Rollag Sawmills provide lumber for Hjemkomst Exhibit

Jerry Christiansen

Mega Poster
WMSTR Lifetime Member
Hi all,

Last June I received the following message:


Hi Mr. Christiansen,

I work at the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County at the Hjemkomst Center. We are planning the new Clay County history exhibit that we will put up in January. We were wondering if WMSTR would be willing to donate some wood from your saw mills for the exhibit.

The exhibit’s theme will highlight some of the most colorful eras in our history. It will be called Wet and Dry: Alcohol in Clay County, 1871-1936. The first section will explore our Wild West settlement era (1871-1890); followed by the Saloon Era when North Dakota went dry and all the saloons moved to the Minnesota side (1890-1915); and finally we look closely at the criminal alcohol distribution network during Prohibition and how Prohibition was repealed (1915-1936). We want to explore both sides of the alcohol debate – those fighting against alcohol and those fighting for it. We think the reason the CDC reports that Fargo-Moorhead is the drunkest city in the world might lie in our unique history with alcohol.

The first and most eye-catching part of the exhibit will be the tent saloon. This is where we show people that, in spite of what Hollywood Westerns will have you believe, the Wild West also happened in cold, snowy Minnesota. We will be using some of the oldest photographs of Moorhead to reconstruct a tent saloon, recalling the era when gunfighters and gamblers were living in tent towns along the railroad. We are looking for roughcut wood to build the bar and the tables.

This is what we are envisioning for the bar:

2” x 18” x 8’ roughcut pine. It will be balanced on old barrels to give it height.

For the tables:

Two tables of roughcut pine, 4’ x 4’

We also want to reproduce some beer and whiskey crates of that era. Using measurements from a beer crate artifact, we could reproduce a dozen crates with this wood:

(18) 1 x 4 x 8’ pine

(6) 1 x 10 x 8’ pine

(5) 1 x 12 x 8’ pine

Your donation would make WMSTR a sponsor of this two-year-long exhibit. And, as you said in your speech, it lets you play at your hobbies with your friends. Also, I think it might be worth a text panel in the exhibit to talk about the old saw mill and the people who cut this wood. I have the exhibit all drawn out in a 3-D digital program if you’d like to see it sometime, and I love chatting about it with whoever is interested.

Thanks! I’ll see you in September if not before.


Markus Krueger
Education Coordinator
Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County

218-299-5511 ext. 6738

I put Markus in contact with Merlyn M at Earl's Mill and the two of them worked out the details.

Now the time has come for the exhibit's Grand Opening, and WMSTR members are invited! The event is from 4pm - 7pm 16 February 2016 at the Hjemkomst Center. The festivities continue after 7pm at with an 'Afterparty' at the Rustica (the old Kirby's on Main). I hope to get a poster up loaded later on.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
This will be exciting to see!
I worked with Markus last fall. I furnished some rough lumber and also made up a lot of finished lumber for a number of props in the display. Everything from beer cases to Bar tops and bar fronts, rustic tables, etc. Stenersons lumber also furnished a lot of material, so if you see the display, it is not all WMSTR lumber. Markus was an interesting person to work with. He said that WMSTR be prominently displayed as one of the many sponsors of the exhibit.

Merlyn M.
 
Sounds great!

I have another engagement that evening, during the same hours. If you attend Jerry, or anyone... please take some pictures to share here!
 
Hi all,

Below is the announcement for the Grand Opening. I believe a different poster will be used for rest of the show time.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen




Jerry BEER.jpg
 
Merlyn!! There are other sawmills at Rollag you know. Did you even mention to Markus the virtues of wet cottonwood? The fuzz, the stability as it dries, the wonderful smell......? I'm sure several workers at B-R and T&T will be disappointed. But it is cool that WMSTR was brought in to that exhibit and will be mentioned as a sponsor. Way to go. -John
 
Merlyn!! There are other sawmills at Rollag you know. Did you even mention to Markus the virtues of wet cottonwood? The fuzz, the stability as it dries, the wonderful smell......? I'm sure several workers at B-R and T&T will be disappointed. But it is cool that WMSTR was brought in to that exhibit and will be mentioned as a sponsor. Way to go. -John
John, I will confess that a few of the boards did come from a pallet of lumber that was brought up to Earl's mill from the T & T mill that had been sawed in 2014. Nature had done a good job of drying them. Of course, they were the boards that I had to mill to get the proper thickness!!
Merlyn
 
Understandable why you needed to 'fix' them--we all know why they named it 'Thick & Thin' Sawmill. I'm glad they got to contribute-should eliminate some whining by a guy who is a better trailer builder than sawyer.
 
There are no mistakes at the T&T sawmill, Just variations. If there was a order made for a specific size, that would have been done.
Yes Jerry, all lumber is planed after sawing at Earls mill. Just saying!!!!!
 
Jane and I went to this gathering tonight and what an informative exhibit. We were at the ribbon cutting and there was thanks that went around to a lot of people and businesses, including WMSTR. Merlyn was there along with Jerry and Jane C.

IMG_20160216_162904432.jpg

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Here is some of the wood, Is this this cool or what! It looks like it is part of the picture. Makes the bar look really long.

IMG_20160216_175512546.jpg
Thought this was interesting.

I think Jerry got a lot more pictures. I highly recommend visiting this exhibit, it is extremely interesting.
 
Hi all,
I got pictures of some Rollagians that were there. Merlyn was leaving as Jane and I pulled up. We did get a picture to prove he was there.

January 102.jpg

We got inside and found Jane and Clayton.

January 103.jpg

Look who showed up a bit later.
January 112.jpg

Clayton already posted a picture of the bar coming out of the wall. That is pretty neat! The first display you will see as you walk in is the 'tent bar'.

January 105.jpg

Let us take a couple steps over and look in the side.

January 104.jpg

Now take a clower look at the bar on the right.

January 106.jpg

I will let Merlyn and/or Clayton explain where and how Rollag lumber was used here.

Note the billing in the poster below.

January 111.jpg

The WMSTR logo is featued on the top. Look carefully at the left column. WMSTR is the next to bottom group listed. Look higher on the left column and you will see "Merlyn Meyer and the guys from Earl's Mill". The Dale and Martha Hawk Museum in Wolford is also mentioned under Artifact and Object Loans.

The display will be up for about 2 years. So far in this thread the WMSTR connection has been highlighted. There is a lot more displayed than what is shown here along with a lot of history of our part of the world.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
This was a way cool Exhibit. One thing I thought was really cool was a map of Clay County showing how they voted wet or dry In there townships. Germans voted wet and Norwegians voted more dry. Was the bar I with the photo built by Merlyn?
 
This was a way cool Exhibit. One thing I thought was really cool was a map of Clay County showing how they voted wet or dry In there townships. Germans voted wet and Norwegians voted more dry. Was the bar I with the photo built by Merlyn?

To answer what was furnished by WMSTR. We supplied the rough sawed bar top on the barrels, the table top and the boxes under it. Also the bar that extends out of the wall and the rough sawed lumber on the wall behind the still.
Merlyn
 
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