Dakota Datebook

On July 15, 1864, Captain James Fisk led ninety-seven wagons out of Fort Ridgley, Minnesota, bound for the gold fields of Montana. Fisk planned to avoid the most dangerous territory by following a shorter, unmapped and untried route. Unfortunately, he failed to consider the increased hostility on the part of indigenous tribes in the wake of the US-Dakota War. He was confident as the wagon train left Fort Rice. He thought a large force of soldiers under General Sully was traveling ahead of him, but eighty miles west of Fort Rice, Fisk learned that Sully veered north and the expedition was now protected by the small number of soldiers with the train.

In the 1950s and 60s, as environmental concerns grew in the United States, there was increasing recognition that the National Park and National Forest systems were inadequate to safeguard wilderness areas from commercial interests. Conservationists, alarmed by the encroachment on these natural spaces, lobbied Congress for more robust protections. This movement culminated in the signing of the Wilderness Act into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on this date in 1964.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear from Janet Claymore-Ross, enrolled member of the Sisseton, Wahpeton, Oyate, in Part Two of “Iktomi and the Ducks.”

Farm kids have always had fears peculiar to growing up in the country and were taught to keep safe on the farmstead; to be alert to the dangers. The fears were real – fear of machinery accidents; fear of lightning storms and bad weather; fear of stepping on a rusty nail; fear of the barn burning down; fears of rabid-skunks; fear of a bull; and fears of a close relative dying.

Competition for the Great Plains was intense, as the United States, France, Spain, and Great Britain all sought its resources. Much of the early contact between the Native people and the early explorers was peaceful. The Natives brought furs to the trading posts and exchanged them for guns, tools, and food. The traders then sold the valuable furs to the European markets. The fur trade between the indigenous inhabitants and the newcomers proved to be lucrative.

In 1912, political fervor and interest swept the country over the presidential election. President Taft sought the Republican nomination, challenged by former President Theodore Roosevelt, who unexpectedly entered the race. Senator Robert LaFollette was yet another contender for the nomination.

As the 19th century turned into the twentieth, German immigrants found a promising home in the United States. Many of them moved to the Great Plains where they broke ground and established farms. They found a comfortable and stable home where opportunities abounded. Many German Americans rose to positions of influence. Others became successful businessmen. That changed when the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, entering World War I.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear from Janet Claymore-Ross, enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, in Part One of her story of Iktomi and the Ducks.

On this date in 1989, The Bismarck Tribune reported that Dick Gerlach of Bismarck was taking advantage of the sudden popularity of potpourri. The 80-year-old Mr. Gerlach harvested the petals from his 87 rose bushes to make potpourri, which he sold at the downtown Bismarck giftshop The Plum Tree.

According to LaMoure County officials, the murder of Hans Bjone was one of the strangest crimes in the county’s history. Bjone was a bank official. On the afternoon of February 28, 1927, someone came into the bank, murdered Bjone, emptied the vault, and disappeared. Over three thousand dollars had gone missing. The killer left no clues, and the authorities were at a loss, but suspicion quickly fell on Francis Tucker.