Search results for

11/15/2016: Lundsvalley was originally written as one word when it was established in 1909 in a grassy, bowl-like valley north of Stanley, North Dakota. It began with a rural post office on this date in 1909.

11/21/2016: Fifty years ago the National Historic Preservation Act was created to help preserve the diverse archaeological and architectural treasures of America. To help prevent the loss of historical structures, and to recognize the important role of local participation in preservation, amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act established the Certified Local Government program or CLG’s in 1980.

11/17/2016: In 1933, the United States was four years in to the Great Depression. Tensions were high, and one group in particular was making noise in the Fargo area – milk wagon drivers. The drivers of the milk trucks were angry about working 70 to 90 hours a week for a mere $15. Meanwhile, down in Minneapolis, milk truck drivers made $34 for a 48 hour week.

12/8/2016: Before it was even built, advertisers were proclaiming Watford, North Dakota, as the latest, greatest town in McKenzie County. A modern boom town today, it had its start as a terminus on the Great Northern Railway, sitting at the center of the state’s largest county.

12/9/2016: Fifty years ago, the National Historic Preservation Act was created to help preserve the diverse archaeological and architectural treasures of America. Fort Totten State Historic site is one of the best preserved military posts from the Indian Wars west of the Mississippi River. It was one of a series of posts established in the 1860s to protect routes from Minnesota to the gold fields in Montana. The original structure was composed of logs and surrounded by an 18 foot high log stockade.

12/12/2016: On this date in 1913, a Grand Forks story reported on the last living member of the infamous Wild Bunch passing through town. Frank Walness, 39, told the reporter he had just gotten out of a Utah prison after serving 21 years; he said he left home when he was only 16 and began a career of crime with Butch Cassidy.

12/21/2016: The gray wolf is one of nature’s most majestic hunters. Weighing up to 175 pounds, it will prey on a variety of species … rabbits, beavers, deer, even bison and elk. Gray wolves will usually travel in packs of 2 to 15. This allows them to take down the larger prey. They are found in the northern Midwest and Canada, as well as Europe and Asia. Despite the fear that many people have of wolves, there is actually little record of wolves attacking humans.

12/30/2016: In 1909, the North Dakota Educational Association met at the end of December for several sessions over several days in Minot. The temperature was unseasonably warm, and an estimated 500 delegates were expected to attend. Everything was pointing in the right direction for a fulfilling convention.

1/3/2017: Andrew Burke was Born in New York City in 1851, but by age four he was orphaned. He became a child of the Orphan Trains, shipped out west to be given to a farm family -- out west at the time being Indiana!

2/22/2017: Banks in North Dakota were in big trouble in the 1920s and early 1930s as the farm economy turned sour. Of 898 banks in in 1920, 573 went bankrupt by 1933, an appalling sixty-three-percent.