The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1915-03-25

A paper read at the meeting Of the
North Dakota Historical Association
meeting in Grand Forks, May, 1914,
and now published in Vol. VII of the
proceedings of the Mississippi VAL
ley Historical Association.
Remove not the ancient land
marks" has been slogan for centur-
les for people who love their native
soil, hallowed by hundreds of deeds
worth remembering, by lives conse-
Grated to uplift and intelligent thrift,
by deeds of valor and acts of mercy
and kindness. mot a crumb shall be
Clipped from Plymouth Rock" says
every Yankee who looks up with re-
spect to the Pilgrim Fathers. "Not a
leaf shall be plucked from the hedge
pound at Mount Vernon" say the pat
riotic ladies who have built an endur-
ing monument to themselves in their
care for the home of George Washing
ton, the Father of his Country.
Back in the good old Bible time, the
people stood in serried ranks by the
River Jordan, while the priests picked
up stones from the bed of the river
and carried them up to the bench land,
where they built up Carin to be a
landmark forever, in memory Of the
Crossing. Similar heaps were raised
on both sides of the Jordan in the
North, in the South, in the Midlands,
to keep the Israelites in mind of their
glorious heritage.
Egypt set up landmarks that could
not be swept away by the annual over
flow of their great Treasure house, the
Nile. The Pyramids and the Sphinx
are still there, landmarks of their an
cient history, reviving the study of
what mankind has done. But two of
their magnificent landmarks have been
removed, not stolen, Oh no! but given
away by a ruler who did not expect
his gift to be accepted. One stands
on the Thames embankment in Lon
don; the other, Cleopatra's Needle
stands in Central Park, New York,
land both are monuments to the Won
lderful mechanical genius that moved
| them unbroken. 1t may be that the
Fellaheen, the Egyptian Peasants, do
not miss them, but we doubt it.
| That great nation that uses one
common heritage, the English tongue
looks on at ancient landmarks dating
back many years. Before the birth of
| by the Romans to keep the wild Poets
and Scots at respectful distance, ano
these bear strong resemblance tc
that great Chinese wall, built for q
similar purpose.
The Druidical Wireless, such as tina,
at Stonehenge, are simply huge stones
set in large circle, and yet they are
objects of intense interest to the many
who make pilgrimage to see them
How did men, living in the conditions
of those days, set up such huge
stones? To move one of them today
would be an act of vandalism tina
would horrify the staid, conservative
nation that consecrates it's landmarks
Every hill top in Scotland is crown
ed with a Cairn, huge heap Of small
granite boulders, built up in tower
like pile. In my youth everybody VIII
climbed Criffel was expected to carr!
up a stone from the foot of the hill
and add it to the Cairn. These small
granite rocks were rounded and water
worn, just like those so frequentl!
seen in our state, where glacial actor
has carried them along, and moraine!
have left them. Everybody in the val
ley had climbed Criffel at some time
and many climbed it each year. Or
special occasions of rejoicing, beaco,
fire was lit on the Cairn, which was :
torch that signalled to similar beaco,
fires that encircled the land. Rudyare
Kipling tells, in his Recessional, how
|"On dune and headland sinks the fire.
and the afterglow remains in the hear
of the people "Lest they forget"
Happy wives, in the homes of thei]
Husbands, do not forget the firesid'
cline Of father and mother. So tn,
landmarks of my childhood loom up IL
loving memory, but my American cit
izenship, Of which am so proud, ha:
long attained its majority, and is de
voted to Dakota. But I have visited
many other states, and I have noted
with earnest appreciation, the land
marks in a little corner of Michigan
and the simple way in which the stor!
of two hundred years is marked ant
remembered, so that he who walk
may read. Down in Monroe, the birth
place of the gallant Custer, whose he
roic figure on horseback has recentl,
been added to their market place, tn
people have marked out the who'll
route of General Hull and the British
with little granite boulders lying alon1
the roadside and suitably inscribe'
with lettering cut in the stone. Thes
stones are readily found on the bank
of the Raisin river nearby. They hav
also been used to mark the birthplace
of the first white child, the camp, tn
headquarters of commanders, and il
addition, they have raised a cairn O
cemented stones in which they have in
serted a bronze tablet which tells tn
story of the Battle Of the Raisin River
This was largely the work of the ladie
of the Civic League, and as I walked
and looked I thought how we'll w
might marke the historic sites o:
North Dakota in similar fashion. Fo
years l have looked at the old militar!
road running west from Fort Tottel
to Forts Stevenson, Berthold, and Blu
ford, and ! have wished that littl'
granite boulders could be set up along
this road to tell the story of '62, while
this double wagon trail is still in use