The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1914-02-06
ungratetuL Class
Former 0raytonites Endeavor
to Advertise California at the
Expense of North Dakota-..-
Some Comparisons Worthy
of Consideration.
Daily Reporter. Ontario, California


The Upl,nd citizens who formerly Iiv
Ell in Dr"It ton North Dakota entertain
ed tue Oni.rio-Dra! ton colony last rv.
rn'na a. I"e Woman 5 club room IN uc
fornnr city. IL VA, il delightful event,
rrpiclr with unlune and original feat
urrS Tm" entire pru4rum as well Is the
derHrnl ms of the c!uu Rooms and ban.
qurl TAI were reminiscent OF the Mort n
Dakota raIrIe in It's winter .arb, The
contributors to the splendid program
were at red with the fittings required
to haltl' with the blizzard when the
mark is ~ degrees below zero = Il
The ur"trations IN The banquet hail
were yer, unique. The tables were plac
ed IN Il u ans: in the center of the .ip-
per part MAS placed an old fashioned los.
cabin. just such as formerly dotted every
quarter S'cl ion uf the Red River Valirl
ana j: was complete to the mnutrst ue
tail. Tue Old horn that waited the news
that dinner Wa ready hung on the raft
er at the i,ick door while alongside rest
ed the rh"pp'ng block. and little dis
tance to le west appeared the old alka-
Ii we'll with it, wheel and pulley, while
to the south thcru doomed up from the
drifts of snow tn old sod BAN connect.
ed with tue hnIl,' i,y a rope to guide the
ranchrr'~ step M blizzard times when
caring for his seek. AT the east and
west ends were pa"ad rustic signs
pointing ne traveller TO Drayton, Graf
ton, B"w"smont and the Red River
brIug', "nlie between the sign boards
spread he crystal snow road over which
gambolnrd jack rabbits and long haired
dogs. Il r
The above abbreviated account reach.
ed this Office via the Grand Forks Herald
of last friday.
The hnlarity of that occasion finds a
generous echo in the hearts of the form
er North Dakota no. bors of the guests
and in TN" same sort of ''hilarity' the
Pioneer Express will set It's table in the
form of IL ''W' and decorate it with a
few California emblema,ic scenes as a
matter of neghborly reciprocity, which
we hope our California friends will ac
cept with the same "hilarlty" as their
celebration was received by us.
There are however some self apparent
errors in the quoted account. While 1t
is true that the guests named as present
at the California feast, lived for time
in this county, they were simply sojourn-
ers here for ii short time, just transientS,
and perhaps for this reason got some
very crude and exaggerated ideas of this
state. We do not blame the Ontario pa
per however, for making the error, be-
cause their former neighbors here III
North Dakota made the same error and
supposing them to be bona tide citizens
of this loraiity, heaped honors and rich
es on the wayfarers, making them may
ers, legislators, state officials, bank offic-
ers and the like-but with the result
that as soon as they had sufficient mon
ey. like the Arabs they were, they fold
ed their tents and silently stole away.
These people originated in back
woods town in northern Ontario, Cana
da, where their fathers for hundred
years, far distant from civilization toiled
in the "hush" and died, bequeathing ten
or fifteen acres of stumps on barren land
to their sons. The scenes portrayed at
the banquet, therefore partook more ,of
the earlier "reminiscences of the guests
rather than those of North Dakota log
cabins thai never existed on the treeless
prairie of this valley.
] As furthar proof of the real CITIZEN
ship Of these "iormer North Daktans"
]. We have only to notice that when they
!came to this state they were still "Dray.