On this date in 1983 a B-52 Stratofortress bomber exploded at the Grand Forks Air Force Base with the loss of 5 personnel. Fortunately, it did not have nuclear weapons on board. That was not the case less than 3 years earlier when on September 15th, 1980, a B-52 on alert status caught fire. Fanned by strong winds, the fire became a giant flamethrower. The crew jumped clear and ran.

January 27: Nuclear Disaster, Almost

According to North Dakota State University Extension and Ag Research News, rabbits are responsible for killing more trees in winter than cold temperatures. Rabbits eat the bark off young trees, especially fruit trees, to get to the sugar-rich tissue just below the bark. If a tree loses bark all the way around its circumference, it is likely going to die.

January 26: Thieving Rabbits

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.

January 25: Memorial to Father Jerome

On the west bank of the Missouri River, about halfway between Mandan and Cannon Ball, sits the tiny town of Huff. The area was first homesteaded in 1888 by John S. Huff. A Northern Pacific Railroad station was built in 1910, and a post office opened in 1911. Huff never had a population that exceeded 60 people, but at one point there was a school, grain elevator, dance hall, store, restaurant, and motel. Rail service ended in 1966, the school closed in 1976, and the post office closed in 1985.

January 24: Huff Bar

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear Lorraine Davis, educator, leader, and enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate share her insights into the importance of working together to help each other grow an understanding of our differing perspectives.

January 23: Teachings of our Elders - Lorraine Davis on Differing Perspectives

On this date in 1925, the Bismarck Tribune reported that a committee examining possible sites for hospitals in the tenth district, which included North Dakota, recommended building a 200-bed facility on Fargo’s north side. The site was intended to care for tuberculosis-infected veterans.

January 20: Veteran's Hospital in Fargo

Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park was established in 1947. It’s home to a variety of remarkable critters, and officials have long sought to restore the area’s historic wildlife, including species present when future President Theodore Roosevelt ranched and hunted there in the 1880s.

January 19: Bighorn Sheep in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Matt Crowley was born in Minnesota in 1875. In 1887 his family relocated to North Dakota to establish a ranch where they raised Hereford cattle. Crowley only had four years of formal education. After that, his father was his teacher as they worked the ranch together.

January 18: A Successful Cowboy

As 1930 drew to a close, North Dakotans were in a state of shock. In the early hours of December 28, the guard on duty at the state capitol building heard a noise on the fourth floor and discovered a fire. He immediately called in a fire alarm. Bismarck’s two fire trucks and three firefighters quickly responded, but the blaze was out of control. As word of the disaster spread, citizens hurried to help.

January 17: A New Capitol Building

North Dakota Native American Essential Understanding Number Six is about native contributions. It states, "Native people continue to contribute to all levels of society, from local to global, in diverse fields, including medicine, science, government, education, economics, art, music, and many more." In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear Alex DeCoteau, educator and enrolled Member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, share his insight into exactly what it is that Native Americans have contributed to the United States.

January 16: Alex DeCoteau on Native American Contributions to Society

In 1938, Dr. George Foster and his wife Irene founded the Fargo Winter Club to boost interest in winter sports and athletics. That year, the group partnered with the WPA to build the Fargo Arena, an arena for local residents to participate in skating and other winter sports in more sheltered conditions.

January 13: Fargo Skating Arena

Today is another story of the young preacher called from seminary in St. Louis to McKenzie County a century ago. For 10 months, the Rev. Richard C. Jahn preached in English and German, and baptized, confirmed, and buried residents. He lodged with a bachelor homesteader in a cabin east of Watford City. At age 21, Jahn attended a dying person for the first time, a man mangled by wolves.

January 12: Fatal Wolf Attack

American attention on World War I shifted from idle curiosity to intense interest when the United States entered the war in April, 1917. Americans enthusiastically found ways to support the boys who were “over there.” They bought War Bonds, donated to charities, and joined the Red Cross. Posters, ads, newspapers, and the movies made patriotic appeals. Hollywood stars like Mary Pickford sold bonds and appeared in patriotic movies.

January 11: Preparedness Should be the Watchword

On this date in 1930, Edward Robertson, president of Wesley College, sent this typed letter to Vernon Squires, dean of liberal arts at the University of North Dakota: “Dear Friend of Thirty Years: This is a love letter. It is a bit unusual for one man to write a love letter to another man. I am not sure of the correct form or phrasing of it, but I am sure that no other sort would suit my idea of a letter that I wish to have bound together with writings of other friends in a Blue Key testimonial."

January 10: An Unusual Love Letter

North Dakota Native American Essential Understanding Number Five is about tribal policies, treaties and sovereignty. It states, "Native people practice self-determination, developing tribal policies and practicing political activism." Despite a history of US policies and treaties that have often been detrimental, native people are members of sovereign nations that predate the US government.

January 9: Teachings of our Elders - Kathryn Froelich on Tribal Policies

Usher L. Burdick was born in Owatonna, Minnesota in 1879. His family moved to Dakota Territory in 1882. He graduated from the North Dakota State Normal School in Mayville, then worked as deputy superintendent of schools for Benson County before entering the University of Minnesota Law School. He graduated in 1904 and was admitted to the North Dakota state bar. He opened a practice in Munich, North Dakota.

January 6: Usher L. Burdick

North Dakotans took great pride when the United States Navy announced that a new dreadnought was to be christened as the USS North Dakota. It was a Delaware-class battleship, armed with a main battery of ten twelve-inch guns and was capable of a top speed of twenty-one knots. North Dakota newspapers declared her to be the “Mistress of the Seas.”

January 5: The Mistress of the Seas

North Dakota’s extreme winter weather poses some limits on recreational activities. Sledding and ice skating can lose their attraction in below zero temperatures. Consequently, North Dakotans are happy to find opportunities for indoor recreation. The foundation for one such recreation was laid on this date in 1863 when James Plimpton patented a four-wheel roller skate.

January 4: Rolling Along

Governors throughout North Dakota history have given speeches to the Legislature to outline their priorities and proposals and to describe the state's outlook: a “state of the state,” it's been called. Those speeches are often given around this date, including in times of war, prosperity, gloom and uncertainty. Here’s a sampling:

January 3: Governors’ Speeches to the Legislature

North Dakota Native American Essential Understanding Number Five is about tribal policies, treaties, and sovereignty. In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear Demus McDonald, elder and enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota nation, tell the traumatic story of his own experience with assimilation policies practiced by America's Indian boarding school system.

Dakota Datebook

Dakota Datebook

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