Showing posts with label minnesota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label minnesota. Show all posts

Friday, March 1, 2019

Well Water Memories

This morning I woke up thinking about all the little things that bring us happy memories. 

Today's thought was back being a kid, traveling to Grandma's farm in Minnesota, and I remembered just how good the well water tasted.   We'd walk outside with the water pail and pump water from the ground.  There was running water in her house, but well water tasted that much better!  No matter the outdoor temp, the well water was always cold.  We'd dip it out of the water pail with a stainless steel cup.

Grandma always kept the water pail sitting on the counter near the back corner of the kitchen counter.  This is the only photo I could find where parts of the kitchen showed.  There's Grandma baking up some kind of dessert for after supper! 

Now that everyone (including me!) drinks water from a bottle, sourced from goodness knows where, or processed in some kind of facility, it's hard to remember how it was "back in the day".   I have to say that I think I miss those days.  Most of moments in every day was filled with little chores that needed doing in order to just keep going.   Living took thoughtful planning.  If you needed something for dinner, you didn't just open a freezer door and pop something in the microwave.  If you planned on a roast for dinner, most times you took it out of the freezer in the morning, left it to thaw, then began the cooking process in the afternoon.  If you wanted a cake for dessert, you needed to get baking in the late morning, or early afternoon, because both the cake pan and the roasting pan might not fit in the oven at the same time.   When the nearest grocery store was 20 miles to town, you made sure you bought what you needed for the week, because you couldn't just zip around the corner to grab something on your way home!  Although, if you were a mindful gardener, you could pick something out in the vegetable garden. 

"Sometimes, you never know the true value of of a moment until it becomes a memory."

Friday, August 31, 2018

New ACME Hotel EGF


 In "The City of EGF Illustrated", 
it tells The New Acme Hotel was built in 1882, 
and was located on the SW corner of Sibley St and Washington Ave. 
In the June 1887 devastating storm, the barn was destroyed. 
Damages estimated at $100.



Using a bit of logic, the hotel was built in 1882.  This building looks a little well used, so maybe this photo was in the late 1890s or the early 1900s.  It makes me wonder if any of my relatives are in this photo?   The women on the balcony ... "residents" of the hotel?  

EAST GRAND FORKS is located where the Red River of the North and the Red Lake River gently meet.  Most cities and towns on the frontier experienced rapid early growth followed by a period of stagnation before they either died or entered relatively long periods of growth. East Grand Forks was different. It grew very slowly for the first few years.  In 1889, North Dakota became a state, on July 1, 1890, Grand Forks went dry.

The city of East Grand Forks was just 9 years old, but it had a powerful allure of lawlessness. During the city's early days in the late 1800s and through the first few decades of the past century, the dusty frontier town across the Red River was booming with bootleg booze, loose women and illegal gambling.  Here were places you could go and get served alcohol; and, of course, when you have alcohol, you probably get prostitution, too. A city doesn't really want to have a house of ill repute, but some of it just happened back then because of liquor.  The city had up to 48 saloons at one time, and Ripley's Believe It Or Not in the 1930s reported a three-block area of downtown had the highest concentration of neon lights in the world.

Frank Duffy of the East Grand Forks Courier once wrote "The police are kept unusually busy looking after the peace and quiet of the city, and a number of arrests have been made as follows: Wm. Casey, drunk; Henry Lewis, very drunk; B. Holland, hilariously drunk; Albert Ross, vociferously drunk, and Samuel Brown, dead drunk. The prisoners in each case got the usual dose."

By 1933, the Minnesota Legislature approved the sale of 3.2 percent beer.  April 28, 1933 was referred to as "New Beer's Eve." In one day, 100,000 bottles of beer were sold in East Grand Forks.

That's one interesting little city!




Saturday, October 14, 2017

More Memories


Looks like we're in Warren Park for a night or two ..... 



Great place for a BBQ - more good eats!
Well done, Uncle Gary and Dad! 


David in the red shirt, I'm on the right side (actually in a photo!)


Family.  Nothing says it better!

"Learning your family history 
is the key to unlocking who you are."

Thursday, October 12, 2017

More from the Lake


At the lake, among all the motorhomes


Jeff enjoying some good eats, looks like Buffy is trying to be patient!


Jim and Karen


and Julie too!

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Kids at the Lake


All these little ones .... all grown up now!
(If you recognize anyone, let us know who's who!)


Boatin' Time


Uncle Jim .... always good eats when family gets together!




Monday, October 9, 2017

Centennial Parade


Who doesn't love a parade???
Here's the old tractor, pulling a piece of old farm machinery.
Is it Grandpa Pape at the wheel?


And the old horses and buggy - every parade has to have horses!


I think the sign reads 1929 Ford


And Grandpa's old Willys-Knight

Sunday, October 8, 2017

More from Potato Lake


More from Potato Lake, around the campfire
Dan, Uncle Rodney, Aunt JoAnn


Julie and Marge, cousin Rick and Lori


Aunt Margie, Aunt Donna, Aunt JoAnn
I remember every day, she re-painted her fingernails!


You can't keep the men in our family from stopping to fix
whatever needs fixin' !!


Is this Lori skiing?
Beautiful on the water, just beautiful!

Saturday, October 7, 2017

At the Lake


What's a vacation without a trip to the lake?
camping, swimming, boating .....
Great lookin' fins, David! 


A tower of tubes, and a pile full of cousins! 


And no day at the lake is complete without a nap -
Sweet dreams, Uncle Rodney! 


Someone's going skiing - but just look at that 
beautiful sky and puffy clouds!

Friday, October 6, 2017

Minnesota Vacation



A little more of the Centennial Celebration in Minnesota





I'm betting somewhere out there is a joke about men standing
around, watching one or two doing all the work!
  

Gramps on top of the hay!

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Minnesota Vacation 1974


Another trip to Minnesota -  Summer 1974
If I remember, it was the Centennial Celebration  
Mom and I climbed up to look at this piece of farm machinery!


An old tractor ..... I think this celebration may have sparked
the beginnings of Heritage Days in EGF


I remember hearing many discussions trying to discern which is better:
John Deere or Massey Ferguson?


Clara looking lovely in her bonnet ... 
can't you almost hear the Sons of the Pioneers
crooning out the old tune "Put on your old grey bonnet,
with the blue ribbons on it".... 

Friday, September 8, 2017

Alvarado... Where Dad grew up!

On September 12, 1905, the Post Office officially changed it's name from Snake to Alvarado - the beginnings of this little town.  Unoccupied land is going for $30-$35 per acre.  In 1908 the population is 202 and the town becomes incorporated.  Axel Pederson, known as “Klink Axel,” builds his blacksmith shop, feed mill, and residence.  S. S. Trickey moves into town from his farm. He is a happy guy who serves as auctioneer, pulls teeth, sells Reo automobiles, and serves on the Village Council.  

And so it goes with little mid-western towns, full of ... interesting characters!


Alvarado in 1908 ---is the house Dad lived in built yet?



In 1912, you can take the train from Alvarado to Warren for 27 cents.
A trip to Minneapolis will cost you $6.65.

 In 1921, the first basketball team takes the court for Alvarado High.  The first students graduate from Alvarado High. Prior to 1921, students only went through the 8th grade.

In 1926, the Memorial Bridge over the Snake River is dedicated on June 5. The bridge costs $15,000.

In 1937, Oliver is born.  They were living on a farm across the field from Myrtle's sister, Esther.  Myrtle writes:  "The following April I had my second child, a boy we named Oliver LeRoy.  He was named for the son of my sister Esther.  Esther lived across the field from us and had just lost her firstborn son in an accident.  He was 13, and his name was Forest LeRoy."

In 1944, Ole Bergman, the man Harold had lived with for many years when he was young, and his mother had worked for, and who was now the county commissioner, heard about this house that was for sale very reasonable at only $750.  He paid down on the home for us and gave it to Harold.   Now we had our own home.  Our move to Alvarado was complete.


This is Alvarado in the snow .... so peaceful looking!
(Not sure when the photo was taken, or who took it.) 
 

Alvarado Public School, 1957

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Banner School #51


Banner School #51
According to my mom, my aunt and records showing that my
grandfather attended this school as well in the early 1910s.
When was it built?  It was tore down sometime after 1970
when this photo was taken.

Aunt Carol told me this story:
"My Aunt Donna was my teacher once. One of my class mates and I, 
I think around 3rd grade, got ourselves wet in some ditch water.  
Holy cow you think we had set off a bomb!! 
She told me wait till you get home I am going to talk to your parents
 and tell them exactly what you did and you will be in big trouble. 
I was scared sh!tless.  Hid up in my room 
and sure enough she showed up."


Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Let's Ski !!


One of our treats was a trip to a local place to ski 
(the name escapes me!  Maybe Jim can remember?)
It seemed so magical to kids who'd never seen this much snow before.


Going to the top of the 'little hill' was by a tow-rope ---
get close and grab the moving rope and
HOLD ON TIGHT!


We sure had fun -- only time I've ever been on skis.
That's another thing checked on the Bucket List! haha


Mom and Dad had to try their hand at skis
behind Margie's house .... 
looks like they haven't forgotten how!


Taking photos in the snow can be a struggle with the old cameras
where you had to adjust the Fstops -- you never knew
how a photo would turn out until you had your film developed!

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Minnesota Snow, Pt 5


Lori trying out some skis!


A toboggan ride behind the snow mobile!


Grandpa let me drive one of the snow mobiles, it was a nice
sunny day.  But I had no clue about driving on snow. 
I took off across the field, and the next thing I knew I was 
a bit airborne after hitting a chunk of dirt with no snow!
It was a rush, but I didn't drive one again while I was there. *grin*


Just a bit of the snowy farm

The first fall of snow is not only an event,
it is a magical event!  You go to bed in one kind of world,
and wake up in another quite different world.
If this is not enchantment, then where is it to be found?
-JB Priestly