The railroad arrived in what is now Slope County in the fall of 1907. A tent city sprang up on the bank of the Little Missouri River. Permanent structures quickly followed. The town of Marmarth was named for Margaret Martha Fitch. She was the granddaughter of Albert J. Erling, president of the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad. The town grew quickly and by 1911 it was the fifth largest North Dakota town west of the Missouri River.

Most people spend their summers swimming, grilling, and enjoying the sunshine. However, in the summer of 1987, the Mandan police spent their time investigating a petty crime that went to the North Dakota Supreme Court.

There was a time when taking a chance and “rollin’ the bones” meant literally rolling bones. The “bones” in this case are playing dice. Evidence of dice games dates back over 8,000 years, with various cultures making the die from shells, fruit pits, and animal bones. In particular, the ankle bones of sheep and cattle made good die because they are naturally cube-like in shape.

On this date in 1911, the Ward County Independent reported that Lucky Bob St. Henry had presented a spectacular exhibition at Minot. Several thousand people gathered at the Minot fairgrounds to watch Lucky Bob take to the air in his Curtis biplane named “Sweetheart.” Described as “the brave bird man,” Lucky Bob brought the first flight to the Minot area.

Part of Thomas Jefferson’s plan, when sending the Corps of Discovery across the American continent, was to foster positive relationships with the American Indians they encountered along the way. Initial contact between Lewis and Clark and Native Americans would be a crucial first-step, but Jefferson hoped to further cement US-Indian relationships by inviting tribal leaders to Washington D.C. to introduce them to the wonders of American civilization and impress upon them the advisability of an

The American Expeditionary Forces were advancing, with the British and French forces, along the front in France. The causalities were heavy. As of August 1, 1918, over 1.3 million American soldiers were in France. The War Department announced plans to send a quarter of a million men per month to France. They were determined to expand the presence of American forces in hopes of shortening the war. This strategy would put almost 3.6 million men at the front by June of 1919, and it would call for a

Samuel Glover once owned the largest farm in Dickey County. On this date in 1891, the Oakes Times ran an article about the operation. Glover planted 2,500 acres of wheat. It was described as “a golden sea of grain so tall that a person wading into its depths would be all but lost to view.”

It was this week in 1825 when Sioux Chief Waneta signed the Treaty of Prairie du Chien. It preserved all lands now in Central Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska for the Native American tribes. Afterward, Waneta traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with President John Quincy Adams. While there, Charles Bird King painted a portrait of the distinguished Chief.

When Dakota Territory was settled, the United States encouraged the arrival of European immigrants. At a federal court hearing this week in 1918, Judge Charles Amidon, noted this in the sentencing of the Rev. John Fontana, pastor of the German Evangelical Lutheran church of New Salem, who was convicted for violating the Espionage Act of 1917. The judge said, “We urged you to come, we welcomed you, we gave you opportunity, we gave you land, we conferred on you the diadem of American citizenship,

The Missouri River has a plentitude of fish. Modern-day anglers seek to catch wily walleyes, ravenous northern pike, big catfish and even paddlefish. Rough fish also abound, including buffalo fish, goldeye, and bullheads. In former days, Native Americans harvested fish from the mighty Missouri. Some tribes depended heavily upon fish for food, while others did not. One of the tribes, the Hidatsa, used fish traps, drags, or fishhooks.