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5/1/2017: May Day has a long history as a festival, dating back to the days of Druids and pagans. The ancient Romans celebrated it with a five-day festival. By the Middle Ages, every European village had a maypole. In America, a tradition began of children making baskets from wallpaper samples and colored paper, and picking wildflowers to fill them. The baskets were placed on the doorknobs of neighbors. But May Day also came to be known as a day of worker solidarity, frequently a date for protests to lobby for better working conditions. This connection with labor was formed by accident.

5/2/2017: On this date in 1907, the Courier Democrat of Langdon reported that promoters of a new railroad met with potential investors in Minneapolis. The delegation proposed a line through the northeastern portion of Cavalier County, connecting with either the Great Northern or the Soo Line. Representatives of the Union Railway Company of North Dakota visited the offices of both of the established railroads to advertise the benefits of their plan.

5/5/2017: On this date in 1899, the Devils Lake Inter-Ocean reported that a young horse thief’s grand plans came to a sudden end. Devils Lake police chief Hurst received a telegram asking him to be on the lookout for William Lester. Lester had stolen seven horses from Williston and sold them in Minot. It was apparently his plan to head for the Canadian border. Hurst came across Lester enjoying a meal at Reed’s Restaurant. The thief was promptly arrested and returned to Minot.

5/15/2017: This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of America’s entrance into World War I.

5/19/2017: In the modern era, we are all aware of the value of exercise in promoting health, and that a sedentary lifestyle is not good for the body. Over ninety years ago, J. H. Shepard of the Agricultural College in Fargo believed that exercise was the best medicine in dealing with youth.

5/22/2017: When the first settlers moved into the Dakotas, they had to adjust to a land without trees for houses, fences, and fuel. They adapted, but the lack of trees made life more difficult.

5/24/2017: Telling the story of a house is like peeling an onion, with layers of legends and significance. This concept, of peeling away layers, surfaced in 1939 when, on this date, a newspaper article about “Fargo’s First House,” told about the Pioneer Daughters organization making a historical marker to memorialize this legendary home.

6/1/2017: Washburn, North Dakota is located in McClean County on the Missouri River. It was founded in 1882, and the following year it was designated as the county seat. It was named in honor of General W.D. Washburn.

6/6/2017: On this date in 1918, the Hope Pioneer announced that Hope was the logical choice for the new county seat of Steele County. The headline on the front page blared “Hope for County Seat: Why Not?”

6/9/2017: Neurosurgery is a medical specialty that focuses on surgical treatments for neurological disorders. The first recorded neurosurgical procedure was trepanning, which involved drilling a hole in the top of the skull to drain evil spirits. This crude procedure was the only form of neurosurgery until the 19th century, when scientists began to experiment with removing a portion of the skull to operate on the brain directly. However, these first procedures were very dangerous and had a survival rate of only 10%. Then came Harvey Cushing, the father of modern neurosurgery. Cushing developed techniques that increased the survival rate to over 90%.