Search results for

8/21/2008: When the Marquis de Morès arrived in the Badlands of Dakota Territory in April of 1883, he pitched his tent on the east bank of the Little Missouri River near the crossing of the Northern Pacific. Christening the site with a bottle of fine French wine, the Marquis named it in honor of his wife, Medora.

8/22/2008: At the beginning of the summer in 1945, the secretary of the American Legion Post in Ashley asked the editor of the Ashley Tribune to report on what he and many others called a mystery: Some chicken had strayed from the chicken barn, and were lost.

8/23/2008: It was this date in 1868 that six soldiers escorting mail from Fort Totten were ambushed by Yankton and Blackfeet Indians in present-day Benson County.

8/24/2008: On this date in 2005 the ND Department of Agriculture issued a bulletin announcing a new website designed to help fight the spread of harmful vegetation. The department’s anti-weed website is not dedicated to curtailing the growth marijuana, but the spread of noxious weeds which not only destroy crops, but are harmful to humans as well.

9/12/2008: From the onset of the horseless carriage, North Dakotans have had a love affair with the automobile. The railroads set their stations about 7 and a half miles apart -- that was a convenient travel distance with horse drawn vehicles that traveled 3 or 4 miles per hour. But at thirty miles per hour cars and trucks traveled ten times as far. As transportation improved, the smaller towns died out.

9/16/2008: No matter how humble, there’s no place like home. Seeing a familiar face or even just going where “everybody knows your name”—it can be a blessing, for the world-weary traveler.

9/20/2008: Two years after the 1862 discovery of gold in Montana, Captain James Fisk, US Quartermaster Corps, organized a wagon train to Montana following a newly-proposed short-cut west from Fort Rice, Dakota Territory.

9/22/2008: “Remember this, with a good will you can accomplish anything you wish to do--anything that is good.” These words were spoken by Margaret Fjelde to her chidlren in their childhood on their North Dakota farm. The Fjelde, children, Paul, Margaret, Katherine, and Astrid; must have taken these words to heart, for they all became accomplished adults as artists, scholars, and teachers.

9/23/2008: From statehood Norwegian immigrants made up a high percentage of North Dakota’s population; and a strong Norwegian-American voice could be heard across the state. Never was this more apparent than in 1905, when after 600 years Norway became an independent nation.

10/7/2008: The summers of 1863 through 1865 were times of significant change on the plains of Northern Dakota Territory. The Sibley/Sully Campaigns of 1863 pushed the Indians westward across the Missouri River, and the subsequent campaigns of 1864 and 1865, led by General Alfred Sully, basically cemented control of the area for the advancement of the frontier.