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Bryan L. Bjornstad & Maggie Woollings have
purchased the former Great Northern depot in Arnegard, North Dakota and are in
the process of remodeling it into a home. Following are some pictures of
the move and a GNGOAT Yahoo Discussion Group posting by Mark Meyer on the
subject. Note: All photos courtesy of
Bryan L. Bjornstad & Maggie
Woollings.
Arnegard, ND depot in its original location.
"Up on blocks"
Lifting power lines to get underneath.
Depot at new location.
Setting depot down on new foundation.
Bryan and Maggie with their depot.
Beer bottles found between the walls.
1943 GN Calendar and some batteries found between the walls.
More interesting items found in the walls.
Interior of the depot.
The fellow who moved the depot! (Larry Doeden of
Williston, ND)
Arnegard from the air. Green line is ex-GN right-of-way;
Blue is route taken by depot during move; Red is current location of
depot/home.
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Mark Meyer GNGOAT Yahoo posting of Tue 1/17/06:
Treasures from old depot walls
If only those old walls could talk.
In a way, they are talking inside the old railroad depot at Arnegard,
North
Dakota.
Maggie Woollings and her husband, Bryan Bjornstad, have been hard at
work
converting the depot into a home this winter.
They started with replacing the windows and then moved on to clearing
out
debris that had been tossed behind wide interior boards that rise about
six
feet off the floor. That's when the walls started talking.
Among the couple's finds is a packet of love letters wedged in the wall
of
the freight area. Some of the letters had never been opened.
Woollings said they won't disclose the name of the man who received the
letters until they learn more.
Bjornstad said the discovery process has been archaeological in nature.
The
older stuff is at the bottom; more modern junk on top.
One find was a 1909 novel by Gaston Leroux, titled "The Perfume of the
Lady
in Black." Others were magazines from 1914 and 1915.
Other finds were a set of upper dentures, with gold work, official
railroad
documents, worn work shoes, some women's clothing, shipping and luggage
tags,
and about 100 bottles, many with ceramic or porcelain stoppers.
Some of the boards have writing on them and will be preserved.
The boxes of artifacts will be sorted and eventually some displayed in
the
depot, when it becomes Woollings' and Bjornstad's home.
"We wonder about each item's story and how it got behind the wall for
all
these years," Bjornstad said. - The McKenzie County Farmer, The Bismarck
Tribune, courtesy Larry W. Grant
--From Altamont Press Newswire 01/17/2006
Arnegard was on the GN branch from Fairview, Montana to Watford City,
North
Dakota.
--Mark Meyer
THE END
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