February 28, 2002

Plains Folk: John Deere Leg

Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University

It wasn’t what I was looking for. Nosy as I may be, I don’t go around asking people to show me their legs (although in some cases, I might sneak a peak). I surely wouldn’t have asked this fellow.

Here’s how it came about. I’ve been following the auto tours laid out in the WPA (Works Progress Administration) guide to North Dakota published in 1938. Following a detour suggested by Tour 8, I drove to the town of Alice, 8 miles south of the famous Buffalo Alice exit from I-94. Here, according to the guide, "At the Multz Cafe is a Collection of Indian Artifacts (open)." What’s become of the Multz Café, I wondered, and its antiquarian collection?

Turning east onto Main Avenue, I drove one block to the principal intersection, Main and 2nd. The northwest corner is a vacant lot. On the southwest corner is an architecturally mangled bank building with corner entrance. On the southeast corner is the impressive Hartl Hall, a fine old community building. On the northeast corner is the less impressive After U Bar.

There are no Multzes in local directories. I walked around Alice with no clue where to look for the remains of the café. Following my standard field manual, then, I headed over to the After U for accurate intelligence, or something like it.

Fortune smiled, and so did I under my muffler, as two old guys came out of the bar and took a lively interest in what I was doing walking around with a camera and GPS. Mention of the Multz Café provoked immediate and fond recollections of nickel cones dispensed by Lizzie Multz, the proprietress. She and husband Charlie operated the café in a building that stood just north of the remaining business buildings in Alice across an alley, in what is now a grassy lot.

And what of the Indian artifacts? Both Multzes died, it seems, in the 1960s, childless. The café building sold to a local farmer who moved it away. The artifacts were bought by a collector, and on his death, were donated to the Bonanzaville museum of West Fargo. What we have here, I concluded, is the old familiar story of small town decay and the sweeping of material culture into the central cities.

As I turned to go, the older guy remarked, "I figured you were going to ask me about my leg." So I did. He raised the cuff of his right overall leg to reveal an artificial leg of peculiar design: green plaid, bedecked with John Deere insignia, machines, and slogans. "Had it made for me over in Fargo." Here is a fellow who hasn’t let diabetes destroy his sense of humor, or his brand loyalty. I have a fine photo of this particular artifact, which in consideration of popular sensitivities I will not post at my web site, but if you stop by I’ll show it to you.

Rounding out a good day, up the road west I went looking for the Camp Sheardown historical marker, one of the many Daughters of the American Revolution monuments commemorating the Sibley expedition of 1863. Asking at farmsteads got me nowhere until I entered a yard with three dogs, two friendly and one not. Contemplating my options, I saw a big round bale rounding the barn and drove over to talk with the man behind the front end loader.

He was big, friendly, and articulate, a breeder of Spanish mustangs for endurance races. He thought that as a historian I should have a couple such beasts. He had a braid down the back of his neck, a red bandana around his forehead, and a face ruddy from cold wind. He gave me good directions to the monument, a brass plaque on a boulder situated alongside a gravel road. The rifle pits mentioned in the WPA guide--well, use your imagination, I suppose.

A good day ended with a good evening in a tavern inhabited by the perfect mix of customers that characterizes pub life in a healthy prairie town--young folks getting just a little out of line, old folks enjoying the spectacle, waitresses making good money for one night, ribs the special of the evening. No Indian artifacts. Perhaps a few wooden legs. I didn’t ask.

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Source: Tom Isern, (701) 799-2941, tom@plainsfolk.com 
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu 

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