Carole Butcher

When the Civil War ended, Ulysses S. Grant was a national hero and a logical candidate for president. He won the election of 1868. On this date in 1872, he won a second term in an election that had major ramifications for Dakota Territory.

Fires were a menace to frontier towns, with many towns burning to the ground, often more than once. Buildings were heated with fireplaces and coal stoves and lit by candles and oil lamps. With wooden structures standing close together, disaster was always just around the corner, and all it took was one careless mistake.

As the Eighteenth Century faded into the rearview mirror, things were changing at a mind-boggling pace. Americans began to take to the roads in automobiles. Horse-drawn streetcars were giving way to electric vehicles. Visitors to the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis marveled at flying machines and electric coffee makers and dishwashers. The world was on the verge of a new age.

Valley City, established in 1874, was originally known as Worthington, named for George Worthington, a strong promoter of the settlement. The name was changed to Valley City in 1878. The city is known as the "City of Bridges" due to the many bridges across the Sheyenne River, including the Hi-Line Railroad Bridge. The first census in Valley City in 1880 recorded three hundred twenty residents. By 1890, the population had grown to over a thousand, and Valley City continued to expand from there.

As World War I raged, urgent pleas for help came from Jews in Eastern Europe. They were suffering not only from food shortages but also from discrimination and oppression. An estimated two million Jews were entirely dependent on charity. In response, the Orthodox Union in the United States established a relief committee in 1914. When fundraising efforts fell short, they asked President Wilson to designate Jewish War Relief Day. Wilson approved the measure in 1916, noting in his proclamation that Americans “have learned with sorrow of this terrible plight of millions of human beings and have most generously responded to the cry for help whenever such an appeal has reached them.”

Black patriots played an important role in the American Revolution, with about five thousand African Americans serving the cause of independence. From the first shot at Lexington and Concord to the final shot at Yorktown, Black recruits fought side by side with their white comrades. By the time of the Civil War, the American military was segregated, with nearly 200,000 African Americans serving in the Union Army and Navy.

In October, 1918, World War I was winding down, and would concluded in less than a month. Newspapers were still full of war news, with maps and details of troop movements dominating the front pages. However, on this date in 1918, the war was pushed off the front pages of North Dakota newspapers by news of devastating fires that afflicted Minnesota. While readers could still learn about President Wilson negotiating the end of the war and German forces retreating, the headlines focused on the death and destruction caused by the massive fires in Minnesota.

For thousands of years, American Indian tribes lived in what is now North Dakota with their own systems of government and economy. They were pushed out of their traditional lands as Euro-Americans began to arrive. The Homestead Act of 1862 attracted new immigrants with promises of cheap land, while tribes were confined to reservations as new settlers established their homes.

1912 promised to be a banner year for North Dakota farmers, with predictions of a bountiful harvest for virtually every crop. North Dakota had never seen such a promising harvest. However, there was one big snag, and for a change, it wasn’t the weather—it was a shortage of farm laborers.

As Europe edged toward World War I in 1914, armies still relied on horsepower of the four-legged kind. Sir Douglas Haig, a British cavalry officer said, “Airplanes and tanks are only accessories to the man on a horse.”