Carl Sletten was born at Kenyon, Minnesota. Carl, followed by his brother, Albert and two sisters, moved to North Dakota in the early 1900s. They settled down in Hannaford. They were a part of the second boom in North Dakota. The state experienced a tremendous surge in railroad building from 1898 to 1915. Branch lines zigzagged across the treeless prairie in a veritable network.
Hannaford was first served by a branch line of the Northern Pacific Railroad coming out of Valley City. In 1912, the Great Northern inaugurated service on the Surrey Cutoff, which ran from Fargo to Surrey, a station just east of Minot. Hannaford happened to lie on that route, too, and so had the distinction of being served by two railroads.
Carl Sletten came hoping to share in the expected growth. He and his brother, Albert, were carpenters by trade and found ready employment during the boom period. They built a number of the houses and barns in and around Hannaford.
Carl Sletten married Amelia Rasmussen of the Dazey area in 1909. Their five children: Vernon, Harvey, Myron, James and Ina, grew up and attended school in Hannaford.
Following the father's death in 1931, the family left Hannaford and moved to Valley City.
Harvey Sletten is the author of "Growing Up on Bald Hill Creek" (1977).
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 231