A resource for reliable information about significant people, places, events, and things in Minnesota history.
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August 18
| 1929 |
A 350-pound bear is killed in the Hotel Duluth's lounge. The bear had followed truck driver Arvid Peterson and his shipment of fish into the city, and, attracted by the smell of food in the Hotel Duluth's coffee shop, broke through the window of the lounge. The hotel's night watchman, Albert Nelson, and a local unnamed drunk confront the bear, hitting it with a chair and a hammer. Others call the police, and Sergeant Eli LeBeau shoots the bear after trying first to corner it unharmed to return it to the woods. The bear is the third killed in Duluth that year. |
| 1993 |
Dan and Steve Buettner of Roseville complete the first north-to-south bicycle ride across Africa. They set their rear wheels in the Mediterranean Sea 272 days and 11,836 miles before rolling their front wheels into the Indian Ocean. In addition to such natural obstacles as the Sahara Desert, jungles, and mountains, the men faced malaria, civil war, thieves, and a lack of supplies. |
| 2007 |
Flash flooding kills seven and causes $67 million in damages in Dodge, Fillmore, Houston, Olmsted, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona counties. People are evacuated from Rushford, Stockton, Houston, Elba, Minnesota City, and portions of Winona. |
 As a legislator, Helen E. McMillan served Mower County for twelve years. She was also involved in the Red Cross, the Women’s League of Voters, the Human Rights Commission, and the United Council for Church Women. |
 Wadena County contains three known fur trade sites. One is located on private property along the Leaf River where Joseph Réaume, an independent fur trader, set up a winter camp in the late eighteenth century. Between 2011 and 2012, the University of Minnesota conducted archaeological surveys and excavations at this location. They confirmed a late-eighteenth century occupation, validating its association with Réaume's 1792 wintering activities. |
Made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008. Administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.
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