GRAND FORKS (AP) - Fire has destroyed one of the oldest houses in the northern Red River Valley, dating back to 1878.

The house on the Tweten Potato Farm, formerly the home of two state legislators, burned to the ground Sunday. No one was hurt.

The house is about 10½ miles south of Grand Forks on U.S. Highway 81. Renter Bruce Bork said his dog woke him up to the fire about 8:30 a.m., Sunday.

Bork said he saw flames at the doorway of the main bedroom and began stomping on them, burning a hole in his sock.

"I ran down and grabbed a couple of things and ran out the door and that was it. I called 911 and got the car out of the garage. All I had was a pair of snowpants on, a jacket, my robe and a pair of shoes I grabbed," he said.

Bork suspects wiring problems caused the blaze.

The core of the white frame house was built in 1878, by Solomon Tweten, a Norwegian immigrant and the great-grandfather of Malcolm and Kenneth Tweten, former North Dakota legislators who grew up in the house.

Kenneth Tweten started a potato operation at the farm. Malcolm's wife, June, wrote a history of the family.

"The house was one of the first on the prairie there," June Tweten said. "It was built with square (hand-smithed) nails. Pretty primitive."