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6/28/2012: Paul Johnsgard, famed ornithologist and author of over fifty books, was born in Fargo on this date in 1931. Growing up in North Dakota, Johnsgard’s love for wildlife was fueled by his forays into the nearby plains and wetlands. His father took him hunting, and his mother encouraged his interests, but his mother’s cousin, “Bud” Morgan, left the largest impression. A North Dakota Game Warden, Bud took Johnsgard on his annual spring waterfowl surveys.

7/3/2012: C. L. Murphy accidentally discovered natural gas near Westhope, North Dakota, on this date in 1907. Murphy had set up a wooden drilling rig in hopes of locating water on land owned by W. B. Parker. Mr. Parker hired Murphy to build a well for his livestock and farm operations, and was surprised to hear that his holdings included an immense reservoir of ‘marsh gas,’ as natural gas was known at the time.

7/4/2012: Dakota Datebook has often chronicled the July 4, 1914 celebration of North Dakota’s and Norway’s historical ties with the Lincoln statue dedication ceremonies. That event featured Gov. William Hanna and a contingent of state personalities, including former Lincoln White House guard Smith Stimmel, at Kristiania, Norway.

7/5/2012: Fargo Police Officer Frederick Alderman was accidentally shot and killed in the line of duty on this date in 1882. At only twenty-five years old, the ill-fated officer had served with the department only two months.

7/7/2012: With temperatures as high as 119 degrees, North Dakotans were battling one of the worst droughts in American history on this date in 1936.

7/8/2012: The first instrumentally-located earthquake in the history of North Dakota occurred on this date in 1968.

7/9/2012: Swiss artist Rudolph Kurz began working for the American Fur Company on this date in 1851. Unlike fellow western artist George Catlin, twenty-nine year old Kurz had been subjected to intense artistic training in Europe. For over twelve years he had studied under Classical masters, including fellow Swiss artist Karl Bodmer. It was Bodmer who suggested Kurz gain experience in America.

7/11/2012: The Tarzan movies showed us scenes of how evil ivory traders and unscrupulous explorers tracked wounded and aging elephants to the elephant graveyard. The elephant graveyard was that mysterious, perhaps mythical location that all old elephants go to die... all except one that is.

7/13/2012: The Ronald Reagan Minuteman Missile State Historic Site opened on this date in 2009 near Cooperstown, North Dakota. Containing both the Oscar-Zero Missile Alert Facility and the November-33 Launch Facility, the site “…introduces visitors to the state’s role in international relations and the significance of missile installations on North Dakota’s history and culture.” On continuous alert for nearly thirty years, both sites served as part of the United States’ strategy of nuclear deterrence during the Cold War.

7/21/2012: Financier Chester Fritz announced a 1 million dollar gift to the University of North Dakota on this date in 1965.