtained some provisions from Mr. Cooper which lasted till the waters receded. The first house in which the Klubbens lived was a sod house built on the quarter line between Klubben's and Loge's land. Each family had one room. The house had a dirt floor, a small opening for a door and no windows. There was very little furniture and when company came, they brought in stumps on which to sit. Having built the house, the men went to Valley City to buy supplies. Klubbens lived in this sod house for three years. Then they hauled logs from the river and built a log house. Often during a summer rain, the settlers, while inside their houses had to use umbrellas to protect themselves from rain. After a rain, everything had to be taken outside and dried. Klubbens first barn was made of sod. Snowstorms were frequent in the winter. Sometimes snowdrifts were higher than the barn and the settlers dug tunnels and went through trapdoors in the roof. The mosquitoes were a real problem. They were inside the house as well as out. The people would build smudges on the dirt floor of the house. A large frame house was built on the Klubben farm in 1912. This house is still standing and is sheltered on the north by trees planted by Waldemar. In 1918 a barn was built on this homestead also. Maria Klubben died on April 26,1919, and Waldemar on May 27, 1929. The nine children were Elisa Sophia Askel- son, 1879-1944; Susanna Loge 1881-1965; Karen 1882-1897; Enga 1884-1905; Regina Haaland 1887-1959; Margareta 1889-1896; Berta 1891-1963; Edwart 1893-1974; and Albert Johannes 1895-1972. EMIL KROGSGAARD FARM Emil Krogsgaard was born June 10, 1859 in Hedemark, Norway. He arrived in America at the age of twenty and had to wait until he was 21 before he could take up land. In 1881 he came to the Dakota Territory coming to the Mathias Fjelstad homestead that was in Section 24, NE4. Mrs. Fjel- stad was his cousin. Emil took up land the SW14, Section 14. He built a house on his claim and covered the sides with sod. In 1887 or 1888 he bought land from the Northern Pacific Railroad lots one and two and NW'i of NE4, Section 23. He built a house on the new site. Emil Krogsgaard and Bergina Wold were married February 2, 1898. Gina was born at Ringsaker, Norway, March 6, 1869. They had seven children, Edgar, Mabel, Hjordis (also called Ann), Lulu, Leif, who died at age two, Elbjorg, and Alice. October, 1909, Emil bought the SVz of SE4, Section 14. The first part of the century seemed to be on the upswing. A telephone was installed in 1913 or 14 and an electric light plant, a Studebaker was purchased in 1916, and a new barn was built in 1918. Then came the twenties and the difficult thirties with adverse weather conditions for crops and cattle and also poor prices. In speaking of those days, Edgar- would say he would go to Cooperstown with a dime in his pocket Saturday night and come home with the same dime. Emil borrowed on his life insurance and all the land in Section 14 was mortgaged. In 1927 Edgar together with Ragnvald Hanson bought the E12 of SW1 i and Lots five and six of Section 24, Township 145, Range 59. That had been Mat Johnsons. Edgar also bought his first tractor, a McCormick Deering, which he used on both places. Ray died in 1931 and Edgar bought out his half interest from his mother in Norway. By this time Emil was doing mostly chores. His cream checks were exchanged for groceries. Chickens and eggs helped. There were some apples for canning. The garden did not produce as -85- Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
|
|---|