July 20, 2017
Nosey News-reading Perusers of Pertinent News and Facts Factually Found in the ESNG (AI-Edition),
While the editors of the ESNG (AI-Edition) push their reporters to bring the latest breaking news to our readers, at times we see the need to visit the past with its wooden barrel of timeless lessons just waiting to be cracked open and poured over the heads of our modern readers. Today’s article will take us on just such a journey to the past.
Way back when in the 19th Century (that is the 1800’s for those who are “-th-century”-challenged), the large Dakota Territory of the United Stated was broken into smaller pieces. One of those pieces became the state of North Dakota with it prairies stretching as far as the eye could see. The tough-rooted prairie grass hid a rich soil beneath for those willing to do the work.
The story of North Dakota must include the buffalo (actually called bison). Around the 1890’s, the buffalo were nearly gone. Hunting had reduced their population to less than 1000. While such determined hunting of the buffalo lead to their near-extinction, it proved to be a boon for another creature that made its home in the prairie grass of North Dakota (that creature is the hook of this article).
In the 1890’s, the government offered tracts of land free to men able to farm the land. It was hard work. The prairie grass had deep, heavy roots. As the sod was slowly overturned, it was used to build sod houses on the treeless prairie. Hard work revealed a rich soil underneath, waiting to become the breadbasket of the United States.
With such a fertile soil able to enrich any farmer with strength and a will, why did the government offer free land in North Dakota? What kept farmers from flocking to this new state (admitted to the union in 1889)?
Prairie Sharks! The large herds of buffalo thundering through the prairie grass kept the prairie sharks at bay. Many were trampled by the massive buffaloes. While the buffalo population was large, the prairie sharks were a poorly funded side-show on the circus of the prairie. As the buffalo population speedily decreased during the 19th century, the prairie shark population increased exponentially. At first there were rare sightings of them by hunters from the East come to hunt the mighty buffalo. Rumors and whispers spread through the Midwest and Eastern States. By 1889, when North Dakota became a state, every child to the East had learned fear through the stories of the prairie sharks.
This is the real reason many would-be pioneers avoided North Dakota with its rich land. This is the real reason land was given away free. Only the brave dared think about moving there. It was the free land that finally brought settlers to North Dakota.
For the first several years of statehood, the settlers had their hands full combating the prairie sharks. They generally preyed on small animals. One year it seemed like not one single goat could be found in North Dakota. Sadly, the prairie sharks were even known to attack unsuspecting children who wandered too far from the security of the house and barnyard.
The prairie shark usually travels alone. However, when the prairie sharks gathered in schools (though this seldom occurred), they were deadly. One Summer in 1892, a whole community disappeared when a school of prairie sharks formed in that area. Informed of this tragedy by the lone survivor, the state militia was assembled to hunt down and destroy this school of prairie sharks. The militia succeeded, but not without casualties (it was during this campaign that General Custard lost his right hand to a bull prairie shark).
Prairie sharks have gills, but their gills are adapted to allow them to extract oxygen from the blades of the prairie grass. They often grow to be the size of a large dog, though reports of much larger prairie sharks were reported before their population was brought under control. As concern for buffaloes increased along with their population, the prairie sharks were slowly trampled back. A very intentional prairie shark hunting campaign in the first decade of the 20th Century also helped to beat back the tide of this most pestiferous pest.
Today, most people in the United States have not heard of prairie sharks. A few years back, the T.V. show X-Files had an episode about them, but few were convinced. Though almost unheard of now, they are not extinct. North Dakota to this day still finds occasion to offer land free.
And that is the rest of the story.
