Media Release
September 1, 2004

NDSU Libraries publishes new North Dakota book
Updated:

The NDSU Libraries is pleased to announced publication of "The Last Link: Dakota Territory, Logan County 1887". The book also includes the delightful and interesting writings of Thomas G. Mueller, Jamestown ND: "Old North Dakota Memories & The Weispfennings & Muellers: Our Early American Experiences in Dakota Territory".

Mueller, owner of Dakota Belt and Moccasin Company in Jamestown and a native of Napoleon, ND shares in his book: "A collection of short stories that reflect life here on the plains of North Dakota, going back to 1886. Some old, some new, but all encompass the German spirit brought here by my great grandparents, Germans from Russia. These stories reflect by-gone-days, days worth remembering."

Mueller shares in the Introduction: "While I was writing my family history story, `The Last Link: Looking Back', I realized that I had hundreds of stories I could tell, especially about my time spent on my Aunt Hulda and Uncle Martin Ehmann's farm, southeast of Gackle, ND."

The author's writing includes these subjects: 1) The clay brick house; 2) Farming the old fashioned way; 3) Stacking hay on the North Dakota prairie; 4) Herding cattle cowboy style; 5) Shocking oats in the 1950s; 6) Saturday night boxing at the Mueller's; 7) Receiving the German Brauche; 8) They came to America with their children, their suitcases, and their hopes and dreams; 9) Otto & Mathilda's wedding dinner; 10) Grave-witching for Great Uncle Johann Weispfenning; 11) Grandpa Johannes' Prayer; 12) Coming to Logan County, Dakota Territory in 1887; and 13) The Flat White Cooking Rock.

To order "The Last Link", send $25 plus $4 postage payable to NDSU Library. Mail to: Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, The Last Link Book, NDSU Libraries, PO Box 5599, Fargo, ND, 58105-5599. Website address to order is: www.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/grhc/order/nd_sd/mueller.html