Lars P. Bjerklie, a Norwegian immigrant, operated a drugstore in Gilby, North Dakota, from 1889 to 1942, and his son Elvin "Gov" Bjerklie ran it from 1942 until retiring in 1975. Drugstores served their communities as more than places for prescriptions and medical products, and soda fountains helped make hand-crafted remedies easier to take by mixing prescriptions with sweet syrup and soda water. Clerks who worked these fountains were called soda jerks because of the jerking motion used to swing the fountain handle back and forth when adding soda water. Elvin "Gov" Bjerklie served soda for 10 cents from the old-fashioned soda fountain, and over time sodas became a sweet and creamy treat for special occasions even though soda fountains began in drugstores as a way to cure the bad taste of medicine.