News you can use
News you can use
By Emily Mayer
After a whirlwind season of family, church and charity, Havreites 100 years ago were ready to embrace another beloved “c” word — community. It was back to work making Havre a better place to live, work, play and dream. A second “c” word-camaraderie-is vital to the survival of Western towns and settlements, for without each other, communities cannot succeed. Havre was host to many clubs, organizations, and groups and a new one was formed this week a century ago. This article was published in the January 10, 1925, edition of The Havre Daily Promoter.
G. N. RAILWAY CLUB ORGANIZED IN HAVRE
J. C. KOERNER ELECTED PRESIDENT WITH R. F. SPEAR VICE PRESIDENT: OVER 320 JOIN ORGANIZATION
At the Masonic Temple last evening some 250 or more employees of the Great Northern, nearly all from Havre, a few from other nearby cities met and perfected an organization of a Great Northern club temporarily organized some time ago.
Edward F. Flynn of St. Paul, director of the bureau of public relations of the Great Northern railway, addressed the meeting telling of the activities of the Great Northern Club of St. Paul organized a year ago. He also told about the organization of the club at Spokane and of the plans being made at other points along the line to organize clubs.
In his address he referred to the splendid record which he said the Great Northern had made during the past year and gave credit for a large share of the achievement to the employees.
The Great Northern quartet of St. Paul rendered a number of selections.
The following officers of Havre chapter of the Great Northern club were then elected: President, J. C. Koerner; Vice presidents, R. F. Spear and H. G. Amess; Secretary, J. H. Carpenter; and treasurer, M. O. Wood.
Short addresses were made by J. C. Koerner, W. A. Brusewitz, L. W. Mack, Ed. Hughes, John Hamilton, L. W. Van Artsdale, of Great Falls.
Some of those from out of town who were present were: W. A. Brusewitz, agent, Chinook; F. J. Thomspon, agent, Chinook; Fred Larson, agent, Chester; W. H. Trumbull, agent, Lothair; James Leo, section foreman, Malta; R. J. Niewoher, agent, Harlem; and W. F. Rieland, agent, Glasgow.
About 320 employees from all departments of the railway have already joined the club, including a number of women.
After the meeting a lunch was served. Many interesting meetings of the club have already been planned.
A third “c” word important to Havreites back in the day was “civics”, and the January 6, 1925, edition carried a lengthy article about the recent City Council meeting. The good news announced in that article was the City of Havre was looking at purchasing land from the Shepherd-Pierson Company for use as a “public playground”. The land in question adjoined land the City already owned, where a baseball and football field in the warmer months, while in the winter, the grounds were flooded for a community ice skating rink. The location of both pieces of land is now where the current City Hall is located. The land was later acquired and for many years, thousands of residents and visitors alike enjoyed the activities offered there.
Montana is well-known for its rich heritage, which also includes the pre-historic. We are rich in dinosaur, marine and prehistoric mammal fossils, and a local businessman was sharing his discovery with the community. This article was found on the front page of the January 4, 1925, Daily Promoter.
BACKBONE OF GIANT FOUND BY RUNKEL ON EXHIBIT
A section of the vertebrae of a dinosaur which was found by F. F. Runkel approximately 50 miles south of Billings, near the Wyoming state line, in the spring of 1924, is on display at the window of the Bronson, Lange and Runkel company.
Runkel, accompanied by four men, was on a fishing trip. The party had traversed back into a hilly country, virtually uninhabited and where it was impossible to drive an automobile. On reaching camp the first evening, Runkel in picking out an ideal place to pitch his tent decided to camp under two giant cottonwood trees. In scraping the sticks and stones away to make his bed more comfortable he discovered two bones imbedded in the ground which required some effort to extract.
The next morning he uncovered a large portion of the skeleton. He took the bones to Billings, photographed them and sent the picture to the Field Museum of Natural History at Chicago, which had one of its experts, then on a western trip, inspect the vertebrae.
After the expert had confirmed the belief that the bones were of a prehistoric animal, Runkel made a second trip to the cottonwoods and uncovered more of the skeleton.
Roots of the trees, which were some two feet in diameter, were entwined about the skeleton in such a manner as to make further extraction impossible without the aid of machinery.
The museum officials informed Runkel that a man would be sent from Chicago next summer to get the remainder of the skeleton which will probably be placed in some large institute in the east, as the bones are in an excellent state of preservation.
The order of the dinosauria is divided into three suborders, some of the peculiarities of which are the Sauropoda, the Theropoda and the Predentata. It is thought the skeleton found by Runkel is that of a Ceratossaurus of the order of Theropoda.
With the New Year being ushered in by community, camaraderie, civics and critters, 1925 promised to be an exciting year for Havre and its people!
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