6/2/2009:
We live in times of constant change. These days, catching a moment is as easy as snapping a photo with the camera in your cell phone, uploading it to your computer and adding it to your blog. In the past? Not so much.
You've heard of time capsules being buried for the future to remember the past, but how often do you hear of those time capsules being found again? Sometimes, they remain forgotten, but when they are found, very interesting news arises! Such was the case on this date in 1937, when John Putz, janitor of the Oscar Will School in Bismarck, discovered a time capsule from 1907. He was digging out a box elder tree on the north side of the school, preparing to plant another, when he found a bottle containing one sheet of notebook paper.
The paper read: "This tree was planted by Room 4 of the Oscar Will School and [was] named Gov. Burke." Then following that, there was a listing of the "neat signatures" of each of the 38 students from Room number four, including Thomas Burke, son of the governor. The date the bottle was planted, May 3, 1907, and the name of their school marm, Miriam Bentley, was also included.
In the thirty years plus one month since the bottle had been buried, much had changed. By the time the capsule was found, John Burke had died, and now his namesake tree dug up and replaced. Miss Bentley had married, and was now Mrs. Belk. Immediately, people of the school got in touch with her. She recalled the planting of the tree, but not the placing of the bottle, and guessed that the act had been "an original idea" of some of the classmates.
On further checking, it was discovered that eight of the 38 students continued their education in Bismarck and graduated from the local high school in 1915 and 1916. Several members of the class still resided in the vicinity, one in Mandan, and one travelled around in the territory for the Du Pont company. Most of the students of the class in Room number 4 had scattered to the four winds, as classes tend to do.
It was, after all, just a moment in time.
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker
Sources:
http://www.will-moore.bismarckschools.org/willmoore/about-our-school/
The Bismarck Tribune, June 2, 1937, Wednesday, p.1