Listen to the Weekly Radio Readings by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member, or tune in to WILD 102 Radio Sunday mornings.
Starting this month recordings will be linked to the Wild 102 “looking Bac in Time” page for the rest of the story.
Recorded July 2022
July 3, 2022:
It won’t be long before the fair is here. An interesting new way to advertise it was tried in 1926. This article appeared in the Roseau Times-Region on June 18, 1926.
One of the most up-to-date advertising methods in vogue was made use of Monday evening, by the Roseau County Fair Association for advertising its fair and the advantages of the county when a program was broadcasted from the Grand Forks radio station at the Fredric Hotel. The invitation was extended to the fair association through J. P. Grothe, president, some time ago and was accepted. A program was arranged as given Monday evening. The evening was good for reception and the program was listened to by the radio owners here. At the station, messages from Roseau as well as other parts of the Valley were received that were complimentary to those taking part and to Roseau. Since then, others at a distance have let it be known that the program pleased.
One of the foremost numbers on the program was a talk on Roseau County by Attorney G. M. Stebbins of Roseau. “Steb” has a good radio voice and his speech came through the air clear. It is reported here, however, that air disturbances set in after “Steb’s” talk, and while it is a cinch that the speech had both pep and punch it is doubtful whether it was the cause of ethereal attraction to Roseau County. Mr. Stebbins’ talk was so good that we are publishing it herewith. The program will also be found in this issue.
Others who went to Grand Forks besides those taking part in the program were J. P. Grothe, Mrs. G. M. Stebbins, Mrs. E. H. Nelson and Mrs. J. Snustad, M. J. Hegland and daughters, Misses Hazel, Maxine and Helen, Miss Lucille Grothe and Helen Gunderson.
Mr. Stebbins’ speech is as follows:
The Grand Forks radio broadcasting station KFJM has very courteously invited the citizens of Roseau, Minnesota, under the auspices of the Roseau County Fair Association, to give its listeners the musical program this evening and we have with us a few of our local talent who are entertaining you. It is quite possible that some of you listeners are not quite familiar with the location and resources of our part of this great country and it will perhaps be befitting at this time if I briefly tell you some things about our village and county.
Roseau is the county seat of Roseau County, which is one of the most northerly counties in Minnesota, and is located on the Great Northern Railway’s line extending from Crookston to Warroad, and is about …listen for the rest of the story here.
July 10, 2022:
In a Roseau Times-Region newspaper dated June 18, 1926, an article described the radio broadcast used as a way to promote the upcoming Roseau County Fair. The article was quite long, so last week I read the first part of it which gave general information about the positive attributes of Roseau County. Today I’ll read the second part of it which first talks about Lake of the Woods. Here it is:
The great Lake of the Woods which extends a distance of 90 miles north and south, and 45 miles east and west, forms the eastern boundary line of this county. This lake contains over 10,000 beautiful islands, and a trip by boat from Warroad to Kenora, Ontario, will bring great enjoyment to those of you who may get the opportunity to take the trip. Besides its wonderful beauty the lake is rich with fish foods. Here from June 1st to November 1st, the open season for commercial fishing, a large number of fisheries are in operation where such fish as whitefish, trout, sturgeon, wall-eyed pike and pickerel and many other varieties of fish are caught for market. Warroad, which is in the eastern part of the county is the principal American market and shipping point for Lake of the Woods fish. It has a wonderful harbor which is kept in good condition for all large boats at all times by a government dredging boat kept for that purpose during the entire summer seasons. The fish caught at the various fisheries and brought to this port are sorted, re-iced, boxed and loaded into refrigerator cars and shipped to all the principal cities in the United States, New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Fargo, Grand Forks and in fact to most all of the larger cities. The extent of this industry can only be conceived by the amount of fish shipped from Warroad; they ship annually from there two million pounds of fish, most of which is shipped in less than carload lots.
Besides the monetary feature of the commercial enterprises on the lake, there is good hook and line fishing to be had at many points around the lake and it is especially attractive to tourists who wish to avail themselves of the Minnesota good roads and see some of its beauty places and enjoy the sport of fishing at the same time. The state is contemplating the …listen for the rest of the story here.
July 17, 2022:
The building now known as the Reed River Building just north of the Polaris factory was originally opened as a milk drying plant in 1945. In the Roseau Times-Region of November 1, 1945, this story told about the operations that were expected to begin that following Saturday.
Wheels at the Land O’Lakes Milk Drying Plant will turn for the first time in the process of making dry milk powder out of milk this Saturday. That was the plan on schedule the first of the week, according to A. O. Strandlie, who is manager at the plant. This was also verified by Roy Walsh, chief engineer at the plant, who arrived from Minneapolis last week to get his department in readiness for the opening.
The milk flow at this time is at low ebb, so it is not likely that a day and night shift will be employed before Christmas. However, that will give the employees now on hand a good opportunity to become fully acquainted with the operations and be veterans by the time the rush sets in.
When operating at full capacity, the plant will employ up to thirty-four men. This in spite of the many labor saving devices installed. For instance, stokers are fed by machines, and the unloading of carloads of coal is done mechanically. The milk is pumped from one tank into another and from process to process until it is emptied into a barrel for shipment. The product is not touched by hand.
Trucks bring the skimmed milk in big tanks from the creameries after cream has been taken out. The tank trucks drive into a large room on the east side and the pipe is adjusted to the tank. The pump sucks the milk into one of the two 40,000 pound storage tanks, and from there it is started on its piped way into preheaters into another heater and pasteurizer, from there into a sprayer breakup, and from there pumped under pressure into a fine spray at the top of a large cone. Heat is forced into this cone and the fine milk particles turn to powder by the time it starts down the cone. From there it is blown through a large pipe up to the second floor to fall on a silk screen, similar to such as are used in flour mills. Sifted, it drops into the sacker or into the barrel in which it will go out in carload lots to the distant markets.
There is a storage room for a carload of empty barrels in the storage room next to the railroad siding. When enough is ready for carload shipment, a box car is shunted onto the siding and stopped at the door. The barrels of buttermilk powder is moved just the distance across the floor and into the car.
Part of the operation of the plant which counts greatly in the turning out of a good product is cleanliness. Every tank and every pipe into which milk circulates is of stainless steel. Every tank and every pipe used for milk must be thoroughly cleaned every twenty-four hours. The pipes are taken apart and washed inside by a mechanical washer, and every tank is scrubbed and cleaned once every twenty-four hours. That prevents any bacteria from getting in some extra licks to spoil the flavor, or to start a growth which can change powdered milk into something very undesirable.
Joel Anderson, who will have charge of the evaporation department, stated cleanliness was paramount. The job is planned to be done as quickly as possible. In the rush seasons it is usually done as the nightshift goes off and the day shift takes over. In that way the maximum number of hands can turn to the job.
The Roseau site was selected as the most central location for the territory desired to be served by the plant. It will not only handle milk from the Roseau creamery but can take care of milk from as far east as Spooner and west to Greenbush and on to towns on the Soo. All the creameries in the county are expected to be in on the program as soon as they can get arranged for it.
It means some reconversion in these creameries. The milk is taken in from the farms daily in non-processed state and separated at the creamery. The creamery retains the butterfat and the milk is taken to the drying plant. Farmers will be paid so much per pound for their milk based upon butterfat content. When the program was outlined in this area, it was indicated that the new way of marketing their milk and butterfat would mean additional revenue to the farmers.
The Roseau creamery has made itself ready for the change. Some of the other creameries are yet not ready. With falling off of milk production at this period and many cows dry at this time, it will mean that the plant will operate with less volume than its capacity. But that is expected to change when next spring comes around.
The builders of the plant will be here for the tryouts and will see to it that everything is in shipshape order before turning the plant over to the Land O’Lakes organization.
In chare here are men who have taken a thorough course in operation of such plants. The manager got practical training at Brainerd and afterwards in some of the larger plants in the state. The engineer-in-chief is an elderly man whose experience with power plants dates back to his early youth. In charge of the evaporation process is Mr. Anderson, who likewise has passed the test in practical work. The others have become familiar with their duties through the building of the plant and in preliminary tests of its machinery.
Two trucks have been obtained at this time and more will be added as the needs arises. Monday the grounds were leveled out and will be landscaped in the spring. The building is neat and clean-looking on the outside, and its tiled walls and glossy ceilings on the inside are spick and span and will remain that way.
Thanks to WILD 102 for this time to tell our county’s stories. NO audio available.
July 24, 2022:
In 1931, this article was published in the Roseau Times-Region’s January 8 edition.
In making a check of the old forts and trading posts of Minnesota, Roseau County came in for prominent mention in the Minnesota Historical Magazine for December, 1930, which is published by the Minnesota Historical Society.
It is not generally known that this section was first visited by white men as early as 1731. The great explorer La Verendrye, in seeking a short passage to the Pacific Ocean, came westward over the immense stretch of wilderness from Pigeon Bay on Lake Superior to Lake of the Woods. He established Fort St. Pierre on Rainy Lake, Fort St. Charles on the northwest angle of the Lake of the Woods, after which he resumed his search for a passage to the Pacific coast.
While exploring the territory some seven or eight miles up the Warroad river, he found a small stream running in a westerly direction, which he named on his map “Hay River”. He descended Hay River until he met with he Roseau. Its course being in a generally north and west direction gave him much satisfaction as he felt sure this was the river that the Indians explained ran westward into the salt sea.
While out on this interesting mission of finding a short course to the sea in the west…listen for the rest of the story here.
July 31, 2022:
Today’s story is from several issues of the Badger Herald-Rustler. The first one was just a paragraph in the August 7, 1909 issue. It said:
- O. Fryklund, J. A. Burkee, and W. B. Gislason were at Roseau Wednesday as delegates from the Badger commercial club to confer with members of the other commercial clubs of the county in regard to having an exhibit at the coming state fair.
By the time the September 4, 1909 issue was published, they had obviously accomplished quite a bit. The paragraph I found in that week’s paper said this:
The refrigerator car containing the state fair exhibits went through as per schedule Thursday morning. By the variety and quality of the stuff sent down, Roseau county will have a good exhibit. The live sturgeons sent down by Warroad are sure to attract attention more than anything else, although there are many other and interesting specimens in the county collection.
Then in the September 18, 1909, issue, a long story was published about the County Exhibit. I’ll read that now.
A short history of the Roseau County exhibit at the State Fair last week will likely be of interest to some of our readers. The story will have to be condensed, and only the more prominent occurrences mentioned.
To begin with, about half the exhibits came from Badger and vicinity. The reasons for that being that this is the best settled and most developed section of the county. Warroad spent its best efforts in making a fisheries exhibit, but met with ill luck at every turn. The fishes that they did succeed in capturing died on the way to the fair, for lack of opportunity to change the water in the tank.
The car containing the exhibits did not reach the transfer yards until Saturday night. The fair opened Monday morning and no way to get the exhibit to the fairgrounds on Sunday because no train crews were working. It looked desperate…listen for the rest of the story here.
Thank you to 
(www.roseauonline.com) for letting us share the history of our county with your listeners by donating air time, studio time, and production staff every week.