TOWNER You can just about twirl a rope around the mystery of whether or not John Wayne rode the range near here. New details have emerged since the possibility of a young "Duke" spending some of his summer months at a Towner area ranch was detailed in a story earlier this month in The Minot Daily News.
A former resident of the region says she is certain it was John Wayne, with his trademark hat on his head and sidearm on his hip, that confronted her father in the doorway of a small shack. Another has produced a type-written note directly from the Duke, confirming that his uncle once resided in North Dakota.
Even a John Wayne biographer has added some confirmation to the story, writing that Jack Morrison resided for a time in "Tower", North Dakota before Wayne later moved him to California. "Tower" appears to be a misspelling of "Towner", where George Morrison, known to residents of the area as Jack, was said to have done some ranching and operated a small oil business.
Jack Morrison was uncle to Marion Morrison. Marion Morrison, born in 1907, later took the stage name of John Wayne and became one of the big screen's most beloved actors. He was a big man who often portrayed patriotic characters in major studio movies. John Wayne became the symbol of everybody's All-American tough and always respectful with the ladies but never afraid to throw a fist, draw his revolver or work the lever action of his trademark Winchester rifle.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about John Wayne was that the movie characters he played were, in many ways, a reflection of his own life. Angered over a loud party thrown by singer Frank Sinatra at a hotel at which Wayne was staying, he knocked down a Sinatra bodyguard and then broke a chair over him. According to a biographer, Wayne moseyed back to his room and the party quieted down. Problem solved.
"I play John Wayne in every picture regardless of the character, and I've been doing all right, haven't I? Talk low, talk slow and don't talk too much," is a quote attributed to Wayne.
Wayne likely learned some of that toughness while hanging out with his uncle, Jack, near Towner. Barbara Esser of Minot believes that to be the case. She says she's fairly certain she encountered Wayne near Towner during a Juneberry picking adventure in 1924. Esser said the young man she saw then was all cowboy, from the big Western hat on his head to the six-shooter on his hip.
"In my mind I was always wondering about it, if it was John Wayne," said Esser. "It looked like John Wayne from the pictures I've seen since."
Esser, who will turn 96 years old in October, was a 10-year-old Rugby resident in 1924. Rugby is about 19 miles distant from Towner. At that time, Esser said, traveling outside of Rugby was rare because her family didn't own the most reliable transportation.
"We walked everywhere, to church, to school, to the store," said Esser. "The Chippewa used to come to town to sell Juneberries. One year they didn't so dad loaded my two sisters and I at the back of the cab on the old flatbed truck and we went looking for Juneberries."
The Juneberry search was unproductive and uneventful that Sunday afternoon until Esser's father turned the old truck onto a faint trail. At the end of the trail was a small shack that had the appearance of being abandoned.
"I thought to myself, what's dad doing here?" said Esser. "Dad rapped on the door to ask about Juneberries. These two guys stood in the narrow doorway. They were dressed just like you see John Wayne in his pictures and both were wearing holsters with guns. At the time, and I was only 10 years old, I thought they were crooks in hiding. That's what I thought. Dad didn't talk to them very long. I was sure glad he was getting away from there."
The incident left a lasting impression on Esser, partly because of the remoteness of the small shack but mostly because of the size of the two men.
"They were big, almost to the roof," said Esser. "They kind of looked the same. I thought they were brothers. They dressed the same, both had holsters and both wore the same kind of hat. It's the same hat you see in the John Wayne photographs."
Esser's description would fit Wayne who stood nearly 6-foot-5. If indeed the two men were the Morrisons, it would not be surprising that they would be mistaken for brothers. The younger Morrison, The Duke, would have been 17 years old the summer that Esser was looking for Juneberries.
Was it really a young John Wayne and his uncle that talked to Esser's father and left a lasting impression on a 10-year-old girl, or just another pair of Towner area cowboys?
The timing is right, the location is right and the description fits.
Stories of a John Wayne connection to the Towner area have primarily been passed down through oral history. Some say young John Wayne spent a few summer months in the saddle at his uncle's Towner area ranch, maybe even pitching in to do a little work. The stories were apparently known to former North Dakota Governor George Sinner of Casselton who briefly mentioned the tale to his daughter, now Mary Jo Sinner-Savageau of Bismarck.
As a young girl, Savageau wrote to John Wayne soon after watching the Duke during one of his Tonight Show appearances.
"I heard John Wayne on the Tonight Show telling Johnny Carson that he had worked on a farm somewhere in North Dakota, but he couldn't remember exactly where," recalled Savageau. "That's why we decided to write the letter."
She and her younger brother composed the letter to Wayne, even inviting him back to North Dakota. Wayne replied with a brief letter that bore his signature. He declined the invitation to visit but added that his uncle, George Morrison, "had a ranch back there." The signed note from the Duke confirms a connection to a ranch in North Dakota. However, Wayne added, "I never worked on it".
Does that mean Wayne never visited his uncle's ranch? Perhaps not.
Would a teenager from California coming to North Dakota for a chance to ride the open range with his uncle, wear a six-shooter on his hip and be away from his immediate family for a few weeks consider it work or play? The young Duke certainly wouldn't have been working his uncle's ranch in the sense that a hired man might be required to work. That may be why he said he never "worked" the ranch.
"What he wrote really conflicts with what we heard him say on the Tonight Show. It's so disappointing," said Savageau.
Wishing to solve the differences, Savageau consulted her father for clarification.
"He did work here," insisted George Sinner, 82.
The elderly Sinner, after conferring with sister Jeanne, explained that it was common to refer to "the farm" as the farm of great-uncle Art Sinner which was located near Blanchard. Blanchard is located roughly half way between Fargo and Grand Forks and a few miles to the west. Ironcially, that is where a large television tower stands and has become a local reference, such as "at or near the tower".
Could that be the "Tower" referrenced by the John Wayne biographer, or is it indeed a simple misspelling? The latter seems more likely, given that a Jack Morrison was said have resided in Towner. Still, a Morrison visit to a "Tower" area ranch can't be completely discounted.
George Morrison came to North Dakota from Iowa and likely checked out the countryside before settling near Towner. If a young Marion Morrison, John Wayne himself, made a stop near Blanchard is another matter entirely. It likely can never be proven or disproven and adds a bit more intrigue to John Wayne's connection to North Dakota.
