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National Bank Notes > North Dakota

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Sheldon, First NB, W6977
Fr. 650 $20 1902PB
Grade: PMG EF 40    

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Look at this lovely $20 to match the $10 listed here. But wait a minute, this note is not in the census and it's a couple of serial numbers away. A penned signature of R.E. Kratt, Cashier and a stamped signature of Gus O. Kratt, President. Sheldon, located in Ransom County, was named for E.E. Sheldon, an early landowner. The population was 116 at the 2010 census. On June 22, 1881 Postmaster Barnabus D. Wilcox of Jenksville in Cass County purchased a townsite in Greene Township six miles to the south, naming it Jenksville. Within a few days he sold it to E. E. Sheldon, and Mr. Sheldon renamed it for himself. The Northern Pacific Railroad arrived in Sheldon in 1882. The village incorporated in 1884, and quickly became famous as a hotbed of amateur baseball, winning the state title in 1895. In 1906, a controversial artesian well was drilled in the community. Known as the Outlaw Well, improper drilling led to excessive flooding, with an emergency ditch measuring approximately 13 feet wide by 4 to 5 feet deep dug from the well site to the Maple River. After the well was abandoned, water still flowed from the hole that had collapsed around the failed well.

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