Sarah Walker

In August 1907, General Sir Robert S. S. Baden-Powell of England organized the Boy Scout Movement, to motivate, teach skills, and give agency to local boys. It didn’t take long for this idea to spread across the world. In the spring of 1910, a newspaper reported that the Young Men’s Christian association scouts had formed in Springfield, Massachusetts “Clad in khaki suits, golf hose, belts, and rakish slouch hats.”

In Cavalier County, about 17 miles east of Langdon, 43 acres of land are enclosed within four perimeter fences. Hardened remote launch operations exist below the earth, with two concrete ventilation towers above ground, along with sentry stations. The Sprint missile launch area contained 17 launch stations.

Amidst the early immigration to North Dakota were individuals from Syria, in what is today Lebanon. The Syrian-Lebanese formed communities in various counties across the state. Like so many, they were looking for better opportunities and a better life. Together with the rest of the community, they toiled, struggled, and succeeded.

In July 1928, the Minot Daily Optic ran a brief article about the opening of “the new Hariman Sanitarium” in Grand Forks. A dedication of the building was held, opening it for public inspection. It was three stories high, constructed of brick and concrete. The article reported that: “Modern hospital equipment, including electrical apparatus, has been installed.”

Today, we recognize one of North Dakota’s listings in the National Register of Historic Places.

In March 1929, as ice broke up in the Missouri River, local federal meteorologist O. W. Roberts watched, issued advisements, and recorded what was going on. He wrote: “As long as there is ice on the Missouri river, there is danger of a flood.” Many others also watched the river. The Bismarck Tribune commented the “banks of the river between Bismarck and Mandan were crowded with spectators.” They watched huge logs in the river and reported seeing muskrats riding downstream on cakes of ice.

In March of 1929, ice on the Missouri River began to break up early. Some of the ice flowed free, but some piled up in ice gorges, blocking the waterflow. The threat of flooding loomed. One large ice gorge formed at Huff, 18 miles south of Bismarck. The jam was 25 to 30 miles long — solid, and stuck.

Relatively early on in his reign, on this date in 1914, amidst reports of the opening ceremony of the British Parliament, King George V was also making news in North Dakota. Prince George Frederick Ernest Albert was proclaimed King George V of England in 1910. He would reign until 1936 through some tumultuous times.

It’s not every day that one can turn back time, but it happened on this date in 1931. Two years before, in 1929, Senator William E. Martin of Morton County introduced a bill that would put all of North Dakota in the central time zone.

Mathias Hunt was born in Germany in 1848. He immigrated to America as a teenager, entered the Benedictine monastery in Indiana soon after, and became a priest by 1872. Best known as Father Jerome, he moved to Dakota Territory in 1877 and began working as a missionary at the Standing Rock Reservation. Eventually, in 1883, he traveled to the Mission of St. Michael’s on the Fort Totten Reservation.