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7/30/2005: Small pox decimated the Mandan tribe in 1837.

8/1/2005: People who grew up in the German Russian regions of the state likely knew at least one person who either moved to Lodi, California, or who had relatives there. This was the result of a quest by Wilhelm Adam Hieb, who became known as “Columbus” for encouraging others to join him there.

8/2/2005: North Dakota lost one of her great old-time cowboys on this date in 1942. Turkey Track Bill – alias William Molash – was a cowpoke who helped trail vast herds of cattle in the 1890s. He got his nickname from working for the Turkey Track Ranch, which brought cattle up from Texas during the summers. Molash once helped move a herd of 7,000 cattle over the Rocky Mountains from Salt Lake City.

8/5/2005: During the Cold War, the United States actively monitored Soviet military activity around the globe, and on September 2, 1958, a nearly forgotten episode in history took the lives of 17 Air Force personnel. A C-130 aircraft left Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey, on a supposedly routine flight. The aircraft had a front-end crew of six men flying the plane and a back-end crew of eleven Russian linguists. They were enlisted men – part of the U.S. Air Force Security Service. Called “silent warriors,” their job was reconnaissance: they were to intercept Russian radio signals that would help evaluate their military strength and capabilities.

8/4/2005: Edward Parmelee Smith was educated at Yale and ordained as a pastor in 1856. He became a general field agent of the American Missionary Association, and then served as Indian Agent for a Minnesota Chippewa tribe. He was appointed U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1873.

8/6/2005: Back in 1914, on this date, Bismarck learned some interesting news. G. J. Koenan, Bismarck’s register of deeds, received a letter from James Emmons, his counterpart in Pawnee, OK.

8/8/2005: When settlers first came to the Dakotas, they brought with them their favorite seeds and plantings for raising fruit, vegetables, grains and trees. It didn’t take long to realize the climate wasn’t going to cooperate. Business leaders understood the success of farmers and ranchers was crucial, and they lobbied the U.S. Congress for a research lab to develop improved plant strains.

8/26/2005: Today is the birthday of George Ott, who was born in 1919 on his parents’ homestead near New England, ND. After graduating from high school, Ott took two years of pre-med training at Dickinson College and also joined the ND National Guard. After finishing with the Guard, George was given a choice of what to do next. He wanted to join the Army Air-Corps, but he first had to have his tonsils out. His brother’s friend was a doctor, so George had the operation in the doctor’s office and then herded sheep until his throat felt better.

8/30/2005: J. E. Shannon was being held in the Cass County jail at this time in 1916. He was arrested March 28th, of that year, during an attempted robbery and gunfight in the Fout & Porterfield Drugstore in Davenport, south of Fargo. Five months later, on August 24th, Sheriff John Ross discovered something unusual.

9/3/2005: On this date in 1914, Governor Louis B. Hanna proclaimed the area encompassing the Standing Rock Reservation in ND as Sioux County.