Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1939-09-14
Former Resident
Recalls Early
Community Life
BY WILHELM HOLM, Tyler.

In the winter of 1906, l was en-
ployed as a clerk in the general store
owned by Petersen & Gravesen at
Tyler. L. c. Petersen, member
of this firm, together with K. H.
Duus, also of Tyler, were the or
ganizers of Danish colony at Part
ridge in Pine county. / naturally
heard lot about it, in fact so much
that l became interested and early in
February Joined the first excursion
for landseekers.
Mr.. Petersen, Mr. DuuS and myself
started out from Tyler, and in Min
neapolis met other landseekers, all
Partridge bound Among these were
Ludwig Mosbak of Chicago, Peter
Looking Glass, Nebr. Arriving at
Partridge we found the ground COW
cred with heavy layer of snow,
which made travelling very tedious
and as the thermometer lowered
around the 20 below mark, we found
the large pot-bellied stove in the
hotel lobby very friendly when COM
in and around the community. Not
quite so comfortable were the beds
to crawl into at night as the rooms
were not heated. Mr.. and Mrs.
Williams were in charge of the hotel
Buys Store.
Most of my time was spent in the
village, as 1 was not so much inter-
ested in land as in a little store
which Mr. Petersen had informed me
was for sale. This / found to be
correct and before going back to
Tyler, had made a down payment
and signed contract, agreeing to
pay the balance and take charge on
or before March l. l am certain
all the landseekers on this, the first
excursion, purchased land.
Shortly before March l, 1 was
back in Partridge, accompanied by
my brother, Thorvald, who was to
help me for while, taking inven-
tory, re-arranging stock, etc. While
I had been gone, other landseekers
had come, among them Jens Thor
gersen from Canada, who purchased
land and stayed right there, thus
becoming the first Danish settler. A
Mr.. Nielsen from Ottertail county,
brought his family, bought land and
started building right away. Mrs.
L. Mosbak and her son, Gunnar, had
also arrived and were in charge of
the hotel, and as l was then a single
man, this became my home for a
short time.
- Varied Stock.
The stock of goods 1 purchased,
consisted of little of everything
and not much of anything, about six
bolts of cheap calico, bolt or two
of flannel, about two dozen overalls
and work shirts, a few boxes of
thread; a few items in hardware,
such as nails, staples, ETC.; some
patent medicine and a small stock of
groceries and meat The purchase
price of stock and fixtures ran into
the large sum of five or six hun
dred dollars. I also purchased the
building, a two story frame struc-
ture, with a log barn on the rear
Der the price paid. Mr.. Wilson, the
seller, had not been in Partridge
very long, and as soon as our deal
was completed, he left for his home
near Anoka.
Then as now, the wholesale houses
had plenty of merchandise and before
long we had fairly complete lines in
several departments. Among my first
customers, drawn from the settlers
already there before the invasion OF
the Danes, were the Rodenbergers
Frahs, Holsts, Sebalds, Bergstroms
Degerstroms, Edstroms, F. Krantzs
Jones, the section foreman, and many
others whose names l cannot recall
A Mrs. Pitcher was postmistress
but the job apparently did not suit
her, or perhaps it was the salary
AT any rate, had not been in Part
ridge long when she resigned and
1 secured the appointment There
was demand for a notary public, and
/ also secured a commission to act
as such.
Boom Days.
in fast, many bought land and re-
turned for their families at once
The little burg was really a lively
place those days. The townsite it.
self was dotted with large pine
stumps and a crew of men were put
to work blasting. One of the men
got just plenty of dynamite behind
a charge and sent large stump
in two parts over the roof of the
store building. Fortunately the larger
piece cleared the building while the
smaller part fell on the roof doing
some damage. Had the larger piece
struck, it would have gone clear down
through.
School election time came along and
I was promptly elected clerk. The
other two members were c. Sebald
and K. H. Duus. The teacher hired
for this term was Della Mireault Of
Sandstone.
The buildings, as I recall, COM
prised the village of Partridge: De-
-. .oot;oy, bo,Ica hotel cchOo1hOl1Sa