The Grand Forks Automobile Club elected Fred Haverland president 100 years ago. And the club dedicated itself to working for better roads.
The Good Roads Committee of the Automobile Club was instructed to work with the Meridian Road Committee of the county and to help by working with various township officers through which the Meridian Road was to be surveyed.
Plans for placing road signs of a durable nature in many places were discussed. Action relative to the annual tour of the club would be taken at a future date, the Herald reported. It was planned during 1912 to time the tour more carefully so that inclement weather would not interfere as it did in 1911.
The club was concerned about improving the roads to the east leading into the city and to East Grand Forks. The Good Roads Committee of the club was authorized to get in communication with the East Grand Forks Commercial Club.
The automobile club planned to operate with East Grand Forks Commercial Club and the farmers of Polk County to improve conditions.
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Along with roads, people were concerned about women's suffrage 100 years ago. A new meeting was scheduled in City Hall. There were addresses by Mrs. Elizabeth Preston Anderson of Valley City, Mrs. R.M. Pollack of Fargo, Mayor M.F. Murphy, Rev. H. Matthews and Rev. F.M. McCoy.
The purpose of the meeting was to organize a "Voice for Women" club. The call for the mass meeting was the result of a gathering of women of the city in the office of Dr. Mae Sanders.
All men and women of the city interested in the movement for women's sufferance were invited to attend the meeting. Several members of the UND faculty were expected to give short talks.
As spring was approaching 100 years ago, a big increase in potato acreage was expected in this area. Plans were under way for the building of warehouses in various locations under an agreement that certain acreage would be sown to potatoes by farmers living near the warehouse, the Herald reported.
The potato crop in the valley had proved to be one of the most profitable the previous year. Early Ohio and other popular varieties of potatoes that could be raised in the area at a big profit were commanding big prices both for seed and table purposes.
Farmers in the vicinity of Drayton, N.D., had a project under way that would mean 1,000 acres of potatoes in the immediate section. A Minnesota man agreed to build a big warehouse and put in 200 acres of the required 1,000 if the farmers near Drayton would agree to raise 800 acres.
The only provision was that the spuds were required to be the Early Ohio of Triumph varieties. He agreed to buy all of the potatoes raised at prevailing market prices.
A similar proposition was being made by another man to Grafton, N.D., farmers and businessmen, according to the Walsh County Record.
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"M.H. Sprague, secretary of the Business Men's Club, has received communication from P. Dahlman of Grady, Minn., regarding the erection of a potato warehouse in Grafton and establishment of a cash market for potatoes," the Record reported.
"Mr. Dahlman has been in the potato growing business for 18 years and has practical knowledge of the growing, handling and shipping.
"He would come to Grafton and build an elevator if he can get a guarantee from farmers to plant from 500 to 1,000 acres of potatoes in 1912. The Business Men's Club was desirous of securing a potato elevator and urged farmers to grow potatoes and to write at once informing them of the number of acres they would plant.
"This is an important matter and should meet with the hearty cooperation of the farmers of the Grafton neighborhood."
In other news 100 years ago:
• The First Presbyterian Church facing North Fifth Street was dedicated March 3. It had a "splendid pipe organ in a three-manual Hutching-Votey instrument," which the Herald said was one of the finest in the Northwest and valued at $12,000.
Enough money was raised, and it was reported the church was free of debt. A.I. Hunter was chairman of the building committee, and "never was a church opening more auspicious," the Herald reported.
• Mayor M.F. Murphy claimed he saved taxpayers thousands of dollars and asked for support at the polls on March 19, 1912. He was reelected by a big vote of 1,357-414.
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• "Two Little Waifs" was playing at the Metropolitan Theatre under auspices of St. Michael's Catholic Church.
• There were petitions out for a new courthouse to replace the 1879 building that was called "insufficient."
Reach Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.net or at (701) 772-1055.
