Interview with Dr. Blunt: Early Businesses and Entrepreneurs in Bismarck, North Dakota, Slides of Business

Download Interview with Dr. Blunt: Early Businesses and Entrepreneurs in Bismarck, North Dakota and more Slides Business in PDF only on Docsity! Dr. James Blunt Region VII Burleigh County This is Bob Carlson. The following in an interview I recorded tI". with D.ebm James Blunt at his home in Bismarck, North Dakota, on April 25, 1975, beginning at e(~~ftIIIey in the afternoon. The inter- view occupies both sides of this cassette and about the first ~wo­ thirds of the first side of the succ~ding cassette. Dr. Blunt: I've lived here all my life. I even came back here to practice after I went away to school. BOB: Oh. DR. BLUNT: So, I've seen Bismarck. I remember eveything since I was four years old because I remember the Spanish,LAmerican War very well~(j)J1d I ii$Sd .;;s/l7l}h~n. ~President McKinley and his iiitiip:;f-,\i~,t~~88'H!Hl!n81;iMl. Just at the turn of the century in 1900 we were at St. Louis for the winter and from then on I remember everything. BOB: ~Oh, remarkable memory you have! DR. BLUNT: Well, I'd never been in a large city before and, of ~~~ lJui.f .. course, you're all eyes and ears you know. St. Louis was~a ~ city in those days compared to these towns out here, you know, pioneering. BOB: Well, when did your family come here to North Dakota? DR. BLUNT: My mother and her family came to Bismarck in 1872 before the railroad g~here. BOB: Oh. DR. BLUNT: They came in covered wagons. There was a whole party of ID 'em. Probably about ~ of those covered wagons and they all came from down in Goodhue County, Minnesota. Previous to that my maternal grandparents had lived in Wisconsin and Michigan. My grandmother ~~ came from Wales when she was five years old and she and all of her family settled in Utica, New York. Her uncles and her father-the ","e" whole party of 'em that came from Wales~stab~shed a carriage $ii~~ factory. They built car~iages. They even made the wheels! BOB: In New York? DR. BLUNT: In Utica, New Yor~yes! She went to girls school there. BOB: Oh. 2 ("'r ..... e~ You see they kept pushing~st all the time. I don't know why. 'spose the pioneer spirit. They le£t beautiful places ~ in I I In Wisconsin and down in Goodhue County~ ThatLs southeastern corner of Minnesota. They left civilization and came out /here. There was nothing but a row of log cabins where Main Street is now and it was only I think maybe a block and a half long. Just a row of log cabins. That's all there was! BOB: What was their names here? DR. BLUNT: My grandmother's name was Winifred Winston and she was mar~ied to a man named John Nichols. Course, she had sisters and ~brothers. Her brother graduated from the unive~ity of Michigan in the Medical School. He practiced in the same ~county tp~. m."cP'. "')~ ~ with the first '/ig9ibOF MIlj] s: ' BOB: Oh really! %~'DR. BLUNT: Ya, down near Rochester. I saw him before he died. I was just a young kid out of high school then. He was quite a ~_i~~ character. Ya, early horse and buggy doctor you know. He was quite something. My father was born in St. Louis and his father, my grand­ -r3n~ VI ftherl 6harles Blunt, through the years --M- had a fleet of riverboats starting with the Mississippi riverboats and Ohio River. He came up t.'rsl- here in 1858 his ~~i8_ trip. I think it was sort of a matter of I~Ft exploration because after the ~,"f~(ii')L¢i~;/~ipiitittnLouisiania Purchase/of course )Jefferson wanted some of this country settled~ o8tiPsa,after they bought it from France. After the Lew/is and Clark Expeditio~then transportation and communication were vitaf you see. There were no railroads and there were no highways and the river of­ fered the most convenient and practical means of transportation ~ because the rivers were everywhere. All the large freight and most. of the passenger service depended on riverboats. '¥8~ eee"lhe big fur LUe-re.- rL companies ~&PQ l~,ue American Fur ~~iipCompany and)the Hudson Bay company~~Jfhey operated in Canada and in these northern states. St. 5 were throughi with 'em they burned 'em in Southern waters right north of New Orleans. They didn't want them to get into the hands of the Union forces. 100 IltJ,ot:>t> Those boats c~tJaround a bzwdred or a ffilpdre4 S&tl' (CI) €, word dollars a piece. It wiped him out! See, he had a pretty big layout. BOB: How many boats did he have? ..,frf}ft'i DR. BLUNT: Well, he lost 'em form time to time too! You know they'd blow up or burn or be snagged Ihnd then they'd sink. I don't kno~ bu~ know of several that were named in claims presented to the federal government, but he never got a dollar out of it. He lost everything! Those claims are still in Washington. Nothings ever ~ been done about it. BOB: Maybe you could start a suit! DR. BLUNT: Well, it would take an act of Congress, you see, and then they'd have to have contracts. Where are the contracts? Who .. were the officers that assigned those contractsj, commissioned them, and all? BOB: Ya! DR. BLUNT: The steamboats helped to ~build the railroads and then the railroads in turn put 'em out of business!So,he lost two fortunes Jrin the steamboat business6and died a poor man you might say. BOB: Well, did he start again in the river traffic business after the Civil War then? DR. BLUNT: No, he didn't! BOB: Did you know your grandfather? DR. Blunt: I never met him. He died in St. Louis when I was an in- fant, but I knew my ~randfather Nichols. He died when I was only about four years old, but I remember him very well. . OiJ BOB: Nowl your-Grandfather Blunt.A':I, Q "enael ° 4 isi! you ... ever hear"'! 'EtMs&-~4t: li@l:li~:ooftln:e ~e" be 9hP8~gh,.em fMtt8! any stories .. Mi.~1; Move' "W about coming up the Missouri in those early years? '!"'e"mt~~~",~ 6 DR. BLUNT: Oh, yes, yes!~;~~~~s that they used up here had to ( - ~ have boiler iron on the pilo~ouse walls and the cabin walls to pro- tect them from the Indians. BOB: Oh! DR. BLUNT: Frequently, the boats were fired upon. Oh, yes! I remem-- ber my dad grain and I what he was telling one time that he was sitting out on a sack of ~ 'spose his CU~ilot was piloting the boat-I don't know doing-and the bullet lodged right in the sack of grain that he was sitiing on! BOB: Oh. DR. BLUNT: He said frequently that down in South Dakota Indians would line up on the shore and if the boats stopped they would come ashore and wanna buy stuff or buy things. They were friendly Indians and then there were alot of them that weren't. They'd steal, you know, if they got a chance and if they wanted somethin' they might ~ kill you for it. BOB: Did the steamboats carry any kind of a cannon?@£~~~~~ • ~R. BLUNT: No, they had men on board that had rifles. They had firearm~ but no cannon. There was always a pretty good marksman aboard because he would shoot wild game for them you see. They ~ depended on wild game for their meat. It was a long ways between towns. There weren't many towns and they were primitive at that. BOB: Ya. DR. BLUNT: In the beginning, the boats tburned wood, you know, cause it was available and there was alot of trappers, adventureres, and frontiersman that lived along the rivers. They would chop ,wood, you see, and pile it up along the steamboat lines. BOB: Oh. I was going to ask if your grandfather had to stop the boat and s€hdsend the crew out to cut wood? DR. BLUNT: No, these woodcutters had )lIJ Wwoodyards along the river and ~they were men who came out here alone. The>1might live with a 7 squaw or live alone in a cabin along the river and in the wintertime they'd cut wood, pile it up~~~along the bank, and ~sell it in the spring when the boats started operating. BOB: Did they generally have a few furs to sell BR. BLUNT: Oh, yes, trappers! There was a man by the name of Job Taylor. In his later life, he published Jt;(,J;¢J;4I,IJ;{'#J1#/J{",Jy{';/'fH'E WASHBURN LEAD~' which was a little weekly newspaper. He had a - cabin up along the river up near Painted Woods and he ran a wood­ yard and he trapped. I had his volumes. His grandson gave me a set of 'em. They've got 'em at the Historical Society too! ~Twent~ Years On l.W Trappipg ,L,w, '~!/~~~ Liveg. and Fr0nt;k,~~ Indian L~P~i are the names that they printed, bound, and sold. He did it all! I went to school with his grandson. We went to school together. Joe Taylor came here from Pennsylvania they did. BOB: Now how did your dad get into the steamboat business. Had he learned under your grandfather? DR. BLUNT: Yes, they called 'em CU~ilotS. Mark Twain did the same thing. BOB: Sort of a understudy? Ml:lJ 8i1?ft~eeme6l'fingrr"''l'fd1n DR. BLUNT: Oh, yes, he followed it! It was quite a glamour prof­ fesion in those days. Salaries were high! A good pilot commanded ~top salary because they had to learn it from the water up. They ~y{;/~' learn to read the water too. lYou could tell pretty well ,i~_~ where it was shallow and where it was deep by the action of the water. After it became a thriving business~/the gove:r:nment maintained C.hd,,!'.;!' Is Ch3f1r)'t-/S that patrolled the eannedls and kept the"canneis open from boats snags and sandbars.~"i)4/iMtYou know they can wash the sandbar. There was government boat and it was the only boat up in this part of the country with a steel hull. It was called the 11andan. I knew the captain of it. It operated during my time. Captain Gould was his name. The e~gineer on that boat was a man by the name of Frank Titas.~~'~en he retired from the steamboat business, he became the 10 here IjiBismarck? DR. BLUNT: Well, he was born the year my grandfather came up here and that was in '58. BOB: Oh. DR. BLUNT: He was .Jt~ years old then so that would make him about 4i'e'1; Inl' &9 !i:gh t,. '1&! BOB: ~ 8lnm~, e'ight<! DR. BLUNT: Ya, ~ii4'~~~just about. That would be about it! BOB: Did he have his own boat then? DR. BLUNT: No, he was employed by the Benton Packing Company which was owned by the Powers Brothers of Helena, Montana. They were bankers and they owned this boat line called the Benton Packing Company. • BOB: Oh. DR. BLUNT: e' II On the boats there would be this grea~ bi~letter P on the smokestacks. No, he had an interest in the Packet Company and he was manager. He operated it. I.P. Baker was the representative of the Powers Brothers and he was a ~banker here in Bi~arck. He was filWii) oyos ami amiep the employee of Captain Baker, but he managed the thing 'cause Baker was never a steamboat man. He just assumed ~ the title of captain. BOB: Ya, that's ~what I figured. DR. BLUNT: I doubt if he was ever on board any of the boats. No, he was in the office here in the old bank building. BOB: Ya. HR. BLUNT: ~//:,I:"fo~~/#"#"'After the north and south branch-mostly'" the south branch of the NP was built &o~*a the Soo Railroad came, you see, to Bi~marck. That must have been about 1906, I 'spose, about that time. '''' I must have been about tHO};?@; years old. I remember the celebration and the parades and the floats and everything. We were all down there and saw the first train come in. II BOB: First Soo Line train? J$jDR. BLUNT: Ya, there was no depot. It was right at the north- 9t!- 9~ east corner of the intersection of Main Street and Hin1;fi. Noi:R1i;R and Main Street there where that PV Elevators are in there. BOB: Ya. DR. BLUNT: That's where the Soo came. That's before there was a de­ ~pot you see. So, the boat headquarters was moved from Bismarck to Washburn. The Packet Company owned elevators along the river way up PltJla18 .... "Mt • ~.iiaround Deapolis, Marhaz 8n, and north. They would transport the grain down to Washburn by that ~':<",~)<Ji;:l}'_big Marine Lake. They put it in the hold of either the barge or the boat~~/~(elevated it ~ ii" with this belt; ~went up into the elevator, and down into the ~ freight cars. Course, the Soo was the end of the line for the rail­ road then. So, they transported old lumber, hard coal, and all ""'t kinds of merchandise from Washburn up the river and then brought grain down you see. Then it went on to the markets to Duluth or the Twin Cities. So, my father was in headquarters up there for a num­ ber of years and then finally the steamboat business just petered out. BOB: What year did it? The steamboats? DR. BLUNT: Quit? BOB: Ya. DR. BLUNT: Well, there were three or four little ones that did some local bu~iness here, oh, I would say about 1910. BOB: Oh! The big ones had all quit buying though, huh? DR. BLUNT: Oh, yes! The railroads ran them out of business, see? BOB: Ya. DR. BLUNT: Forced them"out of business, see? Then I noticed here ~ II your topic about Pioneer Methods of Farming. My mother's family, you see, all came here early. They had a farm about three miles north of '&'I> Bismarck and then they had a ~~a!ea afta 6~ty acres along the river~ ~of timberland. I think they~had two of the first threshing 12 machines in this part of the country. I remember when they were operating with horsepower and that's even before the steam engine. BOB: Ya1 " " the:r*'had a DR. BLUNT: One was called the Buffalo Pits and big buf- falo head painted on the side of it. They was manufactured in_ Buffalo. BOB: They were! DR. BLUNT: Then there was one called " ., the Taylor-Altman or the ""AI II I .. tman-Taylor. don't know wh1ch one 1t was. They did all the threshing for everyone in the territory1 BOB: With those two horsepower machines? DR. BLUNT: Ya, horsepower machines. Ya, they had a tumbling bar like a big shaft, you know'. All that old equipment was lieing out there on the farm the last time I ever saw it. It was many many years ago! You know just lieing there. Then the steam engine came and, I think, they had one steam engine before they quit farming. Course, they~lived in Bismarck most of the time. They had a farm home out there and one in the timber. When I was a little kid in grade school, my grandmother sold cor~ood to the city schools. ~ She'd have a couple ting down trees and schools. BOB: Oh! of WOOdchopyers work up there making cor~ood. She sold it all winter cut- to the city fit DR. BLUNT: She was quite a businesswoman! Much more so than the man she married! BOB: ..,Oh? Now the maternal side of your family they had ~.;( iQRu IIJUf!ht.come out here in ten covered wagons? DR. BLUNT: 10 Oh, yes! There must have been 'about ~ in the group! BOB: What prompted them all to leave? 15 DR. BLUNT: The thing were It' "if, hen d:,a -tllecr'''mt:I~ ef been probably eight feet in diameter! BOB: Oh? DR. BLUNT: It was the weight and momentum of the thing, you know? BOB: Ya, once you got it going it would keep IIKgoing! DR. BLUNT: Ya, and the ~~whole boat just vibrated like that all the time that engine was running! BOB: I)f'spose the old steamboats must have been pretty smooth machines? DR. BLUNT: They were smooth operating! Yes, they were smooth~ J :; ,d til!- -u) h IF! e_ e~rS. Course, down in Southern waters they had ~~~t~~~j~/i.~rs&~eim99*eP8 too! BOB: Stcie -wh€_e,/eJ'S Ya, I wanted to ask you if they ever tried to usesidewheelers up here? DR. BLUNT: No, they didn't! t;, d e.-vA~.Jt!- r.5. There were never any it9I'~id8wheelers came this far~rth I don't think. BOB: Why not? DR. BLUNT: Well, I suppose it was because of the river, full of sandbars and shallow. These boats didn't draw hardly any water ~ou know! They just floated on the surface! Even when they were loaded they didn't take any more than a •••• BOB: 60uple of feetj? DR. BLUNT: Well, ya! BOB: Not even that much, huh? DR. BLUNT: Ya. BOB: Well, what was the advantage of a .,siae:uheelel? Could you get more powerl out of a sidewheeler?fjl ""hq' CI I.:) DR. BLUNT: Well, maneuverability! 16 BOB: Oh! Ya, I 'spose. DR. BLUNT: You know you could turn around in the space that the boat loccupied! • DR. BLUNT: made a pinwheel out of it! BOB: Were the Powers Brothers the only outfit that ~owned steam- boats here on the river at that time? DR. BLUNT: Oh, no! No, there was a Pittsbur~outfit named the Colsons. They were from Pittsburg. BOB: Who managed their line? DR. BLUNT: I've got a picture of the man that managed it! Who's Frank up at the Historical Society in charge of that? BOB: DH. B1tiH1f:i: No, hi~'i:"M.IIle is Frank sombody! He has a peculiar name nd the beard. OB: Vyzralich! R. BLUNT: Is that it? OB: Vyzralich, ya! ...-<: ,,- ~ "<'­ .'.,. -<~'-:::.' DR. BLUNT: Vyzral:i,~f{! I know him and I've know¢'~him for several years, but I cooh~t remember that name and I don't know·'l1o.w to .-..::~.. "-. .. , spell it! ,f'/~/, . . ;,Ill." BOB: ~ll, I'll show you how to spell it! #F~ DR UNT: I think he gave me a card once, but I lost it! ~'a....;~~ ....... -..' ~~='SIDo9~il~lJf.l;;;'~~~~~~~,;!.~,;,iE:~~!~E;'E~~i::::~:::::'~~:':::::~::::.::::,::':~:::",::':::.::::::'.:',:::~::~::::~~,:~~:.:',':i DR. BLUNT: That's the picture that he used for his book THE CONQUEST --OF THE MISSOURI! ·1."( B6B: Yes. DR. BLUNT: 'Cause my sister did most of the correspondence for him and he gave us that picture and then gave us an autographed copy of the book! BOB: Oh! DR. BLUNT: That's the photograph that they used in the book! This is my Grandfather Blunt showing him as pilot on the Spread Eagl~ BOB: The Spread .. , ... Eagle was his boat? DR. BLUNT: J";K,<{;<UI.rL".JtIJI.i.,4'-~ipM, 1858 on the Missouri River! This is my father's writing! BOB: Oh? DR. BLUNT: Ya. BOB: Now was it Gra~~arsh who ran the Pittsburg line? DR. BLUNT: Nej •• ~i4'~1.1 No, the man that ran the Pittsburg line is f?) (S/,<'//"n'j) this man right ..,here! Merriett'a of the Colson ,..;tBoat Line was .. his name. The C9lsons were the Pittsburg corporation. Captain Dan ("Ji{.peJ/ifl1J ? Merrietta taken in 1877 • • BOB: Well, what did they have then? Just the one boat then? DR. BLUNT: Oh, no, they had a line of boats! BOB: Oh! DR. BLUNT: Ji;u6;J;',iMost of 'em in the Southern waters. This is my father. Now, you see, this is as far as the railroad came ~st and a passenger ~train has just unloaded all these people and they put 'em on the boats here to go further north, you see? BOB: Oh, ya! II.'...... lIele~ DR. BLUNT: That's the steamer I' 6 9 : The steamer T 3 ;;-held an excursion party Ijust above the railroad brige in 1887. BOB: Now that's a triple-decker, isn't it? DR. BLUNT: Yes, ya! BOB: It doesn't look like there are any cabins on this though,reallYJ DR. BLUNT: Yes, they're are! DR. BLUNT: 'Cause there aren't many of us as old as I am still a­ round. I'm .i§~lvope years old! BOB: I wouldn't of known it if you hadn't" told me when you were born. DR. BLUNT: No, my doctors don't even believe me! I ,IJ,('Utfstarted in with Quain and Ramstad right out of high school when they first in­ dot stalled an ~ray machine. Bismarck Hospital. of high SChOO~:~ ~,,,,~.~ ~_4'1'I'7~""f"'''''."",,,,,x.,,,,,,,,;;,,,,,,,,£,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.,,,,,,,,,,·,,,~ M, Br.ij*~"""'.w;i/;t:f,C:a;' new then! ,. X-ray was new! There was no !W .. place where you could take a course in it or anything 'cause BOG top· LaRose went to St. Louis to a man named Carmen and then he went to Battle Creek and took those two courses in X.ray. Then he picked me dtffi1 up as a technican. I'd beewlphotographic work in the studio here. I had a pal in high school and1lhe and I had al X.ray tube before the doctors had one • . ;" BOB,.;. Qla • ~~ ~-B~m~ ~Ught it through an importing company in New York. We had one KW Transformer,..., built a big tester coil, and alot of things so I just stepped right in doing the technical work. BOB: You were the first X-ray man in Bismarck then? DR. BLUNT: I guess in the state! __ ~. 8k? ~... ,'- ~IoMII!!1 (f. thirut/ so ... That was 1913, '14, and '15. BOB: Ya, I wanna talk some about that too. Let's see there's a couple more things I was gonna ask you about the steamboats. .,lrlP9W!. Now the boats that I've heard people talk about are like the Wyoming. DR. BLUNT: ~omin~? It wasn't a popular boat up here. 21 BOB: ~;t)(.~I~(~~ I remember right a ~ella named John Robinson ;-r ~rom Garrison told me that~was a side-wheeler that tried to make it up here once and didn't. DR. BLUNT: From Garrison? Ya, I didn't think it ever operated here -to amount to anxlthing. BOB: Ya, and the .... ,.;;,.;, ........ ;;;,.;s;;,;,,;m; DR. BLUNT: BOB: Now whose boat was that? . j)o,v\<L-r DR. BLUNT: That belonged to the Pcs! fIg Company. BOB: Maybe I ~should just ~ask you the names o~ the boats that belonged to the ~~~~g- Company! DR. BLUNT: Ya, well, there was quite a ~~leet o~ 'em~because they built ~'em and then some o~ 'em were destroyed and .... they'd build more. They built a number of small ones right here! I remember one ~g~+--¥aTtime my ~ather went down~uth and ~brought a new boat H:, '~~~""'~':;F'~eiBeep=e8e~~:'fHV":i's!~ft~::~~~&Wff~~9~l@7H""e:R~""'Mt~~;t; ...- 8: ftew eea~ eaeiE 8:fte-;t;~e~-eelti~M;-ee"¥e¥8:±-~peH1-e;t;~ep-pae}fe;t;-ilb4ftee.;..~-g" W~A~,J.s ~~ .... ~'4~~;;;;'QR~~'';';aRQ;''l;)PQ·~~~-l;)a"-Q-:QQa~-eQ.l.;b"Q;",~~",,;;;~~ .... M'e:1iQ ileR@. ~AQ~,.;,p@Jla,'Me4..;;;;~;"~,,-~a~Q;b4e-~GP-QR,,-&~-~~e-4;Gwai;;"~~;:':t;Q&P" ... aiil QAback and then they bought several A;~rom other~cket He went to Sioux City once and brought up a boat called the Little Ma~ and they renamed it the ~eaiolis ~or one o~ the towns up there. ,.f.c. .'or- BOB: Oh. Let's see the F. Y. 1! I ,. r and the JosE}!lb.in~? UO" .. 7 ta::&bAO DR. BLUNT: The far West •••• BOB: The Far West. - DR. BLUNT: That was Captain JL6t'JtjMarsh' s boat! BOB: Ya, now did he work ~or the Packet Company? DR. BLUNT: .,Yes, and Captain Belt did and Captain Masey and Captain Leach! There were two Leaches! BOB: One o~ the Captain Leaches is still living in Cali~ornia! I just got a letter ~rom him. 22 DR. BLUNT: Ya, he married Julia Baker, I.P. Baker's daughter, but I knew the other Leaches too real well. BOB: When did Grant lfarsh quit running a boat? He ran a gas power for """awhile, didn't he? DH. BLUNT: Yes! Toward the last most of 'em were gas powered. They were small boats and they were short trips, you know? BOB: Ya. Tell me a little about Grant Marsh. I 'spose he's about as famous as any captain on the river;' dr • .., • DR. BLUNT: Well, he was a slow jl 13mI'. You'd think he was asleep half the time and he talked that way too! He had a little thin wife and she'd come up here in the summertime and stay, but she lived in St. Louis. She never lived here,r and he had one son that lived in St. Louis. I took trips with him on his boat. I took trips on all the boats 'cause ~""that's the way I spent my vacations when I was Mdse,! in grade school. Captain Massey was a /outherno-. They're all ~utherners! Prett'~ne,r all the pilots came from St. Louis or that #);ll.' e~ V area down there! .1 remember one day ~lfasseo/" and Marsh were sitting at a dinner table on one of the boats and they were kinda jealous of each other's exp4Joits and experiences. Marsh picked up a sugarbowl Masey and threw it at il4asse, and hit him on the head! There was kinda bad IS .'Z. blood there for awhile! I guess I was about tI:IQ]iIfE' or ~.il~ee. years of age when Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill's big show came to Bismarck. It was a tremendously big show because Pawnee Bill had all the~r ~st.You kno~"'boomerang throwers, natives of Asia and the Philippines, they had water buffalo, and all sorts of things. ~~II_~ Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show was really something. He trave~d all over the world with that one! He went broke,of course, but he "(ilt~ trave~ed abroad with it! When ~iL~ithey came to Bismarck, Grant Marsh knew him from early days you see? Buffalo Bill was never no Indian kind of fighter! BOB: No. DR. BLUNT: He used to supply the r,Filroad crews with fresh meat ""1 25 the steamer Nellie Peck is in the background" • ., III had little cabins; they ~weren't big cabins. Now here's one of the ~n::~~'co~'/s~~y~~~Jg~~~tz~ur/i". ft~~ep4efte~e~afta-~ep4Lg~~~e-e~eamep-~~e~not perishable. y Lk-"a~ the steamer ~ept~/but this picture has been doctored up. BOB. Oh, ya, I see that. DR. BLUNT: Here's the ~.~ Here's a medium sized. Here's the~! Now, you see, it only had a small cabin and this lower deck here. BOB: Yes. How many cords of wood would they load on these? %Jj/~tDR. BLUNT: Oh, Lord, as much as they could pile on the thing' , sinen ~he'Jq*8iY!i@i!!~P~.~~=&g stlbu!lJ:cause then they wouldn't have to stop as ~often, but they carried alot of freight down mt(lpin there, you know? BOB: Sure! DR. BLUNT: Now this is down at the landing here! This is the old warehouse. ~·r"·'~!:l~~"'''z;''''~~~'5'''~~- BOB: Right north of , .... the waterworks?*-i • DR. BLUNT: No, it's right between the waterworks and the brid~ · w~:~.G::~;:::i::::~~:::'~~'<:::===:e I know we used to cut holes in the big sacks of peanuts and steal pea­ nuts! Now here's a bunch of the smaller boats that are up on the wa~ for the winter, you see? which snagged near Sioux City in 1869. This is her proud successo~ ;Cb ~ rlle.....g;!fte Benton II h · h InkS· C . ,g .. 1--01-,W lC a so sa near 10UX lty iMr8!11AY iig... years i later. The Benton I; is shown here tied up at Fort Benton~vy in 1888 near the spot where Thomas F. Mehen is (?) mounds acting one was mysteriously drowned(somebody) in 1867. This steamer belonged to the Black Pea IWLine of the famed Thomas Powers Company of Helena~ It was a pretty substantial boat! @let' § PJjl; dad stiH;I!;ljEg~bere_ BOB: il UP , How did they drag these boats up on the shore like that? DR. BLUNT: With big 'fi/winc~ .. ~ See, here's a bunch of 'em down below the bridge. ~p~iijn'f.. the ~clipse. Now there's a pretty good-sized boat! You see it had alot of cabinl'space! ~ai"&~.~ BOB: ~ Did most of these boats winter in Bismarck' or dry dock in Bismarck? DR. BLUNT: They tried to, but once in awhile they'd get ~~.,,~ caught out. Then they had a place just barely north of Mandan about where the refinery is" that was called Rock Haven. aiQi I & • QI'l~e~~ ''1) l. ways there too! BOB: Ya, I'd like to see 0;(t(10ne of those old boats come down the Missouri again! DR. BLUNT: I remember one time in the early spring, it was still al­ most winter, my dad had to go up north just below Wash~burn#~here was a boat frozen in during the winter and he took a crew up there and he lived on the boat and the brea11.p camel. Course, they had all their "4&lSe.r , U big hnsn .) lines out, you see?, fore and aft tied in tight to the bank and the river rose so high' and it was full of ice flowing that 27 it broke all the lines and the boat got away~ ~ _;_~""":"i-,:",~;,g,"_~_;r",,,,""'£'""'J,"'mil"~""""'Y,",,,7~"'" remember he told us that all they had to .. eat was some wet bread. BOB: What happened to the boat then? _:A)~'~-"¥EH~J""';;" DR. BLUNT: Well, I presume that it probably lodged somewhere. -J!l@i8. '''''''''''~ "",_J,_,,,,,,,,",,="'_"'-"""''''~~_''''~~7;Gr'/G=~''''H~~~~2''''=,"- ~",£~ti:;~'t recall which boat it was or whether they ~""""'m­ recovered it or not 'cause.~i"io;:: when you're a little kid you don't pay much attention to details. BOB: 'HQ; &2 I -mat's true. DR. BLUNT: 11/811, my; ~1I8i1dS?fl ~. bhL •• This is the old river landing when they were operating the ferry and here are the cars all lined up waiting to cross the river! ~BOB: ~ How long did it take the ferry to cross? DR. BLUNT/: Oh, just a few minutes! ~""BE@ff;'" had a cable up above and I _. ~ .-, •• _";,tan engine on itl too! BOB: M-m-m. Ya, I've talked to quite a few people that remember that ferry. \lai.., 'that ran from early 1920, didn't it? DR. BLUNT: Ya. END OF SIDE 1 DR. BLUNT: My mother used to go over to Fort Lin~oln to parties. We've got some of the invitations yet! Here's Custer's home at Fort Lincoln. BOB: 8e TAd/ ail ~ ~!~ 'd? 30 B~;,"". Xay' .,I ""s'!}'osesome orie" woUlal1avetb'r'tlrF'it,up.tha .. gangplank""=" ~:r6trrttteh-'6n ? M'i·~i'B!''UNT;:· . No, 'it'w~tltrigfrt,()nt;~ t'fr€ ·b'oats·'er·'the'~'.·~ ~".'weh'i·"'iti'ea'ffi~·ri:ght' ·O'ti~'~~s.a.· .. ;tha:t: .• it ·.G,0111d .. G,Qnnec;.t.· .. ;c;;Lghtwi:th .. th~ ~·t,.. loaded most of tha~ ferry. '\ """",~:B~£"~ ~ on barges! They didn't carry too much on this ~_~::~~ 'ii/But 'd II they pushed sometimes two barges ~ the way! BOB: That,reminds me of one more question on the steamboats! How big ~ crew would be on one of the boats ~hat your dad ~ piloted? DR. BLUNT: Oh, I ~uppose the roustabouts would have a dozen men! .@Ba.-~ DR. BLUNT: This is my father and mother about the time they ~were married! ~~~~~Old fashioned photographs. BOB: So, you'd probably have a dozen roustabo~uts and then a cook and then someone sounding the water too IJ"sposer~ ,t~~/~~~~¢:J/~i;f~tt~"t~ti~f-#'fh.t~7t:¢"t~trt~tr~·c",;:- ~/~ere was this Pacific Hotel located? Was that where the GP was later? DR. BLUNT: That's right! #d"" "frl ,7?1"11f@ilI! _""_,,,,,,,,,;.,,,,,,.;;"'''7''fi'''''':'''?'~'·"~'''· "",JiQft@i!!iilJM': ~t was a frame building too" y~:~tm61i@r" ~~*~~t,.,,­ ~!6~:rl~all the buildings in those days were built with a false front, you know? 11_-'1441; Hlir 'em look a story higher! ...!2!i~Yr.BLYJl':V!J"t.·.·.···¥a'",''!'P'"'''''''' ~"""~"Y0l:l·remembe·rtha:thote:l? 31 I () ~"";'Bfj~f,c"''''Thes'Er'''ar~·':j'ttst'Ol~l;'f'amily·k'i~,,-t.¥i3~'"c,,,oIAi-i.Qn,!~.t., kp ow:., S'Om errl~~'!"""""""''''c, . f\J/ ===-- ~~ BOB: ~~~ ~~4i~. Where did you attend elementary school here? Where did you start school? DR. BLUNT: Well, it was a little one story wooden building where the ,*,,41';'1 Provident Life is now and then there was a~small brick building "' ~~""J2!.n:":?:::~,::,N1;~'C!,:,,,'f,:".-:.::;->:r.~·""W~~7<'-;:~""""'N~"'('_'~_ next to it so I went to the first, second~ third grades down --,,,,,,,-",,,0 there. There were only two schools in Bismarck at th?t t;m:~~ ~.£J~ 6XftIIl'>~ or that is/two school units. The other one was the Wllliam Moore ? School. '7 After I finished the third grad~then I went to the William Moore School from the fourth grade through the junior year! BOB: Oh? DR. BLUNT: All in that one building! We were the first gra~ating 1- #,"'class in the first high school that was built over on Seecnttl Street. 15815. ~ We thought that was a wonderful school. Well, it was ~ Wn-built. but it just outlived its usefulnes::.;1 ~J$ B8H~ m~_:d:~~~:~:~~~~.==~~~~~~~'~~---- iil~e ~~W~4 1.8'J 00 small! BOB: First graduating ~class that would have been 1913, huh? DR BLUNT 1913 .£/4/... Th .1 ~ 1· l-. • : ., W~ ere were A!!! ,IPUl. ln my c asb4l'. ~-t~~f B0B: Did you have any 1IsUJke+1il2 11 teams and t1t.lb~iI like that? DR. BLUNT: Oh, .-yes, football! We bought our own uniforms and furnished our own transportatio~ There was no athletic fund at all for us. We even built our own skating rinks and played our own 32 hockey. BOB: You had to make your own entertainment, huh? ~ DR. BLUNT: Most of we kids that did skiing made our own skiJls! BOB: Oh, you skied too? DR. BLUNT: Ya, sure, up on Artesian Hill and out towardl Wards, you ./ know? Those "'big hills up along the river! BOB: Ya. DR. BLUNT: Ya, but we made our own skis! Ya, we played basketball, basebal and football. BOB: Were there state championships and stuff like that of any kind? DR. BLUNT: No, just local. Ya, we just played the little towns around here. BOB: What else was available for a kid to do for pleasure in his spare time? DR. BLUNT: Oh, fishing and hunting. We-ewam-4R-~~e-P4¥ePT~~~~~-~ w~efi-~-~e~-e*aep-~-kaew-~e~~ep~--¥aT-we-~ewam-4R-A~~*e-gpeek We swam in the river, but when I got old enoughl to know better I wouldn't do it! J .,]ORI ¥a. --~~~fW. Ya, we swam in Apple Creek, and in Hay Creek, and in """",~J?","_",~n~ Creek.. and in the river! / / I. I L BOB: Oh? Were there any bad floods on the river here that you ¢P7¥f!l" remember? DR. BLUNT: Any what? BOB: Bad floods and what years? DR. BLUNT: • Blthel: Yes, we had .,gij,knany floods here! This wholJre bottoms was flooded here. The water came right up to the bottom of Third Street where the laundry is down ther~ ~-=-:ii -@i"l~ _r."",£".:<"e,s"~F"':"C""'<""""'.r:""':":"':£'''';."c""'''?"'''"-"'·'7!·''ff0e~~'·-- quite high! 35 one KW wireless outfit before that when we were still about sopho­ mores in hig~ school. BOB: Oh? So, you'd been at it for 'quite awhile the~? DR. BLUNT: Ya, we had a powerful wireless and when he died we ship­ ped it to the University of North Dakota with all of his stuff. We had a big laboratory and we had Geisler~bes and Xaray Tubes.~ we were a couple a ..,nuts! We were working on a wireless telephone at the time that he died. using plates in the groundl but we never completed our experiment! BOB: You mentioned a Baker Hall on Main Street. Now I don't think I've run across that before. r.. ... '\' DR. BLUNT: Q,f Oh, that's right over that ElbowAthing. BOB: Oh, on the corner where all the parties were given when I was a little kid. Then there was the old Anth~eum! the inaugural Balls , were held cause, you see, the old capitol didn't have any adequate place. The house up there in the old capitol building was small and it wasn't adequate .. 3F*"i".~ --~< Ii@is g 'ia. ~""'" DR. BLUNT: ~use that house was built with a small center building and then two additions. ~~~~::~,-¥~"i'ff1f.itit·"'·s -Jttstf·'pa-t"C:hW&rk,.t".*~ ~ro!3'!""":"':Ya';""'''''''~''''''! 36 ~ 1m. fJfs~I«'. I I have the only motion picture of the burning of that building. BOB: Oh, you do? DR. BLUNT: Ya, I gave it to the Historical Society and they ~ ogab ~~r¢!'. ~,:;7.r- .-as~:d a 16 millimeter motion picture camera before Eastman put one on the market. It was an amateur camera made by the Derei Corporation in Chicago.~ ~hey made PJ(tttt$t~~~ttt~ professionfl equipment, but this was a small portable on~~and it was kin~ clumsy compared to the cameras now~days. BOB: What year !tms tbt~b2JJiij *L",/, you ~::: that!ttlAellQ DR. BLUNT: Well, I bought it about 1927 and that~pitol~re was in '30 just before New Yeals in the wintertime. Ya, it shot about $"00 :UV8 l!HtncllflM feet with five reels. I went back the next week and took a picture of the ruins! BOE: Did you know~that other photographer in Bismarck who was taking movies as early as about 1916 or so? DR. BLUNT: I worked for him! His name is J!:!rel~!oe · " • . ._"~"""~""""",,,,,,,,~"",,$',,,,,,,;gJ",",,,c""'''''''';·J'\i'-''''''-'f.f-i''''llI''' ~~~ ~'when I quit the X-raJ1 his technician » tRcra ,tlla:t..""#"",,, Met al~ i3h:e QUO! "- Ammot, took my place in the X.ray Department. ~--J{Q~~.QW'.~~um..l.s;t""ha~I;'~~'~~~J!'@~¥'~""tt> ="~ .' W@K,,~ '"Vi~~-=;;;Z;;;;;'7;;;i~Wh;iiartisan League .. he sold them 0l1,the idea of alot of movies of "North Dakota Ref:ou ree£ Beauty And·lft Ill" and all that sort of stuff. BOB: Oh, now I didn't know this! DR. BLUNT: Oh,~a, it was done for ~hat money he could make out of it, you know? ;> ( .~ . -. ~ "'.- .~ ~~~"'.ta~~-!'-""Hegot-stttt·e 'money t 6 do' that? ..J>"'?~""f:§kJ,f~I:,'Oh;, iiiyes;- sur'e! - ~';"Qh~'''ri6w,''see;-\tHat'fs''whatI~dIdn¥tki1ow'!'''''~A= Di.,..,~YNX~;"i.·,¥,e.s''''i,"h.~~a~,e.;,;.J: .~;·;''t-0'~~'-'!in'''~''~basekgir'Gurui.-;:w-it.b."J.~,mntQ·t''J.~-:" ~"WEl""'l8:'Sedl, .. 1Ju"'deve'lo-p'a-li"o:f"h'is ;~ttt#¢tf!ilm!;'-';;;-;-"""w.: ~,,,~BWN-'E::,---'Ar-e they-If' .".­ ~&i'3~'~~~i'tty[ffi.·'-kmlffl"-·~serv4ng"±"t-?c;r;;,;~ What else was available here for entertainment? I mean rlI8I5 .... CO-BOB: ~W:iil'@JJ:f·.; J drsft @M the social life /here in Bismarck in the early years? Were there show/s, play~, and dances? '~uaits&iJ#~~~'\'?'M;'<"""~­ ~~T-~~~~~+DR. BLUNT: Yes, there were roa~hows, of course, in the Old Anthineum, but they were notllroadway productions by any wayl' • ~Ri BI5"U'k And the first motion pictures were in the Old Anthneuml ~~ It was just an old shell~~~and a big barnGplace, you know? They had four big potbellied stoves one in each corner to heaD the Place.l~ II tl~_M", -~~ .nD". nT-lllII!Tl A d h k ..L./ / / 1/.t.:L..LI .' -~.. ,.,-: n no eat bac stage and W)J$ bI p)LJIfijieverytJJne that cur- tain would go up, iiigeez, you could see that the people in the place and the shows were freezing to death! liS; ~~~~~~~~~~~'"fi~~a~ BOB: I've often heard it said that an actor's life is a hard life! ~ g??Q~~~'~~~ .. ,,'. DR. BLUNT: Well, you can imagine back there .with cold water making ;'>'?P;,g=-~;~~~;:-;;;;;;;';;;:;;::-d;~ and everything! ~~'$m!!lR.l. .",,,,,';?""'; ....-;"i;i)$.~ ~ IWWst dd~~'t recall that there ever was a stove on the stage. 40 -there aren't many of 'em left! BOB: No. DR. BLUNT: And what few are they perform in big auditoriums. I just saw the night before last on that , •• 1~Tomorrow.Sho", Tom ~~'''4' 'S";~4t~') @neide! interviewed any; number of artists with Barnum and Bailey, ~~f ~'ii){'/0Jand' Brothers in Madison Square Garden, of course. That's where .hl, agiiltsrdili.lllqlli.j.rnm .... 88Lthey'd start K';'~IBnJ their season. Barnum and Bailey and WI i:~111J~ Brothers sold out, you see? I think they almost went broke anyway. The president of the ed company that bought them out interviewAhim and he said that ~hey had made up their minds to eliminate the big top. They had to hire too man~en and they had to put it up and take it down each day on a night stand and load it up and transport it. He said, It''I :t1'" wanna put the money in the"'f...... He said, "In order to get this ¢e~~ best animal act that we have. now-and, gee, they had a whole slew of beautiful Bengal Tigers-I had to buy the circus over in . if " Germany ~;("tU~<l;iiand the~ that goes with .f'ribltlqfsg-t'­ f'r.iJ net' He just absorbed that smaller circus in Europe in order to get that. BOB: &11,h--... You said that you went to this last Shrine Circus ~,;itQ. iilidnfT'here? How do they compare to the big tops? DR. BLUNT: Oh, well, this is just a little matinee thing! There is no comparison! t *"e19. !etW .... IbEGHT.. _ You tilt:, I ,;..~ take a show like Barnum and Bailey and Will -~-,u Brothers-I'v? seen them for years in Minneapolis and any number of Sells places-Sell's Floto and a German one that toured the country called _limp. wFrpaughs-you' d think it meant Four Paws~"because ~ that's the way it's pronounced, but it's a German worl-and they ~ would have three rings of beautiful !t.IU6Uio,i!Jk\\:&~;;:_~=iith~ horses! They'd be the white and the ~black and the~orrell;forses all performing the same ,~hing in three rings. ~ «Yffl'''2<~ 41 A' .ktDs BilSUn", I Trained animals, sea lions, elephants, tigers, bears, _~ and various dog acts. Way up at the top they would have tightwire and various flying ~trapexe flying acts and various spectacular things, you know? These little things jrnow are mostly t doesn't .,,i$'Miamount to much of anything .... BOB: I didn't even think that it was the best Shrine Circus that I had ever seen by any means. DR. BLUNT: Oh, no, I've seen Shrine 6ircuses years iiago that played in Minneapolis* __ Ml"auditorium that were marvelous! You know that famous aerial family that two of 'em were killed in Detroit named . The Flying 1!!!:2~':!~~:!g like that? BOB: Oh, yes! DR. BLUNT: Well, I've seen them several times and the shooting of men and women out of the big cannon which is just a big spring, you know? BOB: Ya. DR. BLUNT: Alot of your fine aerial acts and animal acts,of course, are iplported from abroact.. - WU~ LO~& BOB: ..- there any patented medicine salesmen that llse.4e COfPfei to Bismarck and .!: &iM' "k,,;iJaGg..Q£,,. • ..,IlC b !U Ii sell you snake oil! .. oSORl!i1r o.w;:~ DR. BLUNT: Oh, yes, they'd hire a dray and put a gasoline burner light on. J iii bL Il(,,ii101t4i!!'i!iijlliict~~~iia~;'8i''~~ It would be down­ h~t-'\)\r\'\ town on one of th~corners. They would sell ~patent medicine, books, musi and popular songs • • , U.ClCl'; "" Did they do & IIh'itlS ri~.61i 1r;" .. D~~ or sing or something? BOB: DR. BLUNT: Well, they might have a 'magician act, yQl:l see? tJ r w musical act with somebody playing a guitar and t usually was music ami sometimes a little comedY .. ~!Hl luu~W1? if-R. jQ];.rm'Pl And then there used to be medicine shows that would opera- ate in our old Anthenum, the old opera house, down there. They would have hypnotists, which is entertaining, and they'd sell all kinds of (jef1 f/fr-/ t e.., cold cures and aentrifie~ and just ordinary propriety stuff, you know? tJe-i1+/ !-rtf (! e~ }jih iHstfNh I remember the first dontrif;i.ce that I ever saw them sell was a ~~J(~{~square cake that looked like hard pumice really. It ~ was i,l.;'yi:i;lJiizri,4i,{,';'llflavored and you just wet your toothbrush and rub de 1'/ h' frl 'c e5 it on! That was one of the first .k2lfbI ifiui' ,1 ever saw! Jii e!l 8t~"J <';'tr:.""",,,,"~~r~p,,,,,,,,.,,,,,,w'=''''!''$J;''''~''''>'.:ff!~;,;r;!!Z'i'''~''""l"~~ • .~f,j.L~'J.,"",,' JW BT~~ ~dP~.i;:6;(/'<t)(tlWhyponotist "show always got a big crowd 'cause it lasted all evening and they had a number of local people, you see, as subjects.~ ~~$f.fi7~ put 'em through all kinds of foolish things. have maybe four or five of 'em lined up and they'd say/, "Well, now ~'re right down at the edge of IfIIitthis beautiful lake and we're gonna go for a swim." "Pull off your clothes and jump in!" Gee, sometimes he'd get them down to their underwear before he'd stop 'em! Course, that would just make a big hit with the crowd! BOB: I 'S~g8Ib Did you go to the governor's balls that Bismarck had? DR. BLUNT: Oh, yes! Even when we were just out of high school we 45 It)eI~ DR. BLUNT: WEll,s! gaessmne*4!ia! They weere just social friends, you know • • BR .. '~>ijM'.-"~~lelo~ He got mixed up in that deal up in Alaska. ~ .nil. DR. BLUNT: I think he was tried in Sant Francisco and one of the at- torneys that was also implicated was a native of Bismarck named R.N. Stevens and Mrs. Finney's father. R.N. Stevens was also an~torney here in the earlier days. ~a~~u)"¥es''fi,,,~~v,trlile,'M6k, •. ;w~,.!.l\'Il&i:t;t.en,"abGUt.!>~t~'·r •. !¥0U».;:~",!,by"··'~1JI.!'!''''·'· ~"'"~. ..JiM) t#WIfr'e i"pwr't BOB: was a pretty likeable man socially though, wasn't he? HR. BLUNT: Yes, he had the faculty of getting Jbi people from a social anglej//1f~i, but from a political angle he had his enemies and his poli­ tical friends. He was quite a ~.}"'J&'i'lik"ble man. __ BOB: Who were his friends lime in imSm&i Blqnlcb'swba, ,·or his political allies'. :!:M& ~~~~f~ Pa,+lerSDI' ~ DR. BLUNT: Yes, and several of the attoJrneys. ~«MRe~ Naturally, he'd be friends with them. BOB:iiJ1':U •• and Stevens? DR. BLUNT: Ya, and I'm trying to think of th~ name of an attorney that came here from New Jersey. Oh, Ed Allan was his name.aJjld·~§~~ 4ic.reo. He lived at the McKenz ie Hotel for -,J,ItIrnany years! ~~~~~~~~~~~='~ was always more or,...less affiliated here with any political ~figure here that was in office and in power. I a /, '-fIle guess he also had quite ~·Lf1! backing from the NP Railroad. BOB: Well, what about some of the other influential men in Bismarc~~ ;-"'~ ~~k.~~~"~~,",,~,~~i~~;~.a~~~ll 46 ~~lied with McKenzie? Hft. BLUNT: Well, I don't rea~y know the inside of it because those men never put out much information about what they were doin'/~r what ~,~~~:t:l*,~'4i&--~<~?~yt""_'>~d ~~>Bf1~"";;"i\ftj,!",:~/;j' j~ _mm'$"t'."'l'ha~s''"'' --"()"t)~"'b1:y)ttu'e""~'<t;'a4p'-;,-,~ti-es~~~;;:;J; 'ftli'I:U,mm\il't Well, all that I remember is what J-/A{Mif!,t~I'd hear my folks 'discuss, you know? " /' ~i£ .. ~Jf-II5. iiia. _Ii e! __ _ ;dfr'ii'"'C;"";;~i""""G""""",r;",,,'"' ~iu rIL •• ': ~ McKenzie was behintl any number of politicians that be- came quite prominent here through the years naturally! He never posed as a local politician holding an office here, you I.IJsee? He just got things done the way he wanted them done politically. I suppose his a.Y'nt - fU.jj's+i nt henchmen handled most of the arm 16'''''jI(iuit .. ti i:R~ and the slapping of the backs and shelling out a little money from time to timel Pa tter>OI1 BOB: Ya, well, the chief henchman was .parisE>E:, right? i8mh ... i!!!t~~·- 4.(.118:6 M.""&.QHbM~~j\~Y DR. BLUNT: Well, Patterson came to Bismarck as a barber from Cleveland, Ohio, and he did a little prizefighting. He eventually becamelbanager !/f.J-y- e.o I" ne r of the Northwest Hotel which is over· kittyeorncr from the Patterson. ,? BOB :-IlI<I\\~~"'~~~~ __ 'F_"~''''"''''''''';~'';''''''-'';1'':Ch'''''''''-<'";''''''',;''~:;''''''''''[Z({;w:;"&"fJ~~ZJl!iliiJi!- ~~~,~~ ~.r''':hat was a three story and in the shape, of an L on that corner and Patterson became Manager of ~ that. I remember my grandmother wrote Alex McKenzie a ~etter about something/-I don't know what the contents was- and I took it down to the Northwest Hotel and they .Mt(f{sent me up to his room. III iiaehX'@"ft~ aee51 I iI, .. It was in the morning and he was still in bed. He read the let- - Yl7. ter, wrote a note, e4~closed it in an envelope, grandmother. I don't know ~hat it was! iJj@S:~",~. and I took it back to my 47 1\ ~~5 ~frhat was shortly before I was page in the Senate. ~""';"f~:f1f:Y:a:,"'Ya!]~"S;t"~"Y-t~"'" ~~~'M,;wa2"",,,,,tI~~#~~;J.,,,·~,i~',1i,c~,,~''':w''''}>"'f1aW''"a''"Te~""""""" . .....J;.:~-,~.,., ~~",,~~.',<~h.a~Nwe.1 ~",ne¥e'Pt''''~ ~gR"I;""c"i'b>';;,}a.st',)·w~·,~1f'rtt'·:i:."t1#~"'" ~/,~"'":r"o""g'tre'Ss,c'j:t"'s""Ja:lrTgfit"!"'";:i>:.r.!Zl ~Qil,."".",~"",~'·wld"m€';'ancaw:E'tt-1: .·i1rO:t:.,a';I(a£;tbaags.:. ;wat;;I:;£4nd.;ve:r¥:;:, . ..;.£,,:c<,; ~Pe-s't'ing;"';"=' DR. BLUNT: Well, I can.,remember that even when I graduated from high school ~in '13 the population here was just barely five thousand and a few years before that we didn't have any paving, we didn't have any storm sewer, and we had very very little money spent on improvements, you know, or utilities. I remember when our house was wired for electri- c:riR.'"i=m.~- @l!9H1'¥1 .. ; and I remember when the first telephones were in­ stalled! The first telephone office was over the P.C. Remmington,'s Drugstore right next to the First National Bank! It was just one big backroom up there lookin' down into the alley. I think Ed Hughes establi­ shed the first local phone system because he had the first poweqplant I here! ,hI"'~Af,f~':"':P{)JNIt was located ~_JJ~~~N.~~on the alley on the bac~nd of what was the Mongtgomery Ward building ~iJt~¢~there be­ tween Third and Fourth on Thayer. ~ a \iS~ there's an alley there where the Finney Drug is now in the front end of it. 2,0 ~: the back end of it there was about twSRt¥ feet and that was about all the width there was ~~t)/pl)/~for that one little building. BOB: That was the power plant? DR. BLUNT: That was the power plant! There., was a steam engine and one dynamo in there! B6B: Oh, I didn't know that.' J~~ p ~ ~ ieCk.-iJ;J~~ 50 into the cavalry and the artillery. They used to buy up horses out he~e, alo-t Ok you know? She had a horse wrangler and they had quite ./)(;4,([] .tsefii&il~ neil/" of acreage out there. He sold several of her horses way up ~ Bottineau and the sheriff up there recognized ~~the brands 'cause they was advertised, you see, ~s being strayed j h tr( '~i1d Course., them dO!&'I1j{;euFse! that was a state offense and rlthe state prosecuted this fella that was her horse wrangler. She eventually got him out of the 1!!_.C . t . d t;Jdh · b k . I penl 10nary an 1m ac agaln. I BOB: Oh? She must 9t trusted him basicallYe@llj •• ~m"l~ DR. BLUNT: Yes, I supposed he needed some money. BOB: Did your grandfather then on your mother's side die at a fairly early age or •••• DR. BLUNT: My grandfather died;-"let me seei-when I was about three years old yes. BOB: Because it sounds as if your grandmother was more or l~ss a guiding light after he died. DR. BLUNT: ~She lived quite a number of years after he died. She died in 191411but my grandfather died it must have beePi-oh, let's see4 - I about lS97, '06, or '\07. I could look it up sometime~~" cPOB: M:¥a; cyI~J c~~"~JrU0'<YO"<~<y,,,,\m<'.'<,:c::::<;;:"':;:"'-':C':'':.':::!J:"';9'Z:"''':':~T.:~ZO;~'''~2i~';;<~"f,"''''''- an old family Bible that they had but I haven't referred to it since I was a kid!..­ ~-~mlliF BOB: How were the streets in town when you were a ki~ and the side­ walks? "QP"""t.M;t..,~~~.- DR. BLUNT: -.tm/~.(el"rFull 0 t mu~!<~. ,..~~;:~/;-;_~;'~:i\<,.t' ~B· ,"_~bLQ-"~,,,,~,,,,,fl.~1?,,,,:-.,-,,,r,'Iil'''''' " ..... p'm;;;'(.:V?:;.:';;;:s,'f,;-;.f.¢~"1~ .... -!> '''''~I ~:Mfnfj: ~re was some wooden sid~walks and ~i/I:"$~~ti,t1"L£ you ovt-( fa fh e... walked from ~ne corner tad l~ other at an intersection there was just two wide planks, you know? 51 f4¢;I,~~rB. ',*j(~g"'~~Q&S,a,~",Yo.~¥~ffilt~SI!t1~ Ii' ~~~l.3Gst two wide planks! Ya, the groceries used to be delivered, you know, by ~it~~i.~horse~drawn delivery wagon,. I can remember every time it would rain and the streets were full of mud they'd tie up the horses tails/. They'd tie 'em up ~igh so that they ~'~wouldn't get mud allover their tails! BOB: Well, I 'spose that made some sense! DR. BLUNT: Well, you see, we didn't have telephones at that time either.~ fhe grocery man came around ~~~~~each morning or each second morning and took your order in the morning and then he de­ livered it in the afternoon • ., BOB: Pretty good service! DR. BLUNT: ~=~.ii!OIl al-,hey had lots of 'hen of runaways. -So & ae, they're {i i-~tl.-r.s €.1 was a~ig liver~ stable right ,on ~ourth Street between Broadway and Of. tht,We~t S/Je. 0-1 Fourth Srr~eT" Thayer~¢across from the Grand Pacific Hotel. A man by the name of Johnny \~ite operated it and before him was a man by the name ofJfued La b 6JIIJI iJiIh t . b' 1 Th h d ,,-.~ . m ert.~ ~ a was qu~te a us~ness ey a a serv~ce, you know~ nJ . Enclosed hacks and taking people around the city~ ~uring session they were real busy, you see? ~~~.;;;tI!fiq\-~~}:;0\~~~;~t~~:f~":lt ~Q~. _*"~""~tN,,,wGuld·~,,~"'~tltP"Wfl-e;FEh,,:that. shQe .. ;£;t;.Qre .. and,.ct~".QqW:tl .. t.Gwner- 4ii:fi:S:' t-h&e~·~"J5la,e.e.s .. ar,~? .. "~.~,,," ~>"f".' ~~·~~a~.,t&",p4gh.t,.!""A~ •.. ~.j.gAt ... Jtlher~,.,JJl,§l",.DQ"~\roJ~P:wneh~r.is.J;:-..<"" j~..o ~R. ~="'~~f"'.~-,a"",~~.,.li;v:.eJ2.¥ .. .st.allJ.Ja .,t.he:re .• ",,,,,;,:;. BOB: There must of been ~one or two others in town too? DR. BLUNT: Well, there was one on Main Street across from the Bismarck IJ\I\\\\X\<\ Grocery~there on the north side of Main Street, but they didn't have too much livery service. They had dray service and you could hire a hayrack for a hayrack party tor a bobsled party in the wintertime. That operated for a number of years. The one big livery stable that had nl~~ carriages and hacks that was on Fourth Street. BOB: Oh. \Vhere were the grocery stores and who were the main grocers in Bismarck? DR. BLUNT: Well, down at the west end there was John Sweat and that was right near that old building that's still down there called the Dakota Block' ~t'slrhat old t4'brick building across from Corwin Churchilll. ~QB· ~, ,eo+' Wi. JiU.:W.i4 ~n ,I .Jist east of _there there was a vacant lot and then there was a saloon and then Sweat's ~Store. Well, that was a pretty nice store. There was also a hardware store in there too and it was ~t- \}};~\,Q .. (t ti,A,(e., il" lllai'O"" 1'\"" &pm. 119 a man by the name\ of Bieli" Then up in the next block between Third Street and Fourth Street on the north side of Main Street was ~the A.W. Gus~r Store. for many many~a~s!" That was a very ~ good grocery store ~~~~~~~~~~.~~~~,~ -r-;l'le .> hrt €..., ~~<I!Yfftm."W4j Y_ Cupitz had a very ~ed: O!StOl e . He stocked alot of".,. imported things. ¥iUJ[ 1 c .... G3J:~jti N? .. .a""""¥ill?-,¥",,,,£aire lI"In !it That }4 was on the corner Collins DrugstoreJitis now. You see all those things burned out during the Big Fire of 1898. I remember that fire very well because we sat all night out in our front yard and watched it and heard the noise. ~~.~~~IipI"!l!llllfiJ1fII!ItJ St was a tremendous ~" •• jVllI1J[*.lS conflagationl.,....'" It went from Second Street to Sixth Steet and burned everything out between __ ~ the railroad tracks and the middle of the blocks. It didn't get as far north as Thayer Street, but it got into alot of them 55 that is that old white building there and that's ~he Bannerhouse. BOE: Boy, that must be one of the oldest buildings in Bismarck! DR. BLUNT: Oh, it is! ~hen there was one called the Dewey House and that .,was on Second ~Street on the alley north of the Corwin Churchill building where that Coffee Cup Restaurant was when they went out of~business, but there was one called the De~y House and it was operated by a man by the name of Long Jim McDonald. It was mostly a place ~.~{~for gambling and cards. It was never a hotel really! There were quite a number of "blind pigs" in Bismarck, you see, in those earlier days. They called 'em "blind pigs" and they all operated along the alleys, you know? That's ~what that was and then there was Kuntz~ Saloon right near the Dakota Block. Then any number of the drugstores sold liquor ~ith "back door" jI',6(t¥ business of course. .fl. /-"--",, ~. .--<;;.:;.';.;;:>-" ,,,::>,. lJii.'ii"''' 6:~re were also several restaurants that had...., __ slot machines in the backroom and they also sold liquor such as beer and whiskey. ~ BOB: ~(gb;~iiAHM~_,~w~i~1F~~fl'~~gt'~~~~~ Did the sheriff just sort 0' wink at I' em or what? DR. BLUNT: Oh, they had ~protection! They had protection, you ~ know? ...... ~~~~"'~"'.'StJ~ "~y~t(lwl¥~"~'a~~"'Q'i~ _F".&;t~*"iJ"OO~~ Everybody knew people were drinking and where did they get it? They had to get it from certain sources. There was a big ~i.~~1· poo~all on the corner where the Patterson is now and in the back of that on the north end of ~it there was a flight of stairs and it . went up into a saloon. The man's name that ran it was Aaron ~fj$i~~_ Christopher. Then there was another place in the back of the /G~I. )0 d I an in ~ the block between Fourth and Fifth street~ that alley had several i/oack door saloons. Course, they called 'em "blind pigs". afgQ_-~ ~ ca;'ionallY the sheriff would crack down on them and then all the rest of 'em would be tipped off and they'd close up for a few days. Then they'd be back in business again when it cooled off! BOB: ti' S(iIij$t"JtT~y ~at was the best hotel in Bismarck if you wanted bu...s'/17 eSS' to come and stay in Bismarck in a place that would impress your buis ""I n I assoc ia tes? ~~QS;.Q"~.@;;;;~~~&j1"':~;f,i,t11:1'I:"'Uh~,~~(~~lu":;",.,':'!: DR. BLUNT: Well, of course, when the Patterson was new it was a nice place to stay. The GP was also a good hotel4ibut~~L&~ it wasn't elaborate. ~~t~~~It was only a few years ago that the Pederson Brothers got a loan and they did over the rooms on the north wing, but the Patterson was the best hotel when it was new! Of course, the Lewis and Clark in Mandan was very nice when it was new: but the others were all old, you see? The Prince Hotel was built ~~ and called the Vanhorn. "*tl J·£aiL.R;Fl3,uiA;~p·-a~p@AM."'·*Mt. i.w..-=l:"l"'" ia@p@m~.4!;8'IiIM;.iI!lgw@e..~8li88.wrhe Vanhorn Hotel was named for an archi- tect that was here in townj~ut it was small, you know? BOB: Oh, I thought Ed Hughes built the Prince Hotel and called it the Prince right away? x. DR. BLUNT: OJ No, no, it was called the Vanhorn first! BOB: Oh, and then he~bought it later, huh? aft. BLUNT: No, he ~~'" ~~ it was called the Vanhorn! It just had kind ~, a counter restaurant to start with. ~~ """",,::t' ~ .~",.",,,".,,~""'~d"'J"''''''<'"'''''''''''''"''C''''':'",'''''''':C'''''~Y" DR. BLUNT: Ifhen it was added on to later, you know? They built a north wing onto it and part of it went up over, I think, the building 57 next to it. BOB: ¥a, !{4i m7wt -.JilLp1.J." \JIJto ran the GP Hotel .-when it was in its hayllt/days? DR. BLUNT: Lewis Pederson started it and I think he died and his wi.fe = a man by the name o.f Tattley. BOB: Henry Tattley? DR. BLUNT: Ya, and then Henry Tattley operated it .for quite a number o.f years. BOB: Now why do I know a name ~ Henry Tattley? Just because he th~ ran ~ hotel I guess, huh? DR. BLUNT: Ya, that was it and,'WfsutilLrsftta, he had a .farm down here that was~)I guess~/part o.f what is now the Yegan ~~~ ~"'~~nT. the widow o.f the .fnrmer proprietor and ",. operated it. She had children and then they had children. BOB: Now, when did you go away to medical school? DR. BLUNT: I went to Dell College at the University o.f Minnesota in the .fall o.f 1916. ,,;11 ~e~. 1915' fiR. JSJ3l1NrtW! graduated in the spring o.f 1920. IJ.I- III e, +.' _ e q/ . BOB: M-m-m. You were out ~o.f the state +bep '!!:Then Srmg 8&~"" 410b 8e.~~ ~ the Non-Partisan League and the IVA? DR. BLUNT: ,,1,fi,<iiiiti/,,/That' s right yes! " Cause I used to meet 'em on the train sometime, they'd corner me, and wanna know what the young people were thinkin' about politics out here. I'd • .isay, "I KfI~iLl don' til much a bout it." ~'iiRLUNll?"'":ff..(,'I:~:,,;o2'yle&,;","¥,~ BOB: What did you think o.f the Non-Partisan League or what did the people in Bismarck that you associated with think o.f the movement vv • "QR. J3!s6~Ql~~il.JJ_"''''''~'$,4."''¥~Ei~~'''~~ ", . BOB: You were about sixteen? We ," £f:!,~~?"~~ DR. BLUNT: ilL; ~6WZ'6:t"d~;Q,Q~.seE>ri J. I was between ~!t.tCIr and ~ .. ..,,!~;j!Z~ e su! I had just entered high school... Jirruney f:lr~"for many years known~ The Poet Laur~e of North Dakota, was 'hief Clerk and ~cretary of the Senate that year. Oh, there were alot of distingui- al\~ bv-';f\tSso..t n shed men in there! They were'lm0stly attorneys ;1 !i fi i Ii and very smart sharp men. 3'QJ1 .iOOadi' ~It was quite an education for a young KJ d ~ h· h lik h ~ .... to spen "",.,vwo mont s Wlt a group e t at.''''iI ti§Qiil ... ,"ii~~~"8~';;'::'[;"'>J';"""""";';"';""'"""'%"i.i'5??5i§F:!'i'5.'%~"!r:t.",~~.{V I know one thing they fought about was capital puni- shment and I think that was about the time that ~ was Jllrabolished in this state! ~& Ya. remember the 'arguments in the oratorium. You see the state flower, state bird, and the state flag were all created during that session. I still have a Iluebook of it! BOB: Oh, that was the session that gave us the meadowlark and the prairie rose! DR. BLUNT: Yes, the prairie rose and the state flag 'cause they had artists submit them, 37GP hniiJi, and they put them on"'''.'display ... in the capitol. BOB: Oh! I 'spose you rode the streetcar up to the capitol in the morning'. J • H. DB DN I Vi. Ofi7"1' €ffii""~ If ,':I JgQ'Q.o •. ."."., ." ..,,~~-~ ~~~~f~'¢,"o'"~"""QJ..q.,('.~~¥",,,,¥~JU When~d they quit running the streetcar, do you remember? up the tracks here.... It was running after I graduated from high school I know! In fact, it was still operating when I came back to practice in '20! 61 ~eB.-!I>~ .l ~~;f~ know because I parked my car~~n upper Fourth Street visiting someplace and evidently the brake didn't hold and it backed down the street quite a ways onto the car track and they had to push it off the track to continue with the stree~ar$. BOB: Oh, ya! How far north did the ;tt..w,:';'jjt'town extend "islICll-.il'f'f bYclJe., ~ij/~t~~ilitj~ in 1906, '07, '08, '09? DR. BLUNT: What is now BoU~vard! You see from B~~ard north it was just prairie' and the capitol was right out there on the prairie. BOB: No trees around there either, I suppose? DR. BLUNT: We llcy:z=tirCP8:::swa&"'SUHte : ) 'sf (';rYe.., -there was some trees. It used to have just an open board fence around it, but it was kind of a ~bleak lookin' affai~. Yes, because we used to practice foot- e ball right north of Bou~vard. We had our football field there. BOB: ~~i..".~How far did the streetcar.i tracks go on the other end? DR. BLUNT: They went down Main Street east to just about SeventA Street. that right? DR. BLUNT: No, they ~lanned it, but there were never any tracks there! ecause that street has always been just a street and there were never~any tracks in there. You could operate that steetcar from either end. He'd take the controls off one end and put 'em on ~ ~ f '? the other because you couldn't turn around, you know. 62 stfHrt~( lace to turn it. I think the first·~ we got here was a I think it came from Philadelphia. It wasn't a brand new one. It was a big! clumsy lookin' thing. ~::::::~~.~.",.~ ~ _DM'·"ClB't~ operated a sleigh drawn by horses for the legislative sessions before the streetcar was ~~~'* he had a big sleigh with side curtains on it and he operated that. He'd pick 'em up at the hotel, ., IHI""fHU ~ BOB: ~ell, I 'spose the steetcar~wasn't put in 'til they had electricity for it! DR. BLUNT:/~fhey had their own plant up there! iQQB .4~*~1~;;~'c:' :::~':~~:~';n:": ~~"'·'·:':··"~;·""'6n~y,~~,""t;Rri!!,.c:()Wfl'·'~¥··'Pi£a~·"'~= BOB: Did they run the s~eetcar in the winter too? DR. BLUNT: Oh, yes, but if we had a bad blizzard or a snowstorm or InC! fern. eflf iRclemete weather--and we kids had to go all the way from ~~he corner ~of Thayer where we'd get the car /up to School-it wasn't running then and when we needled it the most! iQ!91 -"'-~"iffij~("""mlll~,,,,,¥G:u"J:W~'£'~"'f:Gu1;:;:,:a£,,,;;t-h.,«&~t:e.::,'€i~ng":::zt.1l'Er'::::~~,j:cep;h...,,,":.;,,","'" &i.a:w.i£;.;;;,0£:,"'i~9i.g:l?-"JJ:,;·'J'c:,~ ~_~':~~".::.odf!¥ra:17:*'B':'r1:gtft'~.c''"~'·'!'·';wff:;~;;;"S'e:Yn~i~~:2iJJ BOB A ' f 'I 'II k "" e if" bUJeeuc, J"',. • ., : nyone ~n your am~ y get ~ bac here from \G ~ -~ , , • \1\ O\,\'( .f'3(t)~) DR. BLUNT: Well, we didn't lose anybody ~ but my young brother almost died of the flu. Ya, I was in Medical Corps and we "y..fV I L were in ~ganized/,"eserve because we were in school and because of our age. All the college students in J~irt~t~~, medicine, engineering, and all those courses were all frozen in school. I signed up to go to (Jl)..di'fl ~ ~O oe;o.o-o war with Doctor ~e_en and he put fi::ftsy tllvasaad aeil6:lII6 of his own money into hospital and medical supplies and wet were to be a unit U) building for a number of years 'til they built their clinic building over BOB: Oh! ~~~~must have changed considerably since 1920,. , '_:J-:'Sii!i;;Z:.;;,-r;-,;;:;?,·tXJF.·c:::z:;:f..:~'E ~,:;fF,lr->'4c'~;O:;':'".\;:;,. ~~:--'~-;(·~:'::/;:'C",,"t .. :- :-:~/-!J;i'·,.. . .... ~. _~"' ". ".,', .,.'_ ~nt ti mea~ did you have the same painkillers and drills and that kind of thing? DR. BLUNT: Oh, yes! New materials have come out, new equipment, and new techniques! I still attend dental conventions and meetings. keel' u.~ <keettp although I'm not practicing. It doesn't seem that long. I often thaught that I d,' frere'll- might of had a ~II. Wt life if I had st~yed at the University of J'\ , .. "~N'\ ,~v, ~.~innesota~ had a chance to stay~~d take over the X-ray I Department and the Dental Department because the head of that depart- ment, WIilI&'i __ '''i§iI.EPiI' .. i!H_''"'*~e@'!t'''d_eaii£pasDoctor Knight, wanted to 16 ~ . over the medlcal campus. The dean called me and he said, "When you graduate you can take over the X-Ray Department of our school here." ; But it would ~ necessitate me opening an office in Minneapolis and, of course, I wasn't very well known down there and it would take several years to even start a~practice, you know~ But Quain and Ramstad wanted me back here in Bismarc4 3011[_- BOB: Ya, well, we're glad you cam~ back! were·t~ing X rays in dtf\t;sh>l 4entris-t-y then? iRa :9IsUNr;r __ ~~~""'·~ SOIi" -" 9~r·'~~*t-~'Xrrr;w·-"tl1a't~ ~~~Mmm..t~~W!h.,~i;-~'---~-~'7tha,:I+_.J~~l¥~_,,"_,Jiqw,_.·;L~!.$.,~ ..k.OJ ~'fte't:;y{:l.l~-e-r:r ·'t'TIl'l:e=~'~~~"1;he-",~;:imctOOy:-waa~",.1ie-, tak-e, •. -:-B;n.-"X.-~~ DR. BLUNT: Oh, yes! Oh, it's routi~ now! Now, yes, and they have new equipment. They can take both jaws all on one film just like a panorama! 66 _Br, R. ~,.w.7."T.. But when I started in X-ray with Quain and Ramstad Clinic we were using glass plate negatives! We didn't even have ~ay film" in those days! You had to develop each one of those big chest X·rays individually, you know, in a developing tray. You had to be careful 'cause you'd cut your hands all the time because that glass was sharp. No, we didn't have X-ray film. There was photographic film for photo­ graphy#_ but no X-ray film. I don't know why they didn't develop as fast as they should of. I thin~ they should of brought it out right away! BOB: Was business good right away? '!li. ~f5,",nijl ",--QA~ ~,;'l;~~k$,wsQ-lmG.si£,,;,,~~i~~i'@'~'~';,,"~·:·7:iqq:oo:,;;a<,'~;ci;;stc·o[4:ifu-~;.~{"freW"P ~,>;!igtF;;:;~~;,[·eJ?~T'7:£iJYE';;'i!f~c>d.n"c:thQ,s~~.;;,~~~ DR. BLUNT: Well, we were busy! I stepped into a full day! I would 7: 00 say a full day was when sometimes I/tne'd start at 81YOft in the morning ,:- 11'1 4~ eO and didn't get out until EtiI~M OTlGftiuG' in the evening,~,~ -"._ ""_""".-"'I'~ \~""'~ '!'''i::-l',)..''i!;::,. ., .. :\::~.!-Y- .. '~ ~.... "("~ """/"-:""" DO-'Q r~~ ~\'F".~t00;~":J?.qt:.~rrJ:",\-~~!i;'~""?~;~~1\;:<:,,-,,%~~7;./,- .,. early appointments were in the hospital. 'SS 83~ You had to get over there early to get an operating room for your patient. BOB: Oh, somebody that has got brokv teeth!'oil1l8€<meM . T1& DR. BLUNT: Well, the automobile created an awful lot of business for the dentists and the physician~~~ ~ . . ::;.. .. :;;:; .. .,;;,,:,:.:i"~ ~Q~t.." IiIkinl$I [1m (.. "J.,." •. ~=~'.~~ M, 1B:8!ff:M'ft ~ car, you know, you had to crank it! That was before the self-starter and sometimes while you were cranking it it would kick back. 3 HI·,i!MJ!@'?" It would explode at a diffe~nt time and it created a trememdous impact against your hand and wrist. It would fracture right where the small bones of the hand and the radius and the ulna come together/ and it caused an impacted fracture. It pushed it back and those were very common in those days. Course, all frac/. tures had to be x-rayed and many many other things because they'd in­ ject opaque liquids~~~~ into organs of the body and then x­ rayed them and give them the outli~. Then there was lung chest X- rays. BOB: Oh, so then you were over there taking care of the X-rays and then run over and take care/of somebody's dental wor~too? DR. BLUNT: Well, I hospitalized quite a few of my patients, ~B. C5iiIt • practically all my oral surgery in the two hosPital~~ '""- "c ,""""" _'l_::C,:, .T.''::"'S ':~::-"'::'~ 'l{_'>~C~"~ ,"-,.J(:" .• >-<:.,-.--~.,,",,~,::..,r-_~'_~~~~~ ,~·"":4rrF':~~' ;>-" 4~i~~ ___ """")",;""",,,,':.0""'" . ~~ I was on the staff. But I didn't do any X-ray for the medical proflession after I started my dentis~y except for on \\ th~e: special cases that they referred to me.~ I took care ofkin my own office ~nless my patient was hospitalized. ~g~+--¥e~-~e~-mapp4e4~~4H---wBOB: (1£ A. 1926? I You got married in .nrlaat. 'flllll>lifl gar ~ DR. BLUNT: 1926, yes. BOB: To Tom Hall's daughter? DR. BLUNT: Yes, their oldest daughter. BOB: What was her first name again? You told mel and ~I've for­ gotten. DR. BLUNT: Lucille !,:a -<f.,f..? dl';' -Wit u . uL ! •• 4 ,pJ.<f':?V;cll'P' iii. .... Ya, and then she had a sister. Her next sister~ name- was who Ellen)and she married a surglion~and their name is Hornthall. They live in Washington. Her younge't sister married Doctor Adolph Rumreic~ and he was Senior Surgeton in the United States Public Health Service. They were the ones that went to Moscow and stayed at the embassy 'til the war broke out and then they came home, but they lived over there for several years. hJJ BOB: Yesi. Well, you ~ about four years of married life before ~ the depression got pretty severe? {V BOB: IW'Babysitter" was virtually a word that wasn't even used a­ round 1900, was it? -z..o DR. BLUNT: Oh, no, no, that wasn't coined until about 19iien~ years ago! ~~~:""'" +'~~ ""·lr1~oY'l 'f'"\ +,...1..1" "= ____ ~>' ~r~~ir-;~~'¥~I;:"£;k;t,#;,eMJ;,~F"_~l}'>;i'~'5O'll,x,~SItAo",,-,,,:em,,,,C:;'i?~~;ZC m,b&£~! ~. BLUNT: *.IIbi ..... ' , ck in those days there weren't old peopl~ homes! The old people lived with their children in their homesl and the old people were the babysitters if the young people wanted to go out for the evening. The old folks were always there to look out for the children. Most old people lived and died with their children. BOB: ~ o/1Cb, ~t me askl you one more ~~c..thing. Has North Dakota ~ IlJ.):"!~-e,Q'h'l'}e:M!1f 4f81 ... and Bismarck been a good place to live? DR. BLUNT: Well, I've trave]ed a great deal allover the United States and Canada and Hawaii. Now there are alot more beautiful places and alot more spots in the world that have much,.more to offer For instance, ~he United Stat~s, but they're and some of it's natural. I think that everybody ~ sacrifices ~ something by liv~ng here and not over there in one thing or another, but I'm a native of Norbh Dakota and "'always will be eve~though I've seen alot of the rest of the nation • .n~~~~~"~~~~.,~l&~w ~~~~"'<'~~!"~yrru'1(now);Ei(t;'6';:rv1:''S'':t't'"~me:c~ . 'i,Jr.ar;' :in8t;:anee''.; 'y:Gtlf''''''''c-'' ~:w:A~~",~;;"East",G,Ga.st,and 'i:ts sh:i..$:t;;oriqal l:i,k~ -"e'$. ~ ti -BR. 'mB-~"""'TOU'W5YfIcrff~'t' wanna'-'i'1V'e'"t-h~.eL,.,,-, 'I'=-~ ~",",,,,,,JtJ:&j',,,,tha1;;"""s""Wh'e:t'Ii"ve -"a~ways,-t.hQugJat ""tq~"L';;;;:"':.,c, ~.ffl"~LOM'1': weI ..,ilirm iIi:~~~,jiW n:@IiJIII Slcl Then there are certain places in the United States where you meet other nationalities than 71 'I •. "',' rC the ones that ~our're used to'i ~ that yt. ac- customed to and it's strange and it's different! I'd never been on a eMile yanG€'" public eow:6y~ bus or a streetcar where certain people had to go to the back of the bus to sit down because they weren't allowed to sit up front with the other passengers. If you've never seen that sort of thing before, you take notice of it and maybe you believe its al­ right and maybe you don't! ITHE END'