Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1917-11-01

was neld july Stn, 1854. AT this
meeting Mr.. w. j. Mooney was ap-
pointed judge of the probate court
and Mr.. McHugh resigned the office
of county commissioner and was APP
pointed register of deeds and ex.ofi-
clio county clerk, the vacancy made
by Mr.. McHugh's resignation being
afterwards filled by the appointment
of Mr.. William Doyle.
At the election in November, 1884.
MIR. McHugh was elected as a mem.
Der of the territorial legislature, and
as MIR. Mooney had not yet moved
from Bathgate, Langdon was left
without a guardian, and at there quest
of Mr.. McHugh, l came, at another
cold time, in December, 1884, to take
charge. During the winter of 1884.
IS. l came from Grafton to Bath.
gate, one evening when the train men
said it was So degrees below zero,
and there met Mr.. Mooney and also
Mr.. Clarence Hawkes., the new sheriff
of Cavalier county, who had gone
down to Bathgate with the Mooney
and McHugh ponies to bring me out
to my new quarters. Mr.. Hawkes.
and l left Bathgate the next morn.
ing, but the roads were drifted and
our progress slow and it took US until
night to reach Olga, having had din
ner and rested the ponies ct Saint
Joe. At Olga met Mr.. Winter and
Mr.. Chale and so began the acquain-
lance of some of the friends that l
have known ever since. I also met
Mr.. McPhail, who happened to be
staying at Olga that night, and I re-
member him as having very black
hair, and face red from contact with
the wind. l did not get back to
Olga again all winter, but had the
place in mind as "City of Refuge"
should l meet with misfortune in nv
new venture. We left Olga the
next morning and got to Mr.. John
Dabrow's for dinner, and this |
enjoyed as my first meal in Cava-
lier county. l got acquainted with
Mr.. and Mrs. Debrow and John
Debrow, Jr and also Mrs. Hawkes.,
a sister of Mrs. Debrow's, and was
thus finding friends, one by one.
The Doyle family lived near MIR.
Debrow's, and in the afternoon MIR.
William Doyle, who was then coun-
ty commissioner, drove me over to
Langdon, where l was to live alone
during the winter, and wait for bet
ter days to come.
The place, as | first saw it. con.
sisted of one small house. one sod
shanty and the court house, and
these were the only marks ia the
vast expanse of snow. What is
now Spruce street, was the section
line, and as the coulie served as
a watering place, the section line
and the coulie were the land marks
which determined the point of set
Element. The house was a part
of the one, which until recently, stood
directly north of and adjoining the
Mrs. Orton residence property. 1t
was partially wrecked by the cyclone
of 1909, and finally tom down a
short time ago. The house that |
saw was the middle part of this house,
the more %pretentious front part being
added by Mr.. Douville, and the back
part, or kitchen being built by Mr..
Mooney and myself in the spring of
1885. 1t then stood somewhere in
the neighborhood of where Mr..
Winter now lives, faced the south,
had a door in the south and one in
the north, but no storm windows or
storm doors. When I arrived the
window shades were up and the fire
out, and the whole interior in view
from the outside. There was a round
oak heating stove in the center of the
room, a bed in the southeast r
and these with a table and two or
three chairs about completed the in.
VCuCOAy. AuC h4GSllu pdTC WdS HlSs
sing and what little cooking there was
had to be done on the heater.
The land on the north side of the
section line was taken by Mr.. Moon
ey and that on the south side by Mr..
McHugh. The house was Mr.. MONEYS
claim recidence and the sod shack
which stood directly opposite on the
south side of the line was Mr.. Nc
Hugh's claim shanty. This sod shac k
was built by Mr.. Robert Baird, who
had squatted on the land before Mr..
McHugh came, and as Mr.. Mooney
and Mr.. McHugh desired to havo ad.
joining farms besides the coulee,
with a view to a future townsite, Mr..
McHugh and Mr.. Baird made a trade,
by which MIR. Baird took a farm 6
mile further west. The land in the
vicinity was not surveyed, until the
summer of 1884 and not ready for