Biography of Charles F. Arndt
--Arnold Arndt
Written in 1926
The name of the pioneer is Mr. Charles F. Arndt. He was born January 15, 1868 in Schwerin, Germany. He came with his parents and four brothers and two sisters to the United States in order to have greater opportunity. They started for North Dakota because it was not settled and they could take a homestead here which they could not do in the eastern states. When the family got to Fargo, he started to work out for himself. But the family was poor and he had to give his money to his father so they could get a start first. He worked there for six dollars a month. After working for a year, he went to Casselton.
He began working all the way up to Cooperstown. When he got here, he worked for Cooper on his ranch. This was in the year 1882. He was about fifteen years old then. This was the first money he earned for himself. He hauled grain for Cooper to Sanborn. They used to make the trip in one day with the oxen, but they had to get up early in the morning to get started. After he earned some money, he started to take a homestead 14 miles west of Cooperstown. After his first crop, he sold his wheat for 65¢ a bushel, barley for 22¢ a bushel, and flax for 63¢ a bushel. The second year the crop averaged 13 bushels an acre, but he could not get it threshed as there weren’t many machines around. The next spring he burned the crop off because the birds had eaten the grain, and he wanted to get another crop in. The threshing machines were horse power and they had men to cut the bundles and buck the straw away. In the summer time he earned money by picking buffalo bones.
The next year he traded the half section with Mr. Berg for section nine and a quarter of section sixteen. His first neighbors were Gust Rothert, Jim McCulloch and Gust Evers. He drove to Valley City to get his lumber to build his new home on section 29. It took two days, one to get it and one to return home. The carpenters were E.E. Doune and McCulloch. He got his first team of horses in 1898 from Rothert. The hardships were when they went to Valley City to get groceries and drove in the storm. The first barn was 14’ x 20’, and the snow came through. In the morning they had to shovel the horses out.
In 1898 he was married to Ida Retzlaff, and they lived on section 29. After farming six years he bought some more land which was a quarter section of 20 and 21.
The first fuel they burned was wood and cow chip in the cold weather. In 1900 he had a good crop and saw better prices for grain. He kept farming one-half section of land.
In 1908 he built his first barn, 32’ x 86’;it was built by Mr. John Hovel. The next year he built a granary. After this he kept on making improvements on his farm. In 1912 he bought a Ford car. He thought then that he had made a success in farming.
In 1915 he thought that he would see the country and bought a round-trip ticket for $90 to California, Washington, Oregon and Texas. The next year he went again and left the children to take care of the land at home in the winter until he returned in the spring. The next year he went again.
This was his last trip, and he bought land this time at Three Rivers, Texas.
In 1915 he had a large crop, and the granary burst causing him to break four ribs and a collar bone. After this he was not able to work very well. After he made a success he retired from farming but still lives on the farm three miles west and five miles north of Cooperstown in Tyrol Township on Section 29.
He has now reached the age of 58, and he still has a quarter of section 31, one-half of section 29, a quarter of section 20, one quarter of section 21 and 16, and a half of section nine.