S. Almklov
From interview by Hannah Lende
S. Almklov was born Jan. 17, 1850 in Vanelven Norway, the son of Anders and Martha Almklov. Here he went to school until he was fifteen years of age. He went to High School in Valden and graduated in 1866. He took up the study of medicine in Stromso and graduated from college in 1870.
Dr. Schenck was located 140 miles out in the country from any pharmacy. Mr. Almklov was supposed to be a private tutor in a family of children, but most of the time he was helping the doctor in his private laboratory. In a fisher's camp near, there were many people who had the seven year itch. They lived in a very poor way, and the disease was very catching. Dr. Schenck did not take on trying to cure these people as he believed nothing would help. Mr. Almklov was very interested and began to experiment with a kind of salve that would get through the skin and kill the germs. Before, arsenic or mercury was used and worked just as a tonic.
In 1874 Mr. Almklov left Norway on the St. Olaf ship and arrived in New York about nine days later. He came to Minneapolis by train, in June. At that time the population was about 10,000. When he saw what was going on he thought he had come to a wild country. "Are we among the Indians?" he asked a passenger, "Have the Montana cowboys broke loose?" The people were running around pounding tin pans, ringing cowbells, and making ever so much noise. It was a regular American charivari. Mr. Almklov had never seen anything like this from a wedding and didn't know what to think. "It's no use to get married to turn the others crazy," he said.
He met an old friend of his in Minneapolis, Prof. Veenaas, President of Augsberg Seminary, who was bound that he study theology, and wanted to make a preacher of him. Mr. Almklov studied theology for three years and graduated in 1877.
In 1877 he was married to Mary Wadel, the daughter of Christian Wadel a merchant of the city of Tromso Norway. The wedding took place in Minneapolis. Mr. Almklov became a minister in the Lutheran church at Benson Minnesota, and had charge of eight congregations around the country. In the small village of Benson, there weren't less than eight saloons. The majority of the people thought more of going to the saloon than to the church. Mr. Almklov was there twelve years, and during that time fifteen people drank themselves to death.
Christian Wadel, Mr.Almklov's brother-in-law, had started the study of medicine in Norway and had run out of funds. He came to Benson for Almklov's help. The boy was sent to school in Minneapolis for two years, and became a successful doctor. He was a doctor in Northwood, North Dakota and in Fargo, where he was a member of the Fargo Clinic. He died around 1931.
Mr. Almklov helped his sister Mrs. Erick Reite get a homestead eight miles south of Benson Minnesota Her husband didn't seem to care to help. With so many saloons in town it was hard for him to save any money. Mr. Almklov assured her that he would take care of them. She died in confinement and left five boys.
It was useless for two families to live on the salary he was getting as a preacher, Mr. Almklov said to himself, "You studied pharmacy in Norway and now you probably have a chance to use it." So in July 1888 he came to Cooperstown with his family and the Reite boys, and bought out the drug store of Dr.Newell The drug store was just a little frame building then.
Mr. Almklov was glad he became interested in the skin disease in Norway He continued his experimenting until he made what he called Eczema Salve. He started to sell this the first year he came to Cooperstown. As yet there was no veterinary. Mr. Almklov made horse medicine and acted as a veterinarian.
A week after Mr. Almklov came there was a terrible frost, and froze the good crops they had. Things didn't look so bright for awhile, but it turned out better than was expected. A man who had come from a lumber camp in Minnesota had a bad case of eczema on his face combined with the seven-year itch all over his face. A farmer brought this man to another doctor in Cooperstown. This doctor was young, excited and nervous. He got the idea the man had leprosy. He phoned to the sheriff, Jim. Tinglestad, to take care of the man in jail as there was no other pest house. The sheriff himself didn't think it was leprosy as there had never been a case of it around. He knew that Mr. Almklov had a salve good for all skin diseases so he brought the man down to the drug store and asked Mr. Almklov if he thought it was leprosy. Mr. Almklov inquired of the man if he had gotten the sore face after he had shaved. The man said that was so, and that many in the lumber camp had it. He looked at his body and saw he had the itch. Jim Tinglestad then took a box of eczema salve and used it on the man's face twice a day. The itch salve was used on the body twice and he became entirely cured. In two weeks the man went back to work. By then the county had been aroused to the thought of Mr.Almklov's salve curing leprosy. It was the best advertisement Mr. Almklov ever had. There were many who had this disease, and Mr. Almklov was very successful in selling his salve.
A farmer by the name of Ladbury, a Scotchman, had a blue spot on his foot that pained very much and swelled up to his hips. It was an inside ulcer of the worst kind. He had Dr. Phillips of Hope to tend to it. This Scotchman wasn't made of "soft stuff", as Mr. Almklov says. He refused to take chloroform, and sat and gritted his teeth while Dr. Phillips cut into the foot and scraped the bone. The foot got worse and worse. Mr. Ladbury demanded that the doctor do something or they'd kill him. The doctor told him that the only thing to do was to have the foot cut off, but that Mr. Ladbury was too old, 80 years, and wouldn't be able to stand it. Mr. Ladbury said," If that is all you can do, cut it off. I'd rather die in two or three minutes than to die inch by inch". John Atchison, one of Mr. Ladbury's neighbors, wanted him to buy some of Mr. Almklov's salve. "What's the use to buy salve", says Mr. Ladbury, "when fine doctors can't help me in three years?" Mr. Atchison purchased a box of salve and gave it to the old man to use. The salve completely healed Mr. Ladbuty1s foot. In the spring he bought a house and moved into Cooperstown. He had the finest, cleanest, and biggest garden in town He lived to be 96 years old.
In 1890 Mr. Almklov bought the largest house in town without looking at it before buying it, as the price sounded reasonable. He bought it from Knut Thompson for $1,200. The times were hard then but there wasn't as much complaint as now. The people weren't afraid to knuckle down to work. They were more satisfied and got along with what they had. In the middle of the winter Simon Ouren ran out of coffee and flour. He walked on skis to Valley City with a little hand sled, and brought back some flour and coffee. The neighbors had run out of the same things, and when he came home the house was full of people. Mr. Ouren had to divide the provisions all around.
In 1906 Mr. Almklov built a new drug store of concrete, made in Hannaford. He started a furniture store upstairs in this building but never liked it. He discontinued the furniture business in 1916.
Mrs. S. Almklov died in 1933.
Mr. Almklov always liked the drug business, and liked to experiment, as there was always something to learn.
In 1935 Mr. Almklov got orders for his eczema salve from all corners of the world. Two orders came from Manila, Philippine Islands; the same day four orders came from Nordaag, Norway, a post office the farthest north in Norway. Mr. Almklov heard from T. H. McPeerson from White Horse, Yukon Canada to send some eczema salve at once. A number of people that were settled near the Arctic Ocean had this catching disease, and the salve was taken by mail route, pulled by dogs, 500 miles up the Arctic Ocean. The fourth order came from Catchecan, Alaska. He also has received orders from Africa, and from missionary stations in India and China.
Mr. Almklov was the oldest druggist in North Dakota in 1937. He was 87 years old and still managed his drug store.