Troops training in Stillwater

Troops training in Stillwater

World War I troops training in Stillwater, MN, 1917.

Fort Snelling Hospital

Fort Snelling Hospital

Fort Snelling Hospital, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, 1918.

Grave of Private Martin Tudahl

Grave of Private Martin Tudahl

Grave of Private Martin Tudahl, a US Army soldier from Peterson, MN. Tudahl died at age twenty-six on October 7, 1918, in the US General Hospital, Fort Snelling, of influenza and bronchial pneumonia. He was a member of the Student Army Training Corps (SATC) at the University of Minnesota and is buried in Highland Prairie Lutheran Cemetery in Fillmore County. Image used with the permission of Michele Ekern.

Death Certificate No. 6635

Death certificate of Private Martin Tudahl

Death information for Private Martin Tudahl, a US Army soldier from Peterson, MN. Died at age twenty-six on October 7, 1918, in the US General Hospital, Fort Snelling, of influenza and bronchial pneumonia.

Influenza quarantine sign

Influenza quarantine sign

Minnesota State Health Department, influenza quarantine sign, not dated. Minnesota Department of Health, Reports and Miscellaneous Records, 1872–2002. Posters, Circulars, and Reporting Forms, undated and 1890s‒1940s.

Influenza Epidemic in Minnesota, 1918

“I had a little bird, its name was Enza. I opened the window, and In-Flu-Enza!” Children innocently sang this rhyme while playing and skipping rope during the 1918 influenza pandemic, which caused an estimated fifty million deaths worldwide. 675,000 of these were in the United States; over 10,000 were in Minnesota.

“Tony Passes,” 1931.

“Tony Passes,” 1931.

Originally published in 1931, “Tony Passes” was published by multiple newspapers following Peterson’s death from complications of tuberculosis a year later. Moe, Lawrence. “The Poetry of Colorado Pete.” Shevlin, MN: Clearwater County Historical Society, 2008.

Arthur Peterson

Arthur Peterson

Arthur Peterson weaving with a peg loom during one of his convalescent periods, ca. early 1930s. Moe, Lawrence. “The Poetry of Colorado Pete.” Shevlin, MN: Clearwater County Historical Society, 2008.

“Nothing Will Matter,” 1930.

“Nothing Will Matter,” 1930.

Originally published in March of 1930, “Nothing Will Matter” displays Peterson’s frequent themes of lost love and melancholy. Moe, Lawrence. “The Poetry of Colorado Pete.” Shevlin, MN: Clearwater County Historical Society, 2008.

“Mother’s Memory Quilt,” 1929

“Mother’s Memory Quilt,” 1929

Peterson wrote this poem from a hospital in Arizona for his mother while she was gravely ill in Minnesota in hopes that she would see it in the Chicago Tribune. She didn’t live to see “Memory Quilt;” it was coincidentally published on the day of her funeral. Moe, Lawrence. “The Poetry of Colorado Pete.” Shevlin, MN: Clearwater County Historical Society, 2008.

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