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4/3/2011: The Missouri River has long been a means of transportation and a source of water and food for the prehistoric tribes of the Northern Plains. Later tribes, such as the Hidatsa, migrated to the banks of the river where they cultivated and developed their maize, squash and other staples.

4/4/2011: As late as 1871, General W. D. Hazen reported to the War Department that the country now known as North Dakota was uninhabitable and fit only for the buffalo and the Indian. However, when the Northern Pacific Railroad crossed the Red River in 1872, it touched off a wave of immigration as thousands of Europeans migrated to Dakota Territory in search of the rich, fertile land buried under a sea of waving grass.

4/6/2011: Americans woke up this morning in 1917 to discover the country at war. Like other college campuses across the country, the State Normal School at Minot soon felt the war’s impact.

4/7/2011: “Ya got trouble, right here in River City,” may have been the rallying cry of Professor Harold Hill in 1912 Iowa, referring to the presence of a pool table in that fictional community, but a moralistic group of people in a small North Dakota town didn’t need any trombone salesman to rally them to the cause.

4/29/2011: Radio was an exciting medium in the first quarter of the 20th Century. On this date in 1922, three young men from Fargo, Lawrence Hamm, Earl Reinecke and Kenneth Hance, anxiously awaited a very important piece of paper.

4/30/2011: The Parent-Teachers Association was formed to bring the home and school closer together for the benefit of the child.

5/2/2011: For the late 19th century churches of North Dakota, meeting the religious needs of a growing population spread across 70,000 square miles presented many challenges. Some areas lacked a building; others a minister.

5/6/2011: In this year of 2011, many events will commemorate the one-hundred-fiftieth anniversary of the Civil War. One of the most visible reminders of the Civil War in Grand Forks is a statue of a Union soldier on a small triangle of land beside Belmont Avenue, and it was on this date in 1912, during the FIFTIETH anniversary of the Civil War, that the the City Council in Grand Forks selected the location.

5/30/2011: An older editor once wrote, “What does Memorial Day mean to America? Crowds hurrying into packed ball parks – to crowded open air stadiums where automobile races are being held – to open-air boxing matches – to field meets, rowing regattas, whatnot. What will Memorial Day of the future mean to these frivolous pleasure seekers, who now find Memorial Day nothing but a holiday in which to seek their favorite amusement?”

6/2/2011: Summer brings thunderstorms to North Dakota and June days can harbor erratic weather. At least once every summer especially powerful thunderheads roll over the plains and prairies. Some storms give the air an eerie greenish tinge before the thunder and the rain arrive. Black clouds give warning to seek shelter.