The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-12-26
HISTORY OF NORTH
DAKOTA FIRST
VOLUME
vInu
Issued by the State Historical
Society is Now Nearly
Ready.
WHAT BOOK CONTAINS
Valuable Collection of Facts
Relative to the Great Flick.
ertail State.

There is no more interesting por-
ton of our country today than North
Dakota. Within fifteen years this
young commonwealth has passed
through the historical changes ira
versed by older states in a full CEN
fury or more. Here within an area of
$4,000 square miles are to be found
all stages of civilization; the blanket
Indian, the Indian in the different
stages of civilization, the herder and
rancher and the successive phases of
agricultural and city life. Thus with
In a life time are to be cleaned the
records of the American people from
savagery to civilization; open prairies,
Indian reservations, ranches, cult
waited farms and modern cities jostle
each other in the hurrying tide of
progress. North Dakota is more than
this. There are at least thirty Ian
guages or distinct dialects spoken in
the state. North Dakota is a racial
melting pot in which are being fused
together into composite civic life all
these varied types and nationalities.
And now with sense of civic pride
and of moral obligation, this people
are taking steps in The midst of the
hurry and stress of their strenuous
life to preserve the priceless records
which will otherwise completely dis
appear by few years of neglect. The
State Historical Society has COM
menced the monumental work of es-
tablishing an authentic record. Only
those versed in such work and ac-
quainted with the difficulty of sitting
out the true from the valueless, can
appreciate the nature of the task in
hand. The secretary of the Society,
who is the editor of the collections,
himself carefully trained student
and a graduate from one of our lead
ing universities, has devoted for sew
eral years all his spare time to COM
passing the state, interviewing old
residents and collating their testi-
mony, searching out and examining
old sites, preserving records and what
is most difficult of all, securing from
the rapidly disappearing Indian tribes
of the state, the native accounts of
religion, costumes and old village life.
Another interesting feature of state
development is the course of the for
eign migrations to the northwest, the
incoming of the Icelander, Scandi-
navian, German, Englishman, Syrian,
Russian, Italian, Canadian, and others,
and the gradual blending of these
diverse peoples. 1t is not often that
there Is undertaken just such task
as is sketched out in the present
volume.
The first volume of Collections now
being issued by the State Historical
Society, consisting of some five hun
dred pages of matter dealing with the
history of the state. In preparing this
volume the Society has had in mind
more than the mere compilation of his
torical facts and the publishing of
half-forgotten records. The volume is
designed to demonstrate to its read
ers the existence of a field of work
in North Dakota which is worthy OF
state aid and of the hearty cooper
alton of every public spirited citizen
within its borders. Incidentally, the
work is public notice that the state
has come of age and that for the
future it can be trusted to examine
its own archaeological remains, pre-
serve its own historic sites, and write
it's own history.
Part I. contains the report of the
secretary on expenditures and re-
ceipts and on the growth Of the library
and museum. Without single sal
aried officer in the organization, and
barely paying expenses of those who
served it, there has been built up
very creditable collection which will
be displayed this winter at the rooms
of the Society at Bismarck. The re-
port speaks for itself as to the self
sacrificing and untiring energy of all
who have taken part in these labors.
Part II. contains two very valuable
addresses, one by Prof. A. G. Nc
Laughlin of the department of his
tory, University of Chicago, on the
uses of an historical society, and the
other by Harlan I. Smith. of the
American Museum of Natural History,
New York, on how to build up a
museum. Prof. Mclaughlin delivered