In mid May of 1916 the Nekoma Township Board comprised of Knut Grovhovd, Ole Oyos, John Oakland and Mike Manley accompanied by County Commissioner Edward Wienecke were traveling about the township inspecting the roads and bridges when it was noted that their keg of beer had been depleted so they dropped in on the home of Alex Borho, the local blacksmith, who had been treating callers that day. The occasion for the Borho generosity was the fact that he had just opened his new business and the recent birth of a son. On this day in 1937, according to the Cavalier County Republican, the two surviving members of the quint, Gronhovd and Wienecke, returned to complete the handling of a financial arrangement made twenty-one years earlier at the Borho home. Each of the officials had contributed one dollar apiece to a special fund for the child, Leslie Edward Borho, with Wienecke supplying an extra dollar for the honor of supplying a middle name for the boy and this fund was placed in the Nekoma State Bank. After twenty-one years the fund had swelled to $26.82, maybe not a fortune by today’s standards but a princely sum in the dust bowel days of the Dirty Thirties.

By Jim Davis

Sources:
Cavalier County Republican May 27, 1937
Our Heritage 1905-2005 (Nekoma)

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