Some time ago I was talking about places where the old Ox cart trails crossed the Two Rivers on the journey north to Pembina. Kittson County had a minimum of three separate river crossings. The first was the South Branch, the second was the middle branch and the last was the North Branch which crossed the Hunt Farm.
The depth of the water depended on the time of the year. Starting north early in the spring meant high swift water and many difficulties. I could write a great deal about the Ox cart trails but in this instance I wish to deal with only one.
Vern Hunt’s farm is located south west of Northcote. The two rivers passes north of Northcote then heads south west and runs through the Hunt farm. In about 1960 Ray Hunt and his brothers were swimming in the old swimming hole on a hot summers day when Ray stepped on something on the muddy riverbed. The water was only three or feet deep then so he quickly recovered what turned out to be a silver spoon that was in mint condition. Later he showed his mother what he had found. .
Ray’s family was large and they could always use more eating utensil so his mother sent him and two brothers back to the river to find more. Ray eventually located a dozen spoons that were all grouped together as if they had been in a box. By the time the search was over with, the boys almost had a full set of knives, forks and spoons. They hauled the treasure home to their mother and the family used them for years.
The site of where the silverware had been found was right where an old Ox Cart trail crossed the river. It was not difficult to imagine some pioneer, while crossing the river when the water was too deep, had upset the cart and lost a lot of his belongings. Things that would float were probably chased down the river and recovered. A box of heavy silverware would sink to the bottom of the river where the wooden box would rot away and leave the silverware safely buried at least 75 years. It was possible that what with all the rushing about trying to save things they failed to notice the silverware was gong until they unloaded the goods at some later date.
No doubt some pioneer family had lost an important and expensive family treasure.
Advertisements Share this:
