Prairie Public NewsRoom
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Carole Butcher

  • Section three of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution is perhaps best known for the restrictions it places on who is qualified to be President. But there are four other sections in the Amendment, and one of them directly relates to North Dakota railroads.
  • North Dakota is home to over 400 bird species, but the honor of being the state bird goes to only one. On this date in 1947, the North Dakota legislature chose the western meadowlark, which actually isn’t a lark. It is a songbird in the same family as blackbirds and orioles.
  • Dakota Territory began the work of organizing counties in 1861. Pembina was the first official county, established in 1867. Some North Dakota counties remain in their original form. Others were carved up. The southern portion of Hettinger County, for example, became Adams County. And the Bowman County story is interesting. Created in 1883, it was eliminated in 1903 due to a lack of settlement, then reestablished 1907.
  • Anna Ingulsrud was 18 years old when she worked as a waitress in a Fairdale, North Dakota. Otto Weberg, 24, courted her, determined to marry. Anna, however, did not return his affection. Weberg became distraught upon learning Anna was seeing another man.
  • Veterans, even those who were wounded, have not always been readily supported. It’s an issue the United States has struggled with since its founding. The Continental Congress pledged money for anyone wounded in the Revolutionary War, but the new government was strapped for cash and didn’t follow through. Veterans of the Mexican American War only received pensions forty years after the war ended.
  • During World War I, American farmers benefited from high prices. Enjoying the extra income, many borrowed money to buy more land and equipment. But agricultural prices fell suddenly after the war. The cost to produce a bushel of wheat was seventy-six cents, but wheat was selling for only sixty cents!
  • As 1931 faded into the rearview mirror, the presidential campaign of 1932 began heating up. Held against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, it promised to be a tough contest for incumbent President Herbert Hoover. Democrat William H. Murray, the governor of Oklahoma, was among the challengers.
  • The Gas Light Company of Baltimore was the first American commercial gas lighting company, making Baltimore, in 1817, the first American city illuminated by gas flames. Gas lighting soon spread across the country, although some areas were slow to catch on. It wasn’t until the 1880s that the Dakotas began to light up the night with gas lamps. By the early twentieth century most American cities had streets, homes, and businesses illuminated by gas, with rural areas still dependent on lanterns.
  • North Dakota is located in the center of North America and experiences what is called a continental climate. One feature of this climate is the unpredictable weather patterns.
  • In 1883, Bismarck won out over Yankton as capital of Dakota Territory. When two states emerged from the territory in 1889, Bismarck was named the capital of North Dakota. Not everyone was happy with the decision. Residents of other cities thought their locations would be an improvement. When the capitol building burned in 1930, “removalists” as they were called, thought it was an ideal time to push for the relocation of the state government. It seemed like a good time to promote the move since a new capitol building had to be built.