Remembering Weather in the 1930s

 

The current weather conditions, drought, high heat, and lack or water reminds me of recent research into Sherburne County during the 1930s.  A time of worse weather conditions permeated throughout the county.

Farming in Orrock Township after the difficult
weather of the 1930s.  Notice the thick layer of
sand sitting above the darker soil.

In the years 1933 and 1934, the county suffered a major drought.  Farmers remembered the time as a “dust bowl.”  Some residents of Sherburne County remember this time as an end to farming in some areas of the county.  “The light, worn out soils took to the air and drifted like snow over the roads and onto front porches,” is the way historian Herb Murphy described it.  Some folklore of the times described Orrock Township as the “poison ivy capital of the world.”  Other tall tales suggested that “jack rabbits, when passing through Orrock Township, had to pack a lunch because there was nothing to eat.” 

A variety of conservation efforts restored the area of Orrock Township.  Conservation groups planted trees and slowly brought back the land.  The bulk of the township became the Sherburne Wildlife Refuge and the Sand Dunes State Forest.  All of this resulting from the catastrophic drought conditions in the 1930s.  Worse than the weather of 2021, yet events important to remember.

Grace Craig: Sherburne County Pioneer

 

March being Women’s History Month it seemed appropriate to start off the month noting a significant settler and educator from Sherburne County: Grace Craig.  

Grace Craig circa 1940

Born in 1865 in the family homestead in Orrock Township, Grace Craig lived with her parents, two sisters and a brother.  According to a brief biography, Grace Craig lived at the homestead for her entire life.  To a certain degree her education developed through her own initiative.  As a teenager, the biography maintains, she obtained the skills for Sunday School teaching through a correspondence course.  While teaching, for fifty-eight years, at two Sunday Schools around Orrock and Snake River, she also upheld the responsibilities as local superintendent.  In addition to her work on the farm and at the local churches, she also served as the Orrock Township correspondent and reporter for the Elk River Star News.

             Throughout most of her life, transportation for Grace Craig consisted of walking.  In the last few years she owned a horse, Tom, to pull her small buggy around the area.  Her care for Tom reveals so much of the compassion she held for all of God’s creatures.  One Christmas event tells of her receiving a wonderful gift basket of fine food and treats.  She took the basket to the local merchants and exchanged the items for grain for Tom.  The day before her death, Grace dictated her final will.  She implored the Township Clerk to find a good home for Tom and dispose of her chickens and belongings to needy families in the area.  

           Born when the settlement of Orrock Township remained in its infancy, Grace Craig lived for eighty-two years.  Through several wars and multiple economic crisis, she witnessed the development of the county and contributed as an early settler of Sherburne county. She also exhibited the independence and self-assurance demanded of early settlers in Sherburne County.  Kicking off Women’s History month with a true pioneer seems appropriate.

 

Remembering Arthur Embretson

During World War One, the United States first recognized gold star families, families who lost a member during war time.  In Sherburne County, the only gold star family in the area of Big Lake came with the death of Arthur Embretson in 1918. 

Serving aboard the U.S.S. Cyclops, Embretson was one of 306 sailors lost when the ship sank in March 1918.  Because of failed radio transmissions, the exact location of the ship was lost for many years.  The ship could have been captured or sunk as it sailed along the North Carolina coast.  The exact cause of the sinking remained inconclusive, although maritime experts believe the Cyclops had been overloaded and storms in the Atlantic Ocean caused the ship to founder or break apart.  The sinking of the Cyclops remains the single largest loss of life aboard a United states naval ship not directly involved in combat.  

 

Before he enlisted in the navy in 1917, Arthur Bernard Embretson left a small mark in history.  Born in October 1888 to Ole and Marie Embretson in Orrock Township.  He apparently lived on the family farm until his naval service.  In the Navy he attained the rank of fireman, third class.

 

Very little is written about Arthur Embretson.  During his service, the Sherburne County Star News published three reports from letters Embretson sent home.  In July 1917, he sent his photograph, in uniform, to friends reminding them to write often.  The January 18, 1918 issue of the newspaper, his letter sent thanks for the Red Cross Christmas package.  “I sure did appreciate it and am glad to see the old friends and neighbors remember me,” he wrote.  By April, 1918, the Navy declared the U.S.S. Cyclops missing.  On June 1, 1918 the ship was declared lost and all hands aboard as deceased. 

Because Arthur Embretson died at sea, his remains were never recovered.  A memorial stone in Orrock Cemetery marks the life and death of Arthur Bernard Embretson, the only resident of Orrock and big Lake Townships to give his life in the service of the United States in World War One.

Photos courtesy of LuAnn Watzke

Airplanes Soar Through Sherburne County

Airplanes, literally and figuratively, soared through Sherburne County in the 1920s.  The magical technology of flight sparked the imaginations of more and more Sherburne county residents as the decade proceeded.   In 1928, the fascination with airplanes culminated at the Christmas celebration in Elk River. 

A group of young ladies admire 1920s aircraft
 in Orrock Township 

Beginning with the post war period, Sherburne County held a fascination with airplanes.  As early as October 1919, the Sherburne County Star News reported on deliveries to Elk River merchants via air transport. 

Interest grew until August 1927, a race and good will tour passed over Elk River.  At that event, letters addressed to Elk River Mayor Beck dropped from planes, requesting city leaders place signage on the highest building in town.  During the race pilots used the signage as a navigation tool.  Still later in the year, an aerial circus performed above Elk River.  Wing walker and acrobat George Babcock, performed a variety of feats, including hanging from the plane “by his knees, hands and teeth,” the paper reported.

 

With an appetite for airplane technology, Elk River entered enthusiastically welcomed 1928.  Early in the year, local businessmen explored plans to develop an aircraft assembly plant.  In February, construction of a Curtiss Bi-plane began in an undeveloped, yet planned, airplane landing field west of Elk River.  Although the construction plant never came to fruition, the Elk River dedicated the airfield in May 1928. 

For the people of Elk River and Sherburne, the high point of air transportation in 1928 arrived in December.  “The scream of the fire siren and the roar of the big creamery whistle announced the coming of Santa Claus in his first flying visit to Elk River” the newspaper reported.  Just two weeks before Christmas, the Elk River Commercial Club arranged for Santa’s visit.  A plane from Robbinsdale flew to the headquarters of Santa Claus, the paper reported, to deliver him to Elk River. 

Although never able to capitalize on the business and technology in airplanes, Elk River and Sherburne County maintained an interest in airplanes and flight into the 1930s and through the Second World War.  Yet, interest seemed at the high point in the magical year of 1928 when plans for the city and dreams of aeronautical development soared.