Westby Montana

In 1903 the first pioneers arrived and began to uncover the bounty of the land, share joys and sorrows, and build their hopes into realities. The past 100 years have seen vast changes in the lives of everyone, the horse and wagon have been replaced by automobiles and jet airplanes.
We welcome you to discover the rich bounty of our past, whether you currently live in Westby, once lived in Westby, or are discovering it for the first time. Long before anyone dreamed of a town, vast stretches of unclaimed hills and prairie lay in the area now forming the triple border of Canada and the American states of Montana and North Dakota.
In fact, statehood had already been conferred before settlers began to move into this region. The earliest recorded "homesteader" was Sig Nelson who drove a herd of cattle from Nelson Lakes south of Minot, ND in 1903. Since Montana did not open up for homesteading until 1908, Mr. Nelson and others who arrived in 1905-06 were actually "squatters." This meant that they came in, picked out their 320 acres, built a shack, and "squatted" there until they could file for a homestead. Some of the early homesteaders only stayed part of the year, returning to the East for the winter. Many men again came West in the spring with their families or a new bride.

Winter or summer, homesteading was a difficult task. Just traveling to this area meant a 30 to 60 mile trip by horse and wagon or horseback after the end of the railroad. The work was hard and slow. Rocks had to be picked by hand and turning the sod with oxen hitched to a 14-inch plow moved at about two miles per hour. Oxen were preferred over the faster horses however, since oxen did well on prairie grass, whereas horses had to be fed oats. Another important yet difficult task was constructing a shack or house in which to live. Although some built sod houses, many chose to construct wooden shacks, hauling the lumber to build these modest dwellings from the end of the railroad line, at least 30 miles away, by wagon. Sometimes the pioneers experienced what the wind
could do. One man moved his shack to a new location, then went to his brother's house to eat dinner. Upon his return, the shack was gone, scattered all over the prairie by the wind.
Wind, hail, blizzards, and prairie fires were all elements to be fought or take protection against. The early pioneers had only kerosene lamps and lanterns for light and coal for the stoves to heat and cook. It was not an easy life; nevertheless, one pioneer stated, "To me it was quite a thrill to break up the new land. Was not I the first to break it up since God made the earth!"

With more and more homesteader families moving into the area, it was inevitable that somewhere would spring up a town. In 1909 a group of Danes in the Northwestern corner of North Dakota decided to start a town and applied for a post office to be called Westby. In Danish "by" means town, and since this would be the most Westerly town in North Dakota, it was named Westby. On August 3, 1910, James Hanson became the first postmaster. Ed Simonson drove the first star route between Ambrose, Skermo Post office and later to Westby. A blacksmith shop was set up by Mr. J.P. Neve, and Nels Nelson built a store that was operated by Oliver Sannerud. The first lumberyard and bank were started by Harold Borg. Jacob Freund ran a feed barn.
This was Westby until rumor had it that the Soo Line had plans to extend their railroad line west from Ambrose to the North Dakota/Montana border.

The prospects of a city on a railroad created a furor of excitement, and when the railroads route was assured, the town's building and people picked up and moved to the North Dakota line to await the railroad's construction. The actual move was about three miles Northwest of Westby's first site. Since North Dakota had prohibition, the saloons were all built on the Montana side. This split the town, with the business "proper" on one side of the line and the business "improper" on the other. When the railroad did plot a town, however, the one on the North Dakota line was ignored. Higher railroad rates in Montana caused the officials, with typical financial acumen, to locate the new town on the Montana side. Thus the business section abandoned the North Dakota site, and in 1914, the
town was moved into Montana. Large buildings like the Nelson-Sannerud Merchandise were moved from North Dakota by a large steam engine that pulled the building over a number of round poles used as rollers. A dozen strong men kept carrying the rollers to the front as the building passed over them.

The construction of the railroad meant not only the moving of the town to Montana, but it also meant jobs for the local people and easier access for new settlers, supplies, and equipment. There would be no more 40-mile trips in the dead of winter for supplies. Worries about men or teams lost in blizzards were no longer present. The weather sometimes won out and due to heavy snows, Westby was even cut off by rail from Ambrose for weeks at a time. The railroad did enable the town to grow and prosper like never before.
Lumber was shipped in, and soon two lumberyards were in business. The Knutson Opera House was the first building to be constructed in the new town site. There was, however, a flurry of activity with men and teams grading, excavating, and getting the ground ready for new businesses and residences. Honstain Brothers built the first Farmers Elevator at a cost of $6,740. The elevator's capacity was 30,000 bushels. During that very busy summer of 1914, the first school building was erected for the 30 students who attended that fall.

In the fall of 1914 Westby had a newspaper, two general stores, a hardware store, two banks, two lumberyards, a hotel, and three rooming houses. In addition, two pool halls, two drug stores, a dance and show hall, two saloons, a millinery store, photo gallery, men's clothing store, a blacksmith shop, two livery barns, four elevators, a brewery and ice house, a bakery, seven eating places, two dray lines, and a doctor. The first two churches built in Westby were the Lutheran and Roman Catholic churches. Prior to this, services
were held in the homes with ministers coming from nearby towns. Numerous rural churches were also built to serve the religious needs of the people in their areas.

As more and more businesses sprang up in Westby, people from the surrounding area began to do shopping there. The town soon had good streets for the soil was sandy, and there were many sources of gravel nearby. On the side streets hitching posts for horses were installed for the convenience of those coming to town in wagons and buggies. Since Westby was a border town, residents of Canada, North Dakota, and Montana did much visiting and neighboring, ignoring the state and national borders that separated them politically. Holidays such as Independence Day were celebrated in Westby, as each town would do. Farmers and families could not travel very far with horses and buggies on the prairie "roads." Sometimes traveling carnivals would pass through town and educate the local populace on the wonders of the world. Many adults and children were entertained by the chautaquas, assemblies for educational purposes, combing lectures, plays, and musical entertainment and held in large circus-style tents or outdoors. Large
crowds of people gathered to observe these kinds of entertainment as well and sporting events such as baseball games between local town teams.

Improvements in transportation continued to benefit the Westby community in many ways. After the railroad line in 1914, the next important event was the arrival of the motor car in 1916. The dray lines and livery stables which had only flourished for two years, quickly modernized, adding a Grant and a Maxwell car for their means of transportation. Large steam engines came into use to haul grain to the elevators, and the role of the horse as necessary transportation gradually diminished.

During these early World War I years, prices rose and businesses boomed. Crops were not very good, due to rust, hail, drought, or some combination of the three. Some area homesteaders found they could not make a go of it on their land and sold homesteading rights to new arrivals more enthusiastic about "proving up" the land. Some of these originals moved to Westby or Ambrose to begin

businesses or work for established businesses while others returned east. Many area young men were called up to serve duty to protect and preserve our country. The Red Cross furnished yarn so that the women could knit scarves and mittens for the soldiers. In the fall of 1918 a flue epidemic hit the community of Westby and other areas. School was closed, and the building was turned into a hospital because whole families would get sick, and there was no one to care for them. There were only two doctors in the area to
tend to the severe cases. The illness struck young and old alike, and an average of one person per day died during November in the Westby area. Those who escaped the flu kept busy doing chores for those who were sick and thus the community survived this terrible epidemic.