One story often told by Louis Noltimier was about the hired man of a neighbor, Fred Schulz, who accidentally shot himself in the leg with a shotgun while opening the kitchen door. Louis was called and came over. The man's leg was badly mangled and there was no way to get him to a doctor, so he and Fred decided to amputate. They gave the "patient" a bottle of whiskey and after a suitable time had passed, they put him on the kitchen table and cut off his leg. They tied off the blood vessels with string as best they could and then put the stump in a bucket of flour to stop the bleeding. Evidently this procedure worked as the man lived. This took place about 1898.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 313