Nelson County history, Volume 1

• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: North Dakota State Library
• Subjects: Blanchard; Grand Forks; Homestead; Imbert; Kleven; Krogh; Nils; Norway; Nordland
• Online Access: http://cdm16921.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ndsl-books/id/42438

Field Township The Original Historie of Fjeld Township Signed on this 14th Day of June 1927 S.G. Bothen Aneta, North Dakota Translated from the Norwegian language by Mr. and Mrs. Sigurd Sotvik and Mr. and Mrs. George Bothen in July of 1978. North Dakota - 1882 The prairie in 1882 had all kinds of wild animals, horses, buffalo, antelope, and some unfriendly Indians. In the summer the Indians rode their ponies after buffalo herds, drove them into the swampy areas where they would sit on their ponies and use medium sized rocks attached to a strap and hit the buffaloes in the head until they died. This could be observed around all the swamps as there were big piles of buffalo bones that new settlers picked up, hauled to town, and got one cent per pound in trade. This prairie is now what we call Field Township. The first white man who "squatted" on land here was Ole 0. Sloulin in the Spring of 1882, and soon after came Christ J. Morkrid, Hans J. Hanson, Imbert Kolden, and Jens Kroke. Ole Sloulin and Christ Morkrid had rented land in Traill County near Blanchard and Morkrid near Mayville. Then Mr. Sloulin moved to Field Township with covered wagon and two oxen. He broke up fourteen acres and put up hay for his two oxen and two cows for the winter months. He had also dug a dirt cellar and built a little sod stable. The dirt cellar served as a residence for Mr. Sloulin and his family for a period of two years. In the fall, he had to leave home to work during the harvest and threshing which was done with oxen and horse power. When Mr. Sloulin had completed his work and was going home to his family, it was full winter with a lot of snow and cold. With him he brought eight sacks of flour and other groceries, and it took him four days to get from Blanchard to his homestead. One night during the trip home, he and his oxen stayed in an old abandoned shanty. He also got stuck and had to pull his wagon several times to make detours. There were no roads and the snow laid level making travel very difficult. It came in handy that Sloulin had been in the Nordland and had learned to notice land markings and find his way by the stars since they had no compass to go by. Mr. Sloulin arrived home late at night, and everything was covered by snow. He located the sod stable first and then found the dirt cellar, but all was as quiet as a grave. He cried out loud as he thought the Indians had been there and taken his family. He put his oxen in the stable and walked one mile that night to a neighbor, a frenchman who was married to the sister of Hans J. Hanson. The frenchman was from Wisconsin, was a veteran of the Civil War and was named Asbarey. Sloulin hoped he would know where his family was and found out they had moved in the fall two miles east and one mile north of Knute Fjeld. All of them were just fine! Knute also lived in a dirt cellar, but he had two rooms. He resided in this dwelling until 1894 or 1895 with a large family of ten children living and two children who had died. The provisions Sloulin had brought with him now had to be divided among the newcomers because the weather and the snow made it impossible to get anyplace, especially with the oxen. These provisions lasted until the end of January 1883. Then we found out that Halvor Knutson liv ing by the river had wheat for sale. So, they got ready and journeyed to Halvor's and purchased wheat. This they ground in their coffee mills and from it made biscuits, cooked mush, and the whole colony survived for over six weeks. By March 16th, the snow and weather was much better and Mr. Sloulin, K.O. Fjeld, 0.0. Fjeld with two pair of oxen, set out for Mayville, fifty or sixty miles away, to buy provisions for the whole colony. They wanted to get back in time to sow the acres they had tilled the previous summer. They returned with the provisions on March 24th. In the summer of 1883 there came many families, single men and two girls, Johanna Morkrid and Anna J. Hanson. The girls broke up 160 acres of land. Other newcomers were Tom Sk- jolden, OS. Krogh, Jens Lindrud, Ole Lindrud, John J. Larson, Lars J. Larson, Christ Stusrud, John Hayerdahl, Paul Flood, Erik 0. Glade, Ole J. Hanson, Rasmus Kolden, Knut K. Renden, Evan Smaaland, Emil Olson, Ole Kleven, Lars L. Naas, Ole L. Naas, Martin Gottenberg, Ole Tollef- son, Ole and Iver Ringdahl, Andrew Lieus, Bjorndahl, and some more. In the summer of 1883, the land was measured or surveyed (as the U.S.A. of America), and these surveyors camped on land where now Erik 0. Sundre lives. And this is the spot where July 4th was celebrated for the first time. Land here did not get surveyed until February 1884 with land offices in Grand Forks. In 1884, townships were organized and Ole Sloulin with his family had lived on his land at least nine days as had Knut Fjeld and his mother. So, Sloulin made a motion that this township should be called Lom (that was the name of the community where he was born and raised in Norway), but K.O. Fjeld suggested that the township be named after his mother, widow Ingri O. Fjeld who also with two unconfirmed children lived in a sod house for at least nine days. But she had settled after Sloulin. Ingri was born in Valdors, Norway on Nov. 10, 1833 and died here on Feb. 20, 1916 at eighty-two years, three months, and twelve days. So the township was named Field in her honor and the next step was to organize the township. Mr. Sloulin went to Michigan City to get Professor H.D. Frut to help to get it done. They then had an election and Mr. Sloulin was elected first Chairman (President) and K.O. Fjeld and Tom Skjolden (Supervisors). And, in 1885, they bonded the township board and built two school houses. One was built on K.O. Fjeld's land and the other on Paul Flood's land. Nils Nelson, whom Nelson County was named after, lived in Field Township all the time. He was born in Solar, Norway on Jan. 25,1854 and died on March 26.1919 at sixty- four years, two months and fourteen days old. Mr. Sloulin was president of the school board for fifteen years. A.S. Krogh, Ole Ringdahl, Paul Flood were directors and H.J. Hanson served as the clerk. Now everything was taken care of and new settlers came until 1887. That's when S.G. Bothen came and has lived on his homestead since 1888. In 1915, Mr. Sloulin was so unlucky as to have an accident and was run over by his own team pulling a huge straw load. His horses became frightened and took off. Sloulin first fell under the horses, then his straw load went over him and hurt his back. Since then he has been an invalid and was so until his death. In 1916, he sold his farm and moved into Aneta and lived there. Many of our Field pioneers have died now and just a few remain. They have worked hard and have built up some of 616 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited in Multi-page TIFF Editor.