Larry talks about some eighty-year-old head-butting on the North Fork . . .
I have written often in this column that the real North Fork is so special because of the people who live here – full time or part time. Since homestead days North Fork residents have been independent, self reliant, and argumentative.
At the same time, they have had to depend on each other. Neighbors have always helped each other in times of emergency, but also aided each other in constructing homes and barns and everyone put aside their differences at social events. After all, you never knew when you might have a breakdown, illness, or just get stuck in a snow bank. Therefore you helped your neighbor when he needed help and, sooner or later, he would return the favor. That cooperation continues to this day.
That doesn’t mean that folks always got along – in 1910 or 2010. There were arguments, squabbles and occasionally physical violence. In 1932 there were two fatal shootings on the North Fork. One involved a trespass issue and the other the result of a competition for the affections of a woman.