Aug. 22 — At the beginning of the summer in 1945, the secretary of the American Legion Post in Ashley asked the editor of the Ashley Tribune to report on what he and many others called a mystery: Some chickens had strayed from the chicken barn, and were lost.

The paper really upped the advertising ante on these chickens. Every week or every other week, at least, something was announced about them. Certainly, residents of Ashley followed the tongue-in-cheek calls for lost chickens with interest.

The birds were some of those being fed and cared for by the members of the local Legion Post and so belonged to the returning brothers, husbands, “sweethearts” and friends. A “substantial” reward for the chickens, “dead or alive,” was offered.

Throughout the summer, the mystery merely increased. The Ashley Tribune increased this hoopla, asking, “Have you ever argued the question as to which came first, the chicken or the egg? … Another mystery, almost as great and intriguing as (that question), is the whereabouts of the Legion chickens.”

Continuing the story, they reported to have hired a “super snooper sleuth” by the name of Slim Seekumout from an agency known as the “Huntem and Findum” detective agency. The week after “Slim” entered the tragic chickens’ tale, he reportedly left, and was evasive upon questioning.

The paper reported that “In fact, (Slim) was almost genial, making apparent attempts to be funny even to the extent of springing that old corny gag about ‘Why does a chicken cross the road?’ When (the Ashley Tribune reportedly) told him it might be to get one of the lost Legion Chickens trying to find its way home, he emitted a laugh that sounded like a hyena chasing a cackling hen, called us a dope, and said the chickens merely wanted to get to the other side. As if we didn’t know.”

It was determined that the detective had run “afowl” of some bribery tactics — or that he had found nothing at all.

On this day, the tongue-in-cheek was mostly done, and residents would soon find out what the chicken story meant. The Legion had intended to raise the chickens and sell them in the fall, using the proceeds to fund a huge one-day celebration for servicemen, once they returned.

Palmer’s Spring

Aug. 23 — It was this date in 1868 that six soldiers escorting mail from Fort Totten were ambushed by Yankton and Blackfeet Indians in present-day Benson County.

The group had just begun their midday meal when the Indians, seeing that the soldiers had left their weapons in the mail-wagon, launched their attack from behind a limestone boulder; killing three soldiers in the initial two volleys. As the survivors scrambled for their weapons the attackers stole the group’s mules; riding off before the soldiers could mount any real resistance. One survivor, Frank Palmer, an Army courier, returned to Fort Totten to relate the fatal news.

The site of the attack, dubbed Palmer’s Spring, is located 10 miles southeast of Esmond, and was acquired by the State Historical Society in 1936. Today the historical site stands unmarked, remaining unchanged from that hot summer day in 1868.

Noxious Weed

Aug. 24 — On this date in 2005 the North Dakota Department of Agriculture issued a bulletin announcing a new website designed to help fight the spread of harmful vegetation.

One of the most potent of these noxious weeds is Canada thistle. Originally found in northern Eurasia, it likely migrated to North America in the early 18th century. Truly invasive, Canada thistle crowds out native plants and releases chemical compounds, destroying competing vegetation.

Although the Canada thistle infests more than a million acres in N.D., there is hope. NDSU and the USDA Agricultural Research Service are developing a variety of new potent strategies to fight the weed, including new herbicides, better land management strategies, and even the development of thistle-killing-weevils.

Philemon Bliss

Aug. 25 — President James Buchanan signed the 1861 legislation creating Dakota Territory, but it was left to the next president, Abraham Lincoln, to appoint territorial leaders. For the position of chief justice of the Supreme Court of Dakota Territory, President Lincoln appointed an abolitionist congressman from Ohio, Philemon Bliss.

Born in Canton, Connecticut, in 1813, Philemon Bliss studied law at Hamilton College in New York. Admitted to the bar in 1840, over the following two decades Bliss set up practice at Elyria, Ohio, served as presiding judge of the 14th judicial circuit of Ohio and was elected to the 34th and 35th U.S. Congress as a Republican.

When Lincoln sought out a judicial appointee for the new Dakota Territory in 1861, Bliss attracted attention not only on his professional qualifications and close friendship with Lincoln’s Secretary of Treasury, Salmon P. Chase. Bliss was also a long-time ardent opponent of slavery, as evidenced by an event involving John Mercer Langston in 1853. Langston, the son of a Virginia plantation owner and an emancipated slave, had ambitions to become a lawyer. But because of his skin color, Langston’s applications to law school had been rejected. Rather than give up, Langston turned to the sympathetic Philemon Bliss, who agreed to tutor him in 1853. With Bliss’ assistance, John Mercer Langston became the first black lawyer in Ohio, passing the bar in 1854.

Following Philemon Bliss’ appointment as Chief Justice in Dakota Territory in 1861, he found the Supreme Court had little appellate business. But he was hardly idle as the three Supreme Court justices also served as the only trial judges for the territory.

The chief justice pursued other political aspirations as well. When William Jayne resigned his governorship of Dakota Territory in March 1863, Bliss threw his hat into the ring against Newton Edmunds. But President Lincoln appointed Edmunds as the second territorial governor.

Not one easily discouraged, Bliss next set his sights on a territorial seat in Congress against fellow Republican Dr. Walter A. Burleigh. With no Democratic candidate on the horizon, Bliss assumed he would easily capture the votes of the territorial Democrats. But just as his campaign got underway, the incumbent delegate to Congress, a Democrat, John B. Todd announced his candidacy. In the interest of maintaining party unity and knowing that he would lose his Democratic supporters to Todd, Bliss withdrew his nomination.

With this defeat, in 1864, Philemon Bliss and his family left Dakota Territory to serve in the Supreme Court of Missouri and eventually as dean of the law division of the State University of Missouri before his death on this day, Aug. 25, 1889.

Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Aug. 26 — Born on Nov. 3, 1879, in Arnes, Manitoba, Vilhjalmur Stefansson went on to become one of the most recognized Arctic researchers of all time. Although claimed by Canada as their greatest Arctic explorer, Vilhjalmur moved from his native land when he was only 18 months old. In 1881 the Stefanssons moved to a farm in Dakota Territory, near the town of Mountain, located in present-day Pembina County.

Stefansson’s early education was informal at best. His father having died when he was very young, Stefansson gave up traditional schooling in order to assist his family on the farm. As a result, he taught himself, gaining much of his education through study of the Bible and reading local publications.

Armed with his ‘do-it-yourself’ education, Stefansson successfully enrolled in college, attending classes at the University of North Dakota, where he became very popular with the student body. Vilhjalmur edited the school newspaper, and was voted the best orator at UND but his constant pranks, such as parking the horse carriage of UND’s president in front of a local house of ill repute, got him into trouble with the administration and he was permanently suspended from the school. Stefansson moved on with his college career. He obtained a B.A. in religious studies at the University of Iowa and an M.A. in anthropology from Harvard.

Inspired by his anthropological studies, Stefansson set out into the research field focusing his work on the inhabitants of the Arctic. He was one of the earliest Arctic explorers to live as one of those he studied, believing that it was a mistake for explorers to bring along their own traditions and customs into the research field. Stefansson instead claimed that it was much more productive and profitable to take up the practices of those who had already adapted to life in the Arctic north. On his many Arctic expeditions Stefansson took his own advice. Abandoning Western foods, he lived for months on just meat and animal fat. His high protein, low carb, low sugar lifestyle seemed to suit Stefansson, and when he returned from his expeditions, he was the model of good health.

Besides being a pioneer of the South Beach Diet, Stefansson was widely considered an expert on the Arctic, and his expertise was sought by a number of organizations. Pan American Airlines hired him to plan some of their northern air routes, and the United States government put him to work assisting in the protection of Alaska from Japanese attacks during World War II.

After spending a lifetime working to uncover the mysteries of the Arctic North, and touting its beauty and grandeur, Vilhjalmur Stefansson passed away on this date, Aug. 26, 1962.

“Dakota Datebook” is a radio series from Prairie Public in partnership with the State Historical Society of North Dakota and with funding from Humanities North Dakota.