Montana Hi-Line and the Syverud brothers, Now Digitized in On-going Project

By Micah Chang, PhD. candidate, Montana State University

Many Montanans perceive the Hi-Line as “drive-through country,” destitute of people and places. However, one glance at Henry and Edgar Syverud’s photo collection challenges that modern cultural stereotype. The Syveruds’ photo collection tells the story of hope and hard times on the Montana Hi-Line through a series of four volumes of scrapbooks, encompassing some 1,500 photographic prints, that track the two brothers awash in the tides of local, regional, and national history.

Lot 045 v1p11.Stamp 1 and Lot 045 v1p11.Stamp 2, Portraits of Henry and Edgar Syverud in their mid-30s

Henry and Edgar Syverud were born in Osnabrock, North Dakota, in the mid-1880s to Knute and Anne Syverud. Both brothers’ lives show their strong connection to Norwegian and Scandinavian ancestry through their immediate communities and worldviews evident in their photo collection. The two brothers were nearly inseparable from the start, both attending the University of North Dakota and then proceeding to homestead in northeastern and eastern Montana.

Lot 045 v1p07.19, View of Henry Syverud (left) while at the University of North Dakota

Henry initially homesteaded in the early 20th century in the area between Coalridge and Dagmar, Montana, in what was then Valley County, though soon to become Sheridan County. While Edgar started farther south in Dawson County, opting to move north into Sheridan County with his brother around 1916. From 1916 until their deaths in 1965 and 1966, Henry and Edgar Syverud lived together on Henry’s homestead, farming and participating in all forms of community activities.

Lot 045 v1p17.1, View of Edgar Syverud with his bicycle and a camera in hand

Both Syverud brothers cataloged their life’s journey through photography and scrapbooks. Edgar was the primary photographer for years, seemingly bringing his camera to every social event in the area. Henry made the scrapbooks, selecting photos and writing the captions and narrative history sections. They were heavily involved with their neighbors in what started out as the East Coalridge Community Club but eventually morphed into the local chapter of the Farmers’ Union. They were also a part of the development of a local Lutheran congregation. Lastly, the brother’s interest in and fascination with petroglyph rocks, which they called “The Writing Rocks.” led to the creation of Writing Rock State Park, which still exists today.

Lot 045 v3p47.3-286, View of the Syveruds’ automobile at the Writing Rock State Park in Divide County, North Dakota. Writing Rock No. 1 is in the foreground

The brothers’ social and work lives, and those of their neighbors, is well documented in the photographs taken mostly from about 1910-1960.

The brothers’ story reflects the larger history of the region. By the time both brothers were in their late teenage years, the Montana Hi-Line flooded with hopefuls—often immigrants, single males, and younger people—searching for a future by proving up a quarter-section of unbroken land. After the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 both brothers ended up in eastern Montana trying their hand at farming. However, after several years of successive drought and financial hardship, the brothers often found themselves deeply engaged in community activities and eclectic hobbies and side jobs. Through their photographs and scrapbooks the Syveruds created a narrative that shows how people persevered through drought, natural disasters, and failure by relying on their families and friends.

[Lot 045 v1p29.2, View of Edgar Syverud with the East Coalridge Community Club at the Haaven Schoolhouse eating pie

Aside from local history, the Syverud’s unintentionally created a photo archive that sheds light on important facets of regional and national history. The scrapbooks’ heavy focus on agriculture reveals the multiplicity of crops that the Syveruds and other homesteaders in northeastern Montana had to grow in order to achieve any semblance of profit. For example, the use of flax—one of the shortest-lived agronomic crops in Montana—dominates many of Edgar’s early photos of planting, harvesting, and threshing.

Lot 045 v1p15.7, View of Henry Syverud standing in a field of flax in full bloom

Also, the Syverud collection elucidates the history of the United States northern border in a time when the drawing of the 49th parallel was a recent event. Henry and Edgar Syverud recorded the history of their lives; however, upon closer inspection, their photo archive tells the story of many immigrants, Montanans, and Americans.

Photos from the first and second scrapbook volumes. and most of the third, are now digitized and available to those interested in the Syveruds’ story, and the history of homesteading in Sheridan County, Montana. Photos can be browsed and searched on the Montana Memory Project, specifically the MHS Photo Archives’ “Photographs from the Montana Historical Society.” Hundreds more Syverud photos will be added over the next couple months thanks to the continuing financial support of the Sheridan County Historical Association and the Montana History Foundation, in partnership with MHS.