North Dakota Trivia & Tidbits - Page 4

Looking for North Dakota trivia? Try our list North Dakota little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

—In 1948, Lloyd E. Rigler co-founded Rigler and Deutsch Food Brokers, bought the recipe for Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer from a California restaurant and soon made his fortune. Rigler, who was born in 1915 in Lehr (pop. 114), moved at age 4 to Wishek (pop. 1,122) where he ran his own greeting card and gift shop at age 11.

first appeared: 4/22/2007

—In 1890, telegraph messages warned German pioneers near Hebron (pop. 803) that hostile Sioux were raiding towns as they fled to Canada. To protect themselves, the settlers built Fort Sauerkraut. An attack never occurred, but the fort has been historically reconstructed on the site.

first appeared: 4/8/2007

—The U.S. Forest Service bought the 5,200-acre Eberts Ranch, next to Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch, last August. The property will become part of the Little Missouri National Grasslands.

first appeared: 3/25/2007

—Founded in 1884, Napoleon (pop. 857) was named for settler Napoleon Goodsill, the town’s storekeeper. Napoleon is the county seat of Logan County (pop. 2,308).

first appeared: 3/11/2007

—Dakota Drug in Stanley (pop. 1,279) is famous for its Whirla Whip ice cream treats made with vintage Whirla Whip machines that blend ice cream with fruit, nuts and candy.

first appeared: 2/27/2007

—During World War II, schoolchildren gathered pods from milkweed, a common plant in the state, to substitute for kapok, a fiber filling for life preservers. The principal supplier of kapok had been the island of Java, which was occupied by Japan during the war.

first appeared: 2/11/2007

—The state’s official railroad museum is the North Dakota State Railroad Museum in Mandan (pop. 16,718). The museum features displays of train cars, uniforms, photographs, timetables and handmade models of railroad cars.

first appeared: 1/28/2007

Named the state’s poet laureate in 1995, Larry Woiwode is acclaimed for his eight novels and for short stories and poetry published in The Atlantic, Harpers, Paris Review, The New Yorker and other magazines. The award-winning writer lives near Mott (pop. 808).

first appeared: 1/14/2007

—On Feb. 21, 1918, the temperature in Granville (pop. 286) climbed from 33 degrees below zero in the morning to 50 degrees above zero in the afternoon.

first appeared: 12/3/2006

—“Man’s best friend” is a chicken named Henrietta for Terry Morris, who lives near Bismarck (pop. 55,532). The friendly hen has logged 50,000 miles with Morris in her custom coop, favors Mexican food, and inspired the 2006 children’s book Henrietta the Guard Chicken.

first appeared: 11/19/2006

—Little Yellow Jacket, the state’s most famous rodeo bull, is a 2006 inductee in the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora (pop. 100). Jacket, named by the Professional Bull Riders as the World Champion Bucking Bull in 2002, 2003 and 2004, is retired on the Berger Ranch near Mandan (pop. 16,718).

first appeared: 11/5/2006

—The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service operates two federal fish hatcheries in the state—the Valley City (pop. 6,826) National Fish Hatchery and Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery in Riverdale (pop.273).

first appeared: 10/22/2006

—The world’s largest “all sports” store, Scheels, opened in July in Fargo with more than four acres of retail space. When shoppers need to rest their feet, they can sit a spell while riding an indoor Ferris wheel restored from the 1950s.

first appeared: 10/8/2006

Students from Sioux reservation schools held their first Scrabble tournament—in the Dakota Sioux language—in March in Hankinson (pop. 1,058). With the support of game maker Hasbro, tribal members are handcrafting letter tiles from local stone for the games in an effort to save their dying language.

first appeared: 9/24/2006

The state's first commercial television station was KCJB, now KXMC, in Minot (pop. 36,567), which began broadcasting in 1953.

first appeared: 9/10/2006

Guests can sleep in a tepee or covered wagon at the 800-acre Flaming Arrow Guest Ranch along the Lewis and Clark Trail near Washburn (pop. 1,389). Hunting, campfire singing and other outdoor activities are offered at the family-owned ranch.

first appeared: 8/27/2006

A favorite traditional Ukrainian dish of varenyky or pyrohy, which is dough buttons filled with potatoes, cheese or sauerkraut, is made by the Ukrainian Cultural Institute in Dickinson (pop. 16,010) and marketed to supermarkets throughout the region.

first appeared: 8/13/2006

More than 70 American Indian tribes with 1,500 dancers and drummers participate in the United Tribes International Powwow on the weekend after Labor Day at the United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck (pop. 55,532).

first appeared: 7/30/2006

Much of the wildly rugged and picturesque Badlands scenery of the nearly 6,000-acre Little Missouri State Park near Killdeer (pop. 713) is accessible only on horseback or foot. More than 25 miles of trails crisscross the park.

first appeared: 7/16/2006

On Jan. 12, 1888, a mild day ended with a blinding snowstorm and hurricane-force winds across the Dakotas and Great Plains, leaving up to 500 people dead, many of them schoolchildren trying to walk home. The disaster is called "the children's blizzard."

first appeared: 7/2/2006

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