Category: REMEMBERING WEEKLY OLD RED TAIL ARTICLES BY DELORES KLUSMAN (9.8.1940 – 11.6.2019)

June 2024 by Bennett Kubischta

To those who hosted a rummage sale along the Old Red Old Ten on June 1^st, thank you very much. I hope that the customers who came to your sales left your place with something in their hands and a smile on their face.

 My Judy and I made our annual rummage sale trek on this great road without any particular item in mind to search for. We stopped at sales in towns and on farms. And we did find little treasures such as juneberry syrup, beautiful pails that are now holding flowers on our deck, bread, and two Adirondack chairs for our little great grandson to sit in when he comes to visit. We stopped for coffee at two of our great coffee shops and ate lunch at American Legion Post 180 in Richardton.

The grandest part of our journey was visiting with old friends and new. The highlight of those visits was at the Gladstone Fire Department. As Judy and I were entering town I noticed the memorial marker on the fire department grounds. We pulled in to learn what story was being told. By chance, Aaron Brost was mowing the yard and he stopped to visit with us.

From Aaron, who is a volunteer fireman, we learned that this memorial is for three men who contributed many years of their life in voluntary service to the Gladstone Fire Department. They were Joe Wanner (46 Years), his father Ron Brost (50 years), and Matt Neurohr (54 years). And we also visited about the difficulty in finding people to volunteer today for committees, boards, groups, and organizations whose goal is to make our communities a better place.

People have been volunteering for our towns since our towns began. Are we more busy today than our forebearers were 50, 75, or 100 years ago? Are we too young to volunteer or are we too old? It’s hard to imagine that we are more busy today than our grandparents were. They had to butcher chickens for supper, milk cows by hand, conduct store inventories using paper and pencil, and drive on roads that takes twice as long to get to the same destination as it takes us today.

 John Kennedy’s famous line from his Presidential inauguration speech was “…ask what you can do for your country.” We always need to ask ourselves, what can I do for my town? There are many places in our towns where you can volunteer. One of those is the Old Red Old Ten Scenic Byway. The Old Red Old Ten’s purpose is to promote, in unity, the recreational, historical, and economic opportunities of all of our byway towns. For more information about becoming a member of the Old Red Old Ten committee contact your Mayor, your City Auditor, or me via e-mail at kubischta@bis.midco.net.

Goodbye for now. Remember, promoting the Old Red Old Ten promotes our towns, and always take time to talk to the cows.

Bennett Kubischta is the President Old Red Old Ten Scenic Byway Committee.

October 2023 By: Bennett Kubischta

            Shortly after Anton Westgard completed his 1912 pathfinding tour across the northern United States from New York City to North Dakota to Seattle this route became known as the Red Trail. What then followed was the realization from Red Trail business people and city officials that auto tourists will be travelling across the country and they wanted them to use this route.

            At that time counties were responsible for building roads and bridges. Those roads were little more than graded trails with cuts into hillsides and raised grades over low areas. Gravel surfaced roads were a rarity. Most streams were small enough for small bridges that counties could afford. Cass, Barnes, and Stutsman counties had the financial resources to fund bridges across the Red, Sheyenne, and James rivers. The bridge across the Missouri at Bismarck was so costly that it couldn’t be built until federal assistance became available.

            The Little Missouri River needed to be bridged for automobiles; but in the 1910s Billings County was a poor county and did not have the $15,000 needed to build a bridge. The North Dakota Red Trail Association took the lead in finding financing for the bridge. George Keniston of Beach, as reported in the July 25, 1916 issue of the Bismarck Tribune about the bridge dedication, was the man who “Got the men to get money.”

            Keniston went out and encouraged cities and counties along the Red Trail to help fund the bridge at Medora. His boosting of the bridge described the importance of this project to North Dakota and eastern Montana. Keniston’s efforts led to contributions from Fargo to Fallon, Montana. And this bridge became known as “The Bridge that Boost Built.”

            The Old Red Old Ten Scenic Byway committee is much like Red Trail Association. As they understood then we understand today that a combined effort in promoting our byway is essential for our byway towns. Drawing a few of the thousands of travelers off of I-94 to view the buttes of the Missouri Slope, golf at our courses, visit our historic churches and museums, and interact with us at our coffee shops, gas stations, and saloons will benefit our communities.  

Goodbye for now. Remember, promoting the Old Red Old Ten promotes our towns, and always take time to talk to the cows.

Bennett Kubischta is the President of the Old Red Old Ten Scenic Byway Committee.