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

April 2024 by Ben Kubischta

Rummage sale season will soon begin and one of North Dakota’s great rummage sales will be held on June 1^st. That sale is the Old Red Trail Rummage Sale which is held on the first Saturday in June.

When and where did rummage sales begin? I have found sales called “Rummage Sales” were held in Ireland in 1820 and in the United Kingdom throughout the 19^th Century. Rummage sales during that time were auctions of items that are similar to the items that can be found in your Red Trail rummage sales.

In Dublin, Ireland an ad in the Freeman’s Journal edition of August 13, 1860 listed the following rummage sale items to be sold: “ladies dresses in pieces of silk, satin, and orleans cloth; 35 pair of Whitney blankets; linen and calico sheets; bed and window curtains; new and second hand men’s and women’s apparel; hats, caps, hosiery, and umbrellas; firearms and fishing tackle; musical and optical instruments.”

In about 1900, rummage sales were transforming to the format we use today and were becoming popular in the United States. Many of which were used as fundraisers for philanthropic causes. The Kings Daughters (an international Christian philanthropic organization) chapter of Knoxville, Tennessee held a rummage sale in November 1900. The Knoxville Sentinel’s November 27^th issue reported that their “sales were surprisingly large yesterday and today, a fact that is probably due to the attractive salesladies” and the ladies names were listed. Men must have come in to visit with the attractive salesladies who were able to get them to dig deep into their pockets to buy items.

Like last year, each Old Red Old Ten town will have a Community Coordinator who will be your contact person for registering your rummage sale. More information on the 2024 Old Red Trail Rummage Sale will be in your local papers the week of April 29 through May 3.

My Judy and I will be visiting rummage sales and coffee shops along the OROT. We hope to have good conversations with you and find that special item like the bench we found in New Salem. 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.

December 2023 By: Bennett Kubischta

            In 1923 the North Dakota State Highway Department began signing and marking of our state highways. The Red Trail was designated as ND Highway 3. Along with route signing the Department also began installing signs to provide safety information to motorists such as curve, stop, and railroad crossing signs.

            Almost as soon as the signs were installed, vandalism began. The December 17, 1923 issue of the Mandan Daily Pioneer reported on vandalism of highway signs on ND 3 in the St. Vincent and Crown Butte area. Today this segment of ND 3 is Morton County 139 on the north side of I-94 from Exit 140 to ND 25.             County Surveyor E. R. Griffin found ten route marking, curve, and danger signs that were removed and thrown in the ditch.

            Old Red Old Ten Scenic Byway signs have been stolen. One was on Morton County 139 just north of I-94 Exit 102. If you happen to see them in some one’s garage or for sale on-line you are most likely looking at stolen public property.

            Stealing and/or destruction of North Dakota’s highway signs has not been limited to small signs. Recently I was at the Fargo District Office of the North Dakota Department of Transportation and was visiting my old highway friends. One of those was Sign Shop Foreman Lyle Landstrom. Lyle told me that down at the South Dakota border thieves have cut down and stolen Welcome to North Dakota signs whose size are 4’ x 8’.

Highway signs are there for your safety and to provide information for the travelling public. Respect them and when you do see that they have been vandalized report that to the entity whose road or street you are on. A missing or destroyed sign can, and has, led to deadly consequences.

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.

November 2023 By: Bennett Kubischta

As Thanksgiving nears, we will be completing plans for the gathering of our family and friends. As they have for over 100 years, guests will be travelling in motor cars and pickup trucks to our homes along the Red Trail. Be it a cold day or be it a warm and sunny day they will arrive and smiles and hugs will be given.

Pies will be made, potatoes will be mashed, and the turkey will be carved. As much as we enjoy the food, we enjoy more the conversations in the kitchen and around the table. The table in our house has been in my Judy’s family for 70 years. Within its wood it holds the stories of people who were born in three different centuries. Stories told by farmers and farm wives, preachers and teachers, musicians and athletes, nurses and a highway man (myself). You, the people of the Red Trail, your stories are within your tables and homes.

Like our tables, North Dakota’s most historic highway holds the stories of those who have traveled upon her ground. The Old Red Old Ten Scenic byway has followed the same route for over 100 years. The road knows your trips and the trips of your forebears. Your stories are ingrained in the dirt of the Red Trail.

As you gather in kitchens and around tables this Thanksgiving, remember and retell the stories of the past. Talk about Grandpa hauling wheat to the elevator and cattle to market. Talk about Grandma butchering chickens and then getting dressed in her finest to go to church. Talk about the football and basketball games played between the schools along the Red Trail. Talk about when your old Ford was parked along the road and you kissed your best girl for the first time.

Talk about the happy times such as when babies were brought home from the hospital. And especially talk about the sad times when friends and family were laid to rest. Always retell the stories of those who have passed before us. We must keep their stories alive.

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.

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.