Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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My mind was wandering to past years. You can’t be involved in agriculture without remembering the past and having faith in the future. Thinking of this year’s harvest issues brought to mind all of the sugar beets that used to be planted up and down the Milk River Valley. There may still be a few around that can remember that almost every railroad siding along the valley had a “beet dump.” I doubt that there was a beet dump along the railroad in Opheim where I spent my early year, and the only one that I have any firsthand knowledge of is the...
As I enjoy my morning coffee I remember days before any of our new automatic coffee conveniences. Do you remember when you made your coffee using the stove? Okay, I am remembering filling the old enamel coffee pot with water and adding the coffee grounds. I have to admit I am not remembering just how we did it. Were the coffee grounds added and then brought to a boil, or did we add grounds after the water boiled? I am thinking the former, however, I do not remember that the finished product tasted better or worse than that made using any of the...
This is a topic that many of us have little knowledge of, however I am remembering days of brick streets. I do not know [if] I have seen brick streets in Montana, however I do have bricks that were made in Havre, so bricks were available. I did spend several of my young years living in Mo., and there were a lot of brick streets. There are still brick streets in that area. My question, how often are bricks replaced or do they last longer than pavement? Following up on that question might go on my “to do list.” What is the cost compared to pav...
Many of you will remember saving bread sacks. Oh, not only the sacks, but if the family didn’t eat the crusts, you dried them to use at a later date for dressing, or maybe bread pudding, just to mention a few. I remember many that washed and saved the plastic bread sack also. That was before baggies and Ziplocks. Once these bags were washed and dried they had to be stored someplace for the next use. The favorite storage method in my family was to roll these recycled bags on the core tube of wax paper. Worked great to keep these bags in some o...
Do you remember your history? In reading an old history book I found this quote. Since history has a habit of repeating itself I decided to share. “In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an Ame...
Do you remember the plans to have a “Dome on the Range”? This suggestion came about after the Glasgow Air Force base was abandoned. As some of you remember, this was a major blow to our area. Many suggestions and investors came up with varied plans, however I think the most short-lived plan was to cover the existing housing site with a massive dome, turning the area into a retirement village which would have included a nine-hole golf course and swimming pool. Maybe it never came about because many of us just could not imagine life under a dom...
Do you remember when shopping for groceries was much easier? I don’t remember that we were label conscious at all, unless we were shopping for salt or sugar-free diets. Present day shopping requires much more effort. Do I want to buy household vinegar, or pickling vinegar? What about baking soda; do I want this for laundry purposes or cooking? What about the choice in canned tomatoes? Those almost takes up half of an aisle in the grocery store. We used to just buy canned tomatoes, not chunked or cans of many different flavors, just tomatoes, an...
School has started and that may trigger some old school day memories for some of you. Some of you will recall heading off to a country school, having the same teacher that you had for the last couple of years (and not because you were repeating grades). Or you may think of the old Southside school (the really old one), or when the Northside school housed all grades, or maybe you attended the Catholic school. Your list of school supplies may have included a new lunch box as country schools did not have the luxury of a “hot lunch room.” Oh, and...
Do you remember driving to Opheim and crossing railroad tracks on that highway, or how about driving the current Billingsley Road and crossing railroad tracks? There may have been many more such rail crossings, but those are the ones I am familiar with. It doesn’t require a lot of thought to connect the railroad with the Glasgow AFB as there must have been a lot of supplies that were transported to that facility. I don’t remember that there were any cross arms at the crossing, but I am going to guess not. However, it was not uncommon to see...
Do you drive the highways between Glasgow, Nashua, Malta or Opheim and remember them as they used to be? If you are looking at your surroundings you can often pick out remains of the old road beds. I remember driving on gravel for half of the trip to Glasgow from Opheim. And in my memories it seems that a lot of Highway 2 (going either east or west) was extremely narrow. I do remember that we didn’t drive 70-80 mph at that time but our cars were also bigger. Going to wider highway and shoulders you could pull over on was a real asset. Now we w...
The NE MT Fair will be in full swing when this Courier edition comes out. The “behind the scenes” activity and work will be forgotten for another year. We all recognize the work that goes into preparing exhibits and getting them to the fair, but we must recognize all of those that put in hours getting the livestock barns and other animal areas ready for you to exhibit in. The building prep for culinary, floral, art and so many other projects. These things happen because of volunteers. We need to be willing to recognize that it would be very dif...
Do you remember your swimming days of the past? I grew up in a small town and the country. No access to a swimming pool. I never did become a good swimmer, but some of us in the North Country spent a few summer days at the “Post.” The “Post” had to be the Poplar River—funny how you don’t remember some things. As I recall this was part of the US/Canadian border. I know that it did not involve going through Customs so I am assuming the river was not an issue. I must see if I can make my way up there someday to refresh old memories. This area w...
If you grew up as a country kid you may remember seeing, or having, bulls around your area that sported a Bull Ring. These bull rings were not anything fancy or dressy for the bull, although many of these rings of the past were made of brass, which could be considered fancy. Apparently this practice can be traced back to Biblical days. Rings were placed into the nose of said animal. The theory being, if you could control the head of the animal, the body would follow. Animals learn just as humans, if it hurts when you do something, don’t do it....
“I’m Buster Brown. I live in a shoe. Arf! Arf! That’s my dog Tige. He lives in there too.” This little rhyme came to my attention the other day. I think that I remember this being connected to commercials for Buster Brown clothing, but if I am wrong, please let me know. Anyway, do you remember Buster Brown clothing? It was always a great product in children’s clothes. T-shirts were a great favorite. I have not a clue if this brand is still available but I do know that it was very popular for several generations of youngsters...
Do you remember before Amazon and online ordering? In the days before that we had door-to-door sales persons. Do you recall all of the trips that you made to the library to get the information you needed for a school project or term paper? If you were lucky your parents were concerned about your education, as well as all of the trips you, and maybe Mom, had to make to the library. These concerned parents or grandparents probably purchased a handsome set of encyclopedias from a sales person that visited your home. A big selling point, you had...
How long ago has it been since you even thought about having your shoes resoled? Some people (mostly men) still have cowboy boots resoled but it is not as common as it used to be. Just maybe because there are not many shoe repair shops in our area. I remember going with my Mom to a couple of them located in Glasgow. I was not the individual carrying the pocket book, nor did I have to worry about those things in that era, but I am sure there were many services rendered in leather work by these shops. Leather was the material in most all shoes,...
Do you remember ordering from the Montgomery Ward catalog? I remember family stories of shipping cattle, mules and sheep to market via the railroad. I know that many provisions were brought back via rail on the return home. I remember a lot of grocery items were purchased in large quantities to bring home. I do not know if food items were purchased from Montgomery Ward, but I know that a lot of furniture came from Wards. Did these early day residents receive some of these furniture pieces as bonus items? I recall seeing more than one old oak...
Do you remember the former Deaconess Hospital? The Courier has featured several pictures lately. Some of the things that come to my mind are the men’s and women’s wards. These rooms housed a group of patients. I am sure there were specifications on just what type of patient was housed in these rooms, but I do know that new moms got to have company as they were placed in the ward. And those were the days they spent three to 10 days in the hospital recovering. I also remember visiting men friends in the men’s ward. Yes, your privacy was less,...
Do you remember the days of childhood games? I was thinking of some of the expressions we used “back then” and wonder just where they derived from. Did ‘Oly-oly-oxen-free’ make perfect sense, and what did it mean, or for that matter when did we even use that phrase? What about having to choose between items or persons to play on your team? I know that many of you used the ‘eeny-meeny-miney-moe’ method. Then along came the early teen days and Double Dog Dare. I need to be a mouse in the corner and listen to terminology used by the young (real...
I was doing a little early Spring housekeeping over the weekend, which resulted in digging through some things forgotten. Do you remember when most homemakers treasured and displayed handiwork done by themselves or others? I remember almost every living room in homes of earlier days, displaying so many hand-crocheted items. The one thought that came to mind were the doilies always found on the back and arms of the living room couch. Those of us that do remember immediately know what they were if we are to see a set today. These were usually a m...
Do you remember a time before Amazon? I personally try to do my shopping at home, but sometimes we just think we need something we cannot find in our small community. With the media and politicians making noise about Amazon and others, it brought to mind that we have always shopped “out of town.” I remember as a child sitting at the kitchen table paging through the catalogs. The Alden’s catalog comes to mind. Why Alden’s when we lived within 60 miles of a Sears and Montgomery Wards, I have no clue. I am sure that catalog shopping was for the...
Do you remember all of the old iron bridges? As a young person I never was sure I liked going over them, or if they just scared me a little. That may have been the only type of major bridge constructed in a given era. I definitely remember the old iron bridge on the Tampico Road; I know that there was an iron bridge on the road going out on 6th Ave So. Of course, I got to cross the bridge over the river at Tampico and the one at Vandalia. I think there was a bridge crossing the Milk River on the Fort Peck Hwy (by the old Ken’s Club, but that i...
Do you remember when the Class C Boys’ basketball tournaments were held in the Glasgow Civic Center? I think that schools were even let out for the event. Coming from a Class C school, it was a real treat to have friends that I could stay with and take in the tourney. I am sure that a pep bus was provided to take in the games, but actually staying in Glasgow for the games was a real treat. Were those type of events held in the Civic Center until the building of the new high school? I do remember the old high school having two gyms, the l...
“When the elderly die, a library is lost and volumes of wisdom and knowledge are gone.” This is a line I happened upon sometime ago and have thought about so often. How many times has an item crossed your mind and you have that brief thought about asking your Mom or Dad about it, or maybe an elderly neighbor? The sad thing is that there are not too many of those people left anymore. Not long ago I found myself reminding someone that Glasgow did have a bakery and was surprised they did not remember. The tables were then turned somewhat, as I w...
Do you remember the winters of 49-50, 50-51 and 64-65? Those are only the years that come to my mind and I do know there were many other winters etched in memory. If you remember, I need go no further. For those who do not remember, let me help with some of those past winters. Do you remember driving from Point A to Point B along roads with snow banks higher than your car? Winds and snow so bad that you had small snow drifts along the base boards inside your house. Ice on top of the water bucket (your source of household water) that was broken...
