Today in History: March 15, 1882 - Red River Valley news & Argus column on Grand Forks

Did you know that the Grand Forks Herald was founded in 1879 as a weekly newspaper? The daily edition, originally called The Daily Herald, began publication in 1881. In the 1910s, it merged with the Evening Times and, for a brief period in 1914, was published as the Grand Forks Daily Herald and Evening Times.

The following excerpts were taken from the March 15, 1882 edition of The Daily Herald.

Pembina will make a bid for the Presbyterian college.

Chief Engineer O’Brien, of the Manitoba Southwestern, is at Nelsonville, on the projected route of the line. The Manitoba Southwestern has laid track thirty-five miles from Winnipeg, and on the completion of fifty miles this month, it will be in position to claim the first portion of the land grant. Surveys are being pushed ahead, and as soon as the Government approves the location, a contract will be let for the construction of the remaining 270 miles to the Souris coal field.

New arrivals in Winnipeg are compelled to dwell in tents until houses can be built.
The Emerson International announces it as one of the “fixed facts” that the Duluth and Winnipeg road will have its terminus at St. Vincent.

It is said that one saloon in Rat Portage paid $1,200 in fines for selling liquor during the last few months. It is also said that whiskey is sold in thirteen places in Rat Portage, notwithstanding the prohibition placed on the traffic.

Several cars on the Manitoba track burned recently at St. Vincent. The origin of the fire was unknown.

Firebugs incinerated the barn of a farmer by the name of Whipple near Crookston, including four horses and a complete farming outfit. A party by the name of Reed was arrested but discharged due to insufficiency of proof.

Wm. Box, one of the contractors on the Duluth & Winnipeg, returned to Crookston as work was temporarily suspended just west of the tunnel.

(This column was written by The Fargo Daily Argus and printed in The Daily Herald on March 15, 1882. The Argus was a newspaper published in Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota from 1896 to 1901)

The other day while on a flying visit to Grand Forks, the editor of the Argus discovered that the people of that enterprising little city were very much in earnest in their desires for additional railroad facilities. While they have a railroad from Crookston to Grand Forks, and another one from Fargo, both being operated by the same management, they are without competition and seem to feel that their only relief is by some connection with the Northern Pacific; and when they learned of a proposed road from Brainerd across Minnesota to Grand Forks, they rejoiced much. There has also been talk of a railroad running northwest from Detroit, on the Northern Pacific, to cross the Red River at Grand Forks, and then on northwest; and those people sincerely hope that, among the multitude of suggestions, some one or more of the proposed competing lines will materialize.

Among the numerous active business men of Grand Forks called upon, there seemed to be a hopeful view taken of the coming season's business. The land agents were all busy with home-seekers, locating them with rapidity and dispatch. The merchants were carrying varied and ample stocks of goods, and all branches of trade seemed to be in a flourishing condition. The machinery men gave good evidence, by their large orders, that their business was brisk, and that it was more of a question with them to get the farm machinery to fill the orders than it was to obtain the orders.

Mr. Stanton, manager of the well-known firm of Peterson, Sargent & Co.’s branch house, states that his business for this season was more than double that of last, and he expects soon to outrank in sales the parent house at Fargo.

Mr. Winship, the editor of The Daily Herald, kindly threw open his doors and exposed all the interior workings of his print shop. Like other enterprising newspaper men, he found that his business was rapidly growing; so much so that he has employed a corps of workmen to add another story to his building, and amid the pounding of the hammers and the ripping of the saws, the musical click of the type could be heard as the boys were throwing them into place.

Mr. Russell, the editor of the Plaindealer, a recent adventurer, felt that he had struck a bonanza, and Messrs. Murphy & Bennett, the proprietors, were assured that they had succeeded in the same line when they secured Mr. Russell’s services.

Mr. Webster, the talented and versatile city editor of The Daily Herald, kindly favored The Argus by pointing out many places of interest; and Mr. Witt, his genial assistant, did all he could to aid Messrs. Winship, Webster, and others in making the stay a pleasant one.

Grand Forks has four very good hotels, all receiving a liberal patronage. The Griggs House is a new brick, near the depot, while the Mansard and the Northwestern are in the business portion of the city. The Viets House is on the south side, some distance from the center of trade, but evidently well-patronized. READ MORE ITEMS FROM THE COLUMN HERE .