Christmas is a time of peace on earth and good will
towards men.

But most years the events of the world color those good
wishes and create a different holiday season message.

Some events are outside the control of man. Things like
storms and earthquakes can hamper the holiday spirit and change the holiday
from one of visiting relatives to just struggling to survive. That will happen
in the northern hemisphere when you hold a holiday during the winter season.

Other events a world away can change the spirit of the
season. Wars and strife on other continents can influence the holiday at home
in some cases.

All of those things ganged up on the people of Stutsman
County at Christmas of 1935.

Events or the world were on a slow simmer towards World
War II that winter.

Italy was already fighting a war in Ethiopia. Germany had
invaded Poland starting to set the stage for the European theater of that war.
Japan was fighting the Chinese in Manchuria setting the stage for the Pacific
theater of World War II. Events of all of these conflicts were on the front
page of the Jamestown Sun in the days around Christmas, 1936.

Then there was the blizzard. The storm of 1936 caught
most by surprise and seemed to strike on the afternoon of Christmas eve.

The ferocity of the storm stranded travelers in the open
country. While some people traveled by cars and trucks others still used
horse-powered transportation. The greatest tragedy came to a couple trying to
get their farm from Fried by a horse-drawn wagon.

Paul Antonowitz and his wife visited the stores in Fried
that afternoon for groceries. The towns people suggested they stay over and
wait out the storm. They chose instead to try to get home to their three
children who had stayed on the farm 2 and a half miles north of Fried.

The storm was severe enough to disorient the horses and
soon had them traveling in circles. The cold and exertion of walking through
the snow exhausted the team of horses which died in their harnesses.

Paul Antonowitz went out walking around the wagon hoping
to find a house. The exertion took a toll on him as well. Sometime in the night
he died of exposure even though he had managed to get back to the wagon and his
wife.

His wife survived the night in the box of the wagon and
spotted a farm home at sunrise. She walked to the home where neighbors spent
the Christmas holiday taking her to the Jamestown Hospital and collecting the
children.

In the 75 years since the world has not become a more
peaceful place and the threat of wars still continues. But let us hope for good
weather and safe travel and a Christmas of family and joy.

May you have a safe and happy holiday season from Keith
and Jane Norman.

Sports have always been a big part of our communities. Many people are fans and watch their favorite team on the high-definition widescreen every weekend.

But nearly a century ago being a sports fan probably meant participating in a local amateur squad or competing in individual competitions.

That is not to say that the big leagues didn’t have its followers in Jamestown. An early January 1930 edition of the Jamestown Sun had a photo of Babe Ruth as part of a salute to the national sports figures of the previous year.

The display included the top golfers, football stars, boxers and tennis players of 1929. It even included a photo of Blue Larkspur the top race horse of the year. The horse won an amazing $250,000 in three years of racing and is still listed in the top 100 of American Thoroughbreds of all time.

But for the local sports enthusiast the thrill of the big league games was distant. They only way they could follow any of the national sports was through the newspaper’s recount of the game or event after the event.

If you wanted to actually see a game you probably watched a local team compete. This could be a high school or college team or one of the many amateur squads that sprang up. And if you wanted to compete you had a wide variety of sports to choose from.

Some of the events are still held. In 1935 Billy Sundahl of Jamestown won the North Dakota amateur golf title.

Bowling was probably bigger back in the early days of the 20th century. The Jamestown Bowling organization hosted teams from a multi-state area every winter. This back in the days when youngsters could earn a little pocket money by setting pins down at the end of the lanes.

But amateur competitions in other sports that were popular in the 1920s and 1930s are no longer held. Many communities in North Dakota, including Jamestown, had ski jumps during that era. Those competitions aren’t held any longer.

Amateur boxing was gaining popularity in the depression era. The North Dakota Athletic Commission was formed in 1935 and could sanction both amateur and professional events. The paper commonly carried results of boing cards from around the state.

And for the hearty souls, Jamestown had an amateur hockey team back in 1935. The Jamestown Elks hockey team played in the north division of the Pioneer American Independent Hockey League of North Dakota.

That is the PAIHLND for those that think of sports leagues by its acronym. The north division had teams in Jamestown, New Rockford and Cooperstown while the south fielded squads from Valley City, Lisbon and Wahpeton.

But that didn’t stop the teams from playing other teams from around the area. On New Years Day, 1936, the Jamestown Elks hockey team played the Bismarck Philips 66 team at the rink in the park. The game was played at 2:30 in the afternoon. This allowed the spectators and players to benefit from the afternoon sunlight and any afternoon warmth.

Which has to take a little more dedication than watching a game on an HD TV.

Jet aircraft service returned to Jamestown this past
week. This is just a temporary situation until a new airline takes over the
service.

Jamestown has a long history with aircraft. In fact, the
town was kind of the headquarters for a barnstorming show back in the very
early days of aviation.

James Bowen owned one of the first cab companies in
Jamestown as well as the first aircraft in the community. He operated out of an
airstrip just to the north of the current entrance to Jamestown College.

Some of his cab drivers were also his pilots who put on
barnstorming air shows at fairs and other events around the region. The show
even included a parachute act. Fred Kennison, brother-in-law of Bowen, would
jump out of a perfectly good airplane and drift to the ground. For his
death-defying act he got whatever they collected when the hat was passed.
Sometimes Kennison got as much as $5 for risking putting a big dent in the
ground.

Bowen had bigger plans for his air operations. In 1927 he
recruited subscribers to help pay for an attempt to fly non-stop across the
Atlantic Ocean in order to try to win the Orteig Prize.

Raymond Orteig was a New York City hotel owner who
offered $25,000 to the first Allied pilot or pilots to fly across the Atlantic
Ocean. He first offered the award in 1919. For the first five years no one even
attempted the feat. Orteig renewed the prize in 1924. Advancements in aircraft were
tempting pilots to try for the prize.

Bowen got the bug in 1927. The reports don’t say how much
money he raised or when he planned on making his tran-Atlantic flight. We do
know that on May 20, 1927 Charles Lindberg beat him to the punch and won the Orteig
Prize. Bowen returned the money to the subscribers and evidently kept on flying
barnstorming shows.

Was a Jamestown man poised to win the greatest honor in
aviation history only to be aced out by Lucky Lindy? We’ll never know. It is
also equally possible that if the Jamestown crew had tried the flight they
would have become just another footnote as someone who made it only part way
across the Atlantic.

And all that parachute experience wouldn’t help you that
much if your plane conked out over the middle of the ocean.