An early Yellowstone Valley settler, ranchman and financial stockholder who contributed greatly to the welfare and building of Fairview was Andrew Nohle.

Andrew was born in Lowville, N.Y. He was the son of Mr. ad Mrs. Charles Nohle, who was a farmer by trade. Charles, born in the Rhine country of Germany, immigrated to the United States. He married Wilhelmina Smith, and they had nine children: Albert, Andrew, Abbie, Florence, Minnie, Earnest, George, Constant and Amelia. Andrew enjoyed helping on the family farm, where he learned the lessons of industry, hard work and thrift, which helped him through his life.

Heading west, Andrew and his brother Albert traveled to Grand Forks, N.D., in 1881. The brothers became ranch hands and were employed by ranchers R.M. Prouty, L.B. Richardson and Charley Sprout who eventually hired Andrew as their foreman to establish a new ranch out on the Mouse River in North Dakota. In 1892, Andrew took some part of this stock and traveled to Montana and settled on his first ranch on the Milk River. His ranch was formed into the Prouty-Nohle Company and ran its stock under the brands “NP” and “lazy P.” During his four years in Saco, Andrew worked the trail leading north from the panhandle of Texas and drove two herds of cattle over the NBN trail, and over it thousands of cattle were driven from the state of Texas.

Leaving the Milk River, Andrew arrived at the Missouri and mouth of the Yellowstone River and established a new ranch at Nohle’s Lake just within the state of North Dakota. This region was new and untamed. Andrew’s stock ranged up the Missouri and over the region north and close to the international line, and his brand became widely known over eastern Montana. With years of hard work, the Nohle ranch became the centerpiece of the valley. From a stock ranch, the property gradually became a ranch-farm with 1,600 acres of the land cultivated in the Dore, N.D., area. It was on this ranch that the famous “Grimm” alfalfa made its first appearance in the valley, and the plant has since been grown with much success. From then on, Andrew was called “Father of Alfalfa in the Yellowstone Valley.”

In the spring of 1857, this strain of alfalfa found its way into the United States from a little village of Kulsheim, near Wertheim, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, by a German farmer named Wendelin Grimm. Grimm came to the United States and went West taking up a farm in Minnesota. Among the few possessions he brought with him from his old home was a small bag containing less than 20 pounds of this seed. At first the seed was not successful and most of the seed died during winter. The seeds that survived were replanted over and over again until they became a hardy seed that could be grown and survive the winters.

As new settlers with little means came into the valley, they were often furnished with work during haying and harvesting time. This aid helped them to “hold fast” as they acquired their own home. Andrew met and became friends with Simon Gilbertson, who later homesteaded in the Nohle area. They formed a partnership in those early days and ran both cattle and horses. There were many who recalled the winter of 1886-1887, and the killing frost of the latter year and the hardship from the seven years of drought, which followed. During these years, Andrew and his company shipped in three cars of corn and oats and distributed the grain free among the settlers.

While a resident of North Dakota, Andrew became the organizer of the Dakota Trading Co. at Alexander, N.D. With the organization of McKenzie County, he was chairman of the first Board of County Commissioners appointed by Gov. E.Y. Searles. He was elected commissioner three times and was a member of the board that built the courthouse and jail at Shafer and started the roadwork and bridge building.

In Fairview’s early years, he purchased an interest in the Delaney brothers’ bank. Later, he acquired all of the interests of the Delaneys in the bank. He then chartered the institution as the First State Bank of Fairview on the East Fairview side on Aug. 2, 1908, and capitalized it at $10,000. On July 17, 1913, the bank nationalized and became the First National Bank of Fairview with a capital of $25,000, and he was president of the bank. Andrew also became president of the First State Bank of Buford, N.D., organized in 1906, and of the Buford Mercantile Company organized in 1901. He helped to organize the Yellowstone School Board and to establish consolidated schools.

In February 1917, Andrew married the girl whom he had known in childhood and whose father, Thomas Freeman, became one of his early neighbors on Mouse River. That girl was Charlotte Freeman, known as Tena. The wedding took place at the home of her parents in LaGrande, Ore.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Information compiled from Courage Enough and Montana History.