Sept. 6 — On this day in 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes and First Lady Lucy Hayes paid a visit to Dakota Territory.

Arriving in Fargo at 8:30 a.m., the President, First Lady and an entourage of nearly 100 took breakfast at the Railroad Hotel before addressing a large audience from the platform of the president’s railcar. President Hayes, who had traveled through the territory six years earlier, expressed to his listeners astonishment at the progress in settlement while Mrs. Hayes graciously waved her handkerchief in acknowledgement of the women who had gathered in hopes of catching a glimpse of the First Lady.

Following several more speeches by members of the presidential party encouraging the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad, they toured Oliver Dalrymple’s bonanza farm near Casselton. By evening, the President and Mrs. Hayes returned to their train heading east to St. Paul.

Gov. Link accepts time capsule

Sept. 72 — From the cave drawings of the Sahara to the tombs of the pharaohs, humankind has sought to communicate through the ages. However, never has there been a more deliberate attempt to speak to future generations than the time capsule.

In 1939 the World’s Fair in New York City interned a time capsule which included a baseball, a Sears Roebuck Catalog, an electric lamp, a deck of cards, cigarettes, and the Bible.

On this day in 1976 a time capsule was accepted by Gov. Link on behalf of North Dakota from the Reynolds Metal Company of Chicago. In honor of the 200th anniversary of the United States a state-of-the-art aluminum time capsule was given to each of the 50 states. They are slated to be opened on July 4, 2075.

Lincoln bust presented to Norwegian brethren

Sept. 8 — In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Syttende Mai in 1914 a number of Norwegian-Americans living in North Dakota marked the occasion by presenting a gift to their Norwegian brethren still living in the old country. Inspired by a similar work of art at Gettysburg, the group decided to commission a bust of Abraham Lincoln, collected the needed money and hired the then little-known Norwegian-American artist Paul Fjelde to sculpt it.

Paul Fjelde would eventually achieve international fame as an artist, with works adorning the Federal Street Building in Boston, the Indiana Statehouse, the Minneapolis Art Institute and Lindbergh Field in San Diego. However, in 1913 the 21-year-old alumnus of Valley City State Normal School was an unknown commodity. The bust of Lincoln was Fjelde’s first major commission.

After a year of labor Fjelde had completed his work and a collection of prominent North Dakotans traveled to Norway to present the bust of Lincoln as gift from the people of North Dakota. Speaking at the July 4 dedication ceremony were North Dakota Gov. Louis B. Hanna, and Smith Stimmel, the Fargo man who had previously served as one of Abraham Lincoln’s bodyguards.

For two and a half decades Fjelde’s work stood silently at Frogner Park in Oslo. But following Germany’s invasion of Norway in World War II, the Lincoln bust was made a rallying point for Norwegian protests. Beginning on the first July 4th of the Nazi occupation of Norway in 1940, until the war’s end in 1945, thousands of Norwegians assembled around the bust and stood with their heads bowed, in silent protest of their Nazi occupiers. The Nazis, who traditionally suffered no challenge to their authority, allowed the protests at the statue to continue.

The bust of Abraham Lincoln still stands in Oslo, and remains the only statue in Frogner Park not created by Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland. For those not able to travel the thousands of miles to Norway, North Dakotans can still see Fjelde’s sculpture of our 16th president. The original plaster cast now resides in the Allen Memorial Library at Valley City State University, and a replica of the bust, which was dedicated on this day Sept. 8, 1918, can be found in front of the Traill County Courthouse in Hillsboro, North Dakota.

First Minuteman I missile in Minot

area installed

Sept. 9 — During the early years of the Cold War a push for improved technology was driven by a desire to surpass Soviet missile technology; to overcome what seemed to be a growing “missile gap.” The Soviet launching of Sputnik, the world’s first satellite, in October of 1957 intensified that push.

To stunned Americans, Sputnik seemed a sure sign that the Soviet Union was indeed leading in missile technology, and would soon develop ballistic missiles that could reach the United States. President Eisenhower responded by increasing spending on missile development; as would the next administration under President Kennedy.

In order to deter communist aggression and address the apparent missile gap, the U.S. Air Force developed the Minuteman I missile system with the ability to respond to an enemy attack with immediate and massive retaliation. Named for its symbolic imagery of the nation’s military past and to reflect the quick response time of the missile system, the Minuteman I could be mass-produced, stand unattended for long periods of time, be operated by small crews and stored and launched from underground silos.

A “tethered” Minuteman I prototype was successfully launched in September of 1959. Less than two years later, construction on the first operational Minuteman I force began at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. That same year, in 1961, the Air Force also selected the land around Minot for a new Minuteman I missile complex.

Overseen by the Corps of Engineers Ballistic Missile Construction Office, field construction of the 150 silos and 10 launch complexes stretching across more than 8,000 square miles begin in January of 1962. The prime contractor, Peter Kiewit Sons’ Company, brought in 6,000 men and 115 cranes to complete the work that was occasionally hampered by spring rains, severe winter temperatures, dust storms and 58 man-days lost to works stoppages.

Two workers and four private citizens died in construction and traffic accidents while another 36 suffered disabling injuries. Despite the obstacles, the project was completed 51 days ahead of schedule.

The first Minuteman I missile, weighing 65,000 pounds, was installed in an 80-foot-deep silo near Drake on this day, Sept. 9, 1963. Within a few months, the 455th Strategic Missile Wing was combat ready. As the nation’s third operational Minuteman base, it marked the start of an important era in North Dakota history.

“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.