Voices from the Past

July 25, 1924

Riley and Horkan Cattle Dipped At Whitten Ranch

About 150 head of cattle, owned by George Horkan and Charlie Riley, were dipped at the Archie Tompkins ranch Saturday in a nicotine solution known as black leaf forty. They first went with their cattle to a newly constructed rock vat at Fred Whitten’s place but found it leaky and went on to Tompkins, a drive of 18 miles. It is the belief of some that the Whitten vat was struck by lightning.

Dr. J.J. Staab, veterinarian, superintended the dipping work Saturday, and because the cattle had only been exposed to scabies, he found that one immersion was sufficient.

A dipping vat is under construction at F.T. Kelsey’s ranch at Moorhead where his cattle and those of the Quarter Circle Lazy B outfit are to be dipped in an oil emulsion.

July 22, 1949

Drug Store Installed New Ice Cream Freezer

Steve A. Holt, Jr., proprietor of the Reliable Drug Store in Broadus last week installed a new Taylor 6 quart ice cream freezer together with a 30 gallon hardening cabinet and will produce all of his own ice cream in the future. According to Mr. Holt his store will sell on an average over 10 gallons of ice cream a day throughout the year, and with his new freezer he can manufacture more different flavors and stock them than he has been able to stock in the past and his ice cream will be of a higher quality. The new machine was put in operation last Friday.

More Ranchers Try Irrigation

Continued dry weather is turning the thoughts of many of the Powder River ranchers to irrigation. Those ranchers that are equipped to pump water out of Powder River are having a bountiful harvest of both hay and small grain.

Alvin Jurica was in from his ranch near Powderville on Saturday and Ben Jurica was in Sunday. They both report good grain crops being raised under the ditch and alfalfa that promises to be the best ever. Ben Jurica has spring grain that neighbors estimate will make 50 bushels to the acre.

Doug Randall has been busy the past week irrigating his second crop of alfalfa and putting water on pasture land. Dr. Randall, father of Doug, one of the owners of the ranch said a few weeks ago that it would not have been possible to have kept any cattle this year if it had not been for irrigation.

H.R. Cook is irrigating now for his second crop of alfalfa. He is one of the pioneers in the water pumping business on Powder River and probably the first to be successful at it. He has had big alfalfa hay crops ever since he started irrigating a number of years ago.

Frank Rice is at present constructing a system of irrigation canals on his ranch. He has had Al Pikkula building a 4 ft. raised canal across 300 feet of low land near the river so that he can pump into his main canal. He is using part of the old N Bar ditch to distribute the water to his laterals. He will install his 6 in. pump in the river and use a tractor for power. His pump will throw 4,000 gallons of water per minute. He hopes to have the pump running in time to get a second cutting of alfalfa.

Herman Ullrich is also pumping water from the river to irrigate his alfalfa meadows. He has pumped water from the river in other years.

Many of the ranchers along the river are making plans to irrigate their meadows as soon as their irrigation systems can be constructed. John Daily is one of the ranchers who has already contracted to have the canals constructed.

July 29, 1999

TAW Toro Twisting Was a Great Success

By Derrick Tvedt

The TAW Toro Twisting was a great success. The Powder River Wrestling Club was excited to see so many people in the stands. The club’s intent was to raise money for its young members. The proceeds will be used to open doors for kids in our club that were once shut. We hope we provided quality entertainment for the community.

Brad Brettin Rodeo Company shipped in the stock from Beach, ND. The format for the event was two rounds with a section of steer riding in between each section of bulls. There were eleven riders out each round, which was less than expected, but still loaded with talent. There were past and current NRA, NPRA, and high school champions. Current PRCA cowboys: Tad Torgerson - perennial Badlands Circuit Finals qualifier, and JC Steffan - past NPRA champion, judged the event.

The event winners in the steer riding are as follows: 1st place, Jason Schaffer; 2nd, Troy Mills; 3rd, Witt Williams.

The winners in the bull riding are as follows: 1st, Justin Hermenson - Kathryn, ND; 2nd, Aaron Adams - Gillette, WY; 3rd, Levi Lanning - Hammond, MT and 4th/5th, Cody Sundby - Minot, ND, and Brett Crump - St. Ignatius, MT.