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2/7/2006: On this day in 1804

2/9/2006: On this day in 1942, a special Northern Pacific passenger train arrived in Bismarck from the West Coast. It was “special” because it was not a regularly scheduled train. The passengers had not planned the trip or paid the fare. It was arranged for them. When they boarded the train, they had no idea where they were going, and when they disembarked in Bismarck, they had no idea where they were. They were simply following orders given by the authorities…terse orders. The submachine guns spoke volumes.

2/14/2006: Young Theodore Roosevelt’s pocket diaries tell of the depth of his love for his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, and the depth of his grief when Alice died at age 22, two days after giving birth to their daughter, and just hours after his mother died…on this day in 1884.

2/21/2006:

2/22/2006: On this day in 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered a message to Congress regarding the inadequacy of the nation’s highways. At the end of his speech, he turned over two studies that demonstrated the urgency and outlined a plan for building a modern, safe Interstate Highway network over the next ten years.

2/26/2006: In 1881, newcomers were pouring into Dakota by the trainload to set up homesteads on square parcels of prairie. At the same time, there were still some native people who could not let go of the freedom they had known to live, and hunt buffalo, and move about as they pleased.

2/27/2006: On this day in 1891, at the end of North Dakota’s first legislative session, Governor Andrew Burke signed Senate Bill No. 60, creating a state owned home for soldiers at Lisbon. The soldiers they were thinking about then were mainly Civil War veterans. Governor Burke, who was 41 at the time, was among the youngest Civil War veterans, having enlisted as a drummer boy as a young teen.

3/2/2006: It was on this date in 1895 that the military established Fort Lincoln on the Missouri River south of Bismarck. But, you say, Fort Lincoln is south of Mandan, on the other side of the river. Let’s just say if you’re not a history buff, following the overlap of forts in North Dakota can make you dizzy.

3/3/2006: On this date in 1907, the Liner Dakota was on her seventh voyage on a clear bright afternoon when she struck a reef off the coast of Japan and sank.

3/7/2006: Today is the birthday of Einar Olstad, who was born in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1878. He was just a year old when his parents, Hans and Ida, immigrated to America. They settled in Sioux Falls, Dakota Territory, where Hans ran a blacksmith shop.