Carole Butcher

When the Great Depression hit in 1929, 15 million Americans were thrown out of work. They lost their jobs, their savings, and their homes. When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, he believed it was the federal government’s responsibility to pull the country out of the financial disaster. He established government programs to accomplish that task.

The first wagon train of pioneers arrived in California after a 1,730-mile journey that took five months. The Bartleson-Bidwell Party was the first organized wagon train to successfully cross the Rocky Mountains and reach California, arriving on this date in 1841. The group’s success demonstrated that the journey was feasible and marked a pivotal moment in westward expansion. More settlers were encouraged to make the attempt.

On this date in 1917, the Bismarck Tribune proudly announced that 18,312 North Dakota families had signed the Food Pledge.

On this date in 1911, an article in the Bismarck Tribune informed readers that Representative Champ Clark, the Speaker of the House, strongly favored annexing our northern neighbor.

The mail-order business began when Montgomery Ward launched the first mail-order company in 1872.

South Minneapolis native Alexander Heine, born in 1885, worked for the Milwaukee Railroad. But the railroad wasn’t his first love. Alexander became enchanted by the magic of powered flight and caught the flying bug at an early age. He ventured to California, where he attended the Curtiss School in San Diego. When he returned to Minnesota, he couldn’t afford to buy an airplane, so he built one.

Adams County was created in 1907 with land that was broken off from Hettinger County. It is located in southwestern North Dakota and encompasses 987 square miles. The county was named for John Quincy Adams, a Milwaukee Railroad official who was a distant relative of President John Quincy Adams.

Direct global disaster costs reach about $200 billion annually, but the overall economic impact goes as high as $2 trillion as the economy suffers disruption. Wealthier countries suffer the most when it comes to economic costs, but developing countries suffer more in terms of human suffering.

In August 1939, a group of concerned scientists drafted a letter warning of the potential development of powerful bombs of a type never seen before. They urged the United States to begin acquiring stockpiles of uranium ore and to support Enrico Fermi’s research into nuclear chain reactions. The letter was signed by Albert Einstein and delivered in person to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Railroad tracks finally began creeping west from Duluth, Minnesota, in 1870. On a cold New Year’s Eve in 1871, the railroad finally reached the Red River at Moorhead. Construction on a railroad bridge across the river continued through the winter. The residents of Fargo eagerly watched a locomotive sitting on the tracks, waiting for the completion of the bridge. On June 6, 1872, a group of women boarded a ferry and crossed the river. They decorated the engine with flowers and were then invited to climb aboard the train. The locomotive got up steam, the whistle blew, and the train moved majestically across the bridge and into Dakota Territory.