Uranium Ash

By TESSA

SANDSTROM

Nov. 14 — In the old days, lignite was often gathered and burned in stoves in North Dakota, but the Manidon Mining Company found it was more profitable to burn it in the vein. This process preserved the uranium in the ash. The Bismarck Tribune reported this week in 1962 that once the ash was burned, it was recovered and shipped to a refining plant in Wyoming. The uranium was then sold to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

Manidon was leasing 1,200 acres in southwest North Dakota. Erling Nasset, the vice president and general manager of Manidon, was optimistic of North Dakota’s newest industry. “Nobody will be a millionaire overnight,” he said, “but it’s going to be a pretty good, going business.”

Civil Works

By CATHY

A. LANGEMO

Nov. 15 — Created in 1933, the Civil Works Administration was established under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program to create jobs for millions of unemployed Americans. Though temporary, the jobs were a God-send for many Americans during the Depression.

Roosevelt unveiled the CWA on Nov. 8, 1933, with Harry L. Hopkins in charge. Roosevelt hoped that his New Deal would allow Americans to cope with the Great Depression, help end the economic downturn and help prevent any future depressions. The CWA’s purpose was to hire workers, both men and women, to assist in the creation of public projects. It was to focus on the repair or construction of public buildings, roadways and parks. It created many construction jobs and, in just one year, had cost the federal government more than $1 billion.

It was soon canceled and replaced on April 1, 1934, under the Federal Emergency Relief Act. On March 1 of that year, Harry Hopkins took over the federal relief program in North Dakota, removing it from the state emergency relief committee to the U.S. program that was reorganized into the Public Welfare Board, the Resettlement Administration and the Works Progress Administration.

The WPA (also called the Work Projects Administration) provided work relief to employable people, other than farmers because they were covered under the Resettlement Administration. By October 1936, nearly 61,000 people were employed on WPA projects, emergency conservation work and projects of other agencies. In North Dakota alone, between July 1, 1935, and June 30, 1942, the WPA, often working with the Civilian Conservation Corps, built over 20,000 miles of highways and streets, 721 new bridges and viaducts, more than 150 miles of sidewalks, 503 new public buildings, 680 outdoor recreational facilities, 39 sewage treatment plants and nine water treatment plants. It reconstructed 1,002 bridges and viaducts, over 2,000 public buildings and more than 1,700 culverts.

In addition to building projects, the WPA workers also repaired books, served school lunches, sewed garments, distributed surplus commodities, conducted literacy classes and operated salvage programs.

Working with the CCC, new parks were developed or expanded, and many North Dakota historic sites were improved, such as Fort Abraham Lincoln, Lake Metigoshe, Fort Abercrombie and many others.

The Historical Data Project was a WPA program designed to preserve the rich history of the U.S. by gathering biographical and historical information from North Dakota’s early settlers. Under the direction of Ethel Schlasinger, the WPA supported the Federal Writers’ Project, “North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State,” published in 1938.

In total, the federal government spent about $266 million in North Dakota from 1933 through 1940. The WPA in North Dakota ended on February 1, 1943. The work was of tremendous importance in the state, not only for immediate survival in terms of jobs during the Depression, but also for the enjoyment we continue to get from many of those projects today.

United Nations Pheasants

By TESSA

SANDSTROM

Nov. 16 — It had only been a little over a year since the end of World War II, and the world’s superpowers were already taking up arms. They were to invade North Dakota. Why not, after all? It was pheasant season.

On this day in 1946, the citizens of Minot and Hazen were still reveling over the recent arrival of thank you letters from international hunters. Representatives from China, Russia, Great Britain, France, and the United States arrived in Minot on Oct. 17 to partake in one of North Dakota’s favorite pastime: pheasant hunting. They spent that evening in Minot, and the next morning, the party embarked on their hunting expedition.

The parties divided into different cars, and headed south toward Hazen, hunting along the way. The Russian delegates, Lt. Gen. Sharapov and Lt. Col. Roudol, and U.S. Brig. Gen. Cabell displayed their marksmanship by reaching Hazen first with their limit. They waited there as the other parties worked their way through the fields to Hazen. Their bags for the day were later served to them that night when the Hazen Community Club served a variety of local delicacies, including roast pheasant, roast beef, fried fish, baked beans, raw hamburger, and potato salads. The parties then retired for the night to rest for another day of hunting.

The next day, the groups reported considerable luck during their hunt, although British Adm. Symonds-Tayler was upset about some of the poor shots. He said, “What a bloody rotten bunch of shots these fellows are!” The Pioneer reported that it was Symonds-Tayler, however, who was having the worst luck. Regardless, what some might have lacked in marksmanship, they made up for in enthusiasm.

Gen. Ho Ying Chin, second in command in China, said, “We’ve had a wonderful time here. I hope that we shall be able to come back here to hunt again.” This was quite a compliment considering their prey originally comes from China, and North Dakota remained a top destination for pheasant hunting.

The Russian delegates showed reluctance to return to Minot after the hunt that day, and urged the guide to take them through new hunting areas. The Russians turned to diplomacy to get in one last hunt: “Just one more field,” they said, “and then we’ll go.”

Late that afternoon, the parties left again for Minot. The next day they returned to New York. Their stay in the state had been brief, but their experience remained with them for a long time afterward. U.S. delegates Rear Adm. J. J. Ballentine and Brig. Gen. Cabell wrote letters of thanks to the citizens of Hazen and Minot, commenting them on their food, sincerity, and hospitality. Moreover, the letters pointed to Hazen as a model American town.

The letters stated, “We experienced the most generous and friendly hospitality and the sheerest pleasure imaginable… You cannot know how much the members of the hunting party appreciated your genuine hospitality… It particularly delights the officers of the United States delegation that the time could be spent as the guests of a small town like Hazen, for there are found the roots of our national life, domestic and foreign. You have portrayed Americans in the traditional light of sincerity and friendliness which we all admire and emulate and you may be sure that anyone who knows people like those in Hazen will be inspired with confidence in American sincerity and good intentions. Thus, you have not only shown us all a very good time; you have contributed directly to the good will, and thus the efficiency, of the United Nations.”

ND Farmers Union

By CATHY

A. LANGEMO

Nov. 17 — Today’s North Dakota Farmers’ Union, organized in the late 1920s, was the result of the farmers’ desires to improve their status. Preceded by the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America, first established in Texas in 1902, it came to North Dakota in 1912.

It began forming locals, with 13 of the first 16 in Burleigh County. A statewide organization was formed in 1916, with Robert J.J. Montgomery as president. The aims of the original Farmers’ Union were improving economic conditions through cooperative marketing and purchases, promoting scientific farming methods, discouraging credit and mortgage systems and encouraging “harmony and good will among all mankind and brotherly love among the members.”

Political infighting and its association with the NPL brought about the downfall of the state’s Farmers’ Union and, by 1920, it had virtually disappeared. However, the farmers’ movement in North Dakota was not dead. By the mid-1920s, A.C. Townley’s Northwest Producers Alliance was underway. The Alliance and the Equity Cooperative Exchange merged with the Farmers’ Union in January 1926.

The National Farmers’ Union then set up the Northwest Organizing Committee to recruit members in the Upper Midwest. During 1927, the committee concentrated on North Dakota and sent out crews of organizers to visit all of the farms.

Playing on the farmers’ grievances, they offered substantial member advantages. Members could ship their grain to the Terminal Association and their livestock to the Farmers’ Union Livestock Commission. They could also buy coal, lumber and twine from the Farmers’ Union Exchange and life and property insurance from the Farmers’ Union insurance companies.

In November 1927, the North Dakota Farmers’ Union organized with 13,000 members, and Jamestown was selected for the state headquarters. The NDFU quickly grew to 20,000 members by 1928 and, the next year, the North Dakota legislature passed the first law sponsored by the NDFU, on issuance of warehouse receipts on farm-stored grain.

Charles C. Talbott, from Dickey County, became an outstanding farm spokesman and the first president of today’s North Dakota Farmers’ Union. By 1930, NDFU locals were organized in all but eight North Dakota counties.

The successful example set by the NDFU brought about the growth of other cooperatives. By 1929, NDFU owned 20 oil companies in North Dakota. The next year, the Farmers’ Union Terminal Association was one of the largest cooperative grain-marketing associations in the U.S.

The Farmers’ Union Exchange was supplying local Farmers’ Union cooperatives with gasoline, oil, feed, fertilizer, twine, coal, fencing, tires, seed and groceries. By 1939, the Farm Security Administration was lending money to farmers to buy stock in Farmers’ Union cooperatives and assisting in organizing 90 new ones in North Dakota.

A drive in 1942 increased the NDFU membership by 50 percent to 21,318. Just two years later, the number was up to 25,674, about one-third of the farmers in the state. The NDFU soon became a respectable force in North Dakota and continues as a strong and viable farmers’ organization today.

Energy Drink for Pigs

By TESSA

SANDSTROM

Nov. 18 — The Ward County Independent reported today in 1926 that A.L. Simpkins awoke to a strange sight: his pigs were walking on their hind legs. Upon further inspection, Simpkins found a juice oozing from his silo, and the pigs were frequenting the puddle about every 30 minutes. The strange effects of the juice made him nervous. He wondered if the meat might have the same effect on humans if eaten. In any case, he decided there would be no pork for sale any time soon.

“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council.