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7/26/2004: Today is the birthday of one of our most important frontier artists. George Catlin was born in Pennsylvania in 1796 when George Washington was serving his second term in office.

7/27/2004: It was two years ago today that Canterbury Park in the Twin Cities inducted horse trainer Bernell Rhone into its Hall of Fame. The press release stated, “An outstanding horseman and gentleman, Rhone scored his first victory at Canterbury with Green Meringue on July 3, 1985. Since then the North Dakota native has saddled winners in every racing season at Canterbury Downs and Park.”

7/28/2004: The Battle of the Killdeer Mountains took place on this date in 1864. During the 1850s, treaties with Minnesota Indians promised them food, clothing, land, money and farming tools, but these rations weren’t delivered. The People were starving, and a number of events flared into the 1862 Minnesota Uprising, which left hundreds of whites dead. War was declared on the Native People, and as retaliations escalated, many hundreds of innocent Indians died.

7/29/2004: It was on this date in 1985 that astronaut-scientist Anthony England finally reached outer space. He was part of a 7-man crew aboard the space shuttle Challenger, which orbited the planet 126 times in 7.94 days. Just six minutes after the shuttle was launched, one of Challenger’s three main engines shut down. It was too late to abort the mission; instead the situation became an “abort to orbit” – the first time it ever happened. When the Challenger returned 8 days later, the mission was considered a success.

7/30/2004: Today is the birthday of William Gass, a writer and philosopher born in Fargo in 1924. He received his doctorate in philosophy from Cornell in 1954 and is one of today’s most critically acclaimed authors of fiction and criticism.

7/31/2004: It was on this date in 1955 that the state’s monthly oil production topped the one million barrel mark for the first time, when 1,000,154 barrels were produced in July of that year.

8/1/2004: On this date in 1894, the Grand Forks City Council approved the purchase of a half block of land to create the city’s first water filtration plant – the first in North Dakota. For two years, the city had been experiencing an epidemic of typhoid fever; 10% of the population had contracted the disease, and 150 people had died. It turns out that a short distance upstream, Crookston was dumping its sewage directly into the Red River – from which Grand Forks got its drinking water.

8/2/2004: It’s interesting how some characters sound good just because they have three names. Like South Dakota’s Wild Bill Hickock or North Dakota’s Limpy Jack Clayton. Well, here’s another one – Turkey Track Bill, and we’ll bringing you a number of stories on him as time goes on.

8/3/2004: On this date in 1881, Valley City was incorporated as a village. It had four other names before getting its final version. It was called Second Crossing of the Sheyenne when the Northern Pacific Railroad founded it in 1872. Probably because that was a bit wordy, it was soon renamed Fifth Siding and then renamed again within the year. That name? Wahpeton.

8/4/2004: This has nothing to do with North Dakota, but it’s hard to overlook. On this date in 1997, the world’s oldest person died in Arles, France. Jeanne Calment was 122 years and 164 days old, the oldest person who ever lived on the earth – who can be verified, that is. In her younger years, Jeanne met famous artist Vincent van Gogh, who she said was “dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable.” Hmmm.