I often study a picture hanging on the wall of my study on which someone has written, in a wiggly cursive script, the caption "Main St. Sheldon, N.D." Bearing no date, I will guess it is a scene from a hundred years ago. Trees stand barren of leaves so it could be early spring or late fall. In the foreground I count three buggies and one fringed surrey, all parked and still hitched to their waiting teams. It is obvious that lots of horse and wheeled traffic moves up and down this street because numerous hitching rails line it. Looking even more closely you can spot piles of horse manure, too. Five men in dark clothing cluster around the front of a building marked Restaurant - Pool Room, which is four doors down from another building where its readable sign advertises Department Store. A tall telephone pole about halfway down the street supports five crossbars suggesting that quite a few homes communicate over those lines strung on them.
Our state's Heritage Center has done a good job of preserving much of the past. This interested reader enjoys visiting there to study microfiche copies of The Sheldon Progress and has decided that one hundred years ago the town still supported a horse culture. A large ad sponsored by the Ransom County Immigration Association headquartered in Sheldon wanted men and teams to plow and seed about 5,000 acres which they had recently purchased in the Carrington area.
A local auction offered by the Tregloan Farm five miles north of town listed 35 head of horses because they were downsizing. A free dinner and horse feed were provided. A week later a news article said conditions for this sale were not very favorable. Bad roads kept away many who would otherwise have attended, but good prices were paid for the animals. Emil Kaatz bought the first team sold, and a minister, "getting a bargain," bought a six year old driving mare. Other purchases were made by George Cullen, Alfred Rife and F. B. Grinnell.
This part of the country was still young and road improvements could only be wished for. A news piece in the same issue as the Tregloan sale, March 22, 1908, stated, "The roads are unmentionable in the language of polite society. Rural carrier Shelver started out yesterday on runners and came home on horseback."
Through the reading of several issues many more horse auction sales were listed. Frank Koehler wanted to close out his stock of harness and shoes, maybe because in a following issue this ad ran: "Our harnessmaker, Frank Orvocki, has filled his shop and ware room with the largest line of machine and hand made harness ever had in our town..." A. S. Taylor advertised fencing wire for sale as being "Pig Tight, Bull Strong, Horse High."
The May 1, 1908 issues ran this news: "There seems to be either a horse or cow episode to chronicle each week of late. This week it is Andrew Arntson and Floyd Eastman's saddle horse that holds the stage. On Wednesday Andrew decided to give a little exhibition of fancy riding. The horse decided to give a little bucking exhibition. He stiffened his legs and bowed his back and jumped straight up, and with a look of determination in his eye seemed to be saying to himself, 'If I can't unload this thing in one jump, I can do it in two jumps.' At the first jump Andrew's suspenders gave away and at the second he gave away himself and describing a half circle in the air descended quickly to mother earth. The saddle pony laughed quietly to himself and trotted off. Andrew walked slowly from the scene of activities with rather a crestfallen mien."
To be continued ...
