Christina Sunwall

5/7/2009: Anne Carlsen always wanted to be a teacher and she refused to let the lack of fully developed arms or legs stand in her way.

5/2/2009: The discovery of gold in the Black Hills created an immediate need for transportation to southern Dakota Territory. Before the railroad reached Pierre, a stagecoach along the Bismarck-Deadwood Stage Trail was the most popular mode.

4/28/2009: "No Dakota for me," Mr. Cooper exclaimed in 1878. "I crossed the entire territory, from east to west... and I am free to say that I would not give the shadow of a lamb's tail for all the Dakota dirt we passed over."

4/26/2009: The news of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination came as a tragic shock to a nation already weary after four years of civil war. Dakota Territory was no exception.

4/23/2009: Elizabeth Cady Stanton once confided to her journal, "...we are sowing winter wheat, which the coming spring will see sprout, and other hands than ours will reap and enjoy."

4/14/2009: It was a calm, clear evening in the middle of the north Atlantic on this date in 1912. The drop in temperature signaled an approaching region of ice, but danger was far from anyone's mind. But suddenly lookouts noticed the black spot of an iceberg. With orders to turn, the ship slowly veered left. But it was too late. The glancing blow along the starboard bow proved fatal.

4/2/2009: In 1900, the Devils Lake Free Press described the state's Republican Convention as "one of the stormiest" ever held in North Dakota. Behind the storm lay a powerful political figure: Alexander McKenzie.

3/31/2009: Extreme temperatures, isolation, and utter boredom broken only by the terrifying reality of Indian raids. As if that weren't enough for the soldiers living at Fort Buford, they also had to contend with buildings literally crumbing to pieces around them as they worked, ate and slept.

3/30/2009: Compared to some states, North Dakota can only claim a short list of feature-length films. Today, Wooly Boys and Fargo are arguably the most widely-recognized, but that wasn't always the case. On this date in 1982, Americans outside of the upper plains were treated to the first viewing of Northern Lights.

3/18/2009: For sixty-seven years, the North Dakota Governors' Mansion served as home to twenty-three state executives. Originally constructed in Bismarck in 1884 by a local businessman to serve as his family residence, the state purchased the home nine years later when it became apparent funds approved to construct a new governors' house were insufficient.