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12/9/2015: Thirty years representing North Dakota were acknowledged in a farewell speech by U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan on this date in 2010. He delivered the speech on the Senate floor four weeks before his third term ended.

12/10/2015: On this date in 2013, the city of Williston, North Dakota adopted an ordinance, proposing to annex 217 acres of land north of Highway 1804 and south of the BNSF railroad tracks. The annexation became effective on October 1, 2015. It was one of a dozen annexations that became effective on that date.

12/14/2015: North Dakota entered the Union as a dry state, and perhaps as a consequence, it has quite a history of bootlegging. One place to purchase illegal alcohol was a speakeasy, named for the habit of speaking quietly at the door to avoid attracting unwanted attention.

12/16/2015: James B. Power was born in New York State in 1833. After studying civil engineering. He spent a few years as the deputy state treasurer for Minnesota. But most of his working career was spent with railroads. The Northern Pacific Railway employed him as a clerk and later as a civil engineer. For the Great Northern Railway, he worked as a land commissioner, responsible for selling thousands of acres to bonanza farmers.

1/4/2016: Kurt Johnson, a 54-year-old NDSU transportation researcher, was last seen alive at Cooperstown’s Oasis Bar on New Year’s Eve 2010. After falling off his barstool, the bartender suggested police escort him home, but a man with a machine gun tattoo had other ideas.

1/13/2016: Some years get off to a hard start, like 1916 which began with a record-breaking cold snap. On this date that year, Hannah, North Dakota was declared the coldest location in the United States with a temperature of 52 below. 40 below and colder were common throughout the state. At 38 below, Grand Forks was considered mild. The cold temperatures combined with high winds to make any kind of travel difficult.

1/14/2016: The annual Cowboys Reunion Rodeo started out somewhat accidentally at the first Mercer County Fair in 1915. Among the exhibits was a shorthorn bull, and Frank Chase of Fort Berthold decided he wanted to ride it – which he did. The crowd was impressed and passed a hat, and Chase walked away with $30.

1/15/2016: As with many professions, the legal field had historically been the province of men only. In North Dakota, one of the early women to enter the field was Beryl Levine.

1/19/2016: The original United States Constitution did not limit a president to serving only two terms. George Washington set that precedent when he resigned after serving for eight years. Washington’s voluntary two-term limit was the unwritten rule until 1940 when Franklin D. Roosevelt began a third term. In 1944, he was elected to a fourth term. Following Roosevelt’s death in 1945, Republicans sought passage of the 22nd Amendment, which would limit presidents to two terms.

2/10/2016: Dakota Territory was wilder than ever on this date in 1863 when acting governor John Hutchinson issued a recruitment order in response to the U.S.-Dakota War.