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NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
July 22, 1999
Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University
©1999 Plains Folk
In my last column I made a mistake. (To which regular readers will reply, "Imagine that!")
Writing about the restoration of the Old Stone Church in Buffalo, N. D., and about how such efforts revive towns by instilling a sense of place, I said that the restoration had made Buffalo "modestly famous." Now, it's always a good idea for a writer to drop adverbs, but in this case I should have left out the "modestly" for the sake of accuracy. From now on I'll just say "famous."
I don't want to jump the gun on anyone's press releases, so let's just say that major recognition from a national entity is about to descend on Buffalo like a prairie cloudburst. It would merit a tickertape parade, if there were still such a thing as tickertape, and if someone would haul it to the top of the grain elevator.
As national attention zeroes in on western Cass County, visitors are sure to inquire, just who or what is Buffalo Alice? To this, I suggest reply with a multiple choice quiz.
Who or what is Buffalo Alice?
A. The proprietress of the Corner Cafe
B. The madam of a notorious frontier brothel
C. I-94 Exit 314
D. The legendary cross-dressing buffalo hunter who supplied meat for construction crews of the Northern Pacific Railroad
The correct answer, of course, is D. The proprietress of the Corner Cafe is Hazel von
Bank, the notorious madam was Squirrel Tooth Alice. And why would anyone call a highway
exit "Buffalo Alice"?
Curious hordes approaching Buffalo from the east, whence most hordes originate, likely will not even notice that someone has applied a fresh coat of silver paint to the Can Pile, visible north of the interstate at Casselton. Now it looks even more like a wedding cake than it did before.
The rest of the hordes, coming from the west, might consider looping north to Luverne for provisioning at that prairie oasis, Rock'n Rodney's, which I've just recently discovered thanks to a tip from Russell Ford-Dunker of Hope. Rodney himself seems undecided how to spell "Rock'n," as his own signs and literature have it at least four different ways, but he's not uncertain about his specialty--burgers. Big ones: small ones are 12 ounces, medium 16, and large 20 or more.
Burgers are on special Monday nights, fish on Wednesdays (not on Fridays; it's a Lutheran town), Indian tacos Thursdays, monster steaks Fridays and Saturdays. But you can always get the burgers, and beer on tap.
Proprietor is Rodney Peterson, who moved his establishment over from neighboring Pillsbury in 1996, occupying an old school building. Luverne hasn't a single paved street, but Rodney's is, well, rock'n. When you see Rodney at the grill, you can figure out for yourself that this guy has had some experience with food. Our waitress says he also does a little Elvis now and then. That would be Elvis in the later period.
Luverne is a town with a lot of signs. One on the west side of town says, "Industrial Sites Available." I'll bet there are; just pick one. Another sign in Rodney's says, "Rockin Rodney's welcomes children, but we ask that they please remain seated." This isn't McDonald's, kids, and you don't want to make Rodney mad.
I thought you had to go to the West River for a place like this. Rock'n Rodney's definitely goes into the "Oases of the American Desert" Web site, which will go on-line by Labor Day.
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Source: Tom Isern (701) 231-8339
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136
Click here to download a photo of Tom Isern suitable for printing.
(isern.tif - 512KB)
Click here to download a photo of Tom Isern
suitable for printing.
(isern-h.tif - 426KB)