Category Archives: History

2007-2008 Almanac of ND Oddities (no, I’m not listed)

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Last week I got the opportunity to talk briefly with William “Jack” Jackson, the author of several books about North Dakota. I picked up a copy of his latest book, the 2007-2008 edition of his Almanac of North Dakota Mysteries and Oddities. It was a fun read, especially for one who loves local history.

North Dakota has got plenty of interesting, humorous, and just plain outrageous tales in its history. For instance, it was a North Dakotan who coined the term “Flying Saucer” as he spotted a group of them near his airplane above Mount Rainier. A North Dakotan sentenced to death in New York turned out to be a German Shepherd. In Hankinson, a young boy survived with only a bruise on his nose after being run over by over 60 rail cars back in 1908. There’s plenty more where this came from!

You can find out fun stories like the Burleigh farmer who walked 28 miles to catch a train to a checkers tournament, or sad stories like the great flue epidemic of the early 1900s, which killed thousands of North Dakotans. The stories vary, and there’s something in this book for everyone.

If you’re a fan of North Dakota history, you owe it to yourself to talk to Mr. Jackson. Unfortunately he does not have a kiosk set up at Gateway Mall now that the holiday season is winding down, but his work is available at Barnes & Noble. He’s got eight books out, the majority of them about North Dakota.

The next book of his I want to investigate more closely is Unbelievable Dakota People – the Good, Bad, Bold & Ugly. It’ll be interesting to see who falls into the last category!

Buckstop sunset

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Buckstop Junction is pretty much the only part of the Missouri Valley Fairgrounds that enjoyed any measure of success. Since more and more of our historic buildings in this area are being demolished, it’s nice to see them preserved and even seeing some use in a nostalgic fashion.

The Glen Schmidt Family played here last year, and I went out to see what the whole Buckstop Junction experience is all about. It was a blast. I got some great pictures and just generally enjoyed poking around the old buildings. What can I say, I’m a sucker for history!

The buildings are outfitted with “props” from the past, and it was fun to try to simulate an old photo look on some of them. The grocery store was particularly cool, although it was too crowded for a picture. This is from the bank building.

I doubt there’s anything going on out at the Junction over winter, but it’s something to consider next summer. It’s an especially nice place for a music festival, so I’ll let you know when the next one approaches. I’ll probably have to title it “Function at the Junction” or something else appropriately punny.

Where the sidewalk ends

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I guess they needed the room to pour more footings below. This is the end of the road for foot traffic on the south side of the Memorial Bridge. Actually, the south sidewalk is closed on both ends, and there are construction supplies stacked thereon. But if a person was stumbling across that side of the bridge unawares, he’d end up having a really bad day at the end.

There’s actually a pretty good chunk of roadway missing here, too. Anyone who’s crossed the Missouri River here can attest to that. While a row of sturdy concrete barriers prevents anyone from driving off the side, there’s an open slab on the other side of them. Much of the roadway has been cut away, presumably to make room for the work being performed below.

I remember when this bridge had a grated deck. When I was younger, one of the highlights of coming back to North Dakota to visit family was the ride across the bridge deck, looking down to see the river and boaters below. Sadly, that deck was covered by concrete in the 1990s. It was a real trip taking a motorcycle across that grate, as the pattern of the gridwork would cause vehicle tires to “swim” back and forth slightly as they crossed. It was wild.

I also remember crossing this bridge on my BMX bike in the middle of the night, way back when. I was looking out over the river when I came across one of the metal access panels in the sidewalk. It made a nasty *clang* as I rode over it, and it scared me half to death! I seem to remember there being a patch in the sidewalk at one time that was grating as well, but I don’t remember much more specifically about it.

I also remember when there was no Expressway Bridge; in fact, I got my learner’s permit the week that it opened. Prior to that, Memorial Highway saw a lot more traffic from the Memorial Bridge. The Holiday Inn there flourished and was probably the biggest hotel in town at the time. I competed in the state spelling bee there in 1982-1983, and President Reagan even stayed there once. After people began to bypass the Memorial Bridge for the new Expressway, the Holiday Inn began its slow demise. It changed hands a few times before finally being condemned, then razed to make way for the new Bank of North Dakota building. It’ll be interesting to see what the new bank and new bridge do for the area’s development.

As for the title of this post: Where the Sidewalk Ends is a book of funny kids’ poems by Shel Silverstein. When I was younger and lived out in the mountains, my cousin Carolyn would read that book to me every time we’d visit her house. During our last visit with her and her husband before we moved back to North Dakota, she gave me a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends with a nice little note written in the front. I read that book a LOT when we first arrived here in Bismarck. Last summer I dusted it off and read it again, and was able to reminisce with Carolyn about that when we went west on our honeymoon last year. To me it will always be a part of my North Dakota experience; Shel and his poems were there to comfort me when I was a little kid, transplanted (back) to North Dakota and missing my mountain home.

Showboat

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When I was growing up, this was the local theatre, the Showboat. It was a full-fledged movie house in the 1980s, and even saw a resurrection showing older movies for a dollar. It now seems lucky to be standing, as many of the buildings around it have been razed due to the diesel spill.

When I was in junior high I recall hearing a guy talking about having lunch at the Red Fox (now Dakota Farms) on the east end of Main Street…he saw diesel spewing from one of the locomotives at the tanks behind what is now the vacant McDonald’s building, and hurried over to tell some railroad workers who were sitting in the diner. Their response? “We’re on break.” That pretty much cemented my opinion of unions, even at a young age. It’s also what I think of every time I hear talk about the lake of diesel sitting under my home town.

I also remember that shortly after we had moved into our new workspace in the Mandan Law Enforcement Center, we were told we couldn’t go downstairs or use the elevator because the diesel fumes were toxic. That immediately reminded me of the anecdote I’d heard years before, and I realized that it was part of a deeper issue. Sadly, much of Mandan is paying the price for the damage caused by the railroad by losing some of its more historic features.

It would be neat to see new life breathed into buildings such as the Showboat. A dollar theater would be really cool, as long as it didn’t become a place for parents to stash their unruly junior high kids (ie, Thunder Alley) and expect someone else to babysit them. One of Mandan’s key features is its history downtown area, and I hope it doesn’t disappear completely in the wake of the diesel aftermath.

Weather Beacon: been there, done that, got the t-shirt

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I’m hoping for a white Thanksgiving. It doesn’t necessarily look like that’s going to happen, but I found myself glancing at the Weather Beacon tonight on my drive home. It was white. So…that thing doesn’t really make the weather…does it?

It was fun to joke about that during my KFYR days. The TV station was in charge of changing the weather beacon to reflect the updated forecast throughout the broadcast day. On our program log in the control room, in between entries for commercials and programs, were occasional reminders to update the weather beacon. There was a panel in the weather room with six buttons on it: red, white, green, flashing red, flashing white, and flashing green.

The poor Beacon almost faded into history in 1997. It was showing its wear, and the cost of modernizing it was prohibitive. That was, however, until KFYR Radio rode to the rescue. Phil Parker and Mark Armstrong headed an effort to Save the Beacon!

At this time, Meyer Broadcasting was still intact. While I was hard at work on the TV side of the building, I also freelanced the website for KFYR-AM. As part of the campaign to save the Weather Beacon, we had a couple of pages on the website urging people to help donate.

You can click here to see the original Save the Beacon page from my archives.

The campaign was a success in that it raised money toward the Beacon’s restoration, increased public awareness of its plight, and served as a rallying cry to its rescue. While the entire cost of the Beacon’s renovation was not raised, its importance to the community was indisputably proven. Through a matching grant from local government and plenty of donations, the project was underway.

As part of the KFYR website, we were happy to post that the Beacon would be saved. Cliff Naylor did a report on the Beacon that aired as part of a live telecast from the roof of the Provident Building, atop which the Beacon still sits.

You can click here to see the post-campaign page from my archives and watch the video.

As I recall, and the details in my head are quite murky, the Beacon was restored but still had some gremlins. I believe it was then refitted one more time and has functioned ever since. None of it would have been possible without Phil and Mark. To this day, the controls reside with KFYR Radio instead of the television station. In fact, why don’t you call the PH Phactor on KFYR 550 AM and ask Phil about it?

Oh yeah…the t-shirt. We had t-shirts made, and I still have mine. It has caricatures of Phil Parker and Mark Armstrong on the front, and a key to understanding the Beacon on the back:


Weather Beacon white as snow, down the temperature will go.
Weather Beacon red as fire, temperature is going higher.
Weather Beacon an emerald green, no change forseen.
When colors blink in agitation, there’s going to be precipitation.

Provident Life used to sponsor TV spots featuring the Beacon and its rhymes. Since they’re no longer doing business there, the ads don’t run. That means that the weather beacon itself is somewhat obscure now, with newer Bismarck-Mandan residents unaware of its history. For those of us who have lived here a long time, it’s good to see the weather beacon standing tall. No matter what the forecast, there’s something great about seeing it red in the spring, green when things are just right, and white when Thanksgiving and Christmas approach. Thanks to everyone who helped keep it up and running!

Grant’s tomb

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This is the monument marking the grave of Grant Marsh. You may recognize his name from the bridge over the Missouri River on I-94. He was a ferry boat captain back in the 1800s, and has accomplished some noteworthy feats. One of them is outlined on this marker.

I want to be more specific about this particular marker, but I can’t. Why? I’ll let you know in a post I plan to write this weekend when I have more time. It’s quite entertaining, especially if you’re a geek.

Revival meetin’

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We all drive past that little white church on the corner whenever we drive down 7th Street, across from Bismarck High School. Open Door Baptist Church will have its doors open Sunday at 5pm and Monday thru Wednesday at 7pm for a revival meeting. All are invited regardless of denomination.

What is a revival meeting? It’s a shot in the arm for Christians, a time of encouragement and a means to recharge and boost spirits. It’s a time to motivate people to get out and reach others for God. A time to revive the passion and enthusiasm of local Christians.

This event is not a membership recruitment drive. It’s not a fundraiser. It’s a time of inspiration and worship. Two visiting missionaries are preaching this week: Joel Logan from Alabama, who’s a pastor of a church there, and Mike Saunders, who has a ministry in the prisons down in Houston, Texas. This is their first time to North Dakota.

Anyone who needs encouragement or wants to hear more from the Bible is invited to attend. There won’t be a lot of fanfare, just Bible study and preachin’. Not only are visitors welcome, they’re also an encouragement. Visit the little church on the corner and see what that means! Tonight at 5, weeknights at 7.

If you’ve studied Bismarck history, this church probably looks familiar. Here’s a photo of the church from sometime in the early 20th century. The building itself was constructed in 1912 by Trinity Lutheran Church, which formed in 1878. It has since been home to 7th Day Adventists, Mennonite Brethren, and Baptist churches. Open Door Baptist has been here for 25 years and is currently working on putting up a new building at 19th and Calgary, as they’ve outgrown this one. I saw this picture in a book of Bismarck history by Cathy Langemo, and recognized it instantly. The steeple is gone, but the rest of the church is unmistakable.

Mornin’ bridge

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It’s dreary out, so I thought I would put up this nice sunny picture of the railroad bridge crossing the Missouri River. This was taken this week on a little walk with my beautiful wife, probably one of the last few walks we’ll get in while everything is nice and green. The view of this bridge as the walking path passes beneath it on the Mandan side is unique, an atypical view of this local landmark.

Northern Pacific Railway began construction on this bridge back in 1881, and it’s had a few problems along the way. The east pier has shifted since the bridge’s initial construction, requiring occasional intervention. You can read more about it here if you’re interested. Local history is fun!

Path to 9/11

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I watched the latter part of the ABC docudrama last night as well as the finale tonight, in the garage while putting up new garage doors. There’s been so much buzz about this movie on both sides; conservatives say it’s finally time to highlight the fact that terrorists do want to strike our country, and the liberals are mad that someone would dare insinuate that their favorite son, Bill Clinton, could have done more. Talk about a charged environment! I decided to watch objectively, and here’s what I got from it.

First off, the point of this movie was that the federal government is unable, as such a huge bureaucracy, to get out of its own way in the war on terrorism. It didn’t portray either administration in a stellar light. In fact, Richard Clarke comes out looking like somewhat of a Paul Revere character, and he’s no friend to the Bush administration. But it was obvious that more could be done in both administrations.

Second, it illustrated that terrorism is nothing new to the United States, and it’s not going to go away. If we were to continue to turn the other cheek after every attack, as the Clinton administration did, they wouldn’t stop attacking us and our interests. In fact, the way we cut and ran in Somalia was one thing that emboldened them, and they’ve said so. Anyone who says that “George Bush is making new terrorists” is off their rocker.

Third, and perhaps most profound, is the reaction to the film before it had even aired. The same people which cry out for civil rights, terrorists’ rights, free speech rights, abortion rights… pretty much every type of rights except religious rights, were the ones threatening the broadcast licenses of the ABC stations for airing this! You want government censorship? Look at the behavior of the Democrats in Washington! Can you imagine if President Bush had asked Michael Moore to edit his piece of drivel, Fahrenheit 9/11? People would be screaming about the first amendment and calling Bush a fascist. Well, they call him that anyway, but they’re insane.

It was as interesting to watch the reaction to this movie as it was to watch the movie itself. It’s amazing how people circled the wagons around former President Clinton. You can write books and make movies about the assassination of George W. Bush, but you don’t dare point out the record of the Clinton administration. Isn’t that crazy?

The movie was entertaining. It was a good reminder of a lot of things. It also allowed a lot of people to show their true colors, before the film even aired. I hope people learn as big a lesson from that as they do from this or other 9/11 coverage.

I also think that, while we should not give the terrorists any credence in treating this as a day of mourning, we should never forget what happened that day. We need to see the planes hitting the towers. We need to see the people jumping out the windows to get out of the flames. We need to see the towers come down. There are so many people out there trying to pretend that it never happened that we need to emphasize that it did.

I had a friend who got off the Boston flight just before it boarded with new passengers and took off for the last time. A friend of mine with a White House job recalled seeing some of the hijackers in a restaurant a few days before they executed their plan. As Americans we all have a connection to the attacks, because they were meant to strike at our way of life. Most of the people that protest the war live lifestyles completely incompatible with the Sharia law that fundamentalist Muslims want to impose on the world. But they’ll never face that reality. It’s up to the rest of us to make sure we never forget.

What would you do for a quarter?

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Would you pack the Bismarck Civic Center? These people did, and many of them received free North Dakota Quarters! Today was the big official sendoff including all the state muckety-mucks, the acting director of the National Mint, and lots and lots of enthusiastic North Dakotans.

I was there as a tech for the US Mint today so I got to watch the festivities. They included the Medora singers with “Teddy Roosevelt” and the Cannonball drummers. There were a LOT of school kids in attendance, and everyone under 18 was given a free state quarter at the end of the event!

It was interesting seeing all the security behind the scenes; an armored car from the mint was parked in the back garage with a LOT of North Dakota quarters in it. They’re transported in heavy-duty cases by armed guards, and there were plenty of local and state law enforcement personnel on hand as well.

On a side note, I also saw “Gentleman Wade” Westin and his little girl today. He’s not the host of the Medora Musical this year, but he is a dad for the second time as of last week – it’s a boy! Congratulations to the Westins.

If you want state quarters, they’re available now. For $5 you can get a little commemorative case with two quarters in it: one showing the front, one showing the back. First Lady Mikey Hoeven showed me hers, and I’m probably going to spring for a couple. What the heck, I love North Dakota!