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4/7/2005: Jacob “Jakie” Bull was a somewhat unusual rancher. When he later retired in Dickinson, he was known as “birdman,” which could have been connected to either one of his loves: birds or music.

4/12/2005: George Bird Grinnell, a respected authority on the Plains Indians, passed away on this date in 1938; he was 88 and had led a vigorous and amazingly productive life.

4/13/2005: Two weeks before North Dakota became a state, attorney Leslie Simpson of Minneapolis rented an office above a Dickinson bank and immersed himself in the world of frontier justice. Four years later, he was elected to the ND House and then served in the state senate until 1912.

4/20/2005: Earth Day is this Friday, and State Bird Day is next Tuesday. 2005 is also the 100th anniversary of the first wildlife refuge to be established in the state at Stump Lake. It’s a good time to tell the story of two men who had an enormous impact on wildlife conservation in ND. The first one’s namesake is Lake Darling northwest of Minot.

4/21/2005: In 1934, a USDA report read, “Serious drought conditions have arisen periodically throughout recorded history, always doubtless working hardship on waterfowl. But never, so far as is known, have there been so many destructive conditions and agencies at work at once upon a depleted waterfowl supply as during the past 5 years.”

4/26/2005: We’re spending a few days looking at some of the state’s history concerning alcohol. Yesterday we discussed the Bismarck booze bust of 1907. Today, we’re backing up a couple decades. On this date in 1877, Bismarck saloonkeeper, Peter Branigan*, was supposed to be executed. He had killed a soldier named Massengale in his saloon on Christmas and was almost lynched by angry soldiers that night. Branigan was found guilty in February, escaped from jail in March, and was caught in Audubon, MN, a few weeks later.

4/29/2005: Back in January, we brought you the story of Frank White, North Dakota’s eighth governor. He was the first governor to serve two terms, largely because he eliminated the state’s debt while simultaneously overseeing the addition of the north wing of the original capitol building. White was a civil engineer, a farmer and a banker. He also commanded the ND National Guard in both the Spanish-American War and World War I.

5/1/2005: On this day in 1945, waist gunner Sgt. Roland Opsahl, of Lakota, woke up to unfamiliar silence.

5/3/2005: It was exactly 100 years ago that The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican reported that, statewide, farmers had broken a record for early seeding.

5/8/2005: On this date in 1907, a Bismarck Daily Tribune headline read, “Pigger Cinched – Saloon Man Caught Red-Handed at New Salem Saturday.”