Hans was born in Norway in 1846, and settled in Kensett, Iowa after immigrating to the United States with his wife, Anne. In 1875, Hans shaved for the last time and started growing his famous beard. The couple had six children in Iowa, but after Anne passed away in the 1880s Hans and his family moved first to Glyndon, Minnesota, and then to Barney, North Dakota, where Hans lived for the rest of his life.

Hans had gained attention for his extensive beard well before his visit to Sacramento. He appeared in circus sideshows and even one movie, allowing people to see, and even feel with their own hands, that his beard wasn’t fake. When not on display, Hans kept his beard wrapped up and tucked in a pocket or inside his shirt, to protect it from damage.

There were few challengers even approaching the length of Hans Langseth’s beard in Sacramento in 1922. The lengthy beard of Zachary Wilcox of Carson City, Nevada was the closest threat. Wilcox’s beard came in at an official length of fourteen feet, as measured by the “Chief Whiskerino of the Golden West,” who officiated the event. As runner-up,Wilcox was dubbed “Crown Prince of the Whiskerinos,” and Hans Langseth, their King, was awarded an engraved gold medal from the Governor of California.

Hans returned to North Dakota a champion, and no person has ever grown a longer beard since. On his death in 1927, a portion of his beard was sent to the Smithsonian Museum, where it remains in their collection today. At the time of his death, the beard of Hans Langseth was over 18 feet, six inches long. The portion in the Smithsonian’s collection measures only measures 17 feet, six inches. The Langseth family left one foot of record-setting beard on his chin, because it wouldn’t be right to send Hans Langseth to his grave clean-shaven.

This Dakota Datebook written by Derek Dahlsad.

Sources:

“The longest beard in the United States…,” Turtle Mountain Star, 5/11/1922

HansLangseth.com http://hanslangseth.com

“The End Of The Chase,” British Pathe http://www.britishpathe.com/video/the-end-of-the-chase

“Wisdom is in the head, and not in the beard…,” 3/24/2010, The Bigger Picture http://siarchives.si.edu/blog/wisdom-head-and-not-beard

Sacramento’s K Street: Where Our City Was Born, William Burg

“Crown Prince of the Whiskerinos,” Carson City Nevada website http://www.carson.org/index.aspx?page=1802

Do you know when this was written?

If you said “today,” you’re mistaken.  If you guessed 1916, however, then you’re right on the money, because on this date in 1916, people were complaining about the price of gas.

Now, if you’re driving while you listen to today’s Dakota Datebook, then you are probably already cringing at every mile that passes on your odometer.  Gas prices are up everywhere, more than in our historical memory.

But in 1916, gas was at issue, too.  And Walt Mason, who printed this long poem in the Edinburg Tribune, was able to express his concern.  Though the language may be dated, the sentiment expressed has no boundaries.

During those days, there were many car troubles.  We were transitioning out of the horse and buggy days, into the days of jalopies and rumble seats.  “Gasoline was originally used for cleaning gloves and ejecting hired girls thru the kitchen roof, but has been taught a great variety of interesting tricks, such as running automobiles, aeroplanes, motorboats, windmills, street cars, hearses, corn shellers and bicycles,” one report said jokingly in the Edinburg Tribune.  However, by May of 1916, auto license requests received were already reported at 26,000, whereas around only 24,000 had been requested for the entire year before.

Also, car accidents were numerous; near Horace, a farmer who was trying to feed his young son candy drove right into a telephone pole.  Injuries were slight to all but the pole.

And, of course, 1916 was on the cusp of World War I.  War always seems to affect the people and the prices back home.

Nonetheless, the poem written by Walt Mason speaks to us today. The poem is quite long.  However, here is another excerpt of what Mason wrote:

“My children used to wear good clothes; they held their heads up high; no leaky shoes exposed their toes, no rents could you discry. But now they’re images of woe, they’re blots upon the scene; for every coin I get must go to buy some gasoline.  … I used to talk of books and art, and topics safe and sane, but … I’ve motor on the brain. I cannot even spare a dime to buy a magazine; it keeps me hustling all the time to buy my gasoline.”

By Sarah Walker

Sources:

The Edinburg Tribune, Friday, May 5, 1916, p.2

Bismarck Weekly Tribune, Friday, May 19, 1916, p.6

The Edinburg Tribune, April 21, 1916

In 1881, Bismarck was the hub of commerce in the northern part of the Missouri River. The railroad had arrived in 1872, and tracks had been laid to the water’s edge. Tons of supplies arrived on both the steamboats and the railroad. Work had begun on the construction of a railroad bridge to span the river, and once completed, the dominance of the railroad would mark the end of the era of steamboat traffic on the Missouri.

On this date over a half dozen steamboats were moored at the levee in Bismarck. The Rose Bud and the C. K. Peck were plying the waters on their way upriver from St. Louis. Meanwhile, steamboats like the Nellie Peck, the General Terry, the Red Cloud and the Benton were busy unloading tons of freight brought from the south and loading additional freight brought in from the east by the railroad to be moved further upriver. The Far West was at the halfway point to Fort Buford where the General Sherman was docked. Further up the river, the Helena was delivering its cargo at Fort Benton.

But steamboat traffic on this date would itself effect the end of another era. As the Far West, the Helena and the General Sherman delivered their cargos to Fort Buford, they began taking on a human cargo. Almost twelve hundred Indians, many who had fled to Canada after the Battle of the Little Big Horn, had gathered at Fort Buford and were now being transferred to the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Nearly a hundred of those present were from Sitting Bull’s band, including his daughter, but Sitting Bull would not surrender until July. In the months following this, another two thousand Indians would make the journey from Fort Keogh in Montana Territory to the reservations in the Dakotas implementing a process author and photographer Frank Fiske would later term the “Taming of the Sioux.” So, the frontier era, once demarcated by the Missouri River, had, for the most part, ceased to exist on the Northern Plains.

Dakota Datebook written by Jim Davis

Sources:

The Bismarck Tribune May 20, 1881

The Bismarck Tribune May 27, 1881

The Bismarck Tribune June 3, 1881

In May of 1904, Good Roads Woman and her husband, Milton Fowler, were farming on the Fort Berthold Reservation near Elbowoods. Fowler, an Arikara, was Good Roads’ fourth husband, and rumors swirled that she had actually murdered her third. In mid-May, neighbors visiting Good Roads Woman were surprised to find her husband absent, especially since his team and wagon were still at home. Good Roads replied that he had taken some calico cloth to the Russian settlement to trade for potatoes. Given the distance to the settlement, the fact the wagon and team were still home, and probably factoring in the rumors concerning the fate of her previous husband, the neighbors became suspicious. They alerted authorities at the Elbowoods Agency, and the following day a search of the farmstead turned up Fowler’s body. He had been struck in the face with a hatchet, wrapped in quilts, and buried in a shallow grave in the stable.

Good Roads Woman denied any knowledge of the murder, but eventually admitted that they had recently argued. The constable concluded from the evidence that Good Roads had killed her husband while he slept. Despite her pleas of innocence, Good Roads found herself in the Elbowoods jail on this date, and the cause of some excitement on the reservation. A sheriff later arrived and transferred her to Stanton, where she was to go before the district court. Later, while being held there, she confessed to an alternate story in which a stranger came to their house, witnessed Fowler beat her severely, and then killed and buried him in retaliation in front of her. Unsurprisingly, Good Roads Woman was not believed this time around, and was charged with Fowler’s murder.

Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job

Sources:

Fargo Forum and Daily Republican. Thursday (Evening ed.), June 16, 1904: p. 1.

http://www.infomercantile.com/dakota_death_trip/Good_Roads_Woman_1334867832.html (Dakota Death Trip blog posted by D. Dahlsad, Bismarck Daily Tribune, May 20, 1904; May 24, 1904; June 15, 1904; July 28, 1904).

Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job

Sources:

http://www.infomercantile.com/dakota_death_trip/Twisted_Tobacco_Can_1334441506.html (Dakota Death Trip blog posted by D. Dahlsad, The Bismarck Tribune, May 20, 1922).

Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job

Sources:

http://www.infomercantile.com/dakota_death_trip/Twins_Born_1334439198.html (Dakota Death Trip blog posted by D. Dahlsad, The Bismarck Tribune, May 18, 1922).

On the evening of May 17th, 1922, Haines and Sparks drove to Cleveland, North Dakota and walked into the popular Motor Inn. Brandishing weapons, the young men held up the proprietor, Mr. Ahlen, as they loaded up their car with goods from the Inn’s stockroom. Afterward, the now-fugitive farmers took off in their vehicle, leaving behind a dazed and disturbed Mr. Ahlen. By morning, however, Ahlen and another Cleveland resident, Ward Pomeroy, were hot on their trail. With the help of daylight, they were able to see the peculiar tread of the bandit’s tire tracks on the dirt roads. It took most of the day for the tenacious pursuers to track the car nearly forty miles, from Cleveland to Streeter, and fifteen miles further to the Haines farmstead.

They alerted Logan County Sheriff Balzer, and the three men returned to the farm to confront the thieves. There, they found the stolen goods, and although Haines and Sparks admitted to the theft, they quickly took off on yet another bid for freedom – this time on foot. Sheriff Balzer, Pomeroy, and Ahlen were quickly in pursuit, and after a run of some miles, they spotted the fugitives behind a distant rock pile.

Sparks quickly surrendered, leaving his accomplice behind, but Haines intended to shoot it out. After a short gunfight, he ran from the protection afforded by the rock pile, and was intercepted by Pomeroy, armed with a shotgun. Both men fired simultaneously. Pomeroy’s shot hit Haines squarely in the head, while Haines missed Pomeroy completely. With a head full of buckshot, Haines lost consciousness.

Apparently, little sympathy was felt in those parts for armed robbers, as Stutsman County Sheriff Dana Wright soon arrived to take both men to the Stutsman County jail, conscious or not.

Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job

Sources:

http://www.infomercantile.com/dakota_death_trip/Shot_In_His_Head_1334440533.html (Dakota Death Trip blog posted by D. Dahlsad, The Bismarck Tribune, May 19, 1922; May 20, 1922).

It all started in Sidney, Montana, where two men decided to rob a business. However, while they were otherwise occupied, a police officer passing by noticed their getaway car had North Dakota license plates. He removed the key from the ignition, expecting they would come to the police station and explain exactly what they were up to.

However, when they found their vehicle unavailable, they hightailed it across the prairie on foot, ending up about fifteen miles away, on the property of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Greene, who owned a farm south of Cartwright. They entered the house, which in customary style, wasn’t locked. Waving sawed-off shot-guns, they demanding food, searched the house, and finally ordered the Greenes’ son-in-law, Hugo Oberg, to drive them to Minot. However, the family car didn’t have enough gas, so they first drove to Williston to fill up.

In the end, the culprits made it to their destination – where they paid Oberg $2 in compensation for driving them! They told him to go straight home – which he did, after a fearful wait to make sure they were gone. The authorities felt the bandits might have been caught had he gone directly to the police station, and even though the Greenes back in Cartwright had called the police, the thieves and kidnappers got away into the surrounding darkness.

Nonetheless, they did leave the Greenes at peace, with $2 in recompense, and with some advice to the children: the younger of the two crooks told the Greene kids that he had been a farm boy, but had gone to the cities and fallen in with the wrong crowd – and, according to the McKenzie County Farmer, warned the children “to stick by the farm,” and the paper added: “As a sorry example of a boy gone wrong, the bandit’s advice is excellent for any farm boy.”

Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker

Sources:

McKenzie County Farmer and Watford Guide, May 17, 1934

In early May, Sheriff Larson had received reports from area farmers Joe Starke and John Ravelin that chickens had gone missing from their flocks. He had therefore been “…keeping an eye out for possible thieves” when he noticed two out-of-town men acting strangely on the streets of the city. Upon investigation, he discovered that the car they were driving had chicken crates in the rear seat. The crates had been covered with blankets to avoid detection. The culprits were taken to the county jail and later arraigned before Judge Mow.

Although surprising, the crime of chicken theft was not unheard of, and was common enough in the early 20th century to be the subject of popular culture; in 1903, a black-and-white silent film was released by the S. Lubin Production Company titled Stealing Chickens. The short comedy detailed the escapades of two chicken rustlers caught in the act by a shotgun-wielding farmer. In 1919, Cloyd Haggard of Lima, Ohio, was sentenced to two years in the state penitentiary for stealing chickens.

Although a common and relatively inexpensive commodity today, the value and small, portable size of chicken made their theft profitable and tempting to early 19th century thieves, especially during the shortages caused by World War I. In 1922, when the Valley City chicken rustlers were captured, the average price of chicken in the United States was nearly 40¢ a pound, just higher than the price of cheese. Factoring for inflation and converting this to the value of today’s dollar, this would be the equivalent of five dollars and thirty-one cents a pound, meaning the short-lived chicken crime spree of Starke and Ravelin in rural Barnes County was possibly quite profitable.

Dakota Datebook written by Jayme L. Job

Sources:

http://www.infomercantile.com/dakota_death_trip/Chicken_Rustlers_1334437802.html (Dakota Death Trip blog posted by D. Dahlsad, The Bismarck Tribune, May 16, 1922).

http://genealogytrails.com/ohio/allen/news_crime.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423265/

United States Dept of Agriculture, 1938. Miscellaneous Publication 281-283: p. 56. Washington, DC.

New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University, October 1922. National Poultry, Butter, and Egg Bulletin, Vol. 7 (No. 1). Ithaca, NY.

On this date in 1951, people were talking about a decision by the North Dakota Department of Health to send two mobile X-Ray machines into communities, to test for the disease in an effort to catch it early and wipe out the threat. The program was free, and each person was promised a confidential report, sent to them two weeks after the x-ray of their chest.

According to an article in The Center Republican, the Department of Health planned to visit sixteen counties, tentatively hitting Oliver County around June. They set a goal of taking 1800 x-rays in Oliver County, and people from neighboring counties were also welcome.

Using x-ray to identify TB was a relatively new technology, though similar testing had been done a few years before. Some Q-and-As in the newspaper offered additional information. It was stated as necessary for individuals over the age of 50 to be tested, though the Health Department sought to test people of all ages…especially those fifteen and older.

Also, individuals were reassured that they did not have to undress, though it was cautioned that “blouses with sequin decorations or metallic nailheads will interfere with the reading of the x-ray picture” and would have to be removed.

Even today, the disease is not wiped out and can be deadly – but thanks to medical advances, treatments are available, and the outlook in many areas is much improved.

Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker

Sources:

http://www.cdc.gov/tb/

Center Republican, Thursday, May 17, 1951