Search results for

3/14/2017: Leonard Peltier has become larger than life since receiving back-to-back life sentences for the murder of two FBI agents in a shootout in Pine Ridge, South Dakota over 40 years ago. It was on this date in 1977 that his trial in Fargo began.

3/16/2017: The political scene in North Dakota has always been turbulent. Only a year after gaining statehood, the Farmer’s Alliance formed an independent party to challenge Republican control. In 1892, they joined with the Democrats to gain control of the state, but the success was short-lived, with Republicans regaining the edge in 1894.

3/17/2017: “Imperial Cass” County is more than just Fargo. North Dakota’s most populated county also includes a smattering of rural towns as elsewhere in the state. Page, North Dakota is about an hour from Fargo, north of Interstate 94 and about 20 miles from the Red River. The city’s post office was established on this date in 1882, inaugurating its status as a town. Historically, the Wahpeton and Sisseton bands of Dakota Sioux lived in the area.

3/22/2017: The sale of Liberty Bonds raised over $21 billion during World War I, thanks to banks and financial groups that bought the bonds for financial rather than patriotic reasons. The program did not catch on with the public. People were uncomfortable entrusting their money to what they saw as an uncertain investment.

3/23/2017: North Dakota is popular stopover for migrating waterfowl. Even endangered whooping cranes make a pit stop here, but the migrating snow geese at Lake Tewaukon are one of the most impressive sights. They’d give Alfred Hitchcock’s movie “The Birds” a run for its money.

3/24/2017: On this date in 1902, word came from Lisbon that a woman had been found dead near Velva. Elaine Lindgren wrote about it in her book, “Land in Her Own Name:”

4/3/2017: “Go home and slop the hogs and leave the lawmaking to us!” That’s what Treadwell Twitchell, a Republican Cass County legislator, supposedly said to a group of angry farmers in 1915. The farmers were arguing their case for a state-run grain elevator at a legislative meeting. Whether Twitchell uttered those exact words is unsure, but farmers across North Dakota, and across the country, heard the sentiment loud and clear.

4/5/2017: Rivers figure prominently in our history and culture. We can conjure images of Lewis & Clark exploring the Missouri, and the riverboat “Yellowstone” as the first steamboat on the upper Missouri.

4/6/2017: Since August of 1914, war clouds had hung over Europe. Although the United States had remained neutral, a declaration of war was not unexpected. With Congressional approval only a day away, the headline of The Williston Graphic prophesied in bold letters, “Into World’s War.”

4/11/2017: Throughout human history, tragedy seems to overwhelm happiness (and humor), but overall, there has always been more laughter than tears.