The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-18

have lived in North Dakota ever since.
Twenty-Five years 6 DR.. Danford
Was put In charge of the Foreman
circuit as the first minutes of the con-
ference show. He served in various
capacities until in 1893. he was elect
ed county superintendent Of schools in
Ward county. where he laid the
foundation for the school system of
that county. In 1897 he became q
member of the Methodist conference
of the state and since that time has
served in various capacities. DR..
lpanford declared that his work had
been largely in building churches and
improving church property. In this
Connection he pointed to the fact that
Al churches and % parsonages, a to-
tai of 81 buildings were constructed
In North Dakota under his supervi-
sion.
DR.: Danford said that in spite Of
the fact that he didn't originally in
tend to stay in North Dakota, that he
was glad he is here and expects to
spend the rest Of his life in the ranks
OF Methodism in this state. He de-
clared that he believed that his service
IN the ministry VS. ordained by Prov
idence. for II ever a man fought to
keep away from it he did. He said
service once that he was in it; that
he owns nothing and yet all the world
is his. He urged the ministers as
SEN never to leave the ministry
and declared that one Of the regrets
OF his life is the fact that he was out
Of the ministry for our years doing
educational work.. DIR. Danford's ad.
dress was we'll received.
Mr.. White then introduced the
third speaker Of the evening. Rev. G.
A. Mcnamara Of Fargo, district SUI
perintendent Of the Fargo district.
Mr.. Mcnamara said it was almost 80
years since he came to North Da-
kota; that he came because he want
ed to come n that he had enjoyed
every year Of the time spent in the
state. Mr.. Mcnamara had with him
q lumber of pictures of the first con.
ference held in this city which at
tracted considerable interest. MI.
Mcnamara said that his father was
a British officer and that he spent his
boyhood in India Int had originally
intended to return as a missionary to
this impossible. In 1882 he came to
Moorhead and met Rev. q. R. Hair.
then presiding elder Of the Red River
valley district. He was appointed to
81. homas in Pembina county. st,
Thomas was then Just a paper" town.
he vas accompanied from Moorhead
to this city by Rev. NJ. S. Kaufman
and expected to take the boat to Dray-
Ton and then go over land to st.
Thomas. When he reached Drayton
ne was called on to supply the pulpit
there for six weeks in the absence Of
Rev. Walton and found the same COM
bination Of local preachers that MI.
Morrison found. A little later he was
taken by horse and buggy to where st.
Thomas now is and dropped down on
the prairie and told that that was his
charge. He spent two and a half
month there preaching to the people
n covering a wide strip Of territory
taking In the present towns Of Hamii-
ton. Bathgate, Crystal, Hoople and
ing at Carlisle. which Mr.. Morrison
attended he met his future bride. Mr..
Mcnamara vas in the succeeding
years called on to serve a number
OF other frontier charges and de-
clared that he enjoyed his work. He
said that he had been blessed with the
best Of health and that he was still
address proved very interesting.
the closing speaker Of the evening
was DR.. H. p. Cooper OF Casselton
who brought the evenings program to
a splendid close with an APT exhorta-
ton on the pioneers to look forward
rather than to the years gone by and
continue the work they had SO we'll
begun. Dr.. Cooper in opening his adj
dress reminded his audience that the
old timers liked to dwell on the past
and said that this was only natural
for the first Impressions are always
the lasting ones. He said that he. had
noticed that 1t cost more to live at
the present than % years ago but
declared that It was worth more to
live now. DR.. Cooper said that on
July 20. 1882 he landed at Emerson,
Man RI toEn ~ hfo rv4NIr 4~ ~-rl-A
ant pastor. That was the year Of "the
flood" and he came by boat. Soon
afterward he came to North Dakota to
stay on the steamer "Selkirk'' then
run by James ]. Hill m Capt. Griggs.
He first settled in Drayton, where the
local preachers mentioned by the pre-
ceding speakers were in evidence and
the speaker called attention to the
fact that he had been to Drayton four
times and spent over 10 years preach
ing in that city. After some time at
Drayton he was sent to Grafton and
later to Park River. and then back to
Drayton. He was hen made presid-
ing elder of the Fargo district and in
speaking Of his experiences as an elder
DR.. Cooper told of his experience in
the famous blizzard Of 1898 when the
thermometer reached n of the low
est points on record in the history Of
the state. He said:
II left Edgeley on Saturday Jan.
2Sth. 1898, for a SO mile drive
across the wilds of Mcintosh county to
Ashley. 1t was so cold Sunday even
ing that only six came to service and
on Monday it was IS below zero with
a north wind. 1 left Edgeley in the
forenoon and after a drive Of Is miles
was lost in a storm. This was a rea
blizzard, the most terrible member of
the storm king family. What Is a
blizzard? 1t is a frozen fog driven by
a fifty miles an hour wind. With the
air so full Of frozen particles like PIN
heads. that strike your face as II
fired from a musket. This was a
thoroughbred blizzard. All night
Monday. all day Tuesday and not I'M
til night did the storm cease, We'd
nesday morning n the thermometer
was out Of commission. Forty odd
was the lowest record. I left Holwel
Valley at 10 a. m. and reached Edge
ley at 6 p. M, driving 80 miles on one
Of h coolest days of the winter.
In the years 1900 and 1901, 1 had
Mountain region and the Mouse River
Loop. Settlers poured into these new
er opened counties Of Bottineau and
Ward. One night far up in the noun
tains. Brother Garry. h pastor of
a circuit as large as the state of
Rhode Island had arrange for ME to
to spend the night with him in a
house with a mud roof Rain began
early in the evening, and before mid
nigh. although a buffalo rome m UNI
brella and several plans had been ar
ranged to catch the drip We were
driven from the bed. This was not
quite as bad as an experience I had
the next year west of the Mouse River
when the pastor. Rev. E. c. Gee and
I arranged to pass the night under
an old t.nt pitched against a hay