North Dakota History
History relating specifically to the state of North Dakota
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The Wandering Man
This love affair lasted a lifetime; whether consuming, creating, or collecting, the written word permeated his life. He bragged that between 1928 and 1942 he read more than 150 books a year. He built a personal library of over 10,000 books, journals, and periodicals; a varied collection that surprised and delighted visitors. He was one of the world’s most prolific authors writing poetry, over 400 short stories, screenplays and more than 100 books. Sitting in his sick bed, Louis L’Amour was editing his final book the day he died in 1988. Some discounted his writing as just simple westerns, but his stories perfectly expressed the romance and authenticities of Western…
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In Good Company
The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame shares its mission, and more than a few of its honorees, with the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. Chester Reynolds had a dream. He was a Kansas City native who rose from sales manager to president of Lee Jeans. He had a creative mind and came up with the idea of Buddy Lee, a doll who “modeled” miniature samples of his company’s clothing line. But Chester’s greatest dream was to find a way to enshrine the cowboy and his era. He worried our great western heritage was being lost in the modern world. The idea for a national museum first came to…
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Knowing Your Past Carries You into the Future
The past meets the present and future in a quiet little town; from the last lynching in North Dakota to the fellowship of burgers in the park and a farmers market on Saturday nights. Showcasing it all is the Lewis and Clark Trail Museum. Motoring down Highway 85 you now bypass the town of Alexander where traffic and trucks lumbering through town used to be an all-day occurrence. All that commotion goes around town now, but beckoning passersby is a highway sign pointing the way for some quiet moments and a glimpse into the past. In the 1960’s McKenzie County and its towns were as they had been for many…
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“Come and Get It”
She’s all done up like she would have been back in her heyday when she was perhaps the most important entity in a cowboy’s life on the trail. The horse was a cowboy’s first love, but to start and end the day what could be more important than the chuck wagon!
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The Wild Horses of Roosevelt’s Badlands
He was an old man, arthritic and without a family band, but still wild and free. Singlefoot was the oldest stallion living in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP). He may have been on his own but he still found the energy to play and enjoy life. He looked out over grasslands and rolling hills interrupted by dramatic and colorful badland formations where his ancestors once roamed. The history of the plains horse dates from prehistoric times; disappearing from North America about 11,000 years ago and returning in the 1500’s with Spanish explorers. Singlefoot and the other horses in the park descended from those brought by the Spaniards and other…
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The Wild Horses of Roosevelt’s Badlands for The Cowboy Chronicle
He’s an old man now – arthritic and without a family band, but Singlefoot, the oldest stallion living in Roosevelt National Park (TRNP)still roams wild and free where his ancestors did, looking out over grasslands and rolling hills interrupted by dramatic and colorful badlands. The history of the plains horse dates from prehistoric times; disappearing from the North America about 11,000 years ago and returning in the 1500’s with Spanish explorers. Singlefoot and the other horses in the park are descended from those brought by the Spaniards and other domesticated stock. Once domesticated, they are feral animals, not “wild” horses as they are generally called. Regardless, these beautiful animals seen…
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The True Facts
Published in: North Dakota Horizons magazine Summer 2017 There is a certain beauty in the harshness of western North Dakota winters. Winds howl across the prairie, through the coulees, and sometimes bring the effective temperature as low as forty below. Snow, not always abundant, is often a patchwork with gray and brown rather than a continuous blanket of white. Days are short in deep winter with as little as nine hours of daylight. Men and beasts adapt, putting on their winter coats and hunkering down for those long months until the ground thaws and grasses grow tall again. Those that survive these winters are men with resilience and determination, and animals that herd…
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National Day of the Cowboy: Preserving Pioneer Heritage and Cowboy Culture
“We celebrate the Cowboy as a symbol of the grand history of the American West. The Cowboy’s love of the land and love of the country are examples for all Americans” President George W. Bush The thirteenth annual National Day of the Cowboy is July 22, 2017. The American cowboy has firmly taken his place in American history. He is an almost mythological character of the American west; often a lone rider embracing a simple life, loving and living off the land with hard work and nobility. The cowboy culture is firmly embedded in the character of many western states; the cowboy hat and boots are more than just a…
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Lydia Langer: The Unexpected Candidate Amid 1930’s Political Scandal and Intrigue
SCANDAL ! Back room deals and a little back stabbing to maintain positions of power. Ah, the stuff of politics. In October 1934 some involved in this kind of political dance held a forum in Watford City to woo the ranchers, farmers, and independent minded residents. Surprising many was soft spoken Lydia Langer, the state’s recent first lady, now the Republican gubernatorial candidate. Traveling with congressional contenders in pursuit of their political desires, Lydia could not be farther away from how her life was anticipated to be. It was not the 1600 miles from New York to Bismarck; she could have been across oceans living a more expected life. Lydia Cady…
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The Railroad and Settlement in Early North Dakota
As you drive around the prairies and badlands of North Dakota you will find countless ghost towns; old structures abandoned and falling victim to the weather and lack of use and upkeep. The majority of these ghost towns were once thriving railroad towns along a giant web of railroad tracks that spread across North Dakota. At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century there was a huge wave of immigration and settlement in North Dakota. This influx of pioneers and settlers was largely due to the development of railroad lines.
