Category: Along the Red Trail . . . North Dakota’s most Historic Highway

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.

February 2024 By: Bennett Kubischta

            For over 100 years basketballs have been put up in the air in hopes of going through the hoops in gymnasiums in our Red Trail towns. This season, the Glen Ullin Hebron boys are the top team along the Red Trail. And they recently defeated both teams that were on the Yellowstone Trail. The Bearcats are a strong squad with the potential to get to and do well at the State Tournament.

            In 1924 there was one class of basketball in North Dakota. The state was divided into 8 Districts and each District had a tournament to see who would advance to State. New Salem was one of the top teams in District 3. Eddie Keller, one of the top players on that team, was participating in a football scrimmage on the school grounds about a week before the District tournament was to begin. He broke his leg during that scrimmage and was out for the rest of the season. Without Keller, New Salem went into the tournament as an underdog. But, the beat Linton, then Wilton, and advanced to the championship game where they were defeated by Mandan.

Moving ahead twelve years to 1936, here are summaries of contests between schools along the Red Trail. The January 18^th Bismarck Tribune reported that “New Salem’s high-scoring basketball team ran up a 29 – 10 against the Almont prep five…” And over in Glen Ullin “Paced by Fischer, center, and Hermes, guard, the Glen Ullin prep quint trounced Richardton 32 – 16.”

            On February 11^th of ’36, in a game played at Almont, Hebron defeated the locals 19 – 14.

Hebron was one of the top teams in the Missouri Slope Conference at that time. The Mandan Pioneer’s game report stated that “Almont displayed unexpected strength and under the lead of Atkinson held the margin up to the third quarter. A Hebron rally led by Mann stowed away enough points for a Hebron victory.

            On February 20, 1936 the Taylor independents defeated the Gladstone independents 38 to 23 at the gym in Taylor. Leading scorer for Taylor, with 13 points was guard J. Teie. Forward P. Degel led the way for Gladstone with 9 points.

            North Dakota high schools had girls were playing basketball in the 1920s. Their games were played as preliminary games before the boys played and few game reports were published in newspapers I have reviewed. As part of a well-advertised doubleheader the Glen Ullin girls played the Mandan girls on March 1, 1924 in the Mandan High School gymnasium. The other game was a boy’s game between Mandan and Jamestown. Mandan won both games. Their boys beat Jamestown 14 – 10 and beat our Glen Ullin girls 17 – 9.

            After the game, the Mandan Pioneer reported that the Jamestown boys and the Glen Ullin girls were guests in a party in the gym. There was dancing and a lunch was served at midnight. I wonder what the Glen Ullin boys thought about their girls dancing with boys from Jamestown and Mandan?

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.

January 2024 By: Bennett Kubischta

            Modes of personal transport along the Red Trail has varied throughout time. From walking to horses, from bicycles to motorized bicycles, and by cars, buses, and trucks are some conveyances we have used to move between our cities and farms.

            The importance of the horse in the first decades of the Twentieth Century is emphasized by a sale in Richardton in June 1914. An advertisement in the June 2^nd edition of the Fargo Forum by the Richardton Horse Sale Company stated that 800 horses will be sold on June 18^th, 19^th, and the 20^th. Over 600 of these horses, which came from area farms, were harness or halter broken and that the unbroken horses are not wild.

            During the next twenty years the importance of the horse for transport faded and we moved between our Red Trail towns, across North Dakota, and the United States by cars and trucks. And with this change came a change in how we maintained these different means of transport.

            A good horse needed good feed, proper rest, and good medical care. Motor vehicles, a machine, needed engine maintenance, tire repair, the brakes needed to be serviced, and moving parts needed lubrication.

            Squeaks and rattles were a common occurrence on vehicles in the late 1920s and into the early 1930s. In the early 1930s a machine was developed that, in the garage, would simulate road action while the car is not in motion and allows the mechanic to lubricate all points of friction and identifies loose bolts, nuts, springs, and shackles, that need to be tightened.

            The Red Trail Garage, in Mandan, acquired a Moto-Sway lift in August 1934. The Mandan Daily Pioneer reported on August 9^th that this “new innovation has accomplished what engineers have attempted for years. It creates road action…and…enables the grease to penetrate every part.”

            The Moto-Sway continues to show up in garage newspaper ads until the early 1960s. Many of the cars that traveled on the Red Trail/US Highway 10 during that 30 year period were likely serviced using the Moto-Sway. One of the selling points of the Moto-Sway was that the life of your car would be extended.

            Did the using the lubricating method of the Moto-Sway extend the life of our grandparents cars longer than other lubricating methods of the time? We probably don’t know; but what we do know is that the regularly scheduled maintenance of our motor vehicles is most important.

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.