For anyone who missed the recent agriculture presentations, or would like to see them again, we have recorded the events.
To see the Vold Family presentation on the history of Dairy Farming from July 6, 2021, Click Here.
To see Jerry Wright’s presentation on the history of Irrigation in Pope County & Bonanza Valley from August 12, 2021, Click Here.
Make plans to join us on Thursday, August 12 at 6:30 pm for a presentation on the history of irrigation in the area by Jerry Wright. Wright is a retired associate professor & Extension Engineer at the University of Minnesota. He has been involved in irrigation education in the area since 1976.
The use of irrigation has changed the way we use farmland here in Pope County and Bonanza Valley. Irrigation has not only increased crop yields, it has impacted the types of crops grown and the chemicals we use. Irrigation has changed our local economy significantly.
This presentation, the second in our ag lecture series, will be held in our new agricultural exhibit center, “The Shed,” located on the grounds of the Pope County Museum.
In 1876, Swedish immigrants John and Sarah Anderson purchased a sod busting plow when they moved to land they bought in Barsness Township, Pope County. They used the thick sod to build their first home on the prairie. and to prepare the ground for planting wheat.
Grasshoppers consumed their entire crop in 1877 and 1878, but they persevered and had a fine crop in 1879.
In 1879, the nearest good market to the Anderson Farm was in Hancock, nineteen miles away. Hancock had a stop on the Great Northern Railroad, and could ship their wheat directly into St. Paul. John started at daylight with his wagon and ox team and headed to Hancock. After unloading the wheat, resting the oxen and eating his packed lunch, he headed home where Sara had another load bagged and tied for the next day’s trip.
Due to staffing conflicts, the Pope County Museum will be open by appointment June 15-25. Please call or e-mail to make certain that someone is available for your visit.
320-634-3293 or popecountymuseum@gmail.com
We apologize for any inconvenience.
This ox yoke was used by Albert Nelson on his homestead in Barsness Township in the 1860s.
When Albert first arrived in Pope County, St. Cloud was the closest market to sell his produce and purchase supplies. He walked or used his oxen, Jim and Charley, to haul his produce the 70 miles to St. Cloud.
The ox yoke is used to harness the strength of the oxen. The beam was carved and rounded to fit the animals’ necks with rounded bows that passed under the necks of the oxen. The oxen pushed the beam with the top of their necks and the bows with their upper shoulders.
Oxen travel about 2 miles per hour and only about 15 miles a day with frequent rest breaks. A person can walk 3-4 miles an hour and walk farther each day than an ox. Albert sometimes walked to St. Cloud with out oxen and carried the supplies on his back for a faster trip.
The ox yoke is part of our new Agriculture Exhibit in “The Shed” at the Pope County Museum. Stop in and check it out!
At long last, the Pope County Museum is now open to the public for our regular hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10-5.
During the shutdown, we took the opportunity to create a “Pope County Agriculture” exhibit in The Shed and to redesign exhibits in the main building.
Come on in and see what’s “New” at the Pope County Museum!
Cemetery Workshop 
Saturday, August 8, 2020 9:30 – 4:00
Led by Northern Bedrock Historic Preservation Corps
Hosted by East Zion Lutheran Church, 28745 Cty Rd 10, Starbuck, Minnesota
Sponsored by the Pope County Historical Society with support from the Gladys Ness Brang Foundation.
This one day workshop on Cemetery Preservation will cover five important steps to long term care of cemetery monuments: Cleaning, Probing for hidden stones, Edging, Resetting large & small stones, Documenting your work.
Registration fee of $25 includes lunch and a bucket of tools to take home. All workshop participants must wear garden/work gloves and cloth mask.
For more information and to register for the workshop call or email the Pope County Museum: popecountymuseum@gmail.com 320-634-3293
Our research library is available by appointment. Masks are required.
We are keeping the galleries closed through the winter as we build new exhibits. Look for a grand opening of the Agriculture exhibit in the new building, as well as new and updated exhibits in the main hall.
In the meantime, our entire object collection and many of our photographs are available on-line at MNCollections.org. Additional photographs are scanned and cataloged each month. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
We are also collecting stories of how Covid-19 is impacting Pope County. How has the shut down impacted you? Did you need to coordinate distance learning? How do you feel about the response to the pandemic? Please feel free to share your stories and photos with us in any format: diary, letter, photos, videos.
There is also a survey on our website to get you started sharing YOUR story of the pandemic. Click on the Covid-19 History Project above to answer a survey.
This article by Steve Nestor about Pope County’s only unsolved murder appeared in the Pope County Tribune, March 30, 2015
The year was 1915. It happened in rural Pope County in Ben Wade Township. The horrific event was the lead story in the May 13, 1915 Glenwood Herald. The ghastly report and “brutal” details written in the style of the day are too graphic to quote by today’s standards.
Sven, Johannes and Amund Mitmoen farmed West of Lowry. And on May 12th neighbor Andrew Knutson stopped by to get some hay. What he found not only shocked him, but left the entire county shaken for months. And today it remains a complete mystery.
Knutson discovered the two oldest brothers, Sven and Johannes in the house, one in the front room the other in the kitchen. Amund the youngest was found in the barn.
Sven and Johannes were gagged with handkerchiefs tied over their mouths. They had been hit by a “blunt instrument”. There appeared to have been a “scuffle” and it “seems probable that the brothers had resisted”. “The probabilities” were that Amund was shot. However he had been bludgeoned as well. The scene at the home was described as “gruesome” and that they were “left in a horrible condition”.
The early report said “Robbery was undoubtedly the motive for the murders”. The brothers were known to be “well to do” and it was said they were “known to have considerable money in their possession”. How much was stolen was not known. Two empty “pocket books” were found at the scene. However “currency and gold to the amount of $2700 left in a bureau drawer had been overlooked”. Remember this was 1915! $2700 !
They reported that it appeared the brothers had been dead for at least a few days. They had last been seen alive almost a week before. The authorities promised to leave nothing unturned to solve this case and bring the guilty parties to trial.
But as of July 1st no incriminating evidence had been discovered and the case remained a mystery. Offers went out for a reward of $1250.00 !
However in October two men were arrested and a dramatic preliminary hearing and County court dates were set. John Jacobson and George Nelson were formerly charged with the murders. Both men were from Lignite, No. Dakota. A third man was also held but later released on $2000 bound signed by a few prominent Ben Wade farmers.
Jacobson, who had been born near Lowry and Nelson were arrested in No. Dakota after they had been identified by a local livery stable owner, G.E. Wentworth, who testified he had rented the two men an auto in Lowry on May 3, a few days prior to the murder. He was taken to No. Dakota and identified the two men as those he had rented to. He was positive about Nelson but not so sure about Jacobson. Jacobsen was the nephew of the Mitmoens and Nelson was his brother in law.
By early November when the preliminary hearing ended, the third man was released and all charges against him were dropped. The others would stand trial in mid-November. 12 “honest” men were chosen as jurors. They came from Grove Lake, Rolling Forks, Bangor, Lake Johanna, Langhei, Blue Mounds and New Prairie townships. The case was presented before Judge S.A. Flaherty.
Testimony was heard and the graphic descriptions, a bullet taken from the barn wall were offered in to evidence. Amund’s cap and a hat that was found next to him in the barn, several handkerchiefs that were used to gag Sven and Johannes, and the empty “pocket books” were all presented. It was confirmed that the bodies had lain for days before being discovered.
The county coroner H.J. Berry (Yes, Berry was the Coroner and mortician. In fact his partner was Toombs and I am not kidding – Toombs & Berry!) and Sherriff Gilbertson and other key witnesses were all called. A relative specifically told about how most knew of the money the men keep on hand in a tin box in their bureau and that it had not been seen since the day of the murders. It was also noted that Jacobsen commonly transacted business for his three Uncles. Another testified that he sold a 32 caliber pistol on May 3 to a man who gave the name “Iver Johnson” a few days before the murders, but at trial identified John Jacobson as being that man. Another man testified, as did others, that he saw two men in an automobile stop in front of Chan’s saloon in Lowry the evening of May 3 and that he was positive that George Nelson was one of the men. He also said the other man wore the hat that was found in the barn near Amund’s body.
However the defense led by Senator J.D. Sullivan of St. Cloud presented a witness and associated documents that declared that Jacobson was seen on several occasions on May 3-10 in Lignite No. Dakota.
So there, the evidence was in and the prelim trial was complete. One week later the entire matter would be turned over to the Grand Jury as reported in the Glenwood Herald of November 11, 1915. More specific information, corroborating testimony…… alibis for the two charged men and their whereabouts at the time of the murders was revisited. The rest would now be left up to the Grand jurors. Pope County Attorney Julius Grove would again present the prosecuting case. Jacobson would have Sullivan as his defense. Nelson had no defender.
Numerous witnesses corroborated that Jacobson and Nelson had both been seen in and around Lignite in the first 10 days of May. Nelson, age 34 and Jacobson, age 32, both testified and related there accounts of those days, which “closely matched what had been given by the evidence already offered on their behalf”.
By Dec. 3, the verdict was in…… a decision had been made on the first ballot. The testimony and witness accounts, which supported the defendants, corroborating their innocence were the deciding factor….. The verdict was “Not Guilty”!
Judge Flaherty ordered the two men be released on their own cognizance and the only unsolved murder to ever occur in Pope County was History. To date no one has been charged and no arrests have been made in what is Pope County’s most heinous and horrific homicide, The Mitmoen Murders, May 1915.
The evidence – the actual hat and cap presented at trial and a rock which was used to bludgeon Amund is in the collection at the Pope County Museum.
In July 1948, two-year old Mamie Fischer of Villard ran toward her father as he used a power mower. She had been sent to the house with the mail, but ran back toward her dad before anyone knew what she was doing. He had been adjusting the power take off didn’t see her when he got back on the tractor. She lost both of her feet above the ankle.
Her story was picked up by George Grim in the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune. He encouraged readers to send her cards and to contribute funds. And they responded in an overwhelming fashion. Her hospital bills and the cost of her prosthetic legs were covered.
The hospital room was filled with dolls and toys, which she personally delivered to other hospitalized children.
She quickly re-learned to walk, using her new prosthetic legs. The artificial legs didn’t slow her down. Here is a photo of her rollerskating!
As she grew, she need larger legs. In 2012, she donated her first 4 sets of prosthetic legs to the Pope County Historical Society.
Pope County Museum - Museum Musings 