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6/7/2008: On this date in 1879, a The Bismarck Tribune story read: “A. L. Ophir writes. . .from Fort Buford a lively sketch of a pistol interview between French Joe and California Jack, Yellowstone characters. Unfortunately, no on [was] hurt.

6/9/2008: It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s… Dewey Dorman?

6/10/2008: This date in 1939 was not a typical day in Fargo-Moorhead. The Crown Prince and Princess of Norway were winding up a 3-day visit to the area, when early that morning they heard an explosion from the east side of the river.

6/11/2008: It was on this date in 1900 that Rudolph Alexander Rudd was born to Norwegian immigrants in Fargo. Rudy was tall and slender, with perfect posture and movie-star good looks.

6/13/2008: During the wee hours on this date in 1955, the Fargo Grain Terminal collapsed, reducing the massive structure to a massive pile of rubble and grain.

6/15/2008: Former Major League Baseball commissioner, Albert “Happy” Chandler, passed away on this day in 1991. While holding the commissioner’s office, Chandler initiated the racial integration of Major League Baseball. It is a story in which North Dakota played a supporting role.

6/16/2008: Where there's fire, firemen are sure to follow. And lucky for us, too—for they are the protectors of a country where fiery disasters are many, varied, and terrible. Growing up, many children learn about and consider becoming firemen, and they are almost universally considered heroes, in our culture. Braving the flames, racing to avert disaster, they are men and women the rest of us can depend upon.

7/3/2008: Tomorrow is a big day for our country—the Fourth of July. We prepare early for the big day, when we are allowed, and almost expected, to shoot off firecrackers, to feast on apple and cherry pie, watermelon, hot dogs and hamburgers, to wear red, white, and blue, even to display flags—anything, to show our love of country.

7/4/2008: In the spring of 1886, Theodore Roosevelt returned to his ranch in the Dakota Badlands after hearing reports of an early thaw. Less than a week after his arrival, Mike Finnegan and two other drifters made the mistake of stealing Roosevelt’s rowboat. After a 13-day, 150-mile chase, Roosevelt turned the Finnegan gang over to the area’s sole law enforcement authority in Dickinson.

7/6/2008: “To think—a hot day, some real water—and a 10-year-old boy.” This statement, made in 1916, seems nostalgic and philosophic, today. Skinny-dipping was the next step.