Dakota Datebook

Canada entered World War I on August 4, 1914, when the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. Canada showed solidarity to the United Kingdom by also declaring war.

Decades of interaction with white Americans reshaped Native culture as they adapted to horses, guns, and trade goods. Eventually, the free-ranging lifestyle of Native peoples was permanently altered as they were forced onto reservations.

On this date in 1909, Wahpeton newspapers congratulated Eugene Schuler on his federal post office and Catholic church construction at Kearney, Nebraska. His firm soon secured federal contracts across the western U.S., including the Wahpeton post office in 1915. Schuler’s Northwestern Construction Company built public buildings, Catholic churches, schools, private residences, and commercial and industrial facilities in at least 12 states.

On July 5, 1902, William Ross traveled to a farm near Willow City and broke into the home of Thomas Walsh. There, he committed what newspapers called one of the most cold-blooded murders ever committed in Bottineau County. He shot Walsh while the elderly man was asleep, then stole three horses and a wagon before fleeing south.

The process to ratify a constitutional amendment is complicated and time-consuming. The Archivist of the United States, who heads the National Archives and Records Administration, oversees the procedure. Congress can propose an amendment by a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate. Alternatively, two-thirds of the states can call for a constitutional convention, though no amendment has ever been proposed in that manner. Once an amendment passes Congress, it must be approved by three-fourths of the states.

North Dakotans were both alarmed and annoyed by a crime spree in 1925. People kept an eye out for anyone who looked suspicious. In November, thieves visited the turkey farm of A.L. Orange, just outside of Jamestown. When neighbors returning from town noticed a suspicious car parked by the farm, they acted. The car sped off at high speed, and the neighbors followed, resulting in a high-speed chase that reached fifty miles per hour. The chasers got close enough to obtain the license plate number and a description of the getaway car. They shared the information with law enforcement, but the thieves managed to escape with nine turkeys.

The entire country was shocked when news came of the Battle of Little Bighorn. Two hundred sixty-eight soldiers of the 7th Cavalry were killed, including the handsome and popular Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer. With the regiment posted at Fort Abraham Lincoln, residents of Dakota Territory felt they had a personal interest in the 7th Cavalry. They were stunned when Captain Grant Marsh piloted the steamboat Far West to the dock, and they watched as the wounded were unloaded.

Most of us have probably read or heard some version of the postman's creed but according to the U.S. Postal Service, the organization has no official creed or motto. The United States Post Office was founded by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia on June 26, 1775, at the start of the American Revolution but it was not until around 1914 when an architectural firm in New York City, popularized the motto when they inscribed the words “Neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail, nor armed villains deterred this hardy courier” on the exterior walls of the New York City Post Office.

On this date in 1800, fur trader Alexander Henry concluded his November journal entries for the Park River post. He described methods of hunting raccoons, black bears, and grizzly bears hibernating along the Red River. The hunters checked large hollow trees for signs of animals inside. They would then cut a hole into the hollow space and set fire to smoke out the inhabitants. On November 30, seven raccoons were taken from a tree, which was six feet hollow inside, with two feet of rim and bark on the outside.

In the early 1900s, the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction published special day programs for holidays, ranging from Arbor and Bird Day to July Fourth and, relevant to us today, Thanksgiving.