Search results for

6/18/2014: July 4th, the opening day of the Constitutional Convention, was coming soon and in Bismarck the city fathers were weighing some very ponderous questions, such as which event would get the prime afternoon time slot – the baseball game or horse racing. Bismarck was planning one of the finest two-day celebrations that had ever been carried out in the territory. Not only was it the 113thIndependence Day for the nation, but in a sense it was an Independence Day for the citizens of North Dakota. Finally, the yoke of territorial carpetbaggers was being thrown off and the final step to self-government was about to begin.

6/23/2014: This week in 1889, Bismarck was busy preparing for the arrival of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention, which was to begin on the 4thDay of July, as stipulated in the Omnibus Bill. But among a number of the delegates there was growing discontent with the Capital City.

6/24/2014: In 1874, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still developed the practice of osteopathy, a form of holistic medical care still studied and practiced today. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine, called DOs, train like MDs, but they differ in philosophy and approach to patient care.

7/7/2014: On July 4th, 1859, writer Manton Marble sat on a hill near Breckenridge, Minnesota, watching lines of oxcarts inch their way through the Red River Valley below. Minnesota had become a state the year before, and the Dakota Territory was two years from creation. This made the Red River of the North the dividing line between the United States and the mysterious land visited by Lewis and Clark fifty years before.

7/14/2014: There was nothing like an interesting trial to pass the time on hot summer days. After a lengthy trial, a jury acquitted Joe Miller of obtaining money under false pretenses. The event had been the talk of the town. Prosecutors alleged that he used his position as accountant to swindle his employer. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about his guilt or innocence.

7/29/2014: When the United States entered World War I, George Vaughn Seibold volunteered. He was attached to the British Royal Flying Corps. His squadron was assigned to combat duty in France. He regularly corresponded with his family, but then the letters stopped. Since aviators were under the control of the British, his family had a difficult time getting information about what might have happened. His mother, Grace Darling Seibold, faithfully visited wounded veterans, and she clung to the hope that George might be injured, but alive, perhaps sent back to the U.S. without identification.

8/1/2014: On this date in 1912, W. H. Schien became manager of a new business he established in Valley City—a cigar factory.

8/29/2014: What did North Dakota--specifically, Lisbon--and Australia have in common on this date in 1962? Both were listed among the world leaders in the production of the grain of millet.

9/3/2014: The Constitutional Convention was over and it was time to concentrate on the October election. The Republican Convention convened in Fargo on August 22nd with many of the old political war horses already on the ground promoting themselves or their candidates.

9/17/2014: When people think of nobility who lived in North Dakota, the Marquis de Mores usually comes to mind. But he was not the only European noble to make his home here. Lord Berriedale of Scotland operated a farm in Nelson County from 1884 to 1905.