Dave Seifert

9/22/2007: On this date in 1910, a friendly poker game in downtown Fargo turned violent.

9/20/2007: Blakey Durant, better known as “Old Shady," died on this date in 1884 in the city of Grand Forks, Dakota Territory. Old Shady was an early composer and singer of one of the country’s most stirring and popular war songs.

9/18/2007: Bonanza farms are a rich and living chapter in the history of the Red River Valley in North Dakota. In the latter part of the nineteenth century, these gigantic spreads were literally known throughout the world. Part of this legacy lives on today.

9/6/2007: On this date in 1869, Justina Fisher was born in Tarutino, Bessarabien, in South Russia. When Justina was sixteen, she came to America with her parents, arriving in Scotland, South Dakota. A year later, in 1885, Justina followed her parents north, to a homestead in the hills twenty miles south of present day Kulm, North Dakota.

8/29/2007: With the dog days of summer upon us, it’s a refreshing treat to sit down to a nice cold dish of ice cream. Or maybe an ice cream cone, or ice cream sundae. Our options today for eating ice cream seem endless. As you probably know, this hasn’t always been the case.

8/28/2007: On this date in 1860, United States Army Lt. Colonel John J. Abercrombie established a fort at the head of navigation on the west bank of the Red River of the North, in what is now Richland County. This became the first military post to be built in what was eventually to become North Dakota.

8/19/2007: In the 1930’s, drought covered the entire Great Plains for almost a decade. With it, the drought brought other dangers.

8/12/2007: Another example that crime doesn’t pay proved itself again on this date in 1931.

7/31/2007: As one might suspect, on a wide open North Dakota prairie, when the work is done for the day, it’s time for stories. Sometimes, when the facts were a little skimpy, old timers of the area would improvise.

7/29/2007: On this date in 1908, there was a bust made in the city of Fargo.