The Rooster Crows – February 8, 2008

On February 8, 2008March 10, 2021 By rutlandramblingsIn Rooster Crows, Rutland HistoryLeave a comment

By Bill Anderson

Irv Rustad of Lake Agassiz Regional Council met with a group composed of the Rutland Renaissance Zone Board, Zoning Board, City Council, Housing Authority and other interested citizens, in the Nordland Fellowship Hall at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, January 30, to discuss revisions and updates to the City’s Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance. Participants went through the Comprehensive Plan and updated goals based on the findings of the community forums held by the Horizons Program during the past year. The next step in the process will be to propose changes in the City’s Zoning Ordinance to make it consistent with the goals set out in the Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Rustad is the Executive Director of the Fargo based Lake Agassiz Regional Council.

The Horizons Steering Committee met on Thursday, January 30, to allocate the $1,500 grant recently approved by the Northwest Area Foundation. The grant was distributed $500.00 to the advertising committee, $500 to the community recreation center committee and $500 to the housing committee to help them meet the goals set last year. If the Horizons Program stays on schedule, the committee will be eligible for another $8,500 from the NWAF next Summer, says Horizons Program coordinator Carolyn Christensen.

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The Rooster Crows – December 28, 2007

On December 28, 2007March 8, 2021 By rutlandramblingsIn Life In General, Rooster Crows, Rutland HistoryLeave a comment

The Rutland community received the ultimate Christmas decoration, a snow white blanket, in two layers, a little more than an inch of new snow on the evening of Saturday, December 22, and a light powdering on Christmas Eve, making this a “white Christmas” to match the song. Seeing the temperature rise to the 32 degree mark on Christmas Day didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings, either.

Chuck Sundlie drove up to Rutland on Saturday, but deteriorating weather conditions in the Twin Cities area delayed the arrival of Kim and Aden until Christmas Day. Chuck did some pheasant hunting on Saturday and Sunday, and reports that the birds are quite wild, although one rooster held so tight in the cattails that one of his dogs, unable to flush the bird, finally just picked it up and presented his master with an early Christmas gift, a live ring-neck rooster bagged without firing a shot. Chuck, Kim & Aden expect to remain in Rutland until New Year’s Eve.

Cameron Gulleson, Andrew Hanson, Matt Bosse, Luke Anderson and John Stenvold returned from their Lake of the Woods fishing expedition on Tuesday, December 17. Cameron reports that they caught about 40 walleyes and saugers while fishing through the ice, but the fish did not have much size. He also states that the ice was about 12 inches thick where they were fishing, but there are still large areas of open water on the lake. The boys headquartered out of the Sportsman’s Inn near Baudette MN, and report that their accommodations were excellent.

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The Rooster Crows – December 20, 1999 Addendum

On December 27, 1999March 8, 2021 By rutlandramblingsIn Rooster Crows, Rutland HistoryLeave a comment

By Bill Anderson

Here’s a Christmas reminiscence I wrote back in 1999 that appeared in The Sargent County Teller as an addendum to the December 20, 1999 edition of The Rooster Crows.

WAITING FOR THE TRAIN
When we were kids, growing up in a small town in southeastern North Dakota, the rhythm of our lives was governed, to a large extent, by the schedule of the Great Northern Railway Company. Our father, Earl Anderson, was the station agent/telegrapher for the Great Northern in our hometown of Rutland, North Dakota. His schedule was set by the Great Northern and our schedule was set by him. Back then railroad trains ran on schedules, with arrival and departure times calculated down to the minute. Tough conductors like Shag Lehmann and Herb Cochrane would cuss a blue streak if their train arrived in the station as little as a minute or two ahead or behind the scheduled time. Forty-five years ago, you could tell what time it was by the freight train steam whistle or the passenger train air horn as it came into town or departed with a load of freight, passengers, cream cans and U.S. mail. It’s not that way any more. Now, a person can’t even determine the time of the year by the arrival or departure of trains on the Rutland branch line. As Ahrlin Hoffman commented some years ago, “I used to set my watch by the old Great Northern, then, one day, I came into town and discovered I was two months late.”

Back in the 1940’s and 1950’s the trains ran on schedule every day, holidays being no exception, and the men who worked for the railroad were on duty whenever the company said they were needed. As the railroad’s agent and telegrapher, Dad had to be at the depot when trains were scheduled to arrive. Everybody knew the train schedule and, a lot of times, folks would go down to the depot in the evening to “meet the passenger train” just to see who got on and who got off. The arrival of the eastbound evening passenger train from Aberdeen was always looked forward to with anticipation. Everything from freight to passengers to postcards moved by rail in those days and folks were always looking forward to either sending or receiving something.

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