Stark County was organized on this date in 1883. The Andreas’ Atlas of North Dakota was published the following year and stated, “The northeast part of the county is drained by branches of the Big Knife River, the middle portions by the Heart and the north fork of the Cannon Ball River, and the southern by the south fork of the last named stream.

“The topography of this county is very similar to that of Morton County,” Andreas wrote, except that the bluffs along the streams are less pronounced, and there are possibly fewer buttes and sharp hills. Lignite abounds in many localities in the county and sandstone outcrops occasionally. The settlements as yet are mostly confined to the immediate vicinity of the Northern Pacific Railway.

“Stark County has but lately begun to be developed, the first settlements having been made at Gladstone, Dickinson and Glenullin in 1882, by colonies from Ripon, Wisconsin and vicinity... Dickinson, the county seat, and named in honor of the chairman of the first board of county commissioners, was settled in the spring of 1883 and now has a population of about 300. The enterprising people have built a fine school house, two churches, and a large number of stores and dwellings. There are good hotel accommodations and it is in every way a model western town.”

In the news on this date in 1910 was a story from the Ruso Record stating, “Fred Wilmovsky has started work on his big dancing pavilion at Strawberry Lake. The building will be 30x70 feet in size and will be completely enclosed so that in rainy weather the festivities will not have to cease. The building extends out over the water about thirty feet and a room at one end of the building has been partitioned off, where Fred will dispense soft drinks, fruits and serve refreshments... It is his intention to give one dance each week during the summer season.”

Also in 1910 was the story of a brakeman for the Great Northern RR. The story read, “To have been five times under the surgeon’s knife, the subject of intricate surgical operations, to have been in a head-on collision in a freight caboose, telescoped by the engine of a fast mail train, to have been thrown clear of the right of way by the impact of the collission (sic), to have read a flattering death notice of himself and a story of your sweetheart’s grief at your untimely end, is an unusual experience, but all of this and more has been the lot of C. M. Long, a well known... brakeman, who arrived in this city last night to shake hands with his many Minot friends who believed him dead and buried. Long was believed to have been killed in a wreck at Rugby last November when the fast mail hit a fast freight. He was under the doctor’s care constantly and several times his life was despaired of.”

In Balfour, the news was that Patrick B. O’Hara was out chopping wood the previous Saturday evening and down on his couch when he came back into the house. His hired man, Paul Lubitz, saw O’Hara laying face down, thought he was asleep and left him alone. It wasn’t until the following morning that Lubitz realized his boss had actually died.

The story called O’Hara the “father of Balfour” even though he wasn’t its founder. The story read, “Pat was formerly a heavy drinker, but for more than ten years never touched a drop of intoxicating liquors of any kind. One day while in Harvey he overheard some man talking about Balfour going to make a good town and scheming to file on the quarter where the townsite must be built. Pat went to Devils Lake on the first train and filed. This made him the townsite man. Pat has since platted some of his 120 (acres) as an addition to Balfour and must be worth considerable money.” When that story was written, the town was at its peak population of 399 people, which has dropped to 20 in the last census.

Sources: Andreas’ Atlas of North Dakota, 1884; Bismarck Daily Tribune, May 25, 26, 1910

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