| Summary: | home very many years on the farm but built more on to the store building, where they lived and operated a small hotel. My father hauled some grain into Jud after the elevators were built but from Kennison Township into Jud is mostly an up hill pull and he thought it much easier on his horses if he went some other direction. I was born on my father's homestead in Kennison Township LaMoure County D. T. May 28, 1886 and lived on the old farm, forty-two years and since that time have lived near by in other communities. In the very early nineties by father made hay in a big slough three miles south of Alfred and in the late fall he would haul all his hay home. On the way out one early cold morning, he would pass the Mikkleson home, where he would be called in to have hot coffee. This pleased him very much and they became fast friends. I cannot recall Mr. Mikkleson's given name, but the township was named for him. Mikkleson's home site was located in what is now Emil Fregien's pasture and is about one fourth mile due north of the barn on the Ted Bergman farm. While living on the Bergman farm in the middle forties I passed it many times while getting the cows. The Mikklesons had four nearly grown children around home at that time. Two boys, Miles and Pete, and two girls, Bertha and Lena. Later the girls became the wives of Gus and John Carlson. A number of years later, Mrs. John Carlson became Mrs. Ed Ax. I do not think this family of Mikklesons were any relation to the family of the late Morris Mickelson. In 1909 or 1910 Jud put on a big 4th of July celebration. The town was new and booming and everything possible was done to show the country Jakes (of which 1 was one) a fine time. All went well until about 3 P. M. The ball game about half over, when the inevitable happened, a terrible storm came up, the rain came in torrents, everyone was soaked to the skin. All departed for their home "Pronto", not much wiser but a lot wetter. WILDLIFE OF YESTERYEAR In geologic time, when huge inland seas washed the surface of the area now known as North Dakota, giant dinosaurs lived here. The prehistoric sky was disturbed again and again by the pounding wings of ferocious looking reptiles. At a much later date, the continental glacial engulf- ments came to shape the physiographic features which in turn predetermined the species of all future plant and animal life. With the final glacial retreat, climatic adjustments ensued. A long procession of wildlife followed. Bison, elk, antelope, and deer grazed the vast prairie in immense herds. Then black bears, grizzly bears, and the large gray prairie wolves came to stalk and ravage the herds. The early hunters entered the panarama to mass slaughter the bison for the ever popular buffalo robe. The elk, in their abundance, were easy targets,- their fine meat saw many of the earliest settlers through the "hard times" which were coincident with the taming of wild land. The antelope in their grace, beauty, and plentitude were dwindled as did the bear and most of the wolves. Toward by a fatal epidemic to near extinction. The deer vanished as did the bear and most of the wolves. Toward the end of the 19th century, when homesteaders crowded out the squatters, only a few straggling buffalo remained. Wolves, in chorus with the incoming coyote, broke the silence of the long cold winter nights with their weird howls. In their quest for food they prowled, even to the sod shanty roof, and pilfered the unconfined herds. Foxes, in their pomp, came to share their cyclic existance briefly with the coyotes and rabbits. Muskrats, mink, skunks, and weasels, which were early residents, gave their pelts to supplement the pioneer's meager income. Of the many rodents native to this locality, the gopher has been the best known. The thirteen- striped, federated ground squirrels and the flick- ertails were numerous before homesteaders came. First they lived on roots, grass, and insects; however they quite readily adapted themselves to a diet of grain, thereby becoming a menace to the grain farmer. The one-to-six cent bounty on their tails supplied many a child with shoes. House rats and mice migrated here with the early settler while the field mice were natives of the prairie. Feathered wild life, in its multifarious forms, played a great part in the pioneer history of this area. Our community lies in the great central flyway, the route taken by migratory water fowls enroute to their arctic mating and nesting grounds. As late as the early 1900's the sky teemed for two weeks in the spring with their great northbound on rush. The friendly calls from the geese and cranes broke the silence of the lonely prairie by night and by day. A brief halt for rest ended many a fowl's flight in a needy pioneer's oven. Many ducks and coots nested here as they still do, and provided meat for the pioneer during the summer and fall months, previous to the arctic fowl's return flight. The original prairie grouse were here early in fair numbers; the prairie chicken's entrance was 24 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited in Multi-page TIFF Editor.
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