| Summary: | Cooperstown was a contact office until 1960 when the association established its first branch office located in the Farmers Oil Building serving both Griggs and Steele counties. The General Manager was H. Harlow Thompson, who is currently Senior Vice President of Association Administration at the FICB of St. Paul, Minn. Russell J. Barr was hired as branch manager, Mary Jo Langford as office assistant. She is currently secretary to the President of the PCA of Fargo, ND. A new office building was constructed and opened in 1979 across from the Post Office. The Cooperstown Office also handles 81 Agrifax (Computerized Farm Records) accts., tax preparation, hail insurance sales, credit life ins., federal crop insurance and disability insurance. Present Association President is Lloyd K. Well. Current Directors are: Vernon Schumacher, Raymond Driscoll, Carl Thompson, Jr., Philip Edman, Hollis Ericksrud and Marland Rue. Current Cooperstown employees: Russ Barr, Branch Manager; Stan Chaput, Loan Officer; Roger Twedt, Ass't. Loan Officer; Caryl Bednar, Office Ass't; Jo Claire Paintner, Agrifax Tech.; Jean Fors, Office Ass't. REITEN'S, INC. In 1938, Ed Reiten bought Bruce Wright's Repair Shop and started his repair shop for area farmers. Reiten's, Inc. also produced numerous agricultural products, some of which were: steel tanks, steel hay-stacking teeth, swathers, grain augers, aluminum grain boxes, field sprayers, steel buildings, E-Z friction throttles, machinery trailers, snow buckets, a corn and other row crops harvester, grain drill packers and the famous moldboard plow. The original plant burned down in January of 1954. Dies for producing Reiten swathers and grain augers were also destroyed in this fire. The Cooperstown plant was rebuilt, and began supplying parts to Melroe Co. of Gwinner, N.D. In 1960, Reiten's Inc., introduced the reset plow. A dealer organization was established in 1963 to market Reiten plows, and Reiten's became the first company in the world to offer a pull-type 8-bottom plow. In 1967, Melroe Manufacturing Co. purchased the Reiten Firm. Richard Reiten, Ed Reiten's son, built Reiten's Machine Shop in 1967 and specialized in farm repair. His company is now known as Reiten's, Inc., and is located along the west business loop of Highway 200. RON'S HEATING & PLUMBING Ron's Heating and Plumbing opened for business in Cooperstown on April 6, 1981. It is owned and operated by Ron and Carol Schindele. They are located in the Burk Building next door to Model Clothing. The Schindele family came from Grand Forks, ND, where Ron was employed as a heating and plumbing service man for many years. The building was occupied by Melroe Manufacturing for its drafting department in the seventies, and Burk Implement in the fifties and has also housed restaurant and automotive businesses, among others. SHEPARD FARMERS ELEVATOR COMPANY Shepard Farmers Elevator Company was first organized in 1904. The elevator was built the fall of 1904. First board of directors was as follows: Jorgen Soma, president; Martin Ueland, vice-president; F. Greenland, secretary; Edward Michaelis, treasurer. Directors: Ole Lima, Duncan Sinclair, Carl Lende. The capacity of the elevator was approximately 34,000 bushels at the cost of $6,800 or about twenty cents per bushel. According to the minutes, the mortgage was paid off in the year of 1908. Grain prices at Shepard July 9, 1906 were: Wheat 70$, Barley 38$, Flax $1.05 and Oats 32$. The organization was reorganized in 1945 in that anyone who would sell grain and earn a dividend would have the right to a membership providing the elevator made a profit. The first commission company to help finance the elevator operation was McCarthy Brothers of Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1904. They financed the elevator until it merged with Atwood Larson Company in the middle 1960's. Atwood Larson Company is presently serving as commission company for the elevator. In reading through the minutes it is difficult to determine who the different managers were and how long they served the elevator up until Andrew Sharpe started July 8, 1912 and managed the elevator until June 1, 1923. A.M. Hausen then served for one year. Gabriel Sharpe served until October 1, 1936. V.F. Bunde managed from July 5, 1937 to December, 1939. Roy Ashland began in February or March, 1940, and served until March 1, 1946. Carrol Torgerson served until March, 1952. Al Boe then took over and managed until the later part of 1957. Orville Eckert managed until June 1, 1961. Wally Rislov took the manager's job beginning July 1, 1961 and as of December 1, 1981 is still managing. Allen Klipfel is assistant manager-. As of this date and writing the Shepard Elevator Company complex consists of the main original elevator plus one flat storage Butler bin north of the elevator, capacity about 61,000 bushels, two round steel bins next to the driveway, each about 9,500 bushels, three round steel bins southeast of the elevator, each about 9,500 bushels, five round steel bins south of the elevator, each about 4,000 bushels, are used mainly for seed. There are two wooden warehouses used mainly for chemicals and sack seed. A sunflower complex was erected in 1978 north of the Butler building along the side track. It consists of two steel legs with a steel tower approximately 115 feet high with two steel flat bottom bins, one 57,200 capacity and the other 15,000 bushels, both with aeration, a dryer with a 4,200 bushel holding bin above, and a concrete driveway with unloading conveyor. Shepard is now in the process of building a machine shed for trucks and tractors. The manager lives in the elevator dwelling across the tracks to the west of the elevator. Current board of directors are: Clarence Bednar, president; Frank Pfeifer, vice-president. Carrol Retzlaff, secretary-treasurer; David Saxberg, director; Bennet Michaelis, director; Leland Harvey, director; Leonard Johnson, director. Current prices: (as of December 1, 1981) Wheat - $3.60; Durum - $3.75; Flax - $6.90; Oats - $1.75; Sunflowers - $10.15; Barley - $1.75. -221- Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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