Harold Brady

Mandan, ND

1935-36, 1795, Doran, SP-2,

Harold Brady's daughter Pat Hager provided her father's name to the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum of South Dakota. The following is credited to Tyana Johnson Mandan News Dec 8, 2017.

Decades before Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park became the attraction it is today, a young Harold Brady and his friends explored the ruins of an old military campground that housed Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and the 7th Cavalry troops.

Brady, 98, who died in November, loved to explore and collect.

"He collected stuff his whole life," said his daughter, Pat Hager, as she looked at a photo of her father wearing his favorite 7th Cavalry replica hat given to him by Fort Abraham Lincoln staff.

"Truly one of the most interesting guys you would ever meet," Hager said.

Born in Minnesota, Brady came to Mandan as a small child with his family after his father took a job with the railroad.

In 2008, Brady loaned more than 7,000 artifacts he found as a child at or near the Fort Abraham Lincoln site to the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation as a way to share with the public what he found as a boy.

In 2011, Brady gave the collection to the foundation and now some of the items are on display at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park.

"This is the tangible history," said Fort Lincoln park manager Dan Schelske about the case displaying some of Brady's artifacts. The case, which can be found in the commissary storehouse, holds evidence of 19th century life including buttons, doll faces, toy guns, bullet casings, horseshoes and metal kitchen utensils.

"He always had stories about running around out here and collecting stuff and we're just fortunate we're able to get that and display it and show people," Schelske said.

"The history of the area he thought, even when he was a kid, was so important. His interests went beyond history because he was an amateur geologist and interested in fossils and paleontology. All of those things to him were important, " Hager said.

He opened Brady's Used Auto Parts in 1942 in downtown Mandan and the business stayed open until 2008. Hager said her father, who had an eighth-grade education, loved to collect various items and always made good use of what he had.

"He was the original recycler," said Hager, adding he would buy cars, strip them for parts and then resell the parts and would fix old lawnmowers to resell as well.

In 1966, Brady went before the state Legislature to urge the governing body to declare Teredo petrified wood the state fossil. He, along with others, were successful in their endeavor.

Thoughout his life, Brady was recognized for his explorations, and, in 1987, he and his wife, Emma, were named honorary lieutenants of the foundation. He also was instrumental in the re-creation of the Custer home and additional buildings at the park. He was a charter member of the foundation.

Brady also was a founding member of the Central Dakota Gem and Mineral Society.

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