Kermit Thomte brings out the old Crosby and Ambrose fire wagon only for
special occasions, such as the recent Ambrose 75th birthday celebration.

His Antique Fire Wagon, Coal Stove Appear In Parade

By LEONARD LUND
of The News Staff
Minot Daily News, Minot, North Dakota
Saturday, August 8, 1981

AMBROSE - Two antiques owned by Kermit Thomte were in the parade of more than 50 units July 25 for the celebration of the Ambrose Diamond Jubilee.

For Thomte, who has been in business in Ambrose for 35 years, it was only natural that he would want to play an important part in the celebration of the community. Ambrose once had as many as 600 people and aspired to become the Divide County seat.

In the parade, horses owned by Kenneth Sorum of Crosby and driven by James Christianson, pulled a fire wagon, formerly used in Ambrose and now owned by Thomte.

 Nick Peterson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Peterson Jr. of Crosby, "kept himself warm" during the Ambrose parade with an antique coal heater, another antique owned by Thomte.
(Photo courtesy The Journal at Crosby)

Another entry used a coal heater, a Superior Oak stove, which Thomte obtained eight years ago from Claudia Anderson.

Thomte got the stove when he bought the house on Main Street in Ambrose where Mrs. Anderson and her husband, the late Enoch Anderson, lived for many years.

The stove, which had excellent care over the years, had been used on the Anderson farm southwest of Ambrose.

At least 70 years old, the stove was on a float for advertising Thomte Plumbing and Heating. Thomte has operated the business on Main Street since Jan. 1, 1948.

Thomte's fire wagon, which he keeps in his shop, carries the year 1909 and Crosby Fire Department No. 2 on it.

Crosby sold the wagon to the Ambrose Fire Department, which used it for fighting some of its major fires, including a one-night blaze in 1920 when the town lost four buildings. Another early fire destroyed a city block.

The wagon's a four-cylinder Waukesha motor with two magnetos and two sets of spark plugs, pumped water from the town cistern.

Since it had no radiator, the motor was cooled by the water it pumped.

Thomte said the stationary wagon, last used 25 years ago, was kept in the fire hall where there was a cistern. From the wagon, water was pumped through a 3-inch suction hose 10 feet long for up to half a mile.

The Ambrose Fire Department is now equipped with two portable trucks with 450- and 600-gallon tanks. Ambrose calls on Crosby to help fight bad fires.

Ambrose bought the 450 gallon tank and pump and 100 feet of hose with a three-quarter ton pickup last September.

When other equipment arrived, the firemen pulled the old wagon outside the fire hall and later placed it in the depot.

Thomte, a volunteer fireman for 35 years, purchased the wagon on bid about 12 years ago. He says the only thing he did to it was "shine up the brass."

In his shop Thomte still uses an electric Philco cabinet radio which he purchased about 1940.

Thomte also owns the depot from Colgan, the town nearest his father's homestead in Divide County.

Thomte also purchased the Colgan depot 15 years ago and moved it to his farmstead northeast of Colgan. He replaced the front door with an overhead door for storing machinery, grain and lumber.

Thomte also keeps the tank, which his father used for hauling grain, in the depot.

Colgan, which never had more than 100 people, did have grade and high school. The town also had three grocery stores, a bank, hardware store, pool hall, garage, blacksmith shop, service station, cream station, elevator and bulk oil station.

Jean Parsley of Minot was the last depot agent at Colgan, where she worked for many years both before and after her marriage to Walter Parsley, a brother of Mrs. Thomte.

The elevator and the Lutheran Church are the two major landmarks left in Colgan, a town west of Ambrose which once had a school, three grocery stores, a bank and a hardware store.

Only one house is now occupied in Colgan and a wide expanse of prairie separates the elevator from the Lutheran Church.

Thomte, who will be 72 in September, was born 4 miles northeast of Colgan on the homestead of his father, the late Anton Thomte. His father died in 1955.

Thomte attended a rural school 2½ miles from home and then moved into Ambrose with his family in the spring of 1919 until 1921.

On the way home from Minot following surgery, his father caught the flu during the epidemic and almost died, so the family left the farm. But in the spring of 1921 the family returned to the homestead. Thomte attended school for one month that spring in Colgan before returning to the rural school to complete his education. After attending the Hansen Tractor School in Fargo for one winter, Thomte worked as a mechanic for the International Harvester dealer in Crosby for two years.

From 1932 until 1937, the worst years of the drought and Depression, Thomte says he almost starved on a farm two miles northeast of Colgan. He moved to Ambrose in 1937.

Thomte married Isabelle Parsley of Colgan in 1938, the year he began working for Mylo and Lloyd Gubrud, Case dealers in Ambrose.

From 1939 to 1948, Thomte worked as a mechanic for Archibald Miller and Sons, a Minneapolis-Moline and John Deere dealer.

Despite his age, Thomte says he never "drawn a cent of Social Security." He still sells plumbing and heating supplies, washers and dryers.

He once had five crews working for the firm on wiring jobs when he was in partnership with John Selle for about two years.

Thomte has a son, Keith, who now farms four quarters of the Thomte homestead a mile east and three miles north of Colgan.

Thomte's brother, Archie, lives on the home place and they also have a sister, Ruth, Mrs. Donald Hanson, a teacher at Lincoln, Neb.

Thomte also has two daughters, both teachers. They are Kay Hegberg, who teaches at New Town, and Karen Thomte, in Great Falls, Mont.

Kay has two daughters, Julie and Kim, who enjoy staying with their grandfather at Ambrose.