Lane Sunwall

11/24/2010: It was this date in 1927 that up-and-coming businessman Bertin Clyde Gamble married Gladys Pearson. While certainly a joyous occasion, the Gambles couldn’t afford to take a leisurely honeymoon; they and their business partner, Phil Skogmo, had an empire to build.

10/15/2010: While buoyed by the fall of Czarist Russia, the international Communist Party faced stiff resistance from Western democracies by the early 1920s. Combined with the failure of revolutions in Poland, Hungary and Germany, party officials realized they needed a more subtle method to spread their ideology. Instead of directly fighting the capitalist structure, communist organizations worked to undermine it from within: through political activism and communist outreach.

9/1/2010: It was this date in 1881 that the Northern Pacific Railroad began major operations on the first million dollar project in North Dakota history. And that was when a million dollars could actually buy you something.

8/19/2010: However important the role of agricultural exports in North Dakota's economy today, for thousands of years one of our area's principle exports was not food but weapons.

8/18/2010: While North Dakota is known for its beautiful, yet often dry prairies, the eastern edge of the state is bordered by a series of rivers. For early settlers of the Dakotas, these bodies of water proved to be a significant obstacle for travel, and bridges were simply unavailable. As a result, fords, shallow stretches in a river, provided easy access points by which people of all types could enter the Dakota plains. Among the most important of these fords was the Maple Creek Crossing; a gateway to the Northern Plains.

8/11/2010: Today, Lake Johnson sees few visitors. Yet, strategically located along the communication and supply lines between US military forts and the immigrant trail to Montana, Lake Johnson was an important watering hole on the plains of Dakota Territory for much of the 19th century.

8/4/2010: Built in 1883, six years before North Dakota became a state, the Stutsman County Courthouse is the oldest of its kind in North Dakota.

7/14/2010: Nearly 150 years ago, during the brutally hot summer of 1863, the army of General Henry H. Sibley struggled north through Dakota Territory. Their destination: Devils Lake, the reported campsite of Chief Little Crow's band of Mdewakanton Santee Dakota held responsible for a series of violent raids against Minnesotan settlements a year earlier.

6/5/2010: Proudly positioned on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River stands a solitary marker commemorating Fort Mandan—headquarters of the Lewis and Clark expedition during the winter of 1804-1805. While a beautiful reconstruction of the fort was built near Washburn in 1971, the original fortification sat alongside the Missouri some ten miles west.

4/28/2010: Sugar: the sweetener of kings. Today that slogan is perhaps a little outdated. The sparkly white substance is easily obtained with spare change or even free with a cup of coffee. However, this sweet situation was not always the case.