Dakota Datebook

Fargo and Moorhead were first settled in 1871, and by 1874, the area’s first newspaper debuted: the Fargo Weekly Express. Over the following decades a plethora of newspapers went in and out of publication.

A petticoat is an article of clothing worn under a skirt. It helps to smooth out wrinkles in the skirt. In the days when very full skirts were in fashion, a petticoat of several layers helped the skirt stand out. The petticoat has long been a symbol of modesty and proper feminine behavior. It has also been used as an insult towards women who were deemed to be venturing out of proper feminine behavior. For example, Mary Wollstonecraft, an early advocate for women’s rights, was called “a hyena in petticoats.”

Before the railroad ran to Reynolds, North Dakota, steamboats brought the mail and supplies to nearby Frog Point. Residents traveled there by wagon to deliver their crops for shipping and to pick up supplies and mail. When the railroad arrived, an organized community began to take shape. Roads were laid out and sidewalks were built of pine boards. A town government was organized.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook we'll listen to Gladys Hawk, enrolled member of the Standing Rock Nation, as she talks about language and culture loss.

The United States Constitution empowers Congress to conduct a census every ten years. While every state is allotted two senators, the number of representatives is determined by the population of each state. The census counts the people for an accurate allocation of representatives.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll listen to Dr. Twyla Baker, enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in part two of “To Us It Wasn't Discovered.”

Home schooling is accepted in North Dakota today, but there was a time when home-schooling was illegal. Compulsory school attendance laws required that children aged 7 to 16 be educated, with public-schools the main providers. However, Catholic schools and other parochial schools had become available as alternatives.

Few critters in North Dakota might be as storied as the black-footed ferret – an endangered and mischievous species. Poisonings targeting prairie dogs led to the ferret’s demise in the early 20th century, and it was thought to be extinct until a small group was found in Wyoming in 1981. The ferret’s comeback through captive breeding has been decades in the making.

After midnight, on this date in 1952, Spike Jones and his City Slickers were still playing their notorious “Musical Depreciation Revue of 1952” for over seven thousand fans at the UND Fieldhouse.

Shortly after beginning their journey down the Missouri River in April of 1805 after spending the winter at Fort Mandan, Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal about an animal that Captain Clark had recently observed: “Captain Clark walked on shore today and informed on his return, that passing through the prairie he had seen an animal that precisely resembled the burrowing squirrel, accept in point of size, it being only about one third as large as the squirrel, and that it also burrows.”