Dakota Datebook

The early 20th Century was the heyday of hat design. Women’s hats became large and extravagant. There were hats for every possible occasion including walking, riding, morning wear, evening wear, and even hats to wear at home. Hats that incorporated feathers and even whole birds became popular. This created a tremendous demand for feathers and birds. Thousands of snow egrets, owls, herons, and other exotic birds were slaughtered in the name of fashion.

In this episode of Dakota Date book, we'll hear Josie Lawrence, enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation share a bit about how to teach by example.

In today's episode of Dakota Datebook, we'll laugh along with Spirit Lake Dakota elder Catherine Howard as she tells us about rabbit and turtle, and frog and turtle.

Two young men, one short and one tall, sat in a booth at Friendly Tavern in Minot North Dakota around 10pm in the early days of February in 1955. Both wore Levi jeans and made unremarkable conversation with one another. The bartender, Tommy Oster, made his way over to the pair. One of the two looked young, so Tommy asked for his ID. It was a North Dakota license, and it said the man was born in October of 1933. The men politely ordered their drinks and played a few songs on the jukebox. They stayed until close and drank three beers a piece.

In 1882 Emery Mapes, originally from Illinois, moved to Nelson County in Dakota Territory. He platted a townsite next to the St. Paul, Minneapolis, Manitoba Railway. He hoped to build a thriving town named after himself that would become the county seat. A depot, grain elevator, and post office were soon built. There was population of 100 people by 1890, along with a school, grocery story, general store, hotel, saloon, blacksmith, and hardware store. Emery Mapes even published a town newspaper.

Unusual and even bizarre events can pop up during sessions of North Dakota’s legislature. In 1890, during the state’s first legislative session, the House of Representatives convened one day at 7:00am. Several members overslept, requiring a call of the house to compel their attendance. The sergeant-at-arms went out to rouse the missing members. He reportedly fired blanks from a revolver to get one representative out of bed! Another member was roused by “a large cannon fire cracker.”

In February 1912, the city of Minot celebrated the new library in town. After funds were secured with money from the New York philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, construction quickly followed. Carnegie offered $15,000 for the construction, with additional money from the Minot Women’s Literary Club for furniture and decorations.

On this date in 1932, Barnes County district attorney Roy Ployhar was considering charges for a tragic shooting. Seventeen-year-old Myron Tendick had shot and killed Henry Ruud. Ruud was his stepfather. The incident occurred at their home in Nome, North Dakota. But even though the boy had confessed, the facts of the case were far from cut and dried.

Tempers flared during the 1933 legislative session in Bismarck, when the leader of a ballot measure to repeal alcohol prohibition in the state sparred with state lawmakers.

In the heart of wintertime, when your furnace warms your house but dries the air, static electricity accumulates, so when you touch a light-switch, you can be zapped by a spark. And when you pull on your winter sweater, it can become a clinging swarm of sparks.