Beach North Dakota around 1900.

Link to Hubert and Shirley Jesmer’s page

Link to Hubert’s move to Montana

This was the destination of many people from Princeton Minnesota. It was on the edge of  South East Montana, where a region is called “The Golden Valley”. People would move there to try their hand at ranching. Teddy Roosevelt was there for a while, ranching, near Medora North Dakota. It is the place where my great great uncle Hubert went to in his early 20’s to try his hand at ranching.

Check out some of these newspaper articles from The Princeton Union….

“Hubert Jesmer was at one time a rancher in Montana….” The Winnipeg Tribune 4-23-1933

“Roy Jesmer and Abe Steeves expect to expect to leave on Monday for Golden Valley, N.D., and to erect upon their acquired domain dwelling houses, barns etc. We hope they will make a success of their horse and cattle ranch.” – The Princeton Union Sept 13, 1906.

“Roy Jesmer and Abe Steeves departed for their claims in Golden Valley N. D., on Saturday, where they will erect their shanties and return to Princeton for the winter. In the spring they expect to go back to Golden valley and engage in horse raising.” –The Princeton Union October 11, 1906.

“Mrs. Roy Jesmer was entertained at a farewell party by Mrs. E. N. Chapman and a number of other ladies on Saturday afternoon. Cards were played and Mrs. Jesmer was presented with a pretty souvenir pin. Tea was served by Mrs. Chapman. Mrs. Jesmer will leave some time in April, with her husband for Golden Valley, Montana.” – The Princeton Union March 1, 1907.

From a report about a reception in Princeton MN for N.E. Jesmer.

“Roy Jesmer, the youngest son, is located in Montana…” – The Princeton Union June 27, 1907

July 1, 1909 “A daughter was last week born to Mr. and Mrs. Roy Jesmer of Spokane.”

“A Prosperous North Dakota Town. Beach, North Dakota, where several former Princetonites are located, is a prosperous and progressive town. We are in receipt of a neatly printed and profusely illustrated pamphlet issued by the Beach Advance, whose publisher is Charles L. Cook, formerly of Anoka, which sets forth the advantages of Beach and the surrounding country in glowing terms. Beach is a town of 1,200 inhabitants, is located east of the dividing line between North Dakota and Montana and is the center of the region known as the Golden Valley.”  – The Princeton Union Sept 22, 1910.

A link to Beach North Dakota

“H.F. Jesmer of Preston, Montana, who is here visiting his brothers and other relatives, will return to his home tomorrow. Mr. Jesmer arrived in Princeton last week.” – The Princeton Union Nov 24, 1910.

History

Beach is named for Captain Warren Beach of the Eleventh Infantry, who accompanied the Stanley railroad survey expedition here in 1873. It is the county seat of Golden Valley County.

Beach showed little growth in early years. It was just a small mark in the landscape, and until the Land Survey settled the question, no one was sure if it was in North Dakota or Montana.

About 1901 government engineers began working on the U.S. Land Survey, which had to be completed before homesteading could begin. The engineers lived in tents pitched near the railroad’s section house.

Growth

It was at that time Beach growth began to take off. There was a grocery store, a “blind pig” saloon, a hotel, a church, an eating house, general merchandise store, a ladies’ emporium, and a post office. Homesteaders were beginning to arrive. Before the days of the Beach train depot, the contents of their immigrant cars were piled beside the tracks until they could be hauled out to hastily erected tents or tar paper homes. To care for these peoples’ needs, stores and businesses of all kinds became necessary.

Beach became a village in 1907 and incorporated into a city in 1909. When Golden Valley County was organized in 1912, Beach became temporary county seat by appointment and retained the position in the following general election.

Beach Boom

A decade early in the century, 1905-1915, was the boom time for Beach. Telephones and electric lights arrived. The town pump was replaced by a deep well system. Elementary and high schools were built. A long line of grain elevators, referred to as ‘prairie skyscrapers,’ replaced the box cars. Beach was known as the world’s largest primary grain market. The town had grown to include seven churches. During the next decade, 1915-1925, community growth declined. For whatever reason, the Beach Boom was over, and the city settled into a slower, easier pace which hasn’t varied much in the last 80 years.

http://beachnd.com/2149/History

History

Beach was first settled around 1900. It was named for Captain Warren C. Beach of the U.S. Army’s 11th Infantry. Beach had led an expedition of railroad surveyors through the area in 1880. The post office was established in 1902, and the town was incorporated first as a village in 1908 and as a city in 1909. It was named the county seat of Golden Valley County in 1912.[1]

In April 1911, the then ex-president and long term fixture of the Badlands region, Theodore Roosevelt, made his last trip to the area, stopping in Beach and nearby Medora. His visit to Medora passed without incident, but the visit to Beach was marred by a strongly negative reception to Roosevelt’s speech. He first expressed surprise that the town of Beach even existed, based upon such marginal land. This was undoubtably due to the lack of flora and fauna, the wear and strain he endured in the 10 years he ranched in the area, and Rocky Mountain and Great Plains blizzard of 1886-7.[8][9][10] Roosevelt’s speech had a strong conservationist element, suggesting to local ranchers there should only be one cow for every 12 acres (49,000 m2) of land, which led to local disenchantment with the president.

The incident is likely to have critically influenced his commentary and estrangement with the region, culminating in October 1918. While giving a morale speech regarding World War I in then strongly anti-war North Dakota, a side trip to the Badlands was suggested. Roosevelt demurred, stating “[i]t is a mistake for one to hit the back trail after many years have passed. One finds things have changed, the old picture destroyed, the romance gone . . . It’s best that it should be so, but I don’t want to see the place again. I’d rather try and remember it as it was.”[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach,_North_Dakota

Bird’s Eye View Beach, ND