Steve Stark

6/8/2012: Many American cities in the 19th century were plagued by raging fires made more dangerous in their devastation by a combination of wooden buildings and limited firefighting practices. Heating by wood and coal-fired stoves was as much a threat as it was a comfort in the 1800s. Wooden buildings in town, resting closely side by side above wooden boardwalks were primed for out-of-control fires.

6/6/2012: As part of his dream for settlement of the western United States, President Abraham Lincoln knew that the steam locomotive and railroad lines could play a critical role. His 1864 Transcontinental Railroad Act put the power of the government behind the railroad’s potential.

5/23/2012: Fargo, Dakota Territory was chartered as an official city in 1875. The town named by the Northern Pacific Railroad offered its first school in 1872 when a cabin located in Island Park served a handful of students taught by a fifteen-year-old girl.

5/17/2012: A traveling photo studio managed by a famous photographer might seem like an innovative idea even in contemporary times. Just imagine its attraction in 1886 Dakota Territory.

5/5/2012: Tornadoes are nature’s most violent storms, and the United States has 75 percent of the world’s tornadoes. Although no state wishes to be included on a list of tornado-related statistics, violent weather has a way of making its way into the history books.

5/2/2012: England’s King Charles II made a wise decision on this date involving the new world that created the Hudson Bay Company. The monarch granted a royal charter to an initial group of investors allowing them to trade in the Hudson Bay drainage basin in present day Canada.

5/1/2012: For many years there has been a key “go to” print source for information about North Dakota’s past. North Dakotans, with either a casual or intense curiosity about the heritage and historical perspective of their state, have benefited from Dr. Elwyn B. Robinson’s “The History of North Dakota” since its publication in 1966.

4/29/2012: A treaty effective this date in 1868 was the culmination of bloodshed, battle and painful memories. It reflected the complicated aftermath of another civil war, not between North and South, but between the American government and the great Sioux nation.

4/25/2012: A remarkable photograph was taken this spring date in 1865. That event was mere weeks after the Civil War and just days after the slaying of Abraham Lincoln.

4/22/2012: At the height of the anguish during the flood of 1997 in Grand Forks, hope was offered by the federal government and the chief executive.