Sitting Bull to Phil Jackson, cattle to prairie dogs, knoephla to lefse. North Dakota's legacy includes many strange stories of eccentric towns, war heroes, and various colorful characters. Hear all about them on Dakota Datebook, your daily dose of North Dakota history.
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Dakota Datebook is made in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and funded by Humanities North Dakota, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities North Dakota or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
You can find all Dakota Datebooks from 2018-today below. Our archive of Datebooks from 2003-2017 can be found here.
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A roaring noise and sudden darkness enveloped the village of Alice, North Dakota, on June 12, 1950, as twin tornadoes descended, bringing destruction in their path. -
On this date in 1954, 2nd Lt. Arnold Weber was on a training flight out of Ellsworth Air Force Base near Rapid City, South Dakota.
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What are the odds of three men named Charles being killed by a single lightning strike at the same place and time?
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Patriotic North Dakotans enlisted in large numbers when the United States declared war on Spain in 1898. The 1st North Dakota Volunteers were sent to the Philippines. But not all North Dakotans served in that unit and not all went to the Pacific.
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Sworn in as the 18th President of the United States on March 4, 1869, Ulysses S. Grant found himself in a bind. Prospectors were swarming into the West. New settlers made their way into Dakota Territory. The Transcontinental Railroad was nearly complete. Trails across the Great Plains were turning into roads. All this progress increased conflicts with Native American tribes.
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The 164th Infantry Regiment traces its roots back to the Dakota Territorial Militia, established in 1862. That militia evolved into the National Guard units of North and South Dakota. The North Dakota Guard served in the Spanish-American War as the 1st North Dakota Volunteer Infantry. The unit entered federal service again during World War I, becoming the 164th Infantry in 1917.
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North Dakota has close ties with Minnesota, sharing many overlapping interests, with business being one of the biggest. On this date in 1925, the city of Bismarck prepared to welcome businessmen from St. Paul to discuss potential business ventures. In anticipation of their arrival, the Bismarck Tribune extended a “right royal welcome” to those coming to “where the West begins.” The newspaper noted that the two states shared common interests “that bind them in a lasting bond of personal interest and friendship.”
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In 1923, it was reported that a Lisbon man was making good money catching frogs and shipping them to eastern markets. He found the business quite lucrative. He said he shipped forty pounds of frog legs every day. Packed in ice, they arrived at their destinations in good condition. September, he said, was the best month to catch frogs. He planned to continue working along the Sheyenne River until it froze.
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When Reverend I.O. Sloan set foot in Bismarck in 1873, it was a “wild and wooly” Western town. Bismarck had a few new wood-framed buildings, but it was teeming with “tents and gamblers,” and loud profanity prevailed. “Pandemonium seemed to reign” in saloons and gambling places that were open 24 hours a day.
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Since pioneer days, the life of a North Dakota farmwife was often described as one of unrelenting hardship, drudgery, and isolation. On this date in 1930, the Bismarck Tribune announced plans for "a sort of paradise" for farmwives. Vacation camps with games, picnics, music programs, community singing, and recreation would be enjoyed in pleasant surroundings, "where cooking, dishwashing, laundering, and the other usual duties of the farm mother are taboo."
Dakota Datebook is made in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota, and funded by Humanities North Dakota, a nonprofit, independent state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities North Dakota or the National Endowment for the Humanities.