Dakota Datebook: The tale of Rattlesnake Dan

Dan Panko was born on September 13 in Ukraine in 1895. He emigrated to America in 1906 with his family and they homesteaded in North Dakota. A railroad branch of the Soo Line ran near their homestead and young Dan would hop on the train as it went by, ride a few miles, hop off and run back home.

One Saturday morning in June of 1908, when he was 12, Dan caught the train and didn’t get off unti...