Ole Waagseth & Alert Solaas First, give me a minute to explain my own interest in Dogtooth. On May 9, 1909, my grandfather, Alert Solaas (later Albert Solberg) arrived in New York aboard the S.S. Cedric of the White Star Line. Alert had left Solaas, in the Hyllestad community north of Bergen, Norway, on April 26. Letters addressed to him mark some of the stops along his way to Dodson, Montana where he lived, for the most part, from 1912 until his death in 1978. After a few months near Lodi, Wisconsin (Ltr03, Ltr04, Ltr05, Ltr06) Alert came to live with his uncle, Ole Waagseth, near Dogtooth (Ltr07, Ltr08, Ltr09, Ltr10) late in 1909. Less than a year later, on 8/23/1910, Ole was killed when, unable to see the road through thick smoke, he drove his lumber-laden wagon over an embankment.

"Fate seems to be cruel to the dwellers around Dogtooth. Tuesday night another sad accident followed the one of Monday when Ole Wagseth, five miles southwest of Dogtooth, was killed by driving out over a high embankment only half a mile from his home [NW quarter of 30-133-85]. [If you're unfamiliar with this notation, see the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Township_and_range] He was coming home from McIntosh and as it was pitch dark on account of all the smoke, he failed to see the road. The wagon and team must have turned over several times in descent. One of the horses was also killed. Deceased was a hardworking man and the accident is particularly shocking on account of following so closely after the one on Monday. The funeral took place today in Flasher." Flasher Hustler 8/26/1910

In late 1911, Alert had letters from his father and brother addressed to him at Brisbane, ND (Ltr11) and early the next year one at Mercer, ND (Ltr13) before Dodson emerges as the predominant postmark (Ltr14 etc). It was my [still unfulfilled] desire to better understand Alert's movements before 1912 that led to the question of Dogtooth's location. I wondered if his change of address from Dogtooth (10/31/1910) to Brisbane (10/22/1911) was a result of his own move or if the relocation of Dogtooth's postoffice left Brisbane closer.

The Search for Dogtooth

A transcription about the Ermon Ewers family in the Selfridge, ND Golden Jubilee document (http:// pixel.cs.vt.edu / library / towns) gives part of the story.

"As the head of the family Amos had filed on a homestead in the fall of 1906 near Dogtooth, N. Dak. After 1910 when the railroad came through the name was changed to Raleigh."

Raleigh contract post office 10/2001

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The transition from Dogtooth to Raleigh wasn't immediate and it involved a change of location along with the name. Clear proof that Dogtooth and Raleigh existed at the same time but in different locations is provided by the application for a post office at Brisbane in 1910. At that time C.C. Leonard's store and post office was still at Dogtooth but the Milwaukee railroad had laid plans for a railroad station about 2 miles away. The 5/27/1910 application lists the nearest railroad station as Raleigh, 10 miles to the east, but the nearest post office at Dogtooth, 8 miles to the east. The article continues on page 2