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.
March 17, 2024
A photo of an unusual piece of paper currency with a value of $10 was shared in the Roseau Times-
Region of January 24, 1974. Here’s what was told in the article that accompanied the photo:
A $10 bill didn’t always have to be issued by the federal government. It could be issued by a National
Bank some years ago. One such bill was sent to the Times-Region recently by Delmar Hagen, Gatzke, who
obtained it from Lorne Hillier, Hensel, North Dakota.
What is so interesting is [that there is a picture] of President William McKinley and has a date of April 13,
1903 on its face. It also has a number 61 in the lower left corner and the words, “National Currency,
secured by United States bonds or other securities, United States of America” in the upper left corner.
The bill is signed by Israel Sjoberg, vice-president of the bank, and by A. E. Halverson, assistant-cashier. It
also bears the designation, “K83734, series of 1902” and the words, “the First National Bank of Roseau
will pay to the bearer on demand, ten dollars.”
On the backside of the bill are the words, “This note is receivable at par in all parts of the United States in
payment of all taxes and excises and all other dues in the United States except duties on exports and also
for all salaries and other debts and demands owing by the United States to individuals, corporations and
associations within the United States except interest on public debt.”
Curious about the bill, we called Chester Dahlquist for more information about it. Dahlquist said that
National Banks at one time could issue their own such bills by sending in a like amount of currency to the
federal government. The government would send out the bills in sheets of five or six bills, all printed and
ready for signatures by bank officials.
The bank would then bring them in to the Times-Region office (or earlier, the predecessors of the Times-
Region) and have them cut apart on the newspapers’ paper cutters.
They could then be issued and used as cash anywhere. “If the bank had $30,000 in currency, it could turn
that money in to the federal government and get $30,000 in their own bills back,” Dahlquist recalled. He
said the bills are still good … but that their antique value probably exceeds their face value.
National banks were the only ones permitted to use this procedure, the state banks not eligible for the
issuance, Dahlquist indicated. The state banks did not have the national treasury to back them up at that
time.
When the bills were mutilated and no longer legible, they could be sent in to be destroyed and more
issued.
Dahlquist recalled that at the times this bill was issued, L. H. Ickler was president of the First National
Bank of Roseau. Cashier, he thought, was T. D. Thorson.
Dahlquist also recalled that Israel Sjoberg, after being assistant cashier at the First National, formed his
own bank, the Roseau County National Bank, which he operated in the corner of his store [Anthony’s in
1974, and more recently Silver Dragon building]. Later the two banks were consolidated (about 1931).
Halverson, who signed the bill sent by Hagen, left Roseau and later came back with the Farmers and
Merchant’s Bank. Dahlquist joined the bank in 1916.
Not only are the days when a bank could issue its own bills gone, but so are most of the 16 banks which
Roseau County once boasted. There were at one time, the following banks: one in Ross, two in Warroad,
one in Salol, four in Roseau, two in Badger, one in Pinecreek, three in Greenbush, one in Strathcona and
one in Wannaska for 16 in all.
[As of 1974] There are now four banks in the county: The Badger State Bank, the Greenbush State Bank,
the Citizens State Bank of Roseau, and the Security State Bank of Warroad. In 2024, The Badger and Greenbush Bank have combined with the Border Bank franchise. There are still the Citizens and Security Banks.
Thank you to 
(www.roseauonline.com) for letting us share our county’s history with your listeners by donating air time, studio time, and production staff every week.