Jim Davis

5/19/2017: In the modern era, we are all aware of the value of exercise in promoting health, and that a sedentary lifestyle is not good for the body. Over ninety years ago, J. H. Shepard of the Agricultural College in Fargo believed that exercise was the best medicine in dealing with youth.

5/9/2017: On this date 100 years ago … in 1917 … the effects of the Great War were beginning to become a reality.

4/26/2017: Only two weeks after the Declaration of War, the military machine was progressing quickly. The prospect of raising an all-volunteer army was unrealistic, so Congress was expected to pass a draft bill by the end of April. However, North Dakotans had been quick to answer the call.

4/6/2017: Since August of 1914, war clouds had hung over Europe. Although the United States had remained neutral, a declaration of war was not unexpected. With Congressional approval only a day away, the headline of The Williston Graphic prophesied in bold letters, “Into World’s War.”

3/6/2017: On this date in 1917 charges were dropped against Fred Bartholomew, the proprietor of the Hotel Frederick in Grand Forks. He had been arrested on February 5th for breaking the Sabbath for keeping his lobby newspaper and cigar stand open on Sunday, which was forbidden under North Dakota Blue Laws.

1/25/2017: Despite the fact that the Dakota Territory had been blasted in the Eastern Press as a barely inhabitable, frozen wasteland, the lure of free land caught the interest of many Easterners. Lured on by claims made through the Northern Pacific Railway Company, those seeking a new life were offered their choice of at least 50,000 farms. In ads appearing in the newspapers across the county this week in 1880, James B. Power, head of the Northern Pacific Land Department, declared the properties to be the best wheat lands in the United States.

12/29/2016: Fifty years ago the National Historic Preservation Act was created to help preserve the diverse archaeological and architectural treasures of America.

12/9/2016: Fifty years ago, the National Historic Preservation Act was created to help preserve the diverse archaeological and architectural treasures of America. Fort Totten State Historic site is one of the best preserved military posts from the Indian Wars west of the Mississippi River. It was one of a series of posts established in the 1860s to protect routes from Minnesota to the gold fields in Montana. The original structure was composed of logs and surrounded by an 18 foot high log stockade.

12/7/2016: For many young people growing up in North Dakota during the 1920s and the 1930s, there was little opportunity to find decent jobs. Farms were falling to the mortgage man as drought made it difficult to scrape out even a marginal living from the land. Those who could afford to, went to college to learn a trade and start a career. For some, there were the jobs provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps or the Works Progress Administration. But then there were those who longed for adventure and wished to see the world. They traded their life from a sea of waving grass to the open sea with a stint in the US Navy.

11/25/2016: Fifty years ago the National Historic Preservation Act was created to help preserve the diverse archaeological and architectural treasures of America. Courthouses are often considered for historic preservation, and there is perhaps one type worthy of further discussion.