Heritage Renewal

The following information comes from Wes Anderson at the Barnes County Historical Museum, Valley City. They operate an impressive lecture series.

Barnes County Historical Society Lecture Series Season #10

Thursday August 23, 2007
7:00PM Barnes County Museum
315 Central Ave N
Valley City, ND 58072

"A History of Coal Mining in North Dakota from Lewis & Clark to the Present"
Presented by David Johnson

Coal mining in North Dakota has been a part of the state's recorded history as far back as Lewis & Clark and continues to be a major part of its modern economy. Mr. Johnson will present a pictorial history of early North Dakota coal mines showing miners' living and working conditions emphasizing mine lighting, past and present mining techniques in relation to the various mining equipment used over time.

David Johnson is City Administrator for Valley City. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Purdue University and Indiana University. He has been actively collecting mining artifacts for nearly 40 years and has one of the largest private collections in the U.S. Over the past 20 years he has authored more than 100 articles on mining history that have been published in the U.S., Germany, France and England. He has also created and maintains two websites dedicated to mining history.

All lectures are presented in conjunction with Valley City State University and are free and open to the public.

For further information please contact Wes Anderson at 701-845-0966 or bchistoricalsociety@hotmail.com

August 23 "A History of Coal Mining in North Dakota from Lewis & Clark to the Present" by Dave Johnson
September 20 "From Iraq to Valley City" by Nam Sabir
October 18 "Bolivia, Undiscovered Treasure" by Dr. Diana Skroch VCSU
November 15 "Valley City’s 125th" by Dennis Stillings
January 17 "The Arts Community in Valley City" by Beth Kingenstein VCSU.
February 21, "Guatemala-Soul of the Earth" by Dr. Diana Skroch Valley City State University
March 20 "West City Park Bridge Reconstruction" by Shawn Mayfield KLJ
April 17 "The Hi-Line Bridge: A Century of History" by Jack Hanson

Preservation North Dakota has awarded a $5000 grant to St. Clement Church of Haymarsh (a rural community, northwest of Bismark) for exterior restoration. The award is partially funded by the Kaplan Foundation. This is good news, as the Haymarsh church is truly historic. I remember documenting it as part of the iron cross cemetery survey. The parish is mixed, part German-from-Russia and part German-from-Hungary. It is one of only two parishes (the other being St. Mary's of Dazey) in North Dakota that celebrates the festival of Corpus Christi, a profoundly meaningful ritual for German immigrants. All best wishes to the folks at Haymarsh as they get the church into shape for the 125th anniversary and all-parish reunion in 2012. It's great they are thinking ahead with this restoration work!

The first round of work on Remembrance in Stone, the center's website devoted to historical monuments of the northern plains, is complete. Here's a press release just sent to It's Happening at State, NDSU's internal newsletter.

Jeff Armstrong was on the scene in mid-July, taking some photos and video, as Preservation North Dakota launched its monumental restoration of the Hutmacher farm site in Dunn County, North Dakota. The photo at right gives you an idea of the seriousness of the work. Restoration of this wood and thatch roof is the first priority. Much of the early labor, though, was devoted simply to shoveling out dirt and debris, clearing the floor of the earth-and-stone house for work. For more about the Hutmacher project, visit Preservation North Dakota. For Jeff's video of early work on site, visit Heritage Video, the video annex of the CHR.