Signar Jacobson, his sister Tillie and mother, Jensina, came to Nohly after his father died in 1922 to live with his brother Ingolf Jacobson. The family came from the Lofoten Islands in Norway. When Ingolf first arrived in the Mondak area in 1913, he couldn’t speak any English, but carried with him a badge that gave his destination. He later moved to Nohle and lived with the Storviks.

Nohly was a little town nestled in the valley just as you crossed the Missouri River bridge. It came into being as a much needed place of business for the ranchers in the area. Nohle was named after Andrew Nohle, a local rancher. The name is spelled “Nohle” on the railroad sign, but was changed to Nohly by the postal department because of mail delivery confusion with another similarly spelled post office.

Ingolf joined the Army during World War I. Before his term was up, the homeseaders around Nohly had wrote and asked if he could obtain a discharge and come home to run the store and post office, but the Army would not release him. The store was started by C.A. Tucker and later took over by Tom Forbes. When Roosevelt County was formed, Forbes was appointed clerk of court. In 1918, the Armistice was signed and Ingolf returned home to reopen the store and take charge of the post office. Ingolf also had a farm 5 miles upriver. Ingolf could not do both, so Sig took over the farming and lived on the farm for over 25 years. During the long evenings on the farm, Sig started making items from native badlands cedar found along the river. When Sig was 16, he first started making furniture in Norway. The lathe he used had one big wheel and a smaller one. He used his sister as a power source, and she would turn the crank by hand. Later in years, all of his tools used electricity.

He collected badlands cedar and made lamps, jewelry boxes, candlesticks, shelves, cabinets, gun cabinets, magazine racks and tables. Sig sold all of the work he was able to turn out.

One lamp in particular was made of cottonwood and cedar. He had collected this wood from land belonging to Fred Olson, a neighbor. Sig formed the base of the lamp from wedge-shaped pieces of alternate cedar and cottonwood. They were pieced together and then put on the lathe to shape. Fred bought this lamp.

In 1947, Ingolf closed the store in Nohly and moved back to his farm. Sig in return moved into the living quarters in the back of the store and set up his workshop in the front, working on his own designs.

Sig started perfecting his inlay work. He had never seen any inlay work done, and had never had any training. His first attempt was a folding card table, finished in 1945. At first he did not know where to get the different woods. But he sent for samples and started ordering most of his wood from Chicago and New York. His designs were his own and had a distinct Scandinavian flavor. He would cut the wood and then arrange the designs to suit himself. It took a long time to work out a design. While still on the farm, many designs were perfected in his mind while he worked the fields.

It would take Sig approximately half a year to make one inlaid chest. One chest, completed in 1959, had the sides and tops completely inlaid with 31,779 pieces of rare woods from all parts of the world. Walnut and holly from the United States, amaranth from British Guinea, mahogany from Honduras, satinwood, boxwood and rosewood from the East Indies, ebony from Africa, koa from Hawaii, lacewood from Australia, prima vera from Guatemala, bird’s eye maple from Canada and silver-grey hairwood from England.

Another chest Sig completed in 1952 was inlayed with 34,865 pieces of wood. A folding card table matching the chest was finished in 1954. In it Sig used 12,309 pieces of wood. In 1955 another card table was finished using rare woods from West Africa.

The old store, Sig’s living quarters and workshop started falling into ruins. Sig moved to Sidney where he continued his woodworking until he passed away.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Information compiled from Courage Enough and the Billings Gazette.