A furious prairie fire, with flames fanned by 40 to 50 miles-per-hour winds, swept through the Mouse River area in April 1915.
The big fire threatened the town of Sawyer, in Ward County, forcing townspeople to build firebreaks and set backfires to save their livelihoods. The prairie fire passed near Velva in McHenry County before finally fizzling-out.
A North Dakota legend arose from the ashes of that prairie-fire, for the fire had badly damaged an ancient oak that had stood for decades alongside the Mouse River east of Velva. In the fire’s aftermath, a man named Carl Aanrud, who owned a farm four miles south of Balfour, was scouting timber for wooden fence posts. Aanrud cut down the oak tree and hauled home. While sawing through the log, Carl found a treasure trove in the tree trunk at a point that had been about eight feet high.
Farmer Aanrud found an old-fashioned iron kettle embedded in the log. The kettle had become completely encased by dry and deadened wood, but was so covered by bark that it was unnoticeable while the tree was still standing. On this date, the Grand Forks Herald reported that the kettle held $320 in gold coins – a mixture of $5 and $20 gold pieces, a glittering, gleaming treasure. It was an overflowing handful of gold pieces weighing just over one pound.There was also $40 worth of old Civil War era paper money called “shin plasters.” Oddly, the paper-currency had not deteriorated, apparently sheltered from moisture.
Mr. Aanrud was flabbergasted to find the treasure. Those who heard of the discovery speculated that a “weary traveler” or a “buffalo hunter,” resting beneath the shade of the oak tree, had encountered dangerous outlaws or warriors, or faced grave illness or injury, and had concealed the ‘pot of gold’ inside the tree trunk.
Whatever had happened, 32-year-old Carl celebrated his 1915 discovery with his wife, Emilie, and three young daughters – Alice, Crystal, & Lola.
Carl lived 18 more years, eventually owning Balfour’s gas station. He died in 1933, at age 50 – his legendary oak tree mystery forever a part of the region’s history.
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Steve Hoffbeck, MSU Moorhead History Department.
Sources: Dateline, Velva, May 7, 1915, in “Kettle Is Hiding Place,” Grand Forks Herald, May 8, 1915, p. 3, (Aanrud is spelled “Onrud”).
“Peculiar Find in Tree Near Velva,’ Bowbells Tribune, May 14, 1915, p. 1; “Found Treasure Trove in Sturdy Oak Tree,” Jamestown Weekly Alert, May 13, 1915, p. 4.
Cleo Cantlon, Seedstock: An Improper History of Early Balfour (Velva: Linnertz Publications, 1973), p. 20, 21, 33.
“One Meets Death In Prairie Fire,” Ward County Independent, April 15, 1915, p. 11; “Prairie Fire on the Slope,” Williston Graphic, April 15, 1915, p. 12.
“Carl Aanrud,” Balfour, McHenry County, ND, U.S. Census, 1910; “Land Township, McHenry County, ND, U.S. Census, 1920; “Balfour, McHenry County, ND, U.S. Census, 1930; farm in Land Township, McHenry County Atlas, 1929.
ND Death Index, “Carl Aanrud,” born August 13, 1882, died July 9, 1933.
