Merry Helm

9/13/2016: Two stories of the lost being found took place on this date in 1923. Our first story takes place in McLean County in a little town called Dogden, which was founded in 1906 along the Soo Line Railroad. The village got its name from a nearby landmark, Dogden Butte, which was favored by dens of wolves.

9/9/2016: In response to a number of baseball teams being cut from the major leagues, a new league formed in 1902 involving North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Manitoba, Iowa and Ontario.

8/19/2016: In the early years of white settlement in North Dakota, there was a severe shortage of building materials, which is why many people made their homes from prairie sod. In some areas of the state, however, a good grade of clay was discovered, and within a few years, at least 18 brick factories sprung up. Among them was the Hebron Fire and Pressbrick Factory, founded in 1904.

8/1/2016: On this date in 2003, a new history book was just out called “Sheheke, Mandan Indian Diplomat: The Story of White Coyote, Thomas Jefferson, and Lewis and Clark.” It was written by North Dakota historian Tracy Potter.

7/26/2016: Today is the birthday of one of our most important frontier artists. George Catlin was born in Pennsylvania in 1796 when George Washington was in his second term.

7/20/2016: Today we look at the early part of famed aviator Carl Ben Eielson’s story. He was born on this date in 1897 in Hatton, North Dakota.

7/6/2016: It was during this week in 1956 that the International High School Music Camp began. It’s located between the U.S. and Canada in the International Peace Garden near Dunseith, North Dakota. Dr. Merton Utgaard was the camp’s founder.

7/5/2016: Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar, 33 year-old prince of Indore, India, had a busy day on this date in 1943. He divorced his second wife and married another 10 hours later.

6/28/2016: Today is the birthday of filmmaker Angela Murray Gibson. Nobody is certain what year she was born, because she refused to reveal her age, and her tombstone reveals only the year she died – 1953. Best guess is that she was born in Scotland around 1878.

6/2/2016: Rattlesnake season is upon us – anyway for those of us who live west of the Missouri River. Rattlers will need a full meal every 10 days until the weather reaches the 80s and 90s; then they only need to eat only once every three weeks. During the fall, they’ll increase their meals to once every two weeks to store enough fat to get them through winter hibernation.