Cemetery entrance at Carpio.

If this were being done by one of our local TV stations it would fall into their “Someone You Should Know” segment and I’m sure they could do it more justice than I.

This past Sunday, following a church celebration in the Ryder Gym, I was approached by Bob Landon. We all know Bob and when you see him headed your way with that certain look on his face and glint in his eye you know you’re about to be confronted with something either very interesting or very funny. This occasion proved to be interesting.

Bob pulled some photos out of his pocket and handed them to me. They were photos of an iron archway entrance to a cemetery. According to Bob, “This friend of mine, lives up by Carpio, builds these arch gates. I think you’d find him interesting”.

This was my initial introduction to Don Peterson of Carpio, North Dakota. The formal introduction to Don and his wife, Joyce, would follow a phone call in which I basically “invited” myself for a visit. The visit was somewhat conditional based on a promise: “as long as it doesn’t bring me anymore work”.

This Wednesday the wife and I drove to the Peterson Farm outside of Carpio for our scheduled “visit”. As we turned into the drive we met Joyce as she was walking to get the mail. Following introductions we were invited in and the next hour was spent in conversation and viewing photographs about Don’s biggest hobby, iron working. There are pictures of archway entrance gates to cemeteries and church signs from Sherwood to Towner, each a one of a kind and each one having its own unique story and construction circumstance. No blue prints to build from. Some of the arches are “rolled” in sections and the actual forming of the individual arch pieces had to be done out of state, shipped in and then welded together. Each had its own scroll work pattern, formed and welded in Don’s shop. The large lettering over the archways are free hand cut by one of Don’s neighbors, some of iron, some are stainless steel. One of the arch frame works contained metal stalks of wheat, the heads of which were shaped by forming metal around mower sickle guards.

        
 Close-up of the wheat stalk built into the arch above.        

Yard ornaments, wind whirly-gigs, mail box supports, garden benches and yard seats using old horse drawn farm equipment are among the many things Don’s imagination has created in his work shop. His latest project is an old two row horse drawn corn planter  he acquired at a recent farm auction. Don has a picture in his mind what it will be when it rolls out of the shop.
                              

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The Peterson’s yard is full of his creations and restorations including farm wagons and a small Ford tractor with several of its 3 point attachments. Don and his wife, Joyce, have lived on this farm since shortly after they were married. They raised their family there. They operated a dairy barn, milking as many as 80 cows, for over 30 years. The feeding of the dairy cows was a story in itself. For over 15 years the cows were fed computer metered amounts of feed, individually tailored to each animals needs and dispensed automatically for that cow in which ever feeding stall the cow might feed from. The key being a collar the cow wore with a computer chip containing the necessary information. Pretty advanced technology for the time and belonging to a man who doesn’t have a computer in his house. Quote: “Don’t know how to turn one on, kinda wish I did”.

Don’s shop is another story. Over the years he has acquired tools and metal working machines that would be the envy of some commercial fabricators. Welders, a plasma cutter, shear, metal lathes, sand blaster, press, metal saws, on and on. Some of the machines are old, a WW11 era turning lathe, some are new such as his Scotchman “Ironworker”, a kinda do-all metal fabricating machine. Don has had no training in metal working. He tells of his first experience welding, when his folks were gone, sneaking out to the yard pole where his Dad’s old “Forney” was wired in and “burnin sticks”. It all progressed from there. As needs required he purchased new metal working tools and taught himself how to use them. His current shop is a building he purchased and moved in, floor heating keeps it comfortable all winter.

Restored 1945 Co-op D3

Another building on the property contained what might be Don’s biggest interest, restored tractors. He has restored several tractors, literally from the ground up, including an old Caterpiller D6. Pictures of the tractors as they were hauled in prior to restoration portrayed nothing more than an un-identifiable pile of scrap. The finished product looked factory assembly line new. All the tractors in the shed were protected with dust covers. Possibly the one with the most sentimental attachment would be the Co-op D3. It came into the yard as a pile of scrap on a trailer. Don claims it was a birthday present from his wife but I saw a little chuckle out of the side of her mouth too, may have been more to the story. The Co-op D3 was built in 1945 and only 200 were ever produced. Don’s Dad had owned one of them and Don had always wanted to restore one like it. Of particular difficulty in this restoration, the heavy cast piece right below the grill on the Co-op was missing. Don located a shop in South Dakota that was able to found the piece for him. As a matter of interest, the Co-op tractor his Dad had owned now belongs to his neighbor and is still in use.

Don and Joyce are avid dancers, members of the Minot Moose and the “Polkateers”. (They danced with the group when Ryder celebrated their Centennial.) Stories have it that in their dairy days Joyce would do all the milking on evenings they wanted to go dancing so as to get an early start when Don got in from the field.

Don & Joyce have retired, no longer operate the dairy or the farm. The feeding shed is being converted and used for storage. One of their sons has taken over and evidence of a modern day successful grain farm is apparent: large equipment, big semi trucks, modern grain storage bins. Our visit happened to be on Don’s birthday, it was either his 75^th or 76^{th (I should have taken notes…)}. Either he or Joyce could pass for 10 to 15 years younger.

The Berthold Churchs sign.

The visit had to come to an end and as we traveled home to Ryder we stopped and took photos of some of Don’s creations that were along the way. We had had a good day, Don & Joyce are “feel good” people, I don’t know if it’s the metal in the shop or the mettle in the person but as our TV station would say, “These are people we should all know”.

Link submitted by David Olson, penny post cards from Ward County: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nd/ward/postcards/ppcs-ward.html