| Summary: | SHEYENNE TOOLING & MFG., INC. In 1977 when Clark Equipment Company of Cooperstown announced its closing Curtis Stokkeland, Neil Fisher, and Raymond Walker (employees of Clark Equipment Company) formed Sheyenne Tooling & Manufacturing. They conducted their business in the rural Cooperstown community. Tool and die work was the main product, with some manufacturing of components for a new type of bearing puller built by Posi Lock of McHenry, No. Dak. In 1979 the Main Motors building was purchased from the Sheyenne Valley Vocational School. The manufacturing department was then moved in. A zinc plating system was also installed for the finishing of the bearing puller components. Later on the tool and die department was moved in, putting everything under one roof. With increasing sales of the Posi Lock bearing puller, a heat treating system was also installed. In 1981 Neil Fisher and Raymond Walker sold out to Curtis Stokkeland and James Broten who are the present owners. James Broten operates a farm by Dazey. The building, constructed about 1925 on the site of the old Palace Hotel, was originally the home of Palace Motors. It is located on the corner of Tenth and Burrell. SHEYENNE VALLEY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC. — Finley, ND Recognizing the need to extend central station electric power to the rural areas of the United States, Congress passed legislation known as the Rural Electrification Act of 1936. Because of the large investment required to bring electrical service to the sparsely populated rural areas, cost of service to subscribers would have been prohibitive, so relatively little progress was made. Several years later Congress passed legislation known as the "Pace Act", which provided for low cost financing to any entity that would provide electrical service to anyone within the area upon their request. This legislation made possible the formation of cooperatives to construct their own electrical systems. During and in the years immediately following World War II, material for construction of facilities was not available; however, interest in central station power for rural areas was active. A group of nine farmers from the Cooperstown, Finley, and Tolna area were chosen to lay the ground work for the present cooperative. Sheyenne Valley Electric Cooperative was incorporated under the laws of North Dakota on September 16, 1944. The first Board of Directors were: John Oxton, Jr., Joseph Finell, L.B. Tweed, A.J. Pare, E.D. Beckman, Alfred Retzlaff, C.B. Herigstad, Oscar Idsvoog, and Abel Vig. By the end of 1947 financing had been obtained from REA and two hundred and fifty-nine members were receiving central station power. Construction continued until most of Griggs, Steele, and Nelson and portions of Eddy, Benson, Ramsey, Grand Forks, and Traill counties are now served by the Cooperative. Currently the Cooperative provides service to 2710 members. Average monthly kwh usage per farm has increased from 100 kwh's in 1947 to 1518 kwh's in 1980. The average cost per kwh has decreased from 6.6$ in 1947 to 3.3$ in 1980. Sheyenne Valley is one of twelve distribution cooperative receiving wholesale power from Minnkota Power Cooperative of Grand Forks, North Dakota. This has proven to be a reliable source of power with some of the lowest cost wholesale power in the nation. SOMEPLACE ELSE Someplace Else is a furniture and carpet store. Harvey and Pat Benson started the business in June of 1972. The store is located in the original Larson Store building, which was vacant at that time. Some of the occupants known to have been in the Larson Store prior to the vacancy were: Tupper Howden: who moved from Costello's Rexall Store to the Larson building in 1957. Mr. Howden had a drug and department store. The store sold out in 1971. Larson Store: In 1905, Albert Larson had a general merchandise store. Pete Carlson and Gustav Hanson also became partners. Pete Carlson was bookkeeper and accountant with controlling interest. Albert Larson's son, Selmer Larson later was in the store. He died in 1956. The grocery department was on the west side and dry goods on the east. Prior to this Eric Erickson, Albert Larson, Andrew Berg, and Lewis Berg had a general merchandise store known as Berg Brothers and Company in 1895. STONERS Neil Fisher owns the present Stoners Beer Tavern. He purchased it from Ricky Stone February 1, 1981. Ricky Stone bought the business from Jeff Sedler, who bought it from Dumpy Louden who called it Dumpy's Beer Garden. Prior occupants in this building were as follows: Ted and Orpha Pladsen, cafe and beer; Helen Sharpe, cafe; Adam Sardotz, cafe; Bernice Lovelace, cafe; Selma Overbye, cafe; Jerry Martin, Blue Moon; Marquardt's Cafe (moved over for a short time after the fire of 1929); Norma's Beauty Shop; original Greenland Lunde Farm Implement (they moved out of the building when they bought the Jimeson-Olson building); John Oie Land Office, real estate, land, and farm loans. STOREY INSURANCE AGENCY OF COOPERSTOWN Storey Insurance began operation in Cooperstown June 24, 1981, with Tony Storey owner and operator. Prior to this time, Mr. Storey had been employed as Secondary Principal in the New Rockford, North Dakota school system. Storey Insurance is located in the Burk Building next to Model Clothing. Janelle Hoffman is secretary for the agency. STRAND READY MIX Strand Ready Mix was started in Cooperstown in 1972. It was purchased by Strand Ready Mix, Finley, North -222- Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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