Search results for

11/12/2004: Today we continue the story of a miners’ strike that ended with Governor Lynn Frazier declaring martial law on this date in 1919. It was a year of great upheaval. Across the country, the working class rebelled against corporate greed by walking off the job.

11/14/2004: News coming out of Grand Forks on this date in 1906 stated that Martin Doyle had been acquitted for the charge of murdering his Cavalier County neighbor, Vincent Weiler.

11/16/2004: On this date in 1885, Louis Riel was executed at Regina, Saskatchewan, for treason. Riel was a Metis, a unique mixed-blood population made up primarily of French and Chippewa ancestry. As a leader of his people, Riel came to be a controversial figure in Canadian history.

11/18/2004: Breathtaking hills, valleys and grassy buttes surround the town of Linton, southeast of Bismarck. East of town, stallions run with their bands of mares. They are Nokotas, the ND State Equine.

11/26/2004: It was two years ago today that UND benefactor, Ralph Engelstad, quietly passed away after a battle with lung cancer. He is primarily remembered for his sense of humor, his philanthropy, his humanitarian spirit, and his savvy business ventures.

11/28/2004: During the summer of 1801, Alexander Henry and his employees built a new trading post named “Fort Pembina” near the Red River just south of the Canadian border.

12/17/2004: Arthur Wellesley Kelley was born in New Brunswick on this date in 1832. Forty years and one week later, he became the first postmaster of Jamestown, of which he was the first settler. And the first merchant. And owner of the first general store.

12/18/2004: In December 1913, the Fargo Forum reported, “What promises to be the greatest social affair of the year at the YMCA is the mammoth Bachelor of Ugliness contest to be conducted on New Years day. Already the members are...putting forth every effort to have the greatest laughing feast of the season...The dormitory men, gymnasium men, men in the night educational classes, gas tractor school men and old boys are holding...conventions to nominate their candidate.”

12/20/2004: Today is the first day of Hanukkah, a holiday celebrated by a substantial number of Jewish homesteaders near Devils Lake in the early 1900s. Rachel Calof later wrote in her autobiography:

12/24/2004: James Grassick started his career as a physician in Buxton in 1885. Among his many interests were Indian lore and archaeology – you might remember that he once owned the Highgate mastodon that now resides in the ND Heritage Center in Bismarck. He also enjoyed writing, and each year, he put together handsome booklets for his friends for Christmas. In one of these, he wrote of a special Christmas Eve he experienced back in the horse and buggy days. It was after nightfall when the good doctor was called to attend a woman in labor in a remote settler’s home.