Barnes County: A Moment in Time
1923 100 Years Ago...
Booterie opening draws big crowd New Marblestone Booterie Neatest Shoe
Store in State
The formal opening of the new Marblestone Booterie last evening was featured by large crowds, orchestra music and a spring style revue held in the ladies readyto-wear department.
The new shoe store is one of the neatest, if not the neatest, in the state and Valley City has every reason to be proud of the new institution. The most striking thing about the store, upon entering, is the new shoe windows. These windows are exceptionally neat and show up the display in fine style. The entrance creates a feeling of wholesome worth to a customer upon entering the store. As you enter the neatness of the establishment is particularly vivid. Leather upholstered, mahogany finish, chairs arranged before the mahogany finished stock shelves leave a pleasing impression. Show cases near the entrance, a mahogany wrapping counter near the rear of the store, uniform gray shoe boxes on the shelves and rugs the length of the store complete the picture.
At the rear of the store room is a ladies rest room. This room is neatly finished in gray with gray upholstered wicker chairs and davenport and is the finishing touch to an already complete store.
The formal opening started at 8 o’clock last evening. Guests to the opening were admitted through the Booterie entrance and shown through the establishment. McFarland’s orchestra had been engaged for the occasion and was seated in the ladies’ ready-to-wear department. A raised platform had been placed the length of the large room. As the orchestra played appropriate music models came from the dressing room at the end of the platform, showing the latest in ladies dresses, coats, etc. The Misses Ruth Brude, Inga Brude, Grace Wankle and Anna Sad acted as models for the show and took their parts in excellent style.
The Marblestone Company is to be congratulated on its style show last night but the greatest commendation is due the members of the company for their efforts in opening to the Valley City public as upto-date a shoe store as they showed to the public last night. Mr. Stark, of Redfield, S. Dak. is, in addition to being an efficient and expert shoe man, one of the pleasantest men to meet that has come to the city recently and we venture the opinion that he will be a valuable and welcome addition to the business circles of the city.
If an honest effort to give the Valley City buying public the best of service in neat and pleasant surroundings will meet with success the Marblestone Booterie is assured of a prosperous business.
County Schools in big tournament
The stage, so to speak, is all set for the Barnes County basketball tournament which begins in Valley City at the high school gymnasium on Wednesday morning.
Seventeen teams representing ten schools of the county have entered for the two-day tournament. Some of the schools are to have two teams each, both boys and girls. The list is as follows.
Nome
–boys and girls Grand Prairie
–boys and girls Green Township consolidated– boys and girls Dazey
–boys and girls Raritan consolidated
–boys and girls Leal–boys and girls Svea consolidated
–boys Noltimier consolidated–boys
Baldwin consolidated–boys
This is basketball week in Valley City. Wednesday and Thursday the contests will be fought out to determine the champions of Barnes county. The finals will be played Thursday night.
Friday and Saturday the State Tournament for the winners in the 8 districts of North Dakota will be held. This tournament is the annual contest for the consolidated schools. It is the expectation of the management that the eight winning teams will be here Friday morning for the two-day scramble for state honors.
Preparations are under way for giving the visiting teams from the county and from the different parts of the state a hearty welcome. Rotary and Kiwanis Club committees are keeping in looking after details.
1948 75 Years Ago...
Fire destroys Kiser Barn near Fingal Fire completely destroyed the 40x40 barn on the J. W. Kiser farm two miles west and one half mile north of Fingal early Saturday evening.
A blazing roof was the first warning Mr. Kiser had of the fire, less than 10 minutes after completing the evening milking at 6:45. After closing the barn for the night, he took the milk into the house, and then went out to a nearby shed to check machinery. Leaving the shed, he looked back at the barn to see flames.
He immediately made a dash for the barn, opened the back door, and drove the 26 head of milk cows and cattle and two horses out into the pasture. Everything else was destroyed. The loss is partly covered by insurance.
The farm is lighted by a 110-light plant, but Kiser is at a loss as to how the fire started so soon after leaving the barn. Roads are blocked to the farm yard, but a snow plow came out from Fingal early Sunday. Friends and neighbors were quick to respond to any help they could give.
At present, Kiser is keeping his milk cows in his garage, and the rest of his livestock is with neighbors.
Miller plane carries on when snow blocks roads
With highways blocked right from day to day with drifting snow, the Miller brothers of Valley City are being called upon more and more for their airplane service by stranded farmers, broken power lines and any number of sundry airline tasks which arise in this unpredictable North Dakota weather.
Robert E. (Bob) and Edgar H. (Itchy) Miller, who learned their flying from Uncle Sam in World War II, have been having a busy time with emergency flights ever since the first heavy snowfall tied up the roads, and when they’re not bagging foxes and coyotes from the air.
For instance Sunday; Itchy made one of his frequent flights to check the REA lines for broken wires–a 50-mile trip to Stirum. Bob took a passenger, Joe Kunze, to his farm 18 miles north of here. He also flew another load of bread to Cooperstown.
Among their trips last week was one to pick up four cans of cream weighing 250 pounds and also the 180-pound farmer, and return him the next day. Another brought 400 pounds of coal to a farm east of Cooperstown.
After taking a load of bread and pastry to Cooperstown last week, Bob was forced to take off from the street when a snowplow plowed up a huge drift in front of his take-off field.
Their two-seater Aeronca plane is skiequipped, and can land a farmer practically at his back door if he takes the fence down. One day while hunting foxes the two brothers shot, landed and picked up nine foxes in 40 minutes, which should be some kind of record. They bagged three yesterday.
Since the recent snow blockade, they have especially noted the huge snowdrifts, and claim that the people don’t realize the severity of the snow removal problem until they’ve actually seen the drifts.
Experienced and ever careful, the Miller boys are doing a real community service with their air service, and are ready at a minute’s call. “But we haven’t had an expectant mother case yet this winter,” says Bob.
1973 50 Years Ago...
‘73 Winter Show sees largest crowds ever Spring-like temperatures coupled with the attractiveness of the multi-programmed North Dakota Winter Show brought the largest crowds ever to Valley City for the opening three days.
Exceptionally popular was the PRCA Rodeo Show which played to stand out crowds during its four shows. Sunday afternoon proved to be the tops when seating space was sold out and further would-be spectators had to be turned away.
The Antique Show and Sale was a further attraction drawing many to the National Guard Armory where the show opened. Additional numbers were attracted to the North Dakota Winter Fair opening in the basement of the city auditorium for the second annual show.
The J.H. Shepperd judging contest reached a new record number with 140 teams appearing for the livestock judging contest.
Numbers of commercial exhibitors also was up for the 1973 show with the Winter Show providing room formerly used for official parking to give room to the increasing exhibits.
Total attendance for the first three days was given as 24,198 which gave the show an increase of 4,263 for the first three days. 1972 figure for the three days was 4,263.
If there had been seating room, the Rodeo attendance would have swelled over the 924 gain it did make this year. Official figures released Monday confirmed that there were 13,272 ad
missions to the four performances against 12,348 of last year.
Crops show entries again exceeded last year’s entry list, officials from that division estimated, predicting 1400 entries would be registered. Last year, the count was 1300, placing the North Dakota Crops Show among the largest shoes in the nation and world.
Official figures on the livestock, crop and commercial exhibits have not yet been attained. Livestock entries in the steer class were allowed till noon Monday to be received.
1998
25 Years Ago...
Romance goes nationwide A little bit of lovin’ goes a long ways
Arnold and Mavis Dilts of Valley City can attest to that statement. They recently were featured in a national magazine because of Arnold’s thoughtfulness to his wife.
A story about the 20th anniversary of their first date which had appeared in the Valley City Times-Record, Oct. 16, 1997, was picked up by Associated Press and went statewide, appearing in many newspapers in North Dakota.
A national magazine, Woman’s
World, read it and though it would be appropriate for a romance story in their February issue, close to Valentine’s Day.
Arnold says someone from the magazine called him one night shortly before Christmas from New Jersey. He thought it was a telemarketer who was trying to sell magazines.“I almost hung up on them, but I though I’d listen a little more,” he says.
What the features editor wanted was to interview the two of them about that first date on Oct. 14, 1977, for a story in their magazine.
They wanted to know a lot of details, Mavis says. They wanted to know under what circumstances they met, and were later married.
This last Oct. 14, Arnold wanted to relive that first date. After all, they had met under unusual circumstances, they say.
Mavis, who was employed by the telephone company then, had called Arnold about an overdue phone bill. When he came into the office to pay, he fell for Mavis right away, and asked her out.
They went to the then-popular Prairie Pub and Pantry and had a special meal and they were married six months later.
Twenty years later, although the Prairie Pub and Pantry had burned down,
Arnold wanted things to be as much the same as they were on their first date.
He surprised Mavis by taking her to the same location in their 1977 Buick, the same car he picked her up with 20 years ago for that first date. Arnold had set up a card table and two chairs on a slab of cement where the restaurant had once been. He had the same food set out on the table.
That wasn’t all, the same waitress (and co-owner of the restaurant), Joanie Martin, was also there with a bottle of wine, the same candle holder and the same menu with the Prairie Pub’s name on it.
Mavis was impressed–again and then came all the publicity about their special 20th anniversary. She even had the same picture that appeared in Women’s World put on the front of a sweatshirt which she wears proudly.
Friends and relatives are asking Arnold what he can do to top this one.
He smiles and says, “Maybe see you on Oprah?”
Students will get dose of ag careers 27 ag-related firms showcasing
Since hundreds of students across the state come to compete in vocational agriculture events during the first weekend of the show, the North Dakota Winter Show has added a youth career day. This day will feature booths of 27 manufacturers, processors and agriculture-related industries which will give the students information about what kind of education is needed and what these firms have to offer.
Promotional information about the Careers in Agriculture Day says there are many ways to be involved in agriculture other than the production of crops and livestock.
These booths will show ways to use agriculture in engineering and technology, sales and marketing, manufacturing, lending and finance, food and nutrition, produce handling and distribution, farm agencies, rural development and ag journalism.