The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-06-01
ANNUAL MEETING
OF HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
Was Held on Friday Evening
Interesting Addresses Were
Delivered.

Prominent people from all parts of
the northwest attended the annual
meeting of the North Dakota Histori-
cal society which was held last night
in this city. The addresses were ex-
cellent and good crowd was in at
tendance. Hon. NJ. N. johnson of
Petersburg delivered the opening adj
dress following fine violin solo by
Prof. Stout. Mr.. johnson in his adj
dress touched with feeling upon the
struggles of the early day leaders.
On account of council matters,
Mayor Duis was unable to be pres
ent, but his address Of welcome was
read by Secretary Bachelor of the
Commercial club. The address dealt
with the valuable work which the So
ciety is doing.
The response was delivered by U.
S. Senator P. J. McCumber whose adj
dress was eloquent and characters
tically to the point. He eulogized the
work of the society; told of the repu-
tation OF the state; and traced the
development, not only of the state, but
OF the nation as comprising the union
of the states. He closed his address
as follows:
AAO 06Ou 0CAdCO1 I1OtI, JuIlSl,
statesman, historian and philosopher,
IN a most eloquent and scholarly adj
dress short time before his death,
titly expressed this truth when he said:
We produced no heroes in over
half century of our history, and yet
when the war drums called the nation
to arms Grant from the tannery and
Lee from the humble position in the
army rose to rank among the great
captains of all the ages. Had the civil
war never occurred Grant would have
lived a modest, peaceful life in a
country town of Illinois and Lee would
have passed the evening of his days
In equal obscurity upon the retired list
of the United States army And so on
this occasion let me venture the sug-
gestion that this historical society
should remember that the old occu-
patton of the Jealous historian, that of
manufacturing or gliding heroes to
dazzle the future, is an occupation that
the world Of today does not call for,
and the world of tomorrow will in all
probability care much less for it. Let
us bequeath to that future not the
body alone, but the living soul of the
history Of this age-the real people,
with their real lives and character
that history alone which will ever
hold its place in the affectionate heart
of distant ages"
Rev. H. G. Gum of Winnipeg deliv-
cred the annual address taking as his
subject, '"The Story of the Selkirk Set
Element"
.Mseerth Dakota is looked upon as the
foster mother of the settlement and
consequently the story was listened to
with as(much interest as though the
audience had been Of Canadian stock.
Rev. Gum began at the origin of
the settlement. as early as the opening
days of the nineteenth century. He
traced the tide of immigration through
the Napoleonic era. He followed the
country to the time of the contests
between the Hudson Bay company and
the Northwest company. and following
this took up the advent of Lord Sell
kirk with his first colony of settlers.
In 1913 Donald Gum, the grand
father of the speaker, came west with
colony of settlers and the descrip-
ton of the sufferings and privations
was indeed graphic. The following
year hostilities between the two large
trading companies, broke out afresh
and the outcome pointed toward the
humiliation of the Selkirk settlement.
The settlement ultimately was wiped
out but a revival took place when Gov
ernOr Semple arrived the following
spring. A second period of strife fol-
lowed, lasting until 1921 when the two
rival nOvn no n Too consolidated