In 1910, the Great Northern Railroad announced it was
going to build a cut-off line across North Dakota from Fargo to Surrey
in Ward County. This was to relieve as far as possible the
exceedingly heavy traffic on the main line in North Dakota. This
branch became known as the Surrey Cut-off and made Hannaford a busy
railroad town for many years. This line connects Chicago to the
West Coast and Fargo to Minot in North Dakota.
The spring of 1910, found work crews in the area.
Camp was set up a mile east of town and water was piped from the creek
for the engines and horses. Work continued through 1910, 1911, and
1912. A wood trestle bridge was built across the creek. A
water tank with a capacity of 100,000 gallons and a pumper was erected
at the west end of the bridge. The depot, a residence for the
section foreman, a bunk house for the section crews, a signal tower near
where the Northern Pacific and Great Northern crossed, and a coal chute
west of the depot were all erected in 1912. The first passenger
train over the new line passed through Hannaford from Minot on July 23,
1912. At one time two mainline passenger trains and a mail train
went through besides the freight trains.
In 1924, the wood bridge needed repair so two huge
concrete tunnels were laid in the creek directly under the bridge.
The entire bridge was filled with dirt to the top to form an embankment.
Dirt was hauled by gravel cars on the track from a hillside 2 1/2 miles
west of the bridge site. A side track off the main line was built
to where the dirt was loaded by crane onto the railroad cars. Two
tunnels were put in, in case of severe flooding of the creek.
During the winter the children of the community would skate right
through the tunnels. In later years more fill was hauled in as the
filled area settled and the track was raised accordingly.
In the earlier years, a stockyard was located on the
Great Northern, enabling the shipping of cattle, pigs, etc., to and from
Hannaford. The stockyards were a great place for hoboes for their
cookouts while waiting for the next freight. The Ely-Salyards
Elevator was built on the Great Northern, in 1913. This burned in
1960, and was not rebuilt. The coal chute was taken down in 1941.
A water treating plant was built in 1930, by the bridge across the
creek. This operation continued into the 1940s, when steam engines
were replaced by diesel. Operators of the treating plant were Ole
Forseth and John Bruns.
The Great Northern Tower had to be operated and
maintained by the railroad to enable the Northern Pacific trains to go
through. The crossing point was called the diamond. Among
the men who worked here were Harvey Benson, Earl Heacock, Clyde Harris
and Dick Aamoth.
Miles Tate was the first signal maintainer out of
Hannaford. Jack Priebe came in 1939, and retired in 1959, for
health reasons. Jim Divine has held this job and presently it is
Bob Clemens. Oscar Ashland, Syvert Johnson, Andrew Lura, Harry
Lenning, and Matt Lyngby were among those employed at the coal chute.
Depot agents were on duty night and day until the
railroad merger when only one part-time agent was required and finally
the depot was closed entirely. Among the depot agents were Pete
Eiden, Spooner, Oscar Skorheim, Ralph Bailey, George Malmin, Walter
Kreie, Lawrence Ericson, A. Day, Bliss Littler, Annerude, A. Zimkoski,
Larry Almers, Dean Mogard, and several short-term operators.
At one time the Great Northern at Hannaford employed 10
full-time people and two full section crews lived in town. Section
foremen have been Axel Swanson, Ott Harris, Ole Stafne, H. Stubjon,
Andrew Midstokke, Emil Lee, Lloyd Johnson, and presently Art Nelson.
Working on these crews have been Clifford Ouren, Anton Gilbertson, Gust
Fliflet, LeRoy McCallson, Ingvald Lyngby, Harold Steinborn, Selmer
Fliflet, Roy Richardson, George Malmin, Michael Fliflet, Al Aalgaard,
Lawrence Fliflet and Ira Larson.
After the Great Northern became a transcontinental
railroad and as years went by, they made up a special train of 10-12
cars which was called the "Silk Train." Cargoes of silk valued at
millions of dollars were hauled to Chicago and then New York. This
raw silk was unloaded from the Blue Funnel line steamers at
Seattle and transferred to this special train which rushed the raw silk
to factories in the east. Many of these special trains went
through Hannaford.
One foreman related an incident when the fast mail train
came around the bend unexpectedly. He yelled to his section men
"jump" and men and dinner buckets flew off the motor car both sides of
the track and seconds later the motor car was hit by the train.
LeRoy McCallson recalls when the crew was called out at night on a
secret patrol of the tracks as President Franklin Roosevelt was on the
passenger e from the West Coast. Mrs. Gustav Sonju tells about
President "Teddy" Roosevelt going through on a passenger train en-route
to the West Coast in 1912. A band was present and the bystanders
waved as President Roosevelt waved back. In 1914, the Great
Northern passenger train stopped 2 1/2 miles west of town to let people
off and on to attend the "Big Auction Sale" on the Donald Campbell farm
which was located about a quarter mile from the track.
A three-day blizzard March 3-5, 1966, practically buried
a mile long freight at Luverne. Hannaford section crew and snow
plows and crews from Breckenridge and New Rockford were called to the
scene. Two rotary plows from the Rocky Mountain area and a flanch
plow were used. This was the first time in the history of the
Great Northern Surrey Cut-off when transportation was nil for a week.
Snow banks were piled up to and covered the telegraph lines for
stretches as long as a mile. The men crawled on their hands and
knees to enter the engine through a window.
In 1934, the Great Northern abolished the use of the
Great Northern tower and also one section crew. The section lines
were made longer as years went by thereby abolishing several sections in
various towns. After 1934, the depot agents took charge of the
tower to let the Northern Pacific trains pass over the Great Northern
tracks.
In September 1967, the rail postal service on the Great
Northern was discontinued. Carriers of mail bags were several
during the years including Bob Martin, Harry Lenning, Evelyn Lenning,
Leonard Pederson, Bill and Esther Weller. Robert Martin was the
Star Route mail carrier from Hannaford to Cooperstown for a number of
years. The Star Route was also discontinued in 1967.
The Public Service Commission granted the Great Northern
authority to reroute its passenger train the "Western Star" via Grand
Forks in 1968, and this left Hannaford without passenger service.
Today neither the Great Northern or Northern Pacific
Railroads exist as such due to the merger in 1970, of the Great
Northern; Northern Pacific; Chicago, Burlington & Quincy; and Spokane,
Portland & Seattle Railroads into what we know today as the Burlington
Northern Railroad. The passenger service since the merger has been
called Amtrak, but does not go through Hannaford. Today only
freight trains travel on the Surrey Cut-off. The depot was closed
in 1972. Grain service for the Farmers Elevator is handled by a
traveling agent. Elgar Paulson bought the depot in 1973, and moved
it to his lots behind his home. Dean Mogard was the last agent
stationed at the Great Northern depot in Hannaford.
The tracks are still here, trains still pass through,
but railroads no longer play an integral role in the life of Hannaford.
The Northern Pacific Depot was sold by the Burlington Northern Railroad
to Russell Dunker. It was moved in June 1979, to his land in Broadview
Township, straight east from Hannaford near the Sheyenne River. It
is to be used as a woodworking shop. It had to be moved via
Cooperstown as it could not be moved across the Sheyenne bridge east of
town.
Burlington Northern does have a section crew working out
of Hannaford. Their headquarters are in the Standard Service
Station building on Main Street. Burlington Northern bought this
building from Elgar Paulson and took possession on January 15, 1979.
Harold Steinborn is the Roadmaster. He works out of Hannaford, but
his headquarters are at New Rockford. The Signal Maintainer at
Hannaford is Robert Clemens. The foreman on the section crew is
Arthur Nelson. Working with him are Reginald Almklov, Gordon
Clemens, Leland Eslinger and Scott Fliffet. The north-south
tracks, formerly Northern Pacific, continue to be maintained by a
section crew out of Cooperstown. A freight train, hauling mostly
grain and machinery, runs on this line once a week. Many freight
trains continue to pass through on the east-west tracks, formerly Great
Northern.
Source: Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 12