Almont North Dakota
1906 Centennial 2006
ALMONT’S BIRTHDAY, AUGUST 12, 1906
by Jerome W. Hegel
August
12, 1906 is the day dedicated as the birthday of Almont. There
was a real celebration. People from many parts of North Dakota
came for the big event. Many of them couldn’t believe their
own eyes.
One of them was Mr. Joe Slavick. He decided
he would look up Mr. Sherwood, the owner of the hotel that was being built.
Joe Slavick was a member of the Bohemian band that was going to be playing
there that day. Mr. Slavick kept walking through the crowd hoping by some
chance he could find Mr. Sherwood, and just then someone slapped him on
the back and said, “Hi there, Mr. Slavick: how are you today?”
“Why, Hi! Sherwood, I have been looking
for you. I thought I could find out just what was going on around here.
It seems yesterday the cattle were grazing on this pasture. Now take a look
at it.”
So the two men walked out to really look the
place over, and while walking, Mr. Sherwood started his story.
“Well about five weeks ago, Mr. E.W.
Hyde and Mr. J. W. Burt came here and decided it would be a swell place
to build up a little town. But in order to get in here they had to build
a bridge across the muddy creek. All the help they got to build this bridge
was from people around here that were interested. the County thought it
just a waste of money and time to build a bridge there, but we showed them,
I guess.
“There certainly must be a bunch of
swell people around here to dig in and help where they can, Mr. Sherwood.”
“There certainly are. On July 4th, they
called in a surveyor. It was a real hot day without a breeze going by. They
were wishing by some chance someone would bring them some lunch, and something
to drink.
“Rick Olson, a near by farmer, was walking
around close by and noticed some men over in this pasture and wondered what
in the world as going on, so he decided to come over and find out.
When he came over he asked, what was going on over there. Mr. Hyde told
him they were just surveying out a town they wanted to build up.
“Rick stood there for a while and finally
said, “Why, I don’t believe it.’” Harmon, the surveyor,
told him to believe it or not, but that is just what they were doing right
now. After talking for some time, Rick asked if they had lunch yet. They
told him they hadn’t. So he said, “well boys, I guess I’ve
got to pitch in and help a little too. Why don’t I go over to my place
and bring a little lunch.’”
“So he went home and brought some lunch
and did they ever appreciate it. After lunch they went back and finished
their job of surveying the town site. The town was laid out according to
the railroad.
“As soon as we were all through with
the surveying we were ready to start putting up a few buildings. You can
see for yourself we have several started all ready. The hotel, elevators,
and a store, and we are still moving along quite rapidly.” Mr. Sherwood
said enthusiastically. “I think we had better be on our way. It’s
about time for the church services. don’t you think so, Mr. Sherwood.
The services were held out side by the lumber
shed, since there wasn’t a church built in town as yet. after services
people scattered to eat their lunches. It was a perfect day for a picnic
lunch outside. Then after lunch Mr. Slavick went to join the rest of the
band members for the parade. After the parade all the people were on the
move again going to the race track, to watch some horse races. This kept
them entertained for a while.
During the rest of the day they had several other events and they also
had refreshments for the people that had come, and there certainly were
quite a number of people there too.
You wouldn’t believe that as many people
would come from all over in one day.
The most important event of the whole day
was the baseball game. Almont was going to battle it out with Sims. Sims
had quite a team at that time. they were going to give it a try anyway.
Almont just picked up some boys that knew
how to play baseball from near by and went for the big game. The Sims Baseball
team had nice red uniforms. the Almont players just played with what clothes
they happened to be wearing that day. This team that Almont had put together
had never in their lives played ball together.
Mr. Brown, the pitcher hadn’t done very
much pitching lately but he was going to show the people what he could do.
Mr. Brown also had a good man to work with, the catcher, Mr. Stevenson.
Stevenson was the type of man you need as a catcher. Mr. McCary a man working
at the elevator, also did his share in the ball playing. Albert Anderson
was left fielder. Fred Simers, a rural school teacher, played center field.
Mr. James Burt, the man who helped Mr. Hyde manage the team, also played
in the ball game that day. Cornelius Knutson, Amandus Larson, and Ted Peterson
were also going to go in there. What they could do to that Sims baseball
team!
When the game finally got underway, Sims was
up to do the batting for the first inning.
To their surprise they didn’t get in
a run. Then when Almont came up to bat they also found that they weren’t
going to get a run in that time either. This kept for the first three innings.
Then in the fourth, Sims brought in the first
score for the game. The score standing one to nothing, meant that Almont
boys better buckle down and get in a run, and they did in the last half
of the fifth inning. One and one stood the score and what a whale of a ball
game they were having that day. This was quite a surprise to some of the
people at Sims. They thought this game was going to be a push-over for them.
In the sixth inning Sims brought in their
second run for the day. Now Almont was one point behind again and that meant
they had to get on the ball and do a little hustling. but they found the
score one two in the last half of the seventh inning and also in the last
half of the eighth.
The first half of the ninth Sims didn’t
get in a run. That meant that if Almont could only get in one in that last
half of the ninth, they would have a chance to win.
When they started playing they knew that this
was the time to do it and they had to. They brought in a score, and the
game was all tied once more. It was enough to drive the crowd wild, and
the players too, I guess. At the first half of the tenth inning Sims found
themselves without another run. So Almont had a good chance. All they had
to do was bring in one score and the game would be theirs, and McGary did
just that. The ball game was Almont’s. After that Mr. Hyde took McGary
on his shoulders and carried him down town.
After all was done, and most of the people
had gone home, Mr. Hyde thought he would go down to the hotel and have some
coffee. He stayed and talked to Mr. Sherwood for a while.
Mr. Hyde said, “You know I think that
baseball game kind of showed the people that Almont was going to progress
in a hurry. It really showed what fine cooperation the people around here
have.”
“After we get another bridge put in
across the muddy creek so people can get into town more easily, we will
be well on our way,” commented Sherwood.
This day of August 12, was celebrated for
many years later as the birthday of the town of Almont.