Carole Butcher

In the early twentieth century, automobile makers understood the value of presenting new cars as entertainment. Farmers shopping for new equipment at farm shows and women seeking the latest household conveniences couldn’t help but be drawn to highly polished automobiles and acres of shining chrome.

Americans have always regarded George Washington with great reverence. It became a custom to celebrate his birthday. He was born on this date in 1731. Or was he?

While many immigrants settled in the East, the Homestead Act enticed a large percentage to the Great Plains, an unfamiliar land that had until then been under tribal control. The land they were able to claim was many times larger than the small farms they had in their home countries. Immigrants were crucial to the settlement of the Great Plains in general, and North Dakota in particular. In 1870, thirty-four percent of the settlers in Dakota Territory were foreign-born. By 1915, nearly eighty percent of North Dakotans were either immigrants or the children of immigrants.

In the early days of the twentieth century, newspaper readers frequently skipped the main headlines and turned right to the back pages to catch up on local news in columns with names like “Society News.” These columns contained information that seems so minor and mundane that we might wonder why newspapers bothered to take up space with them.

A steam locomotive can burn through a massive amount of fuel in a short time. Wood-burning engines were fine for eastern railroads in heavily forested areas, but not practical on the Great Plains. It made more sense for those trains to burn coal, and burn coal they did. Depending on the size of the engine and its speed, a locomotive could burn as much as 800 pounds of coal per mile. The fireman had to constantly shovel coal into the firebox to keep the train moving.

Prior to the 19th century, time was a local matter. Each town set a public clock to noon when the sun was at its highest point. Towns close together could be on different times. This system worked well enough, until the railroads arrived. Travelers found schedules confusing, since each stop followed a different local time. It was often hard to know exactly when a train would arrive or depart. The problem was solved in 1883, when the United States adopted the four time zones we know today.

Accidents at railroad crossings were fairly common in the early days of railroading, and the results were often gruesome. When survivors brought lawsuits, courts frequently ruled in favor of the railroads.

President Theodore Roosevelt called the first Governor’s Conference in 1908. Roosevelt was concerned about the state of the environment and invited all the governors to the White House to discuss conservation. The governors found the gathering so useful that they went on to establish the National Governors Association. The organization is made up of the governors of all states and territories.

Invented in the 1870s, the power binder cut grain and tied the stalks into bundles using twine. One person and a team of horses could accomplish work that had formerly taken six workers to do.

In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Dr. William Jayne as territorial governor. Jayne recognized that the territory needed some form of defense. The legislature passed "An Act to Organize and Discipline the Militia of the Territory of Dakota."