Lise Erdrich

Elders who were children in the 1930s at Turtle Mountain remembered Midnight Mass as the main celebration of Christmas.

In 1893, Clint Nickells, a Kansas City druggist, came to Wahpeton and rented a house with Mrs. Maude Graham and her three children. The pair intended to establish Dakota residency so they could divorce their spouses. Mr. Graham soon arrived from Minneapolis; he had hired detectives to trace his wife after learning of several large trunks she’d checked into the baggage car.

In November 1896, Reverend Schemerhorn arrived in Wahpeton, leaving his pastorate in New Jersey. After correspondence with eastern contacts who praised his work, local leaders secured his services. He came highly recommended by well-known Baptists and was offered the pastorate of the local Baptist church. The congregation was pleased with him.

On this date in 1911, the Wahpeton–Breckenridge community was still reeling from the events of the previous week. Word-of-mouth versions of the story circulated until the weekly newspapers came out.

Old Wild Rice is the “George Washington” of the Pembina Band of Chippewa. He was frequently mentioned in the Northwest Company fur trade journals of Charles Jean-Baptiste Chaboillez and his successor, Alexander Henry.

Once there was a man who came to Dakota seeking his fortune. He prospered and proposed marriage to a lady back east. But she hesitated to come to Wahpeton, terrified of tornadoes.

On this date in 1896, the Jamestown paper reported Mrs. Swain had been taken home to New Rockford for burial. She and her lover were found dead in a Valley City hotel room. A note left at the scene said, "You will find sufficient funds in my pocketbook to bury us. Our last request is to bury us together without any fuss, and do not try to find out who we are. Parted in life but joined in death."

The Commercial Hotel, built before 1878, was among the first few buildings in Wahpeton, and its only hotel before the boomtown years. It was advertised as "first-class in every way," popular with those seeking business opportunities, land claims or a quick Dakota Territory divorce.

November 19 marks the annual Lydia Pinkham Open Studios event in Lynn, Massachusetts, showcasing artists at the historic factory where Lydia’s famous Vegetable Compound for Women was manufactured.

On this date in 1932, a two-day demonstration of Boy Scout activities was held at the Wahpeton Indian School for troops from Richland and Wilkin counties. Physician and author Charles Alexander Eastman, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota, served as an advisor in developing the national Boy Scout movement and its Native American Lore component.