Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota
and the county seat of Grand Forks County. Originally called Les
Grandes Fourches by French fur traders, the city was founded on June
15, 1870, by steamboat captain Alexander Griggs and incorporated on
February 22, 1881. Grand Forks is located on the western banks of the
Red River of the North across from where the river meets the Red Lake
River, in an extremely flat region known as the Red River Valley; the
city is prone to flooding and was struck by the devastating Red River
Flood of 1997. In July 2008, its population was estimated at 51,313,
and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 97,190. Grand Forks,
along with its twin city of East Grand Forks, Minnesota, forms the
center of the Grand Forks, ND-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area, which
is often called Greater Grand Forks or The Grand Cities. Historically
dependent on local agriculture, the city's economy now encompasses
higher education including the University of North Dakota, defense
including Grand Forks Air Force Base, health care, manufacturing, food
processing, and scientific research.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Forks%2C_North_Dakota>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1667:
French physician Jean-Baptiste Denys administered the first fully
documented human blood transfusion, giving the blood of a sheep to a
15-year old boy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/blood_transfusion>
1846:
To settle the Oregon boundary dispute, the United Kingdom and the
United States signed the Oregon Treaty, extending the United States –
British North America border west along the 49th parallel north that
was first established by the Treaty of 1818.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Treaty>
1978:
King Hussein of Jordan married American Lisa Halaby , who became known
as Queen Noor of Jordan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Noor_of_Jordan>
1996:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a bomb in the
commercial centre of Manchester, England, injuring over 200 people and
causing widespread damage to buildings.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Manchester_bombing>
2001:
Leaders of the People's Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
hollow leg (n):
1. Capacity to eat large quantities.
2. Ability or tendency to drink large quantities of alcohol
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hollow_leg>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The world belongs to the enthusiast who keeps cool.
--William McFee
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_McFee>
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