(lively music) - Hello and welcome to Prairie Pulse.

Coming up a little bit later in the show, we'll learn about North Dakota's premier Native American storytellers.

But first, joining me now, our guest is longtime historian, and senior archivist, of the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, Mark Peihl.

Mark, thanks so much for joining us today.

- Well, it's my pleasure.

Thanks, John.

- Well, as we get started, tell the folks a little bit about yourself, and your background.

- Okay.

Well, I raised in Hunter North Dakota, and I went to the University of North Dakota, at Grand Forks, I got a BA in history, I started out in journalism, and decided that probably wasn't my bag.

So I figured as long as I was at college, I'd study something I really, really loved.

So I switched to a history major, and graduated in 1978 and, uh, I could not find a job.

So, uh, I worked for an armored car company for seven years, hauled money around the upper Midwest in a big iron box, 38 on my hip, and did that for a long, for seven years.

And then I, back in those days, the State Historical Society in North Dakota, MHS, Minnesota Historical Society, they used to advertise positions available in the local newspapers.

And I'd apply and almost invariably, I'd get a nice note back saying, "Sorry."

Or, "One of our volunteers filled in, took the job."

So I said, "Well, I can do that."

So I started working as a volunteer for the Clay County Historical Society, as it was called at the time, working with a glass plate negative collection, a photographic collection, and realized that some of this stuff is not exactly intuitive and handling, proper handling of artifacts.

So I decided to educate myself, I went to NDSU's library and read through every book that they had on archives, management and theory, and practice and photo preservation and things like that.

And in 1980, after about a year volunteering in 1986, the organization moved and they inherited the Hjemkomst Interpretive Center, at that time, they expanded the staff, and I got a halftime job.

And then it went full-time on the 1st of July.

And I've been there ever since.

- Well, it was interesting route there.

Obviously, you're retiring soon.

Wanna wish you the best of luck with that.

- [Mark] Thank you.

- But you were here to talk about your distinguished career, that's how you got there.

But what all did your job entail over the years?

- Well, I'm responsible for the corporate records, and the manuscript photograph collections that we have.

I do a lot of research and writing for exhibits, programs.

I handle all of the reference work.

We have tons of people come in and they're looking for information about all manner of things, local history and genealogists doing family history.

And I help people with that.

So like everybody at the organization, we all wear many hats and fill in all sorts of places.

- Mm hm, so what has been the best part of your job?

- I think probably working with researchers.

It's really gratifying to be able to help people find the information that they need.

And sometimes that can be really quite emotional for people.

I've had a couple of people, several people actually break down in tears when they find information that they've been searching for, for years and years.

And we're able to find that for 'em.

That's very gratifying.

So that's probably the favorite, my favorite part of the job.

- Well, that would be interesting to see that.

But you talked about how you became, but did you have a love for history as a younger person or an archivist, if you will, did you ever think, "That's what I'm gonna do."

Or did it just happen as you talked about?

- No, it just happened.

Really, I got lucky.

I did love history.

I've always loved history.

I couldn't wait to get into the fourth grade when I was a kid, that was the first year that they taught history in my school.

And both of my parents are great storytellers.

And my dad was somewhat older than my mom, and he was able to tell me stories about growing up in North Dakota in the 1920s and 1930s, and his experiences in the South Pacific during World War II.

And then my mom was younger, so she's able to tell me stories about life as a kid in the 1930s and as a teenager during World War II.

And so by the time I got into school, or into the fourth grade and studying history, I had a pretty good background in local history, at least from the 20th century.

- Yes, sir.

Well, can you talk to us about why you're retiring now?

- Well, I'm getting old.

(laughs) I planned on retiring when I was 70, but I'm 68 now.

But I have Parkinson's and that's slowing me down a little bit.

So figured I'd want spend as much time as I could to my friends and family.

And so I'm taking off a little early, so.

- So how are you dealing with the diagnosis, and the symptoms now?

- Oh, pretty good so far.

Yeah.

It's early in the process but a few minor things.

Buttoning cuffs and those sorts of things.

But yeah, no complaints really so far.

I'm doing good.

- Well, let's talk about a little bit about maybe some of the speaking engagements you've had over the years.

Tell us about, you know, the satisfaction you get presenting to various groups.

- Well, that's another good part of the job, another fun part of the job.

We've got a lot of great information down there at the museum and it's really fun to share our history with people, especially the local people.

We have good photo collections, so I decided early on that we should exploit that.

And so I've been doing slideshows, used to be 35 millimeter slides, and now we've moved on to PowerPoints.

But we've got topics that we range from the prisoner of war, German prisoner of war camp that was in Moorhead during World War II, and the building of the Stockwood field, the big railroad impactment, along Highway 10 between Glenda and Holly.

That's a good story there.

Steamboat industry, there's all sorts of really good history revealed.

And being able to share that with people is a lot of fun.

- Well expand on that, some of the rich history, if you will, of Clay County and how it was founded, and formed.

- Okay.

Well, really, Clay County got a start in the early 1870s when the, with the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway, the first railroad to reach this area up here.

They came in late, late, very late, in 1871.

And it was pretty rough and rowdy town for a while, just for a few months anyway.

That winter, '71-'72, the railroad didn't build any further west.

They stopped construction and a lot of ne'er-do-wells actually showed up on the, and there was an altercation between a couple of toughs, a couple of gamblers, in April of 1872.

And one shot, and the other one killed him, and he had to be handled.

So they, basically, that was the beginning of Clay County government.

They appointed, a sheriff was appointed, a couple of county commissioners were appointed, some other members.

And that's really how the county really began.

The county really owes it's present existence to the arrival of the railroads.

Railroads really built this area around here.

- Well, let's even back it up maybe a little bit more.

How long were indigenous peoples in Clay County prior to European settlements moving in?

- Oh, thousands of years, yeah, almost as soon as the glaciers disappeared, and Lake Agassi dried up, native peoples moved into what's now Clay County.

Sadly, their lands were dispossessed in the 1850s basically by a couple of treaties.

The Ojibwe people in the northeastern part of Clay County and the Dakota people in the southwestern part of the county, their lands were taken, as was sadly the case all over the North America in the 18th and 19th century.

And they were subjected to small reservations.

And it's part of, a tragic part of our local history.

And it's something that we cover in more depth in our current, permanent, or long-term exhibit, Ihdago Manipi, is the last 150 years of Clay County's history.

And we, we spent a great deal of time talking about the native people and their experiences and how they were dispossessed.

- Yeah, so who were some of the key important figures, maybe in, in sort of the 19th century, with in Moorhead or, and Clay County?

- Well, in terms of development I suppose one of the key people was Solomon Comstock his house is now a state historic site here in Moorhead.

We administer that for the Minnesota Historical Society.

And he was a, a very early attorney and came actually moving West, worked for the railroad and as a track layer, just in order to get himself out to the west.

So he got the Moorhead and decided to settle down and was appointed county attorney after that gun fight and really built the, the community up.

Not, not only Moorhead, but he planted towns along the great Northern railway and established a, a lot of places where people live today.

So he, he was a key figure.

- Okay, what about some of the projects you were involved in.

Of course, several here with Prairie Public, you know, stories and documentaries and, you know, you really became the go-to person for Clay County history questions.

But are there any projects that stand out to you?

- Oh my, some of the things that we did with you guys did a crack up, bang up job on Steamboat industry, and we were able to help with that.

All we put together exhibits over at the museum regularly.

We're in the MCOM Center, of course and people know all about the, the ship, the MCOM ship, the Viking Ship, replica Viking ship and the Stave Church.

And we administer those for the City of Moorhead and respond, and in kind we get use of the facility for storage and for offices and things like that.

So we're all, so people can, you know people sometimes say, well, I saw the ship I don't have to go back.

Well, but there's all kinds of new stuff we're putting together all the time.

Like I mentioned, the 150th anniversary exhibit that we've got up right now.

We just closed an exhibit about Ralph's Corner Bar which is a, a mainstay in the 1980s and 1990s.

It was a, a wonderful dive bar.

And we have another exhibit currently right now commemorating the 10th anniversary of the, of mixed marriage or gay marriage in, in Minnesota.

And so we're changing exhibits all the time a lot of fun stuff over the years.

One of my favorite projects really was working with local people who are collectors of art from a couple of artists here, Moorhead or Fargo, or rather Clay County artists, Orabel Thortvejt and Annie Stein.

And both of those ladies produced art in the 1920s and 1930s.

And we had an exhibit a few years ago focusing on that.

And their art is really, it's the first time anybody had put a similar exhibit together here in the upper Midwest about women artists.

And it was received with, with great polite praise.

We received a, an award from The American Association for State and Local History for it.

So that was a real, real high point.

- Hmm, you've done a lot of things.

And you're also a asked to speak and present about Fargo history as well, of course, a relationship only separated by the river, I guess.

- Right.

- But, you know, you become kind of the expert for that as well as Clay County, it seems.

Is that correct?

- Well, I don't know if I'm an expert but the two communities are really one community and yeah, I, so I've been asked to do a little research for, over the site of the, the present library.

I was able to do research for that.

Also, MidAmerica Steel site.

Some people were interested in the history of that.

So I did some research on that and put together a PowerPoint, a couple of other things.

But mostly I stick to the Moorhead side of the river.

I know that best.

- Okay, but, you know, let's, can you talk some about the relationships you've formed over the years in your job and the people you've met?

What, what's that meant to you?

- Yeah, well, our volunteers over the years we've had some tremendous and great people to work with.

Our present staff, everybody on staff I, I really admire and, and, and like and respect, it's great working with those guys.

I work with some of the best people in Clay County.

And I just love to come to work every day to be with them.

And I'm gonna miss that.

I'm gonna miss being with my, my coworkers.

- Yeah, so is someone set to succeed you yet?

- Yes, a young lady named Petra Gunderson and she's gonna be taking over at the beginning of the year and I'm looking forward to training her in more.

- Okay.

well, can you tell us maybe a, a couple of unknown parts of Clay County history that might be of interest to our viewers?

- Oh, well, I touched on a couple of things earlier.

I mentioned the German prisoner of war camp and that that really surprises people even during the war there I spoke when I was doing the research for the projects, I spoke to a lot of people who lived here in Moorhead during the war and they had no idea that there was a camp there.

It wasn't hidden or anything but it was just something that kind of, people passed over and are really interested in it now.

- So, so what, what makes history of this area so special, do you think?

- Well, every place has local history and, you know I love all kinds of history, international, world history.

But the, the things that happen just down the street and around the corner, I think people have a real, can have a real connection with them.

And being able to share that with people is a, is a great part of my job.

- Do you have any favorite exhibits that have been displayed over the years?

- Well, I mentioned- - That stand out a little bit.

I don't, yeah, maybe a couple more.

- Yeah, oh, our current exhibit I'm really proud of.

We, we've had a, a number of, actually you mentioned awards from the American Association for State and Local History.

We've had a number of those.

We had one on World War II.

Home Front World War II, a few years ago.

That was a good exhibit.

I've drawing a blank.

- Yeah, well there's just been so many over the years.

I've, but you know, they, there you go.

So what are your plans in retirement?

Do you have anything special or you plan to stay in the area?

- Yeah, I'll stick around.

I'll stick around.

I don't mind the winters that bad and hope, hope to do some traveling next spring, more camping, hiking, things like that as long as I can.

And I'll keep my hand in, in at the museum.

I've been asked if I come back once in a while and do some help and help some.

So I'll be doing that sort of thing too.

So looking forward to it.

- And I understand you recently got travel to Norway.

- That's right, yeah we worked with, with an exhibit or with a museum over in Norway, West Telemark, Norway, about a bilingual exhibit and book that we put together about a family that came from West Telemark to Clay County.

They settled in along the Buffalo River in 1870.

And that was a real success.

And they invited me over to there to speak about the process of working with them.

And it was, it was a great trip.

It was a beautiful country.

It's a great place to go.

I was very fortunate.

- Wow, well, we're out of time, but if people want more information, where can they go?

Well, they can go to our website, www.hcsonline.org.

- Well, there you go.

So we wish you the best in your retirement and thank you for joining us today.

- Oh, thank you very much, John.

- Stay tuned for more.

An incredible exhibit currently on display for the next two years at the Heritage Center in Bismarck celebrates Native American storytellers from across North Dakota, titled "On the Edge of the Wind, Native Storytellers and the Land".

The exhibit invites the visitors to watch these stories and to learn about the relationship between the land and the first peoples of North Dakota.

- [Native American Man] Grandfather, we thank you for this beautiful land that's given us life.

All our brothers and all our sisters we thank all of those who come to listen.

May we walk away with a good feeling of this land and a new understanding of our story.

- If you think about who you are you are your mother, you are your father.

We are the land, our ancestors, all the way back to creator, are here.

- This exhibit began probably about 11 years ago.

What we really wanted to show in the exhibit is you can look at a tree or you could look at a rock, or a butte and it might be beautiful but we don't really know what we're looking at.

And the storytellers really revealed to me what was there.

It's more than a butte or a lake to many of the Native Americans.

It's a spirituality.

It's a place where they get power.

It's a place where they heal.

It's a place that they receive messages and interact with the supernatural.

- I think that what I would like the people to remember about this exhibit is that, we live on this earth and this earth is a wondrous, powerful, and sometimes very supernatural place where there are unusual things.

- It's really encouraging to hear the response of the non-native people.

I stopped by the museum desk here a couple times and they said it's really powerful to a lot of people.

Then I hear folks back home, they say, I knew you did this, but I didn't know you did that.

So we get them to realize that we're carrying on these traditions.

Our school children have come down by the buses and they're just really happy, that's my grandpa.

So it's humbling.

I'm really glad that we had the opportunity to do this because it's not just about Native people it's about North Dakota.

- I started working with Troy about three years ago, putting this exhibit together.

I have been thrilled by the numbers going through this gallery.

The very first day it was open, we had more than 250 just school kids.

We try to give people options to delve into the stories, because they're so important to the overall experience.

You have access in the gallery space.

We also have a small theater space here, in the building where you can also sit and listen to the stories in your own time.

And then they're also available online.

The takeaway I would like to see, really is, that there is a parallel way of looking at the environment and the land.

We are just scratching the surface with this exhibition.

- Storytelling has always been a part of our family.

My grandfathers, my uncles, well there was this boy but there was this eagle and there was this buffalo.

And they would tell stories about how the strength of those animals gave those humans strength.

Sometimes stars would help the people and the plants that gave us the strength and the vision to do these things.

So those were very important to me.

Having that connection to the world around us, these stories gave me strength.

These stories empowered me.

- It gives us hope.

It gives us hope because so many years we had to be silent.

And it gives us hope that our future will be filled with that, we want the good life, because within our stories, they tell us how to live in a good way.

- The buffalo went through the very same thing that you did as a people.

They tried to exterminate you by putting you on a reservation where life was very hard and you didn't have food.

And the same thing happened to the buffalo.

They were shot en masse from trains and so forth and left to rot and die on the prairie.

And those that remained, they said they put them in a park, like Yellowstone, yet they survived.

And your people survived.

There are lessons like that that we learned from people from the environment and the animals and other living things around us.

- My favorite story, it's "The Star in the Cottonwood Tree".

It's just such a sweet, charming story.

- That one is a wonderful story.

How the little star came and heard all these wonderful sounds and wanted to stay.

But the other stars scolded him and told him you belong up here.

But he was persistent and he finally came down and they told him he could come down and stay if he could find a place where he would not distract the people, 'cause the people had to work.

So then he looked and there was this cottonwood tree.

- These storytellers, they've given their lives to these stories, to preserving these stories, to continuing these stories.

Not for themselves, but for their children and their grandchildren, and their grandchildren, and their grandchildren.

That's what that circle of life is.

We're all connected.

And that's what these stories are telling us.

Live a good life together.

Take care of each other, not just people, trees, the wind, the rain, take care of the water, the birds.

- We always give thanks to the earth, itself, and always try to walk with respect.

Because if we don't realize that all of the Earth has power and energy, then we might not be able to receive whatever that particular place has for us.

- We're an oral people, we always pass things on.

And so if my witness is not there to witness and, and verify my story over time, now this is gonna be there forever.

Anybody can see it.

So we have to tell the truth.

We have to tell it right.

So to bring all of these storytellers from around North Dakota, from the many different tribes, it's all about the earth.

It's all about the people.

- Well, that's all we have on Prairie Post for this week.

And as always, thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) - Funded by the North Dakota Council on the Arts and by the members of Prairie Public.