Dakota Datebook

The Archives

Dakota Datebook radio features air daily at 8:35 am, 3:50 pm, 6:30 pm and 7:50 pm CT on Prairie Public.

Recent Shows

The Father of Macaroni Wheat
Monday, May 21, 2012
Durum wheat is used for making macaroni and other pastas, and North Dakota produces two-thirds of the durum grown in the U.S.A. Charles Hitchcock, who became known in the history of North Dakota as the “Father of durum or macaroni wheat,” died on this dated in 1909. Hitchcock had a farm at Buttzville, near Lisbon, [...]
Homestead’s Second Vote
Sunday, May 20, 2012
After a forty-year battle in Congress, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Homestead Law on this date in 1862. Initial passage of the bill had been blocked “…on the theory that Congress had no right to give away public property.” Many southerners opposed the law, believing settlers would flood the northern territories and upset the balance [...]
Steamboats
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Rivers figure prominently in our history and culture. We can conjure images of Lewis & Clark exploring the Missouri, and the riverboat “Yellowstone” as the first steamboat on the upper Missouri. History was made on the Red River of the North on this date in 1859. The Anson Northup steamboat first put in on the [...]
Harvey Carignan
Friday, May 18, 2012
Harvey Carignan, also known as Harvey the Hammer or the Want-Ad Killer, was born on this date in 1927 in Fargo, North Dakota. Definitely one of North Dakota’s less publicized and celebrated sons, Carignan would go on to kill and brutalize at least five, and possibly as many as eighteen, victims. Born to a single [...]
The Traveling Photo Studio
Thursday, May 17, 2012
A traveling photo studio managed by a famous photographer might seem like an innovative idea even in contemporary times. Just imagine its attraction in 1886 Dakota Territory. Frontier photographer F. Jay Haynes created such an enterprise to chronicle the life and times of prairie pioneers. After a trip to La Moure, he headed to his [...]