Striking Gold in Whalan

The Preston Girls Who Vanished: A 1905 Mystery SolvedIn July 1905, two 17-year-old girls from prominent Preston, Minnesota, families boarded an evening train and vanished without a trace.Millie Jones and Cleo Noehring left behind worried families, a frantic search, and plenty of speculation. Had they run away with a traveling circus? Was a mysterious barber involved? Or had something far more sinister happened?As newspapers across the region reported their disappearance, the mystery deepened. But weeks later, a letter revealed an unexpected twist involving Chicago, a Great Lakes steamer, and two young women determined to experience life beyond their small hometown.This week on Roots & Riddles, we’re revisiting the disappearance that captivated Preston in 1905 and following the lives of Millie and Cleo long after the headlines faded.Where did their adventure take them, and what became of the two girls who dared to leave everything behind?

Gold in Fillmore County, Minnesota? Believe it or not, reports of gold discoveries along the Root River date back more than a century!In 1889, newspapers reported an extraordinary discovery near Whalan—a gold nugget weighing nearly five ounces, found tangled in the roots of an overturned tree. But that wasn’t the only unusual claim. Gold had reportedly been discovered inside the crops of geese, and a former California Gold Rush miner insisted he had found gold at several locations along the Root River.Were these discoveries evidence of hidden riches in southeastern Minnesota, or were they simply stories that grew larger with every telling?This week on Roots & Riddles, we’re digging into forgotten newspaper accounts, historical geological reports, and the tantalizing possibility that gold was hiding in the bluffs and riverbeds of Fillmore County.Was there really gold along the Root River? And could some still be waiting to be discovered?

In 1903, a gruesome discovery near Granger, Minnesota, sent shockwaves through the countryside. The body of Gustave Krueger was found in a nearby river, his skull crushed and his remains weighed down with stones. Suspicion quickly turned to his wife, Sophia, whose unusual behavior and conflicting stories raised troubling questions.But as investigators uncovered the details of Gustave’s murder, an even darker rumor began circulating: Had one of Sophia’s previous husbands also mysteriously disappeared?This week on Roots & Riddles, we revisit a chilling murder along the Minnesota–Iowa border and dig into Sophia Krueger’s mysterious past. Was she responsible for more than one husband’s death, or were the rumors simply fueled by a sensational crime?More than 120 years later, some questions remain unanswered.

In the late 1860s, when newspaper publishing was largely a man’s world, one remarkable woman was making headlines of her own in Spring Valley, Minnesota.Her name was Bella French, and she was far more than a newspaper publisher. A poet, author, lecturer, and advocate for women’s rights, French brought her newspaper, The Western Progress, to Spring Valley before embarking on a career that would take her across the country.From the printing presses of southeastern Minnesota to the lecture circuit and the publication of historical books, French challenged expectations of what a woman could accomplish in the 19th century. Yet despite dedicating much of her life to preserving history, her own remarkable story has largely faded from memory.This week on Roots & Riddles, we’re uncovering the life of Bella French, the pioneering woman behind one of Spring Valley’s earliest newspapers, and exploring how a small Minnesota town became part of her extraordinary journey.

In the early morning hours of September 15, 1951, 19-year-old Doelan Peterson was shot and killed outside a Rushford home. The person holding the rifle was 16-year-old Carrol Bakken—and at the center of the story was a 15-year-old girl both boys knew.Within hours, Bakken had signed the first of two statements describing firing at Peterson from just four feet away. But when the case reached a packed Fillmore County courtroom, the story became far less straightforward. The defense argued the shooting was an accident, challenged Bakken’s confessions, and pointed to a broken piece of the rifle as evidence of what may have happened that night.Was Peterson deliberately shot in a fit of jealousy, or did a confrontation between teenagers end in a tragic accident?This week on Roots & Riddles, we revisit the shooting, the controversial confessions, the dramatic murder trial, and the verdict that left Rushford divided—and ultimately prompted the community to take action for its young people.

In the early years of Fillmore County, social lines could still follow settlers into the frontier. One local story tells of a mother who once objected to her son’s friendship with another boy she considered beneath him.Years later, the Civil War changed everything.Charles Pray and Patrick H. McConville enlisted in the fall of 1861. At Gettysburg, Charles was wounded—and according to the 1912 history of Fillmore County, McConville carried him on his back to safety. When the two men eventually returned home, Charles’s mother welcomed McConville very differently than she had as a boy.In this episode, Preston and Lenora explore the story of friendship, class, war, and reconciliation behind two young men from Fillmore County whose lives became forever connected on one of the most famous battlefields in American history.

No, not that Freddy Krueger—but the real Fred Krueger of Wykoff has a story strange enough on its own. In 1885, a local newspaper reported that former German newspaper editor Frederick C. Krueger had “skipped” town, leaving his wife and children behind amid allegations of financial wrongdoing. But where did he go?Follow the trail from Wykoff to Rochester, Missouri, and Chicago as we piece together the life of a newspaperman who seemingly vanished—and discover that disappearing from Wykoff wasn’t quite the end of his story.

On the night of July 6, 1947, an unidentified man was struck and killed by a freight train near the Wykoff depot. He carried no identification, and no one seemed to know who he was.But his fingerprints told a much stranger story.Authorities connected the dead man to seven different names, used during arrests stretching from New York and Pennsylvania to Iowa and Minnesota. One of those names—Oar Diehl—would provide tantalizing clues about his past, including a birth date and hometown. Yet despite the trail he left across the country, his true identity remained a mystery.Who was the man who died on the tracks in Wykoff? Why had he spent decades traveling under different names? And could the clues left behind finally reveal who he really was?This week on Roots & Riddles, we follow the paper trail of a man who had seven names—but died without one.

In November 1929, a Wykoff man walked into Rochester police headquarters and confessed to a murder in Germany.There was just one problem: the murder apparently never happened.George Rohde told police he had killed a friend, stolen his identity, and come to America using the dead man’s passport. But as officers questioned him, the story began to unravel. Soon Rohde admitted the confession—and even his tale of a lost $20,000 fortune—had been fabricated.His real motive was much stranger: he was homesick for Germany, tired of American farm life, and hoped that if authorities believed he was wanted overseas, someone might pay to send him back.In this episode, Preston and Lenora revisit one of Wykoff’s most unusual stories—a false murder confession fueled by loneliness, homesickness, and one very complicated plan to get home.This September, Roots & Riddles is celebrating Wykoff’s 150th birthday with a month of stories from the town’s past.

In the early morning hours of March 28, 1895, fire tore through the heart of Wykoff.Starting near the town hall, the flames raced through the village’s business district, destroying stores, homes, barns, and nearly an entire block before finally burning itself out. With limited firefighting equipment, intense heat, and rapidly spreading flames, residents turned their attention to saving whatever goods and belongings they could carry into the street.By morning, Wykoff’s once-busy commercial center was reduced to smoking ruins—but the town was already talking about rebuilding.In this episode, Preston and Lenora revisit the devastating 1895 fire that changed Wykoff’s Main Street, the businesses that were lost, the questions surrounding how the fire began, and the community effort that followed.This September, Roots & Riddles is celebrating Wykoff’s 150th birthday with a month of stories from the town’s past.