In the spring of 1873, the Reverend D. C. Lyon arrived by train at the newly established townsite of Bismarck. His purpose was missionary work, to “look after the interest of the Presbyterian Church” at the “end of the track.”

Mrs. E.M. Pierce was a big-hearted woman living outside of Stanley, North Dakota in 1914. She learned of a baby boy who had been abandoned in Grand Forks and made arrangements to adopt him. The question was how to get him to Stanley. But Mrs. Pierce had a solution for that.

North Dakota Native American Essential Understanding Number Seven states, "Individual and communal identity is defined and supported by shared native languages, kinship systems, Tiospaye, clan structures, traditional teachings, values, sacred laws, and ceremonies. A continuum of tribal identity unique to each individual, ranges from assimilated to traditional lifestyle. There is no generic American Indian."

Presidential visits to North Dakota have inspired all sorts of welcomes and preparations, great and small. Here’s a sampling.

As the Homestead Act of 1860 began to draw new settlers to the frontier with the promise of free land, politicians and businessmen portrayed Dakota Territory as a farming utopia. Homesteading attracted people who wanted to settle down to a life of farming or ranching. The American West quickly became associated with the cowboy life and vast herds of beef cattle. There were also the Bonanza farms, with huge expanses of wheat.

The first game and fish laws in what would become the state of North Dakota were enacted in 1861. In 1875, the Territorial Legislature placed limits on hunting quail and some water birds.

One of the largest manhunts in North Dakota history was in 1949 for three men who fled Minnesota after killing a policeman after a burglary and abducting a Mandan patrolman during their flight.

In today's episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll hear Dan Jerome, enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Nation, talk about flutes and stories.

Adolph Marcus Christianson the Third was born in February of 1944. Known as Marc, he was the grandson of North Dakota Supreme Court Justice, A. M. Christianson, known as the Lincoln of North Dakota; and the son of A. M. Christianson the Second, an Army flight instructor who later founded the Bismarck Zoo.

Snow is a common occurrence in North Dakota, but not in June! That’s what the Seventh Cavalry endured for two cold, wet days, stuck in camp in the Badlands, while marching west from Fort Abraham Lincoln. The expedition was headed into Montana Territory, where Plains Indians would later defeat Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his men at the Battle of Greasy Grass, or Little Bighorn.