Unheralded

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Family Gulbranson Piano

It is coming up on three years now since my beloved Mom died. Long before then, she and I were collaborating on an essay about the family piano — and because I think it is a darned good story, I am finally getting around to writing it. The Gulbranson piano was purchased by my great-aunt, Dora, who was a registered nurse. …


Unheralded

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — An Open Letter To N.D. Legislators And Others Who Care About People Living With Disabilities

February 4, 2025 Mary Anderson, ED ABLE Inc. 1951 1st Street West Dickinson, ND 58601 Dear Mary, Thank you for contacting me regarding ABLE’s purchase of the Sullivan Apartments, in which my daughter, Rachel, has lived and thrived for many years now. I applaud ABLE for taking action to secure this, and other buildings in western ND, including The Landing …


LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Prairie Public

I read with dismay the reports that a Fargo legislator has introduced a bill in the 2025 North Dakota legislative session to zero out funding for Prairie Public. I have been listening to Prairie Public Radio and watching programs on Prairie Public TV since the day it launched, when I was a young and broke college student in western North …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Elkhorn Ranch

From the Dana Monroe Wright Collection at the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Dana Monroe Wright was born on Aug. 30, 1878, in Eaton Rapids, Mich. He moved with his parents to farm near Jamestown, N.D., in 1882, and left that area in 1898 to enlist in the North Dakota National Guard. Wright served in the military during the …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — On The Hill Of Murdered Scout, St. Peter’s Spring

On finding an old map in the State Historical Society of North Dakota Archives: Somewhere near the Turtle Mountains. By the La Butte Mark, by the “Half Breed Road”. On the Des Lac River. East of the La Roche. Northeast of Strawberry Island on the Missouri River. North of the Little Knife River. North of the White Earth River. North …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Crook Siblings Gather For Meatloaf

(Above) Wayne Thomas, son of Mozelle Ellis Thomas, and Garland Crook, son of Lena Bell Ellis Crook, 8 months old, Friendship, Miss., 1925. Lena Bell and Mozelle were sisters. Garland and Wayne were their first babies. Sarah, Thomas, Lillian and Beckie, January 2025 Golly it was fun to have the four of us together for a meal. Jim tolerated us …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — ‘The Future Of The Common People’

A little while ago, I inherited a collection of North Dakota History magazines from some really old — well, older than me  — neighbors who moved away to assisted living and had to disperse a lot of things they had collected over the years. Some date back to as early as 1973. I already have a bunch of older ones, …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Twenty-Five Years Ago

Twenty-five years ago, it was the beginning of a new millennium. When I thought you read books. When I thought you didn’t watch much television. When I thought you hiked. When I thought you watched the stars. When I thought you liked poetry. When I slept on the ground. Before social media. When I was young. Twenty-five years ago I …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — My Dad’s And Mom’s 8mm Films From The 1950s And 1960s

And that’s all folks, that’s the last of the 8mm films my Dad shot in the 1950s and 1960s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ae3Gu33SQo&t=1s My mother bought the 8mm camera and a projector by saving Green Stamps. Remember those? Here are my mother’s annotations. The film is not in chronological order. I don’t care. Don’t watch if the fact that this stuff is out …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Focus On Education

My friend, Darrell Dorgan, is comfortably ensconced in his condo in south Florida, spending his days walking his dog, Coco, on the beach, but as a lifelong newsman in North Dakota, he’s keeping up with the news back home in Bismarck. He spent some time this past week digging into what’s going on in the North Dakota Legislature and sent …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Ukrainian Swimmer Glides To Success For DHS

I’m reprinting this story from The Dickinson Press. It’s one of the most heart-warming stories I’ve found in a newspaper in a long, long time. By Jacob Cheris The Dickinson Press January 10, 2025 at 6:10 a.m. DICKINSON, N.D. — DHS junior swimmer Bohdan Shevchenko has already made a name for himself in his short time in the Dickinson community. This …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Pullin’ Calves

This is an original essay by Lillian Crook, Dickinson State College English seminar writing course required submission for Senior Level Course credit (1981). This had been a bad year, lots of snow and ice and that terrible cold wind. More new calves than ever had died, and if he had to watch one more not pull through, Maggie knew she …

RUSS HONS: Photo Gallery — University of North Dakota Vs. University Of Manitoba

Mac Swanson, Dalton Andrew, Dane Montgomery, Carter Wilkie and Cody Croal scored goals and goalies Hobie Hedquist and T.J.  Semptimphelter each had eight saves to lead the University of North Dakota men’s hockey team to a 5-0 exhibition win over the University of Manitoba on Saturday night in Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Fighting Hawks (11-7-1) led just 2-0 after two …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns Grow

My readers know I am a gardener. It’s a love I inherited from my father, who each summer grew a garden full of vegetables, with varying degrees of success, to treat his family to fresh produce. Fresh produce wasn’t something you could get in grocery stores in rural North Dakota in the 1950s and 1960s. But we had ’em, and …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Dear Santa …

What’s your favorite day of the week? Mine’s Thursday. It used to be Saturday back in my working days, but now … in retirement, pretty much every day is Saturday. But Thursday is now my favorite day because that’s the day the two weekly newspapers I subscribe to arrive in my mailbox. Well, not my outside mailbox, but my computer …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — What If?

Christmas is a time for dreams, and for dreamers. It’s a time of wonder. I wonder … There’s a proposal making the rounds to create a new National Monument in western North Dakota, encompassing 11 areas in the North Dakota Bad Lands, land owned by the federal government but leased to ranchers for grazing their cattle. What if those ranchers out …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Maah Daah Hey National Monument Proposal

My December 2024 Letter to the Editors of North Dakota newspapers Yes, the president can designate a national monument with the stroke of a pen, using the Antiquities Act. Thank you, Theodore Roosevelt, for creating that act. Famously, TR arrived on a train and lived and ranched in the North Dakota Badlands. (Later his wife, Edith, and his sister would …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — A Poem

Enter the North Dakota Librarian by Gary Gildner Paris Review Spring 2002 whose eyes are a fair, spiky green I only see on my hands and knees at spring’s initial offerings, how can she help me? I say I seek the bloom clarity achieves fending off confusion’s weedy waylays upon rich indirection, I hope I won’t be much trouble. Her lips forming …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The Skunks Are Coming Out

There’s a good reason I don’t send “Letters to the Editor” of daily newspapers. I can usually reach the audience I want to reach here on my blog. It’s mine, and I can say whatever I damn well please. And I do. And if someone disagrees with me, they can just start their own blog. But then right-wing oil industry …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Legal Proceedings Signal End To Little Missouri Crossing

Billings County Commissioners, in a 2-1 vote at a special meeting Wednesday, agreed to stop all legal action concerning the proposed Little Missouri River Crossing for 60 days, or until a settlement can be reached to put an end to the condemnation of the Short Ranch property for construction of a road and bridge. The language of the motion was …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The End May Be Near For The ‘Bridge To Nowhere’

You’ve heard me say this before: Elections have consequences. Even in tiny remote places like Billings County in the North Dakota Bad Lands, where a total of just 628 people voted in the races for the Billings County Commission this past month. In Billings County, commissioners are elected to represent geographic districts. The county is divided into three of them. …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — A New National Monument In North Dakota!

A group of dedicated North Dakotans has put together a proposal that will bring significant recognition to the North Dakota Bad Lands. They are my heroes. The project is the creation of a new national monument, the Maah Daah Hey National Monument. If the project succeeds, it will be an immense source of pride for all North Dakotans. A little …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Bad Lands Justice? Maybe

The five most dangerous words in the English language for a journalist (of which I am one, of a sort — I keep this online journal) are “I’m not a lawyer, but …” OK, so there’s been this legal case going on for about 10 years involving Billings County and the Short family over whether there is going to be …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — What The Hell Just Happened?

That headline is a reprisal of the one I wrote in this space eight years ago, when Doug Burgum dashed the hopes of Wayne Stenehjem ever becoming governor of North Daktoa, by beating him the June 2016 primary. As I wrote then, I didn’t see that one coming. OK, so much for my Predictability Quotient. Well, actually, it’s not too bad. …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — It’s Election Day! It’s Over! Celebrate! Have A Beer!

Here’s a slightly updated rerun of a column I first posted 10 years ago, on Nov. 4, 2014. It came to mind because of a question I got this week from my friend, Colleen Stebbins down in Bowman, North Dakota, about the bars being closed in North Dakota on Election Day. Some of you remember those days, more than 30 …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — A Little Election Weekend Reading

There’s a list at the North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office, and if you live in North Dakota, you’re on it. You and about half a million of your neighbors. It’s a big list. Probably the biggest list in the state. How do I know you’re on it? Because every North Dakotan who regularly reads these dispatches surely votes in …

LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Red Oak House Autumn Notes And A Zany Codiwample To Eastern North Dakota 2024

After about sixty years of being curious about “Buffalo Alice North Dakota” (thanks L. Ray Wheeler), we wandered into Buffalo, North Dakota and then onto Old Highway Ten. Home with a load of new books to read and autumn chores to complete before snowfall. For further reading see Towns Named Buffalo.

MICHAEL BOGERT: Photo Gallery — White Horse Hill

Grand Forks photographer Michael Bogert recently visited White Horse Hill National Game Preserve near St. Michael, N.D. White Horse Hill is a 1,674-acre  national wildlife refuge that was initially established as a national park on April 27, 1904 under the National Park Service. In 1914, it was further designated by Congress as a big game preserve. And in 1931, it was transferred …

RUSS HONS: Photo Gallery — University of North Dakota Vs. Murray State University

The University of North Dakota football team, behind a 142-yard rushing performance by Isaiah Smith, defeated Murray State University 72-35 in Saturday’s Homecoming game in the Alerus Center. Smith scored two rushing touchdowns and added another on a 74-yard pass from quarterback Simon Romfo to lead the No. 8-ranked Fighting Hawks (4-1 overall, 1-0 Missouri Valley Conference) over the Racers …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — A Lawyer In The Governor’s Office? Maybe

“The first thing we do is, let’s kill all the lawyers.” You might recall that memorable line, uttered by Dick the Butcher, from perhaps the least memorable of Shakespeare’s plays, “Henry VI.” I’ve been thinking about it because I’ve been thinking about lawyers. And governors. It’s been 40 years since North Dakota had a lawyer in the governor’s chair. That …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Sour Grapes, North Dakota Nice And Minnesota Lakes

I really hate to be critical of my governor. But c’mon, Doug, give us a break! Start acting like a governor. (More about the lakes in a minute.) The quotes from Burgum in Friday’s Forum Communications Co. papers were as unbecoming of a governor as anything I’ve ever read. Well, maybe I could drag out some old Jesse Ventura or …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — YAY! I Live In A National Historic District!

Sometime later this month, the State Historical Society of North Dakota is going to officially announce the approval of a new historic neighborhood in Bismarck. I’m pretty excited about it because I live in it. Two years ago last week, the Highland Acres neighborhood in west Bismarck was named to the National Register of Historic Places, with its official new …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — The Bridge That Should’ve Come Down

This is a story of a tragic, ironic, almost unbelievable twist of fate. Some of you remember I wrote a series of stories, beginning in July 2017, about an illegal bridge across the Little Missouri State Scenic River west of the Killdeer Mountains, built by a fellow named Wylie Bice, a wealthy rancher with his pockets full of oil boom …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Just How Rich Is Billings County?

I’ve been moping around the house most of this cold, wet, windy, dreary, week, feeling sorry for myself because I can’t get out in the garden. I managed one garden day early in the week and planted about half of what I hope will be this year’s potato crop, but I’ve got a big bag of seed potatoes in the …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Does The Governor’s Office Have A “Slush Fund?” Well, Not Really …

When residents of Billings County in western North Dakota, home to the Bad Lands and Theodore Roosevelt National Park and Medora, head to their mailboxes sometime this week or next, they’re going to find a letter from their county commissioners. That’s unusual. About the only time county government sends you a letter is with your property tax bill. But this …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Little Missouri Bridge Work Halted; Judge: ‘Taking Property By Eminent Domain Is An Odious … Process’

“The crux of this case is the preservation of the untouched and dramatic beauty of the Shorts’ property in the North Dakota Bad Lands while the underlying legal issues are resolved. Theodore Roosevelt once described this area in compelling terms: ”From the edges of the valley the land rises abruptly in steep high buttes, whose crests are sharp and jagged. …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — George Santos, Meet Tammy Miller

In the Bismarck Tribune about North Dakota Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller’s announcement that she was running for governor this past week. Tribune reporter Jacob Fulton wrote this: Miller touted her childhood “cleaning toilets and stocking shelves” at the family lumber and hardware business in Brocket; she also said she “defended the store from robbers with her shotgun.” Now I had …

JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Billings County Voters Might Get To Vote On The Bridge

The North Dakota Secretary of State’s office says it is OK for Billings County residents to vote in June on whether they want their County Commission to use its power of eminent domain to take land for a road and bridge across the Little Missouri State Scenic River. The vote would not be binding on the commissioners or the bridge’s …