The Steamboat Montana

My Dakota Datebook today tells the tale of the Wreck of the Montana.   In June, 1879, a tornado hit the boat landing at Bismarck, wreaking havoc on the steamboats moored there.   Three were tied up; the Montana’s sister-ship Dakotah and the Col. Mcleod made it through with minor damage.  The Montana, pictured below, […]

Gandhi SHRDLU

I found this compelling article in the 18 June 1931 issue of The Beach (N.D.) Advance: It reads: SHEDDING NON-ESSENTIALS All India is gossiping over Mahatma Gandhi’s unprecedented action in laying aside his spinning wheel and his h. e-uloo SHRDLU EATOISHSHSHRD.–Boston Transcript. The article probably wasn’t run out of any newsman dedication to at least […]

The Cunningham Sanitarium, 1920s

What is it — an oil tank? A spacecraft? A nuclear reactor? In 1928, this was the cutting-edge in medical technology: The Cunningham Sanitarium. Dr. Orval J Cunningham was experimenting with the use of oxygen to treat a variety of diseases, particularly diabetes and asthma, at the University of Kansas in Kansas City, Missouri. Part […]

Mails By Electricity, 1890

Oscar was so close with his 1890 invention of “electric mail” process, but yet so far: To Send Mails by Electricity. Oscar Kleinsteinber, superintendent of the police alarm and telephone system of Milwaukee, is working on a new invention which may ultimately revolutionize the present system of carrying mails between different cities.  It is intended […]

Black’s Store Costume Party, 1932

Happy Halloween from Black’s Department Store!  This wasn’t the store located in the Black Building: the photo was taken in 1932, so this ragtag bunch of costumed employees worked for the Store Without A Name, Black’s followup to his original department store.   Sure, the photo was taken in November, but you can’t always plan your […]