Dakota Datebook

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll listen to Eileen Little Ghost, Lakota Elder, as she talks about the medicine wheel.

Veterans, even those who were wounded, have not always been readily supported. It’s an issue the United States has struggled with since its founding. The Continental Congress pledged money for anyone wounded in the Revolutionary War, but the new government was strapped for cash and didn’t follow through. Veterans of the Mexican American War only received pensions forty years after the war ended.

For decades, North Dakota’s Legislature had only one way to vote on bills: roll calls of the many lawmakers. That time-consuming method changed with the installation of an electric voting machine in 1947.

During World War I, American farmers benefited from high prices. Enjoying the extra income, many borrowed money to buy more land and equipment. But agricultural prices fell suddenly after the war. The cost to produce a bushel of wheat was seventy-six cents, but wheat was selling for only sixty cents!

As 1931 faded into the rearview mirror, the presidential campaign of 1932 began heating up. Held against the backdrop of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl, it promised to be a tough contest for incumbent President Herbert Hoover. Democrat William H. Murray, the governor of Oklahoma, was among the challengers.

In this episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll listen to Patricia Christensen, enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation, in part two of her interview concerning traditional foods.

The Gas Light Company of Baltimore was the first American commercial gas lighting company, making Baltimore, in 1817, the first American city illuminated by gas flames. Gas lighting soon spread across the country, although some areas were slow to catch on. It wasn’t until the 1880s that the Dakotas began to light up the night with gas lamps. By the early twentieth century most American cities had streets, homes, and businesses illuminated by gas, with rural areas still dependent on lanterns.

On this date in 1912, the University of North Dakota's student newspaper, The Student, reported on a lecture given the previous Saturday by Dr. Robert Charles Wallace, a geology professor at the University of Manitoba. Although Dr. Wallace was a renowned expert on mineralogy, his topic was not about geology. The title was “Ideals of University Co-operation.” This speech would prefigure his future career in university administration. Indeed, he would become one of the most eminent university administrators in Canadian history.

North Dakota is located in the center of North America and experiences what is called a continental climate. One feature of this climate is the unpredictable weather patterns.

In 1883, Bismarck won out over Yankton as capital of Dakota Territory. When two states emerged from the territory in 1889, Bismarck was named the capital of North Dakota. Not everyone was happy with the decision. Residents of other cities thought their locations would be an improvement. When the capitol building burned in 1930, “removalists” as they were called, thought it was an ideal time to push for the relocation of the state government. It seemed like a good time to promote the move since a new capitol building had to be built.