By TOM RAFFERTY
The birthplace of Verendrye Electric Cooperative turned 100 years old in July. Residents of the area - past and present - gathered near the townsite at the David Thompson State Historical Site on July 19 to reminisce about the town and its glory days.
Verna Schock, 100, used to live near Verendrye and attended school there. She was at the event visiting about how important the town was to her and others.
“We had everything we needed. There was a grocery store, there was a post office, and there were the elevators. There were two churches and a hotel. It was a nice little town,” she said.
Verendrye is located about 13 miles northeast of Velva near the Souris River. It was a stopping place for the Great Northern Railway to fill their steam engines up with water.
Verendrye Electric Cooperative was incorporated on Jan. 26, 1939. Its first office was in a small bank in the town of Verendrye. The cooperative moved to Velva in 1941 and the headquarters remains there today. Verendrye also has service center in Minot and outposts at the Minot Air Force base and in Harvey.
H.H. Blackstead was credited with founding the cooperative. He managed a grain elevator in Verendrye and later owned both of them. Organizers went to all the farms in the area and collected $5 to get the cooperative started. The $5 contribution would not be enough. Through the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), Verendrye received its first loan of $90,000 in September 1939. The first 35 families received power on June 27, 1940.
Like many small towns, Verendrye dried up after the railroad no longer needed it as a stop for water.
“After the steam engines went out, the town declined,” said Raymond “Buddy” Walter in an interview in 2013 for Verendrye’s 75th History book Building a Dream Together. He said the peak of the town was in the 1940s. It is estimated that the population at its peak was somewhere between 100 to 150 people.
By 1970 there was no one left in Verendrye. It was a ghost town until 1990 when the Ashley family moved there. Today the only two residents are David and Jo Ashley.
The townsite is actually older than 100 years old. The original town was named Falsen, but the name was changed in 1925 to honor explorer Pierre La Verendrye, a Canadian fur trader and explorer.
On July 17, 1925, the Minot Daily News reported on their front page how the Great Northern Railway stopped in Verendrye with a train full of dignitaries to commemorate the Thompson monument. The special train was dubbed the “Upper Missouri Special.” The Great Northern Railway paid for the monument and presented it to North Dakota Governor Arthur Sorlie. According to the article, other dignitaries at the event included U.S. Supreme Cout Justice Pierce Butler, Maj. Gen. Hugh Scott, former Chief of Staff of the Army, cowboy artist Charles Russell and writers from New York City.
Schock was at the event in 1925 but doesn’t remember it because she was a baby in her mother’s buggy. She’s proud that the electric cooperative still carries the town’s name.
“To us it was special, it was Verendrye. There’s still Verendrye Electric. That name will stay with it forever. The name Verendrye will always be,” she said.