Dakota Datebook

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll listen to Catherine Froelich, enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, in part two of Getting Through Boarding School.

On this date in 1931, an F3 tornado collided with the Empire Builder passenger train, the pride of the Great Northern Railway. The train had just left Fargo, heading east on a hot afternoon. The engineer and several passengers saw a small funnel cloud to the southwest. The funnel bobbed up and down; then the top of a haystack blew apart. Seconds later, the train shook and the windows blew out in several cars.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll listen to Katherine Froelich, enrolled member of the Mandan Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in Part One of "Getting Through Boarding School."

The United States is home to more turtle species than any other country in the world, with almost one hundred species and subspecies. North Dakota has four native species. All four have healthy populations and are classified as “least concern” on the scale of conservation status.

On this date in 1917, the North Dakota attorney general’s office made a shocking announcement. An arrest warrant had been issued for the president of the Soo Line Railroad, Edmund Pennington, for bringing liquor into the state. The assistant attorney general said immense quantities of liquor had been shipped to illegal clubs, blind pigs, and bawdy houses.

On this date in 1927, the Dakota Student, UND’s student newspaper, printed an article about a paradise proposed by the university's dean of engineering.

History is all around us, if only we open our eyes to see it, and sometimes get off the main highways and find it. One such historical gem is in McVille, in Nelson County. It’s the McVille Auditorium, a reminder of the 1930s Great Depression-era.

North Dakota witnessed a rash of local bank robberies during the Depression-era 1930s. Neighboring Minnesota even experienced a robbery that many attributed to Bonnie and Clyde.

May is National Historic Preservation Month, and today we look at another historic structure that relates to North Dakota’s transportation infrastructure.

Located near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, Williston was founded in 1887. Railroad magnate James J. Hill named the town for his friend, Daniel Willis James. Williston is the county seat of Williams County. At the time of Williston’s founding, Dakota Territory was untamed. Far from population centers like Fargo and Bismarck, Williston quickly developed a reputation as a wild and wooly town.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook we'll listen to JT Shining Oneside, enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa Nation, in part two of "A Native Perspective on Sovereignty."

If undisturbed, a poppy seed will lie on the ground for years without producing a plant, and partially for that reason, the poppy has become a symbol of war and remembrance.

In 1902, Indiana seed merchant James A. Everitt organized the American Society of Equity, one of the first organizations formed to improve conditions for American farmers. Everitt believed that if farmers organized, they would become a powerful political force. By 1906, the Society claimed there were almost three thousand local chapters, with almost every state represented.

The website for New England, North Dakota describes the town as “a small, friendly community in the heart of gold wheat fields, shadowed by the raw beauty of the Rainy Buttes.” The first settlement in Hettinger County, New England was founded in 1887. The name of the town reflects the early pioneers that came from the New England states of Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

May is National Historic Preservation Month. Once a week on Dakota Datebook we’re featuring historic structures and places in North Dakota related to our transportation infrastructure. Today, our topic is the Fairview Lift Bridge.

The bicycle, so common today, is a relatively cheap method of transportation. It is an efficient means of converting human energy into mobility. The first bicycle was made of wood and the rider propelled it by paddling his feet against the ground.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll listen to JT Shining Oneside, enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of the Chippewa Nation, in Part One of "A Native Perspective on Sovereignty."

This week in 1907, the University of North Dakota's student newspaper, The Weekly Student, printed an editorial entitled “The Scoffer.”

Concern about meat production arose in the 1880s when Department of Agriculture chemist Harvey W. Wiley reported on health hazards within the meat industry. Those included the use of unsafe preservatives and coloring agents. Wiley began lobbying for federal legislation governing the packing and purity of food products.

Transportation systems have left an indelible mark on the landscape. The pathways reflect many facets of history in commerce, technology, economics, and more.