At the End of the Threshing Season
Full Page 29k | Hult. 143 |

Fred Hultstrand sits at the driver's seat of a steam engine, in Fairdale, North Dakota, around 1910. Anders Hultstrand (Fred's father), standing to the far right, and the rest of the threshing crew gather around the steam engine, looking fairly relaxed after completing another season. Fred's brothers Mandus, Andy, and Alfred are also pictured, but not identified.

Seeding Grain on the North Dakota Prairie
Full Page 15k | Hult. 145 |

Fred, Bernard, and Mandus Hultstrand each drive a team of four horses pulling seed drills, on Anders Hultstrand's farm, in Fairdale, North Dakota, in 1909. The rich North Dakota prairie seems endless as these men drive their teams with the shared goal of planting the season's grain crop.

A Prairie Mosaic of North Dakota Life
Full Page 37k | Hult. 153 |

A prairie mosaic of the day to day life in North Dakota is complimented by Anders Hultstrand's threshing machine, the first traction engine in Cavalier County in 1895, and an image of the Soper Post Office.

Activity was abundant on the North Dakota prairie, whether it be Fred Hultstrand riding a horse, or other men taking a break from their work to rest, or perhaps to catch up on local news and gossip.

A Welcome Break in a Long Day
Full Page 26k | Hult. 176 |

Planting a crop was not an easy task during the early part of the twentieth century. Oxen were used to pull the grain drills over the rich North Dakota soil.

Here, a man takes a welcome break to have lunch and to chat with his wife and children before finishing out a long day of farming on the North Dakota prairie.

North Dakota's Contrasting Seasons
Full Page 31k | Hultstrand 64, 65 |

In the good ol' summertime, even the tarpaper covered house of James Ward, a Canadian immigrant, in Milton, North Dakota, around 1913, looked inviting. Hugh and James Ward stand to the left of the house, while Nellie Ward and Miss Meling stand in the door frame.

However, the lazy, hazy days of summer don't last for long in North Dakota! Two men and two women are able to get on the roof of the Ward home, upon digging out from the entrance, after a three day snowstorm completely covered the home. Not surprisingly, signs of Spring were always a welcome sight in North Dakota.

Continue through exhibit: Sod Houses | Farming Life | Prairie Society

Return to the Pioneer Camera page.

Institute for Regional Studies
North Dakota State University Libraries
Fargo, North Dakota, 58105
(701) - 231 - 8914