These photos of Christmas in Sanish, North Dakota come from Staci Roe, who came upon them in a hospital rummage sale and saved them from the trash. They are from the estate of Marvin L Knapp and the photographer is unknown. Photos of the construction of the footings for Four Bears Bridge were in the same collection.
These photos were taken almost seven decades ago, which means all but the youngest of the people in these photos have passed on, but on the off-chance you recognize anyone in these photos, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
Sanish, North Dakota, a town on the banks of the Missouri River, would be gone soon after these photos were taken. The Garrison Dam turned this part of the Missouri River Valley into a reservoir, Lake Sakakawea, and Sanish would disappear beneath the waves. Look closely and you can see Santa Claus on the left in the photo above, surrounded by the townsfolk of Sanish. Perhaps Santa felt a duty to pay some extra special attention to folks who would be saying goodbye to their homes in just a few short years.
We visited the former town site in 2005 when the lake was low, and you can see our photos in Sanish Rises from Beneath the Waves.
Above: It was Christmas of ’47 or ’48, somewhere thereabouts, in one of Sanish’s watering holes… maybe The Round Up Bar, though we can’t tell for sure in these photos.
According to a commenter below, this couple would become husband and wife, Richard and Francis Mayer — their “happily ever after” just moved to higher ground.
The distinctive counter in this photo can also be seen in the photo of the cigar stand below, but it’s unclear whether the establishment in these two photos is the same place as the bar shown above.
Going through these photos of life in Sanish, we notice a recurring theme… hardhats. There were many workers involved in the road and bridge projects that preceded the abandonment of Sanish, and we’ve seen many of them in this collection.
The photo shown above has the caption below on the back. Not sure what it says.
This photo was the only one in the batch that had a date on it, 1948, and a name we can’t read. Update: J Brehm Wright left a comment below identifying the tractor operator as Walt Brehm.
Photos contributed by Staci Roe, photographer unknown
Original content copyright © 2015 Sonic Tremor Media
Ghosts of North Dakota 
With regard to the two photos of the counter – it looks like the same place to me. The picture on the wall looks to be the same in both photos.
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Those two photos are from the same place, but is that place the same bar as in the other photos?
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I have a friend in Coeur d’Alene, ID that is from Sanish, ND. Wish she was on a computer.
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My aunt and uncle are in Idaho and identified the couple hugging as Richard and Francis Mayer, my grandparents (never met them, passed before I was born). Their happy ever after just moved to higher ground. 🙂
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Those are wonderfull Pics, sorry I didn’t recognice anyone, as I had not been there in over 10 yrs.
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Omg I think that may be my dad’s name. John Meiers. I’m pretty sure when he was in Spanish it would have been to go to bar. Remember the bear?!
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The Bear was in New Sanish up on top of the hill, south west of old Sanish. Ervin Mayer built the Bar there, which many called–The Snake Pit. Al Hinsverk built a store there too.
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I would love to learn more about my grandfather Ervin Mayer, and his bar! Please share if you know more! Thanks!
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The picture of moving snow with the tractor in 1948 was my dad, Walt Brehm. In 1948 (the yr I was born) they lived a half mile out of Sanish. He did several things ‘back in the day’ to make a living – including cutting ice blocks to sell for the ice boxes in houses then, hauling water to the cisterns around town, moving snow, cleaning government grain bins, and other odd jobs, while mother ran the dairy and sold milk at the same time they were getting started farming. Their hard work back then made life alot easier for their family of 3 girls.
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I know a Staci Doe, is she from New England, North Dakota ??
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There were a lot of Scandinavians who homesteaded in those counties. I can’t make out the first name on back of the picture but it could be Songsted which is Scandinavian.
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This would have been Sanish in the time of my grandparents, Wally and Ida (Anderson) Berntson. Bennie (Wally’s dad) Berntson had a auto garage there.
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The young man in the hardhat look like one of the Grendahl boys? There were nine of them. George had to move his family from Sanish to New Town.
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Wow! So cool to see the pics and learn some history of my family! My daddy Ron Grendahl and mom Karen Morken, grandma Esther , Uncle Orvie and uncle Albert too 😊☮️
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Is there any way to verify if Marvin Knapp was also known as “Shorty” Knapp ? Shorty Knapp lived at our place for a time. He was of slight stature and had red hair.
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My grandparents Adolf and Alvina Renner had a farm out of Sanish which now is under water.
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We moved to Sanish in 1953. My father was an engineer for Massman Construction, the company that built the new bridge. I was 8 years old and it was 35° below zero the day we moved in. We lived close to the bridge. My best friend was Anne Goodall whose family had a ranch outside of town.
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