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Collection Summary
Collection: 00008 - Bowman County Photo Collection
Folder: 0001
Item: 00011
Title: Ida Kulsrud's Sod house interior Whiteside Township, Bowman County (N.D.)
Date: 1907
Creator: Rural Area Development Committee (Bowman County, N.D.)
Inscription/Marks: [back of print] Prairie Tales. Sod house interior, 1907. Copy. Printed in Prairie Tales 978.492 R88 Bowman p162. Interior of Ida Kulsrud's sod house. Johannes Maurud, left, Ida Kulsrud, right.[Biography John Maurud, Prairie Tales p161.] John Maurud, Whiting Township Pioneer. He was born November 20, 1881 at Helgoya, Hedmark, Norway, a settlement along Mjosa Lake, which is located about eighty-four miles north of Oslo. John lived with his parents and four brothers until the age of twenty-one, when he decided to see adventure in America. Henry Kulsrud of Lanesboro, Minnesota, sent him a ticket for third-class passage on the boat "Majestic." On a cold spring day, March 20, 1902, John's father took him in a one-horse bobsled to Hamar, where John entered a cattle boat by the name of "Onslo", which took him to Liverpool, England. It was truly a typical cattle boat. Men and women were crowded into a large room or cabin which accommodated over one-hundred people in bunks stacked four deep along the walls. The food consisted of large chunks of herring and boiled potatoes – not too appetizing. John arrived in New York April 5th. He boarded the train and came to Lanesboro on April 8, 1902. He rode out to Henry Kulsrud’s with the mail carrier. He worked in this vicinity on farms for six years. There were fourteen people, twelve men and two sisters, who left Lanesboro, Minnesota to take up homesteads in North Dakota in the winter of 1906. They arrived in Dickinson by train. A locator, by name of Thorvald Gullickson, took them by horse and buggy across the prairie to the site now known as Whiting Township, where all fourteen took adjoining homesteads. The first night out, they stayed at Stillwater Hotel. The second night was spent at the Carter Hotel at New England on their way back to Dickinson. The members of this homesteading party were: John Maurud, Helmer, Ed, Hans, and Albert Hansey, Martin Peterson, Lars Hanson, Ida and Dora Kulsrud, Albert Pladsen, Carl Johnson, and Henry Ellingson. Mr. Maurud homesteaded five miles southeast of Buffalo Springs on the northwest quarter in Section 8 – Township 130, Range 100. In the spring of 1906 the men returned to build their sod shacks. Mr. Maurud came with an emigrant car in which he brought three cows, a team of horses, wagon, mower, Superior Drill, binder, crate of chickens, some tools and very little furniture. Experiences were many on the prairie. One time John soaked some navy beans. He had too many beans for the pan. In the morning he had beans all over the shanty. Many coyotes roamed the prairies. They got so bold they came right into the yards and took chickens and turkeys. The homesteaders got their mail at Stillwater. Each one would take his turn walking up there after the mail once a week. John used the walking plow to break up land for people. Many a night he came home dead tired after walking all day behind the horses and plow. The neighbors used to gather in the different homes to have church, play cards or dance. Romance bloomed on the prairies as well as flowers and crops. John Maurud and Ida Kulsrud, another homesteader were married on April 29, 1908, in her sister Dora’s home. Reverend Eldesvick performed the ceremony. To this union was born four children: Clara, now Mrs. Lloyd Larson of Lanesboro, Minnesota; Ruth, now Mrs. Ernie Stromberg, Dalbo, Minnesota: Nora, Mrs. Ingolf Landa, Scranton, North Dakota; Norman, Living at Scranton. Mr. Maurud has experienced many hardships, sorrows, joys, and good times. Some years the crops rusted out or grasshoppers took them. There was drouth and hail was another factor they had to deal with. Prices, too, played a large part in their life. For instance, in 1932, eggs sold at 5 cents a dozen. Wheat marketed at 32 cents a bushel. Oats were 9 cents a bushel. But Sam Elenbaum at the elevator told Mr. Maurud he would pay him 10 cents. Mr. Maurud was a good neighbor who was interested in the building of schools in the township. He helped organize the Union Prairie Church in 1925. Mrs. Maurud passed away November 8, 1947. Mr. Maurud sold his farm to his son-in-law, Ingolf Landa. He has made several trips back to Norway by boat and plane to visit his brother, Hans, at Hedgoya, Hedmark. He says traveling now is certainly different from when he came over in 1902. I believe Mr. Maurud’s long hoped for dream “The Haley Dam”, will materialize. Plans for that project have been in the making for fifty years. John Maurud is the only living member of the original fourteen homesteaders who settled here in Whiting Township in 1906. He has ten grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Summary: Interior of Ida Karoline Kulsrud's sod house in Buffalo Springs, Bowman County (N.D.). On far photo left is the man she married Johannes Maurud with a dog, an unidentified man, Ida, and another unidentified man. A cloth-covered dining table is on farm photo left, a dressing table in the corner, a bed far photo right. Painting and pictures decorate the walls and plants sit in the curtained window. Indicative of the small size of the building is the door handle on far photo right, as the photographer took the image with the door open.
Red ID: PH_I_141651 Image ID: 102571 Image Notes: 00008-00011

Collection: 00008 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: Bowman County Photo Collection
Date: 1890-1960

Summary: Images published in book, Prairie Tales, published in 1965 by the Rural Area Development Committee of Bowman County (N.D.).

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