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2/7/2009: "North Dakota oil fever" was growing in 1939, with three new oil rigs slated to be built in Morton and Slope Counties that summer.

2/8/2009: In April of 1951, North Dakota newspapers reported Corporal Edward Lovejoy, of Williston, had been killed in action in Korea, and Sergeant First Class Willas Teske, of Hazen, had been seriously wounded.

2/9/2009: While he may not be often remembered today, Bjug (Bee-you-g) Harstad was one of North Dakota's most prolific church and school planters of the 19th century.

3/13/2009: Two things people in North Dakota can count on this time of the year: blizzards and high school basketball tournaments. Almost anyone who's traveled to a March tournament has a storm story to go along with it. The 2009 Girls Class B tournament is in the books. The Class A boys and girls are playing this weekend in Fargo, (travelers to that tournament just missed having their own storm story to tell).

3/15/2009: Thirteen million people unemployed; 5,000 failed banks; industrial production down 45%; home-building down 80%. When? Between 1929 and 1932. It was the beginning of the Great Depression, which lasted roughly ten years.

3/16/2009: Anna Held, born Helene Anna Held in Poland in 1872, was a popular name in Hollywood gossip in the early 1900s. She was a star of great consequence, a woman of her own whims. It was said that she had some talent, but it was her figure and her persona-magnified by her common-law, showman husband, Florenz Ziegfield-that brought her the greatest fame.

3/30/2009: Compared to some states, North Dakota can only claim a short list of feature-length films. Today, Wooly Boys and Fargo are arguably the most widely-recognized, but that wasn't always the case. On this date in 1982, Americans outside of the upper plains were treated to the first viewing of Northern Lights.

3/31/2009: Extreme temperatures, isolation, and utter boredom broken only by the terrifying reality of Indian raids. As if that weren't enough for the soldiers living at Fort Buford, they also had to contend with buildings literally crumbing to pieces around them as they worked, ate and slept.

4/1/2009: For many people, April Fools' Day is a time for mischief and tomfoolery. However, on this date in 1943, mischievous time itself "fooled" many North Dakotans.

4/11/2009: St. Mary's Catholic Church and its Iron Cross Cemetery, in Hague, ND, are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Most early settlers in the Hague area came from southern Russian villages including Baden, Elsass, Kandel, Mannheim, Selz and Strassburg.