What's Gone Before

  Early experiences of prairie pioneers, particularly the colony led by Olav Thortvedt, which came to the Buffalo river near Moorhead and Glyndon from Houston county, Minnesota, in 1870, are recounted in these pen and ink sketches drawn by Orabel Thorvedt, Clay county artist and granddaughter of Olav Thortvedt.    

  Last Sunday the series told of the departure of future Americans from their homes in Norway, of their development in their new homeland, the assembling of oxen and prairie schooners for a westward trek and the beginning of their arduous journey to the Buffalo.  

  Today's sketches picture experiences of the party along the trail.  (Tarjei Muhle was the fiddler in the party, not Tarjei Skrei as stated last Sunday.)

Pioneers meet other travelers on the trail...

As the caravan crept farther and farther north, it began to meet trains of oxcarts drawn by ponies, accompanied by half-breeds, who were transporting furs from the far north to the terminal at St. Cloud.  Oxen and dogs in the party distrusted the smells and the strange sight of the Red River carts, swinging away and giving them a wide berth.  That is Thone Thorvedt, 13, who is peering furtively from the back of her father's prairie schooner.  Note the breaking plow athwart the rear end of the wagon and the dog, Major, sniffing the air suspiciously and watching the numerous curled-of-tail canines that swarmed around the slow-moving cart train.  During the journey the party met many more oxcart trains, some of them containing 90 to 100 carts loaded with buffalo hides, deer hides, bear, beaver, mink and muskrat pelts.  Sometimes ponies, sometimes oxen drew the carts.  The odor from the trains and the squeaking of the wooden axles in wooden hubs was something not easily forgotten.  The carts were a simple affair with two clumsy and rather large wheels but were built so stoutly they easily carried weights of 1,500 pounds.  One half-breed on a pony managed fix to six carts.  With their long hair, buckskin suits and wide hats, the drivers were an odd looking lot.  There were other strange people on the prairie, too, and an exciting moment came when the pioneers arrived at Alexandria...

Buffalo river party meets up with Indians ...

After traveling in a wooded country for some time, the travelers encountered the beautiful sky blue lakes of Minnesota and were loathe to leave the wonder of this area.  They continued on their way, and arrived one night at a well known campsite in Alexandria, Minn., and there they saw Indians, who they were told were "blanket" Indians.  Although they had seen other Indians in Houston county, this was a different tribe and with memories of the massacre, the Norsemen could not help but feel alarm.  But these seemed to be a rather peaceful lot, in spite of which women in the caravan were nervous at the sight of the "wild savages." At the camp were a half dozen teepees and among the group one tall, rather old Indian wearing a red blanket.  He was under the influence of liquor and was very talkative but neither he nor his band harmed the travelers. Alexandria, incidentally, was in those days the "last chance" supply center for pioneers heading for the Buffalo and Red River valleys.  There they obtained flour, sugar, slat, other commodities and farm implements.  The Thortvedt party stocked up, spending an entire day acquiring stoves, axes, plows, scythes, whetstones, two inch augers for building log cabins, utensils of many kinds, plus an extra supply of foodstuffs. Some acquaintances were met.  Then the party was on its way again...

A pioneer cook's troubles with mosquitos...

None of the pioneers will ever forget the troubles of Olav Thortvedt's wife Thone, when the party reached the site which was later to become known as the city of Moorhead.  While she was engaged in cooking mush over the campfire, mosquitoes thrice invaded the kettle in large enough numbers to spoil the food.  Thone finally became so angry she flung the kettle away, as the sketch shows, narrowly missing the head of a nearby grazing calf.  The campsite was at a location where Mrs. George Sheffield's home now (in 1941)stands at 612 First Avenue North in Moorhead, where a stagecoach station in the form of a log building had been erected by the Burbank company.  Those old logs still exist and form an integral part of the pioneer log cabin now standing in Bowman park in Moorhead.  The old Burbank station was built in 1860 by a man named Torgerson who resided there with his family until August, 1862, when a friendly brave warned him that an Indian uprising was brewing.  He fled southward on the trail immediately with his wife and children and never returned.  The uprising was the one that developed into the great Sioux massacre that started on the Upper Sioux agency, August 17, 1862, which had kept the Thortvedts in Houston county.  In the sketch can be seen the Burbank stage station as it looked in that day.  Once the object of an Indian attack, its logs were bullet-pocked. The next morning, somewhat refreshed after a night of somewhat fitful sleep, the party continued and soon met an acquaintance...

One pioneer helps another pick a site ...

Not far north of the site of the future Moorhead the party encountered R. M. Probstfield, who had been met previously on the trail and who had told them they were traveling toward a wonderful country.  Probstfield was indeed an early settler, having arrived and established his home a few miles north of Moorhead in March, 1859, and for 12 years served as factor for the Hudson's Bay Company at its Georgetown post, 12 miles north of Moorhead.  When the expedition arrived, they found Probstfield had a well-built log cabin, a stable and several other smaller buildings close to the Red River.  His descendants still reside there, along US 75.  Probstfield greeted the party jovially and told them there were thousands of acres of land, still unsurveyed, from which they might pick their future homes.  When one of the travelers offered to take over the cultivation of his corn, Probstfield offered to show Olav Thortvedt the Buffalo River country lying a few miles to the east.  Thortvedt's horse, Jim, was hitched to Probstfield's buggy, and Thortvedt and Probstfield set out.  Aanon Gunerson Gjeitsta put Probstfield's saddle on Veum's mule, Jerry, and they set out to explore.  In the sketch this "discovery party" may be seen, with Probstfield gesturing with enthusiasm as he describes the land.  When the party reached a particular bend in the river, Thortvedt was so impressed he asked that they stop to look.  That point was later to become the Thortvedt home.  Traveling down the river they later came to a slough section, populated by hundreds of wild ducks.  Returning to the Probstfield field that evening, Thortvedt broke the news.  He said he had found the finest land in Minnesota.  The next day the caravan moved to the site...

Comment:  This account makes no reference to the "fact-finding mission" of 1869 that included a meeting between Aanund Kragnes, a surveyor named Homme and Mr. Probstfield and their subsequent investigation of possible Buffalo River home sites. Certainly Kragnes' glowing reports upon his return to Houston County influenced this party to migrate to the same area!

In 1905, the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society recounted events from what appears to be Probstfield's perspective.

It was a land of mosquitos, other hardships ...

The first night in their new home was discouraging for man as well as beast.  With no adequate shelter they suffered severely from the stings of hordes of mosquitoes.  The men built huge smudges to give relief to their families as well as the stock.  The poor beasts milled around all the night long attempting to shake off their relentless enemies to little avail, as the sketch shows.  The following day there was much skirmishing about as each family tried to decide what space it should occupy.  The single men in the company said, "You people with families pick your ground first.  We will find land as close by as we can."  It was not difficult to choose sites for there were thousands of acres of virgin prairie, free of stones and trees, except for the trees along the banks of the Buffalo.  There was elm, oak, ash, box-elder and basswood trees, and chokecherry and plum, thorn apples and grapes, and a river teeming with fish.  One of the first meals enjoyed by the settlers was catfish, described as being extremely fat and enjoyed by all. Olav Thortvedt was given a central location in the little colony for a very good reason.  He owned the only grindstone.  He unloaded the stone and set up his family's stove under a large stooping elm.  Here also he set up his blacksmith bellows and placed a tree stump for the anvil.  This was the family gathering place. In compliance with law, Olav Thortvedt first broke five acres of prairie.  Then he built a hay rack and brought in a supply of wild hay.  Next he cut logs and with the help of his neighbors built his family's permanent home...

Cabins began to rise on the Buffalo ...

Here is the first Buffalo river home of the Olav Thorvedt family.  Olav's wife, Thone, may be seen carrying a pail of water up the hill from the river to the newly built cabin.  Little Signe may be seen at play, running by her mother.  To the left stands the important grindstone.  The frame for the stone was made out of the fork of a tree, with a hand-hewn wooden trough to hold the water.  Elm bark was placed on roof logs of the cabin.  The prairie sod was cut with an axe into square chunks and placed on the rough side of the bark.  Packed tight, this made a water-proof house.  The building had a small attic, a door in the center of the south wall and a full window on the west.  There was a half window on the north wall.  Hewed basswood boards were used in constructing a doubledeck bed. That it was a well-constructed building can be seen by the fact that it still stands on the Thortvedt farm.  During the autumn, Thortvedt found a large set of elk horns on the prairie and bolted it on the projecting cabin roof ridge log on the west end.  There it remained for a number of years, a fitting ornament for a home of those days.  After Thorvedt finished the cabin he went to work on the stable, cutting elm logs and hauling them to the site with horses and oxen hitched together.  During those days, Thortvedt's faithful wife, Thone, labored beside him diligently, although she said when they came that 10 years on the Buffalo river would be enough...