Every summer for a decade following World War I, Hannaford suffered an invasion of Wobblies.  These were unemployed transients who "beat their way" by rail and jumped off or were kicked off the trains by railroad "dicks." They "rode the rods" or the "blinds" or "reefers" across the country, going to no place in particular, or to find temporary work as harvest hands.

Wobblies were also known as IWW's, that is members of the radical socialist labor organization, the Industrial Workers of the World.  Farmers were reluctant to take them on unless local help was not available.  Rumor had it that the IWW's were responsible for acts of sabotage such as burning barns and wrecking threshing rigs by tossing pitchforks or metal objects into separators.

These not readily welcomed visitors sat along street curbs mainly at the corner by Jackson's Store and the First National Bank.  They slept in the partly enclosed feeding pens at either the Northern Pacific or the Great Northern stockyards.  A willow thicket by the creek near the Great Northern Dam was their "jungle" where they fixed meals and sometimes slept.

It was the town marshal's job to keep these outsiders in line.  In fact, his job depended on how well he did so.  Any disturbance would give the "law" an excuse to run the lot of them out of town.  Wobblies, hoboes, tramps, bums, soon learned that it was better to take a chance with railroad dicks than to antagonize such intrepid marshals through the years as Dave Palm, Jack Richardson and Frank Paulson.

In one instance, a Wobbly came into the hotel dining room and begged a handout.  Not satisfied with the coffee and sandwich given him, he made insulting remarks to Dorothy Nordeng, the waitress.  Upon learning of this, the marshal, along with a posse of volunteers, descended on the creek and "cleaned out the jungle." They wrecked the makeshift fireplaces and shot every cooking can and pan full of holes.  There was a vacancy in that "jungle" for a while.

Source:  Hannaford Area History North Dakota Centennial 1889 - 1989 Page 255