Our midwestern living conditions in this part of the country are often the subject of some derision by others in these United States. In November of this week in 1909, The Medina Citizen newspaper was cited by the Fargo Forum and Daily Republican for reacting to one such slight.
Under the headline “North Dakota Editor gets warm under the collar; The Medina Citizen goes after prevaricators concerning North Dakota climate.”
What followed is the original comments of the Medina paper, which said:
“Some people either have never visited North Dakota and have a very much mistaken idea of the state’s climate or else there is a bunch of liars in other parts of the country who take delight in taking a shot at one of the best states in the union. In fact, we might say, the best.
“Some people seem to live under the mistaken idea that this state is about the last place before reaching the North Pole and that there is nothing here but a glacier formation. Wouldn’t such ideas cause a person to ‘throw rocks at their mother-in-law!’
“We were reading in the Oregon paper that North Dakota had been visited by blizzards the past October and that the weather had been around 15 degrees below zero. Now, what do you think of that! Such publications as this Oregon paper are very ignorant or else they would take the cake as prevaricators.
“This fall of 1909 has been ideal. We have had some cool weather, cold enough to form a thin skiff of ice-but that is all. And as blizzards are concerned, they are practically a thing of the past in this state.”
A lesson learned from 1909. Enjoy this November weather.
And please, Dakota Datebook listener: don’t ever be a prevaricator …and never throw rocks at your mother-in-law!
Dakota Datebook by Steve Stark
Source: The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican, Nov. 13, 1909
