These stories can also be heard on Sunday mornings around 10 am on WILD 102’s “Look Back in Time” program. Each week’s radio story will be posted here on our website.
Weekly radio stories are researched, compiled, and read by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member.
August 4, 2024
Years ago, I got a letter from a relative, Marion Elton Dalke, who grew up in Pinecreek. She was remembering her first definite Christmas memory. It was the early 1940s. She remembered her great-aunt Aase Madsen and her husband and their kids coming cross country from their farm driving a team of Percheron horses, pulling a fully enclosed caboose, benches lengthwise on either side, picking up Mom, Dad, sister Bonnie and herself. There was even a little pot-bellied stove inside. She said, “We sat under heavy [horsehair] lap robes, everybody was laughing and it was warm and steamy inside, and so, so cozy. Anyway, then we went across the fields to Grandpa & Grandma’s for Christmas dinner.”
Marion had included a few photos of things her dad had built when he farmed in Pinecreek. His name was John Elton, and he was a well-loved neighbor. She described some of the photos this way, “The one that’s really interesting is Dad’s snowmobile-long before the new snowmobiles were built. This one was fully enclosed – sat 5 people – airplane engine and skis, I think. It went like crazy over the snow drifts across the fields from farm to farm. We hated to see it go, but he sold it to the mail service someplace in Alaska, probably needed money!
Marion went on to say, “When I think of how bright and innovative all those farmers were – your dad included – it’s incredible. My dad’s projects were – a very early little garden tractor. Someone sent a picture of him with it into Popular Mechanics. Then there was the motorcycle, put together out of pieces from junk yards in Minneapolis. It technically was a Henderson, but I’m sure it had all kinds of odd parts. Then the next winter he built a side car for it so he could take us for rides. Also probably sold when money was tight. Every winter there was a new project. The boat you have is another winter’s work.”
She referred to another photo. “The one of me on skis is 1939 – I would have been 4 years old – on skis that Great Grandpa Besserud made for Dad when he was 4 or 5. I used those for 4 years to ski to the school across the field” The school she mentions was called the DoWell School, or District 10 N, located right across the road from the Pinecreek Church.
Marion is right about the innovation of the farmers in our area. Most had very little to work with when they started out, and had to repair their own equipment, if not even build it themselves. Like the old saying goes, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention.’
There were many people who built versions of snowmobiles long before the industry of building them started. I’m sure they were all a little different from each other. If you have pictures or stories of any that your relatives have built, bring them to the Roseau County Museum for the archives. They’re always interested in the work and lives of local people.
Marion Dalke died in March of this year and will be buried in the Pinecreek Cemetery beside her parents, John and Gunda Elton. Her grandparents and great-grandparents are also buried there. A celebration of her life was held at the Pioneer Farm this weekend with close friends and relatives. She had lived an interesting life after moving away from Pinecreek. She graduated from Roseau High School in 1953 and then went on to college in Idaho. She taught Home Ec in Las Vegas and then moved to Arizona. Later she opened a gallery in Malibu, CA, specializing in Native American art. She began traveling with Delta Cruise Lines and Holland America working in their gift shops and later became a travel guide for British Titan Tours. She traveled the world for her work and for pleasure until her retirement.
She came back to Roseau County every year to see her family and friends. She was proud of her family, was sentimental about her time in Pinecreek. She used to send letters to her Aunt Ethel Simmons that were addressed simply to Auntie, Pinecreek Minn. While Pinecreek still had a post office, the letters always found their way to Ethel. Marion could always tell a good story. She was a free-spirited person, fun and adventurous, and will be missed by all who knew her.
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for letting us share our county’s history with your listeners by donating air time, studio time, and production staff every week.