The Great Northern Railroad Company received a deed from Dakota and Great Northern Townsite Company on May 10, 1910 and it was surveyed and work begun. Mrs. Alvin (Lena Sandvol) Dahl cooked for the surveyors when they were here. They lived on Northwest 1/4 section 9 where Russell Otto now lives. The steel was laid in 1912 and came through Grace City June 2, 1912 at 10:30 a.m. A large crowd was on hand to watch the big machinery lay ties and rails. They laid two miles of rails per day. Trains soon came bringing in lumber and supplies. First passenger train came through the last of July with railroad officials on a tour of inspection.
The first depot was a boxcar. We had our first depot agent September 5, 1912. The depot was built that fall. It blew down in a storm in 1942 and a smaller one was moved in. It was sold to John Topp when services were discontinued and is on his farm today. In 1912 a pump house was built 1 1/2 miles west of Grace City on the James River and water piped to a wooden water tank south and west of the depot with a standpipe between the tracks. There were three tracks- main, passing, and industrial. Water could be taken from both the main and passing tracks. In October of 1917 a dam was built south of the pump house to insure an adequate supply of water. Most trains stopped in Grace City for water. Bill Clellan, Joe and Jerome Sandvol were some who ran the pump station. It was shut down and moved out in 1939. The railroad also built a loading platform, stockyards, (the last shipment of stock to go out of Grace City was by Ralph Leichtman in 1967), a section house for the section foreman which was sold and moved out in 1960. The section men used a handcar for transpiration. This was an open car driven by either 2 or 4 of the section men.
West Bound Time
No. 3 - 9:46 a.m.
No. 199 - 11:52 a.m.
No. 27 - 4:55 p.m.
No. 603 - 3:15 p.m.
East Bound Time
No. 28 - 1:56 a.m.
No. 604 - 7:16 a.m.
No. 200 - 2:30 p.m.
No. 2 - 8:20 p.m.
Number 27 and 28 carried mail and express only and did not stop. They kicked off the mail sack and the Fargo Forums from the east. Number 603 and 604 carried local freight and male passengers with proper transportation (men rode in the caboose; they would go when they shipped stock.) Number 3 stopped for passengers beyond Williston and number two stopped for patients only. One could take 199 west to New Rockford and shop and catch 200 back the same day.
The coal shed at the elevator held ten different kinds of coal and wood, a favorite pastime of the young folk was walking the tracks and walking the rails. Many a house was kept warm by the coal that was picked up along the tracks that fell of the tender and cars as they went by. With the speed of the trains today one seldom sees anyone walking the tracks. Bums were a regular sight and sometimes whole boxcars full would go by especially in the dirty 30's. In the early days it was fun to see the immigrant trains go. They would have all their household belongings, farm machinery and stock and families in one car. There have been many derailments and hot boxes on trains. One of the larger ones was March 1, 1972 when a pin broke and 29 cars derailed west of town and tore up a half mile of track. The train was snowbound in the cuts for a few days. The longest the trains were ever held up was in 1966 when the train was nearly completely covered with snow.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 324