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6/10/2016: The Grand Coulee Dam in Washington State is the largest dam in the Columbia River Basin, and one of the largest in the world. When the country was in the throes of the Great Depression, the dam was one of President Franklin Roosevelt’s public works projects. The Roosevelt Administration pursued public works to help the national recovery and, in the case of dams, provide for power generation to help pay for the project. The Grand Coulee dam met those tests. It provided hundreds of jobs and a source of electricity to help jumpstart the economy.

6/17/2016: In 1931, chemistry professor Roland Harger invented a device called “the drunkometer.” It was the first practical device to measure whether people were drunk. Harger deliberately made it very easy to use so judges and juries would understand how it worked. In 1938, he served on a subcommittee of the National Safety Council. He helped draft an act that would legalize the use of evidence from such chemical tests and to set the legal alcohol levels for drivers. The act was incorporated into drunken driving laws nationwide.

6/22/2016: The flickertail ground-squirrel has always been a common sight across North Dakota’s prairies, what with its twitching-whiskers and sharp movements, darting across pastures and road-ditches. It is famous for flicking, or jerking, its tail while running – or before zipping down a gopher hole. Although small in stature, these rodents flourished in such massive numbers that they lent the “Flickertail State” its nickname for decades. However, farmers detested flickertails because the little varmints feasted on wheat-kernels, causing big income losses.

6/24/2016: Parents must be constantly vigilant to protect their children as the little ones grow up. This is as true today as it was in the deep past. One hazard from yesteryears involved rain barrels.

6/28/2016: Today is the birthday of filmmaker Angela Murray Gibson. Nobody is certain what year she was born, because she refused to reveal her age, and her tombstone reveals only the year she died – 1953. Best guess is that she was born in Scotland around 1878.

6/27/2016: There was a great deal of excitement in Jamestown on this date in 1922. It started when forty patients of the state mental institution went out for a supervised walk. The weather was lovely and everyone was enjoying themselves when a patient decided to strike out on his own. The unnamed patient left the group and disappeared into the trees. The attendants could not follow until the rest of the patients were safely returned to the hospital. By that time, the escapee had disappeared and the chase was on.

6/29/2016: On this date in 1926, final preparations were being made in Fargo for a royal visit. Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Crown Princess Louise of Sweden were scheduled to arrive the following day. The royal couple set out from Washington, D-C, receiving enthusiastic receptions as they traveled across the country. The Fargo committee in charge of arrangements asked that the business district be decorated for the occasion. L.B. Hanna, chairman of the committee, said many out of town visitors were expected. He hoped the city would put its best foot forward.

7/1/2016: When Congress created Dakota Territory in 1861, its borders reached across the modern Dakotas into today’s Montana and Wyoming. The first person responsible for surveying these lands was George D. Hill. Hill was a large, jovial man who “loved alcohol” and served as surveyor general for the territory starting on this date in 1861 when his office was established at Yankton. Yankton was the territorial capitol before Bismarck yanked it away.

7/4/2016: The National Historic Preservation Act was created to help preserve the diverse archaeological and architectural treasures of America. One of these treasures in North Dakota was Fort Union, a well-built trading post instrumental in the fur trade. Fort Union was east of Buford in Williams County. Initially established as Fort Floyd in 1828, the fort was renamed Fort Union by the American Fur Company, which operated it for most of the time it was active.

7/5/2016: Maharaja Yeshwant Rao Holkar, 33 year-old prince of Indore, India, had a busy day on this date in 1943. He divorced his second wife and married another 10 hours later.