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4/24/2006: This week’s news in 1900 included plans for the annual Fargo Fire Festival. A major portion of the city had burned to the ground 7 years before, and the festival had become a means for celebrating the town’s comeback.

4/25/2006: The death of Theodore Roosevelt in 1919 sparked an immediate interest in a memorial honoring his time spent in North Dakota. Over the next few years a site at the Little Missouri Badlands was selected by a group of entrepreneurs interested in building tourism in the state. But the proposal lay dormant as the project had little support from local ranchers who feared losing grazing acreage. But by the 1930’s overgrazing, drought and the Great Depression forced many ranchers to abandon their homesteads or sell for as little as $2 an acre to Franklin Roosevelt’s Resettlement Administration.

5/3/2006: In Paul Broste’s book, “The Proem,” we find the words of wisdom that drove him: “The time to quit is when you are dead and buried.” The day Mr. Broste “quit” was on this day in 1975.

5/8/2006: Yesterday we were introduced to Felix Vinatieri, best remembered for is his position as Custer’s last bandleader.

5/13/2006: It was reported in the Fargo Forum on this day in 1936 that the oldest customer of the Herbst Department Store in Fargo had been located. The store had been searching for the oldest customer in order to include them in their 44th anniversary ceremonies that included the installation of the largest neon sign in the northwest.

5/16/2006: The Fargo Forum reported the fears of Moorhead residents concerning North Dakota’s prohibition on this day in 1917.

5/17/2006: Today is celebrated as Norwegian Independence Day, an important day for North Dakotans large Norwegian population. It is also an important day to recognize Henrik Wergeland, a man whose influence is largely responsible for the celebration of Norway’s independence on this day.

5/20/2006: It was on this day in 1862 that the Homestead Act was signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.

5/22/2006: Today’s story has its roots—so to speak—in the subtropics that covered most of North Dakota 60-million years ago. It was the Paleocene Epoch, during which time palm trees, redwood trees, sycamores, magnolia and bald cypress trees provided habitat for turtles, crocodiles, champsosaurs, alligators and many other exotic animals.

7/8/2006: Like most North Dakotans, the citizens of Bismarck were accustomed to thunderstorms, blizzards, windstorms, and the occasional flood. But, today in 1968, they were to experience yet another of Earth’s natural threats: an earthquake.