Jayme L. Job

10/18/2012: Governor William Langer issued an embargo on North Dakota wheat on this date in 1933, stopping all shipments from the state of Number One Dark North Spring Wheat and Number Two Amber Durum. North Dakota National Guardsmen were placed on active-duty at midnight and posted at all state border crossings in order to enforce the order.

10/9/2012: Infamous escape artist and murderer Richard Lee McNair escaped along with two other inmates from the North Dakota State Penitentiary at Bismarck on this date in 1992. The escape was the second of three.

8/26/2012: North Dakota’s earliest recorded airplane fatality occurred on this date in 1919, when a small plane went down near Sutton.

8/25/2012: Three years ago, Governor John Hoeven proclaimed August 25 Pay it Forward Day in North Dakota.

8/19/2012: A large party of Dakota Sioux attacked New Ulm, Minnesota, on this date in 1862 and began a siege of the small prairie outpost.

8/11/2012: Did you know that much of North Dakota was once a Spanish possession? F

8/8/2012: The 1967 World Tournament of Horseshoe Pitching concluded on this date in Fargo. Considered one of the most exciting tournaments in the history of the sport, the games were attended by 26,000 spectators. Will Gullickson, a sports writer for the Fargo Forum, helped to organize and promote the ten-day event. For his efforts, he was awarded the Arch Stokes Memorial trophy, an annual award honoring the person who is believed to contribute the most to the sport of horseshoe pitching.

8/6/2012: Travis Hafner made his Major League Baseball debut on this date in 2002, playing for the Texas Rangers. One of only fifteen North Dakota natives to play in the Major Leagues, the designated hitter has garnered the most home runs for a player born in the state.

8/5/2012: During the 1940s, convenience foods had become increasingly popular. Frozen and canned foods became plentiful, and researchers also looked to dehydration as a way to preserve food and minimize storage and transportation costs.

8/3/2012: The village of Valley City was incorporated on this date in 1881. Founded seven years earlier, the village was the only settlement between Mapleton and Jamestown, an important stopping place for western settlers before crossing the Sheyenne River. Although the earliest settlers arrived in the valley in 1872, it wasn’t until the Northern Pacific Railroad plotted its course through the settlement that it began to grow.