| A History of STRUM and the TOWN OF UNITY by Roy Matson |
| THIS IS PAGE 37 | TABLE OF CONTENTS | PAGE BACK | PAGE FORWARD |
| Blacksmiths A most important trade in early agricultural community was that of blacksmithing. Today the joining of metals has been speeded and simplified by use of either gas or electricity, but not too long ago the man who could forge iron stood alone as a master craftsman. Back when communication and transportation were not as today, when parts service was practically unknown and most every breakdown required a forging job, the blacksmith was an important man in a community and he is yet today. Through these past hundred years this area has been fortunate in having not only one but several such men. All were schooled in their important trade, all were hardworking, ambitious fellows who attracted much traffic to this trade center. First to set up shop was Per Bonkerud who had learned his trade in Norway and came here about 1880. His place of business was located on Woodland Drive a couple of hundred feet east of the cemetery. When his restlessness caused him to move, Chris Berg (Finstad0 became the next operator about two years later. Finstad was alone at his trade until Even Peterson erected a shop north of the Strum Manufacturing Company building location soon after Strum moved across the river. Peterson’s shop was later purchased by Halvor Sheffield, a short, husky man who had learned the trade in the old country. He went back for a short time and was spelled by Lennie Larson. Later Sheffield returned, operated the business several years and sold to machinist Albert Thompson. The latter gave excellent service for several years. Jewel Berge purchased Thompson’s interest in 1948, erected a new building and organized the Strum Mfg. Company where products included bale forks, freight truck accessories, shop exhaust systems, vacuum machine parts and dozens of other parts. Elmer Lewis is a long time employee. While this one shop had good operators and changed hands several times, another blacksmith was operating a shop on Birch Street, a block west of Main Street in the business district. Hellick Knutson had learned his trade at Blair and Independence and erected the building in 1903 and carried on a business for 44 years. Besides the regular trade he was also a manufacturer of wagons and sleighs, the latter having unique features greatly appreciated by users. From this information one can realize that Strum was well served in this important trade. Forging iron, plow share sharpening, shoeing horses and repair of all kinds were everyday tasks for these men. It was, and is, a rugged trade and always demanded physical strength and durability. A story came to light about an extremely powerful man employed by Knutson at one time. Andrew Sheffield was his name. The other part of the tale concerns a mule who, while being shoed, had developed a habit of shifting a good part of her weight on to the smith. Andrew disliked this very much and, it is told, one time when “Topsy” went into her act, Sheffield took a deep breath and threw the mule on her back, held and completed the job while she was in that position. Try that sometime! 1880 Statistics Whether the following information was collected as part of the 1880 census is unknown but it became available as result of about 40 years in collecting interesting notes about Trempealeau County. Vocations and Professional People Census in 1880: Farm Operators 2213 Renters 443 Hired men (farm) 1263 Clergyman 20 Dr. or Dentist 14 Lawyers 15 Barbers 2 Hotel or cafe 18 Teachers 81 Gen merchants 20 Saloons 20 Grocers 13 Hardwares 9 Dry goods 17 Bankers 2 Lumber 3 Insurance 4 Mercantile clerks 52 Livery 9 Mail carriers 3 Carpenters 65 Masons 6 Saw Mills 6 Blacksmiths 47 |