News from around the state on this date:
In 1894, Fessenden was itching to take over the Wells County seat, which they took from Sykeston ten days earlier. Sykeston lost the election fair and square, but things weren’t moving fast enough for some; so, a number of Fessenden residents took 20 wagons to Sykeston and forcibly took possession of county records.
These other events on this date come from 1911.
In Bottineau, five prisoners escaped from jail after returning to their cells from supper. This was the second time they had broken out that week.
In Kenmare, a pile of burning garbage got out of hand, and the fire department was brought out. When one of the firemen brought along a ladder, someone asked why he needed a ladder when the fire was on the ground. He said that to ring the fire bell, he had to move the ladder, and he decided to bring it along for company.
And in Grand Forks, crop yields were so high that they ran out of railroad cars. In Cavalier County, Thorson Sabie got 104 bushels of oats to the acre, and George Fassler got 53 bushels of barley per acre. Near Bantry, the Lazier Brothers got 3,000 bushels of flax from 200 acres. At $2.00 a bushel, they made $6,000.
In Pembina County, 22 year-old farmer, Allan Andres, harvested 36 acres, yielding 900 bushels of oats, 1,500 bushels of potatoes, 71 bushels of beans and 70 bushels of barley. He made a total $1,820 or $53. $33 an acre was a fantastic amount for the time.
The record-breaking year for crops made North Dakota the state with the highest income per capita in the nation, at $1,931. And while the population of the United States had increased 21% in the previous ten years, North Dakota’s population had increased a whopping 80%. The state also had the lowest death rate in the Union.
And the last of our news – but certainly not the least – the Hansboro newspaper reported on the latest invention for the home… the gum board. It was designed to hang on the dining room wall. The name of each family member was painted around the edge to mark the spot where they could stick their gum until they wanted to chew it again.
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm
