Words of Erling Nicoloi Rolfsrud

About North Dakota in the '30s.

Gray-black blizzards of dust swirled over parched Dakota fields in the years of the thirsty thirtys. Grasshoppers plagued the land; cutworms scythed the wheat stalks. Only Russian thistle greened upon thousands of acres, and its spiny growth was stacked and fed to gaunt white-faced cattle -hungry, starving, often dying with little more than dust in their bellies.

1930s Humor

The fact that the earth was created in six days proves definitely that it wasn't a government relief job.

A Chicago girl who has been asleep for over two years is gradually awakening. There may be hope for the politicians yet.

This was so true of the '30s. The news stories that follow are an indication of how the people did "cope" with "hard times."

Six Stores Burn Down at
Glenfield in Midnight Fire

Fire Razes Row of One Story Wooden Buildings on Monday Night

TWO FAMILIES ESCAPE

FROM LIVING QUARTERS

Nothing Saved From Burning Stores;

Smoke and Gas Drive People Back

Fire that broke out between one and two o'clock Monday night wiped out a row of six business buildings at Glenfield at a loss estimated at $30, 000.

Business houses destroyed were:

Ed Anderson restaurant.

A.J. Smith hardware store.

Dick Robichaud pool hall.

Loken general store.

Mrs. Pramhus cafe and confectionery.

An empty building, formerly used as a harness shop.

The first five buildings all formed one long, one-story building with a single wooden front, with each business house separated by a wooden partition or wall.

The blaze started in the middle of the long string of buildings, starting either in the pool hall or the Smith store. The smoke was rolling out of both buildings in dense clouds when the fire was discovered, and nothing could be done to check the blaze. Glenfield has no fire department.

At least two of the buildings carried no insurance. Prospects this week are that none of them will be rebuilt, with the possible exception of the Robichaud pool hall.

Glenfield has kept up as one of the strong business towns in this area, and the disastrous fire this week will be a severe set-back to the town.

4 Business Houses Left

Only four business houses now remain there, the Alley general store, the C. W. Smith general store, Lottie Posey's confectionery building, which also houses the post office, and a garage.

The Posey confectionery is located in the former bank, the only brick business building in the town.

Three other buildings are left in the business section of the town, all of them empty. They are an empty machine warehouse next to the Alley store; the meat market building formerly used by George Footitt; and a two-story frame store building which has been used as a residence recently by the Footitt family.

Two families, Mrs. Promhus and her daughter Alice, and Mr. and Mrs. Ed Anderson and son, escaped from their living quarters at the rear of the buildings when the fire was discovered.

Supt. Otto Knutson of the Glenfield school was trapped in one of the buildings when he ran to help Alice Promhus, 21, carry out a trunk. An explosion in the burning Loken building next door to them blew in the wall and caved in the roof of the Promhus building. The force of the explosion blew the girl and her trunk out on the sidewalk, and pinned Knutson inside the building. He crawled up eight feet over a side wall and escaped. The girl was bruised about her face and cut, and Knutson had his shoulder wrenched and head cut. The fire had not reached the Pramhus building at the time.

The entire row of buildings was a pile of smoking ashes in an hour, with piles of tangled tin, iron and bricks the only remains of five big stocks of merchandise and store equipment.

Explosions were frequent during the fire, from cans of paint, oil barrels and other inflammable material.

Glass in the buildings across the street - the empty Footitt meat market building and the C. W. Smith store - was broken by the intense heat. When the Smith store windows broke from the heat a celluloid electric sign inside the window at once burst into flames.

7th Building on Fire

The C. W. Smith store caught on fire several times, but was saved by pouring buckets of water on the building.

The Ed Anderson family escaped in their night clothing when their son smelled smoke and gas from the fire, went to the door and awoke his parents. They saved nothing from their home, not even their clothing, because the choking gas drove them from the building.

Mrs. Anderson even lost her eye glasses in the rush to escape, and Mr. Anderson left $65 in cash that he counted out the day before to buy a tank-ful of gasoline. They lost all their furniture and business equipment, with no insurance of any kind on their property. Mrs. Pramhus, a widow, lost all her possessions except an armful of bedding and a trunk-ful of clothing. She had no insurance on her property.

Nothing Saved

Dense smoke and a heavy pall of gas prevented anyone from entering the buildings to save any property, even before the fire came dangerously close.

A new Frigidaire just being installed in the Anderson shop by the Bridgeman-Russell company was destroyed, and the mechanic lost his tools and supplies. Other Frigidaire plants were destroyed in the pool hall and Pramhus cafe.

The Smith hardware company lost all its stock of hardware and equipment, valued at about $3,000. About half the loss was covered by insurance. The Carrington company does not plan to reopen its Glenfield store. William Bronaugh was their Glenfield manager.

The larger stores, of those destroyed were the Loken general store, carrying a big stock of groceries, dry goods and a good line of equipment; the Smith hardware store, a branch of their Carrington business; and the Robichaud pool hall which was well stocked and well equipped.

Source:  lenfield History 1886 – 1987 Page 66