Brooten: the Oil Capital of Minnesota?

Jan. 17, 1963 – Torbin Lund, Glenwood Post Office employee, was pictured in the Tribune in the new uniform, as designated for office personnel who waited on the public. Lund, postal clerk, and Erv Schluter, assistant post master, wore navy blazers, white shirts and maroon ties.

Pope County’s rural addresses were about half posted with new fire numbers which would allow local fire departments easier access to the location of fires. However, only townships which levied for the purpose would receive the new markers. 

Brick Vold was elected chair of the Pope County Board of Commissioners at its annual recolonization meeting. He was serving his second four-year term on the board. L.E. Finstad, of Starbuck, was elected vice chair. Other committee assignments were made, and the Pope County Tribune was named the board’s official newspaper for the publication of legal documents. 

Gilman Gandrud, Pope County’s judge of probate and juvenile judge, was elected vice president of the Minnesota Association of Probate Judges. Gandrud had served as a judge in the area since 1944.

Jan. 18, 1973 – A traditional January thaw moved into the area to undo much of the damage inflicted during a severe ice storm several weeks earlier. Temperatures hit highs in the mid-40s for at least two days, melting much of the winter’s accumulation of snow as well. 

Regional government was to become a reality for a nine-county area. Region IV was to include Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Ottertail, Pope, Stevens, Traverse and Walkin counties and would exist to accept grants from federal funds for certain programs and to carry out certain multi county endeavors. 

Glenwood Waterama Queen, Shelby Jergenson, was among those queens in the Twin Cities to attend the St. Paul Winter Carnival. The local queen was currently a student at the Alexandria Area Technical School.

Jan. 20, 1983 – Lots of big rigs, trucks and unfamiliar equipment were the rule around Brooten, where drilling for oil was underway. Some reports said the oil discovered south of Brooten was of high quality. Others said it was not. The five firms involved in the explorations held leases on land in Lake Johanna, Gilchrist, Bangor, Chippewa Falls and Glenwood townships. Clint Folin, a Brooten resident, was making and selling buttons which declared Brooten the “Oil Capital of Minnesota.”

There were no injuries when a school bus and a car-trailer combination collided on South Lakeshore Drive. A second bus was dispatched to take the 20 or so students the rest of the way. 

Sen. Rudy Boschwitz visited the area to explain his PIK program and to discuss other ag-related topics. It was a full house at the Glenwood City Hall where the  meeting was held, and several area farmers pushed Boschwitz to assist in declaring a moratorium on farm foreclosures. 

Jan. 18, 1993 – Brittany Ann Reeves was the name of the  first baby born in Glacial Ridge Hospital for 1993. She was the daughter of Donald and Dawn Reeves Jr. of Morris, and was born on Friday, Jan. 15. 

Minnewaska Area High School’s first foreign exchange student was Miryam Salas from Quito, Ecuador, which is 50 miles south of the equator. At age 18, she was an exchange student through International Fellowship, Inc. and was staying 10 months with Ron and Joyce Watson and their daughter, Beth, of Glenwood. 

The Glenwood-Lowry school district was to see a lowered debt service levy starting in 1996 thanks to two resolutions passed by the Glenwood-Lowry board at the tri-district school board meeting. The resolutions authorized the refinancing of school bonds for a savings of $66,195 over the life off the bonds. The savings had a present value of $45,983 and were net of cost. 

Jan. 20, 2003 – James M. Kinney, former owner and publisher of the Pope County Tribune, died Friday in Rochester, Minn. He was 79. 

The new members of the Glenwood City Commission started off their terms by finishing up some old business.

With the new mayor John R. Stone and new commissioner Sherri Kazda, the commission voted to take advantage of a $21,000 grant and purchase new windows for the Lakeside Ballroom. The commissioners had been tossing around ideas regarding the grant for several months and finally decided the windows were their only option. The grant was initially given to the ballroom by the Minnesota Historical Society for a sprinkler system. However, according to City Administrator David Iverson, they determined the sprinkler was not the most efficient way to use the grant. 

Jan. 21, 2013 – A small town of fish houses populated the Glenwood end of Lake Minnewaska. The fish houses on the lake started showing up during the holidays and have continued to be located on the lake in the past few weeks. Fishing was good in late December and early January, according to some reports, but slowed in the past weeks. In the historic past, Minnewaska once was the location of what was called “Crappie Town,” a collection of ice fishing shacks just out of Glenwood City Park. Here, the modern version of the town can be seen, but the only way to know if crappies and sunfish are actually biting is to get out there, drill a few holes and drop a line. 

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is taking corrective actions after the agency discovered that a DNR employee inappropriately accessed driving license and motor vehicle records without authorization to do so. The DNR immediately asked the Minnesota Department of Criminal Apprehension to conduct an investigation into the unauthorized access of the data. At the time, no criminal charges were filed. 

The old Starbuck hospital building was demolished Jan. 17. The first Starbuck Hospital was built in 1899 and at one time was the only hospital between Minneapolis and Fargo. The building had sat empty for years and would cost the city $3,000 a year for insurance. The projected cost of restoring the building was approximately $500,000.