Local Legacy Survives in Vintage Blacksmith Tools

Dane immigrant's blacksmith tools — the key to his livelihood — survive to tell story of frontier life more than a century ago.

By Loretta Sorensen
Updated on July 9, 2023
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by Chad Ramsey
The interior of Niels Petersen’s blacksmith shop might not have been much different than this shop-on-wheels built by Larry Whitesell, Tipton, Ind. Larry hauls the shop to a nearby tractor show, where he gives demonstrations.

The history of the world would look far different if it weren’t for the blacksmith industry, which historians say began in the Iron Age, about 1200 B.C. In that era, iron began replacing bronze in implements and weapons. Ancient and vintage blacksmith tools that survive to this day tell are windows into the lives and experiences of the people who used them.

Blacksmith skills survive today among those who craft useful, durable items with an artistic flair. And some communities, like southeast South Dakota’s Viborg, are doing what they can to preserve the legacy of their own local blacksmiths.

Viborg’s roots were established in the small Dakota territorial settlement of Daneville, just south of present-day Viborg. Farmsteading there in 1864, Peter Larsen Christiansen was the first Dane to settle in the area. Few white settlers had as yet come to the area.

By 1871, several Danish families had settled near Daneville. Mads Rasmussen began operating a store there in 1872. Soon a post office was established in the store, and the location was officially named Daneville. Before long, a creamery and blacksmith shop opened near the store.

Young Danes (and Ma) strike out for America

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