7/11/15

We went to Sabbath School in Bismarck before driving to Dawson to meet distant cousin, Allen Krueger and his wife, Alice.

In 1952, my grandparents, dad, and uncle immigrated to Carrington, ND.  Opa's (my grandfather's) distant cousin, Walter Krueger, had sponsored them to come from Germany to America and work on his farm there.  Walter's son, Allen, was 10 years old at the time and remembers his young cousins quite well.  He now lives in Dawson on a farm he owns there.  I called him before the trip to arrange a meeting.  He even offered to take us up to Carrington to see the community and the old farm his father owned.  We were very excited for this opportunity!

Our GPS took us right to the Krueger's door.  I had seen their property via satellite on-line, so it looked very familiar as we approached their driveway.

Approaching the Krueger farm

Fields the Kruegers lease in front of their home

Once we arrived, we enjoyed chatting with Allen and Alice as she was putting the finishing touches on lunch.  She made vegetarian burritos and we enjoyed building our own.  It all tasted delicious.  Their grandsons who were visiting them joined us for lunch.

Before leaving for Carrington, we posed in front of their home.

Alice and Allen Krueger, me, Abigail, Marta, and Emily Wetmore - photo by Allen and Alice's grandson

We climbed into Allen's large SUV where we all fit in comfortably to begin our tour.  It took about 45 minutes to get to the property of the old farm.  We learned that it was about 1,500 acres; so it took some time to actually get to the site where the house had been.

Woodoworth, N.D. - looking toward Hawke's Nest Ridge

Former Walter Krueger farm property - Allen used to like it when the car would crest this hill coming from the direction of the picture because they would go airborne briefly

Lund Farm that was deserted in the 1940's

Allen's brother farmed this area that his dad had previously rented

Part of what was Walter Krueger's farm

More of what was Walter Krueger's farm - current farmers are raising bees

The south side of what was Walter Krueger's farm

Another view of the south side of what was Walter Krueger's farm

East side of what was Walter Krueger's farm

At this site, Walter Krueger had a large silo where Opa had to use the tractor to press down the grain.  While doing this, he had a problem stopping the tractor.

The site where the house had stood is near the corner of 61st Ave SE and 4th Street.

The small, gray circle in the bottom left part of the map is the site of the Krueger home (up and left from the word "Google")

Once we got to the new driveway (the original one is gone), we ignored the No Trespassing signs and drove on to the property.

While Abigail slept in the car, we explored the property.  Nearly all the buildings have been torn down and a new barn has been built.  A tornado took down the old Quonset shed and the metal pieces were strewn about.  One small grain bin still stands.

Emily in the foreground.  Over her left shoulder is the roof of the small grain bin which was near where the house stood.  At the left edge is the concrete slab where the Quonset shed stood.

Concrete slab where the Quonset shed stood

Former location of the house, the end closest to the foreground is where a separate entrance to the house had been built for the Grentz's to give them privacy

Old grain bin that still stands on the property

This little hill was a favorite place for the Krueger children to go sledding in the winter

Closeup of the house site.  The far side had the kitchen with a view to Carrington.

Emily standing it what was the kitchen.  The trees behind her were not there in the 1950's.  They now block the view to Carrington.

Allen reminisces at the site of his boyhood home

View back to the road.  The barn is new.  The trees to the left of the barn are new since the 1950's and block the view the house would have had to Carrington - Panoramic Photo by Marta Wetmore

Allen points out the sights - Photo by Marta Wetmore

Great perspective!  Emily standing where the Quonset shed was.  Pond near the hill where the children would go sledding.  Small grain bin to the left of the old house seat.  Panoramic Photo by Marta Wetmore

Emily enjoys the long grass

Then we got back in the car to drive into Carrington.  As soon as started to drive away, we saw the site where Opa had a bad accident with Walter Krueger's jeep.  He was driving down 61st Ave SE when the top of the gear shift came off in his hand and fell to the floor.  He bent down to get it and went off the road.

Where Opa went off the road in Walter's jeep

Then, probably with correcting/over-correcting, he crossed through the T intersection with 4th Street and went into the ditch on the other side, rolling the jeep.  Fortunately, the jeep ended up on its wheels and he was not hurt badly.  He just had to find someone to help him get the jeep out of the ditch.  He had only been in the States a short time and had no driving experience back in Germany.  Allen was not surprised that his dad would send someone with little or no experience to use equipment that was expensive and difficult to operate without practice.  He had a sort of baptism-by-fire style.

The ditch where Opa ended up

On the way to Carrington, we saw a building Walter Krueger built,

the site of the old SDA church where only the cemetery remains,

photo by Marta Wetmore

the locations of the public schools where Allen attended prior to academy, and the base of Hawks Nest Ridge where the SDA's used to have potluck picnics while their church was outside of the city.

 Entrance to Hawks Nest Ridge - taken by Marta Wetmore

Base of Hawks Nest Ridge

Once we arrived in the town, we saw the old SDA church building which was sold and now serves as a daycare center.

Nearby is the location of Onkel Emanuel Krueger's house where our family first went for a few hours after arriving by train in Carrington, while waiting for Walter Krueger to pick them up.  Allen was not sure exactly which house was his, but he showed us a couple it could have been as he remembered the general location.

Possible Onkel Emanuel Krueger's house

Very near by is the site of the old train depot for the East-West line coming from Minneapolis.  The building is now gone.  This is where our family got off the train in their new home town.  The rail road tracks still stand and are in use.  We spoke with a man who works on them and he was able to give us the information on where the depot once stood.

Location of old Train Depot for the East-West line

After seeing everything we wanted to see, we met Alice and the grandsons in Jamestown, ND.  They drove up in our car and we switched at that point.  We thanked them and said our goodbyes.

We drove on to Fargo where we stopped to have an Italian dinner which we enjoyed very much!

Abigail coloring while waiting for her food

Emily enjoys Fettucine Alfredo

Then it was on to Watertown, SD to spend the night.

7/10/15

We enjoyed breakfast in our room this morning before packing up and heading out to see the city of Deadwood.  We started with Mt. Moriah Cemetery which was on our way into town and the burlier place of many famous people.

The first graves we came across were those of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane which are side by side.

Emily and Abigail in front of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane's graves, holding the DVD case for Calamity Jane

Then we hiked to the top of the cemetery (which is on a hill) to see a good view of the town.

Panoramic Photo by Marta Wetmore

After visiting the cemetery, we went into downtown where the old train depot is now a visitor's center.

From there we walked a short distance to the Adam's Museum where a donation got us an entrance ticket.  This museum features the history of Deadwood including that of some of the most famous people who lived there.

Items belonging to Wild Bill Hickock

Portrait of Wild Bill

A collection of photos of Calamity Jane

Abigail and Emily try stereoscopes to view old photos of Deadwood - Photo by Marta Wetmore

Downstairs, the girls enjoyed the kids' area, including a giant puzzle they put together on the wall.

Auntie Liesel helps with the puzzle - Photo by Marta Wetmore

The finished product

Then we headed back upstairs to check out the souvenirs.  While Marta found some great books, Emily and I looked at the life-size cutouts of the most famous Deadwood residents.

After leaving the museum, we went across the back street to look at a sculpture of Wild Bill that was carved by the same artist who started the Crazy Horse Monument.

We started to head back towards the car, enjoying the town as we walked along and stopping in the post office to get stamps.

Saloons that resemble the saloon Wild Bill was killed in

From there, we drove to Broken Boot Gold Mine for a tour and gold-panning.  We ate our self-made lunch in the parking lot before going in.

Once we got our tickets, we donned our hard hats and followed our young guide into the mine.  He pointed out many interesting things about the minerals in the stone, the mining equipment, and he gave us a lot of history of the mine.  When the mine closed down and became a tourist attraction, a broken boot was found abandoned inside.  So the name was changed to Broken Boot Gold Mine.

Marta, Abigail, and Emily Wetmore pose with their hard hats inside the mine

After the tour, it was time to try panning for gold.  Our guide explained the technique which Emily and Abigail did all they could to follow.  It was a bit tricky.

With help from Marta and me, the girls harvested several gold flakes into little glass flasks.  They were pretty excited!

Then began our trip to Bismarck, ND where we would spend the night.  We took a longer route to get out of Deadwood in order to avoid long waits in construction zones of the city.  As a result, we drove through a beautiful canyon with many enjoyable views.

Once we were out of the canyon, we were leaving the Black Hills behind us and it was back into very flat terrain.  I don't recall the last time I could see so much of a road stretching ahead of me into the horizon.  Mindboggling!

Although the land is basically flat, it does boast these fascinating and beautiful buttes of rock that jet up out of the ground sporadically.

This road is fairly desolate, much like the desert roads in the Southwest going to L.A., only with grass!  There were very few towns along the way and most of them were tiny.  If they had a Subway restaurant they were doing good!  Otherwise it was gas station food.  Not even a McDonalds!  At last we came to Dickinson, ND and they had quite a few options.  We found a Thai restaurant and got food to go.  I found a park on the map and we went there to eat our food.  Of course the girls wanted to try the jungle gym before we left!

From there we went strait on to our hotel in Bismarck.