Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1917-11-01
The Early History Of
Z To-: 3: 81 3 Langdon and Vicinity

llllnS concerning tne Early history OF
Langdon and Vicinity. In dcilg so l
feel that l can write much that might
be called history, but must confine my
self to matters within my own per-
sonal experience. | find too, that it
is easier for me to write of that which
l know personally than of that which
l only know by general report. l I'm.
derstand that you have contributions
from others, on this topic, and l may
repeat something that has already been
told. do not know if that is objec-
tionable, howe err, as the one will cor.
roberate the other, and if each one
tells his Or her w story the result
should be the whole story.
Now, to begin at the beginning, l
will say that l came from Leeds cot
ty, Ontario, one cold time late in De-
cember, of the year 1888. The tenn.
perature was forty degrees below zero
in Toronto, when l passed that point,
and l vas not, just then, leaving a
land of flowers to become acquainted
with the winters of Dakota Territory.
My destination was Grafton, and there
l found two friends of mine, who had
also come from Leeds county, Owen
O'Reilly and my cousin, Mr.. Gutridge.
O'Reilly kept a hotel and my cousin
was in the land business. and as my
first work was assisting my cousin. l
soon became acquainted with the sys.
TEN of land surveys and with the
terms ''pre-emption," homestead, {"
"tree claim, "claim shack. "hold-
ing down your claim" etc.
My cousin had an office at Gait post.
office, west Of Park River, or rather
west of Garfield, as the railroad did not
reach Park Ri II till the fall of 1884,
and that town was not then on the map.
MIR. Thomas " Gods and family kept a
store and the rest office at Gait, and
there RENAMED most of the time, un.
till the snow began to disappear in the
spring of 1884, and then took a pre-.
emption claim il Town Up l55, Range
So, and began my rel en- e in the
shack. This shack l bo~ght from a
party who he'd proved up and had it
hauled to my llace on a sleigh. One
cold nj hit, when the wind was coming
through quite freely, went out and
threw water on it and soon had it COW
cred with a thin sheet of ice, which
kept out the wind.
Mr.. Patrick McHugh had come to
that locality early in the summer of
1888, had taken a farm and built a
comfortable house and the family lived
there during the winter Of 1SS3-S4,
but moved to Grafton about the time |
began my residence. The McHugh
place was six CT seven miles west of
Gait and | often walked over there dur
ing the winter, and one evening when
| was on my way there, a severe bliz-
zard came up from the northwest. l
tried to face it for a time. but found it
too much for me, and turned about and
walked with the wind. In this way /
thought l might stand it till daylight
the next morning, but had not walked
for more than an hour when | came up
against a house. The house was oc
cupied by a Bohemian family and I was
glad to be let in and given a place by
the fire. None of the family could
speak English, but soon a bowl of
bread and.milk was set out for me ano
later l was given a bed on the floor
near the stove, where l had a comfort.
able sleep between two heavy feather
ticks. My cousin was alarmed anc
started out with a team of ponies at
daylight to look for me, fearing that
another "tenderfoot'' had been over
come. Thus l was getting acquaint'
ed with conditions, and while 1 was
often lost in storms, l always had the
good fortune to get out of the diff.
Guilty unframed.
During the summer l lived on the
claim, an for the first three months,
taught school at Vesta post office
ten miles to the north, and walked
back and forth from the claim to the
school two and three times a week.
Mr.. Paul Halvorson kept the pos
office at Vesta. He had been a i'm
migration agent, had crossed the
Atlantic many times, and l foune
him and Mrs. Halvorson an interest
ing couple. When harvest tim
came l helped Mike Kelly, now IL
business with Mr.. VIM. Stevenso n
and his adjoining neighbor, Mr.. Ian
gan, who had farms neal mine, an
stayed with them until late in the
fall, when they moved to Park Rive
and opened a hotel in the new town.
In the meantime Mr.. Ntzhugh,
with the assistance of Mr.. Moone.
from Bathgate. and of Mr.. ALERT
who then lived at Snowflake Greek
noar Hannah tank tho necosoarv aten