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12/3/2014: North Dakota is no stranger to dinosaurs. The state has a fascination with them. Fourteen dinosaurs are on display at the Dickinson Dinosaur Museum, including a 37 foot tyrannosaurus rex. In June, 2014, “Discover the Dinosaurs” presented an exhibit of animated dinosaurs at the Bismarck Civic Center. It proved to be very popular. The Hell Creek Formation in North Dakota is well known for dinosaur discoveries. Fossils can be seen in museums all across the state. But the most spectacular North Dakota dinosaur was only recently put on display.

12/5/2014: On this date in 1873, George Custer celebrated his thirty-third birthday at Fort Lincoln with his wife Libbie. He occupied his time writing his memoirs. Much of the material had been published in The Galaxy magazine, but Custer wanted to put it in book form. Custer knew some of his actions were controversial, and he wanted to leave his version of events for posterity – a memoir that portrayed him in a more positive light.

12/9/2014: North Dakota has gained renown as a wheat-growing state, but corn acreage has been growing this past century. Farmers who migrated to Dakota from the east knew corn cultivation and brought those skills to their new fields.

12/12/2014: In the late 1800s, Casper Hirsch immigrated to the United States with his family. They were among the Germans from Hungary who came seeking better lives. After spending some time in New York State, Hirsch was attracted to the West by the promise of owning land. He brought his family to North Dakota between 1900 and 1902. They homesteaded north of Gladstone.

12/19/2014: The Grandin Farm was the biggest Bonanza farm in North Dakota’s history. At 72,000 acres, it was so large that it ran like a factory, with hired workers and managers tackling 1,500-acre subdivisions.

12/22/2014: A quilt is more than a blanket. A quilt is more than just a bed-cover. An old quilt has family history inside and beauty and practicality outside.

12/23/2014: Once upon a time a farmer and his wife had a goose that laid one golden egg every day. To hasten their wealth, the farmer and his wife killed the goose to obtain all of the golden eggs at once, but there were no golden eggs inside. So, according to Aesop, to kill and butcher the goose was a foolish thing. Perhaps! On this date in 1932, a story comes to light from southeastern McLean County near Washburn that might bring the wisdom of Aesop into question. A farmer named Emil Oberg and his wife, Ida, were butchering geese when they discovered bits of rusty colored specs in the gizzards. By chance, a relative visiting the farm was a former prospector who identified the specs as gold ore.

12/24/2014: Dr. E. F. Ladd was among the first faculty hired by the North Dakota Agricultural College (now North Dakota State University) in Fargo. He was the first Dean of Chemistry. He became well known throughout the state as a crusader for purity in consumer products. He analyzed canned goods in his laboratory. He frequently discovered formaldehyde and borax in food. He found that companies were using inexpensive saccharine for sweetening instead of sugar. He also set up an area at the college where he tested paint.

12/25/2014: Christmas is a time of giving, and few can be more in need than those homeless and hungry in the harsh reality of a North Dakota winter. That is as true today as it was one hundred years ago on this date when the Glad Tiding Mission prepared to feed over 45 homeless men on Christmas Day in Fargo. The Glad Tidings Mission was founded on February 1, 1907 by the Rev. Orlando McCracken. He was a Methodist minister, but the mission served as a nondenominational shelter.

12/29/2014: North Dakota entered the United States as a prohibition state. That made it difficult, but not impossible to imbibe. In 1920, when the United States also passed legislation making it illegal to manufacture and sell alcohol, more reports of rum-running and busted stills filled the news.