July 2: Bismarck became the capitol of Dakota Territory, replacing Yankton.
July 4: The first train arrived at the site of Devils Lake and was met by the steamboat "Minnie H."
July 8: The first meeting of the Cavalier county commissioners was held.
July 9: Minnewauken, the seat of Benson County was incorporated.
August 7: Fort Stevenson was abandoned, the buildings later being utilized as school by the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
August 15: The contract was let for the first University of North Dakota building‑ Old Main.
August 29: The famous fur traders, William Sublette and Robert Campbell arrived at the mouth of the Yellowstone River in western North Dakota to establish Fort Williams in competition with the American Fur Company, Fort Union.
September 5: Ulysses S. Grant laid the cornerstone for the new territorial capitol at Bismarck. Among those present were James J. Hill, of the Great Northern; President Henry Willard, of the Northern Pacific; newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, Sitting Bull, General H.H. Sibley and W.D. Washburn, and Chicago merchant Marshall Field.
September 7: Theodore Roosevelt arrived at Little Missouri, now known as Medora, for the first time on a buffalo-hunting trip.
September 17: Roosevelt killed his first buffalo.
October 8: Sargeant County was organized.
October 11: Foster County was organized.
November 1: Washburn was designated as the McLean County seat, on the day the county was organized.
November 6: Towner County was organized.
November 9: Emmons County was organized.
February 2: John M. Hancock, who became a nationally‑known industrialist and financier, was born at Emerado, North Dakota
March 3: Sargeant County was created. It was formed out of parts of Ransom County and the Sisseton and Wahpeton Indian reservations.
March 8: Towner was formed from parts of Cavalier and Rolette counties.
March 19: Grafton, the seat of Walsh County was incorporated.
April 3: A special territorial commission meeting as prescribed by law in Yankton, approved removal of the capital to Bismarck. Engineered by the legendary figure, Alex McKenzie, the commission was on a special train which steamed into Yankton in the wee small hours. Within the city limits on the still moving train, the commission met, acted and adjourned, thwarting those who were determined the capital would remain in Yankton.
April 26: A Red River flood crested at 42.2 feet at Grand Forks.
June 2: The Dakota territory Capitol Commission meeting at Fargo awarded the Territorial capital to Bismarck.
June 9: Benson County was organized. It was named in honor of B.W. Benson, a member of the legislature and was formed from parts of Ramsey and DeSmet counties.
June 9: Nelson County was organized. It was named in honor of N.E. Nelson, a member of the 1885 legislature.
June 13: Steele County was organized. It was named for Franklin Steele, president of the Red River Land Company and an early Fort Snelling trader.
June 16, 1882: Griggs County was organized from parts of Traill and Foster counties. First called Ole Bull County, it was later named in honor of Captain Alexander Griggs, founder of Grand Forks, a member of the constitutional convention and one of the first navigators of the Red River.
June 24: The party of Prince Maximillian of Neuwied, including the great artist of the west, Carl Bodmer, arrived at Fort Union for a year of scientific research on the upper Missouri River.
June 24: Fire wiped out most of the original townsite of Larimore.
July 9: Minnewauken, seat of Benson County was incorporated.
October 2: The cornerstone for the original University of North Dakota building in Grand Forks was laid.
January 25: Ramsey County was organized when Gov. N.H. Ordway appointed three commissioners.
February 2: Industrialist John M. Hancock was born at Emerado. He died in 1956.
April 5: A party of German Evangelical church members became the first settlers in New Salem.
May 12: The Northern Pacific Refrigerator Car Company was founded by the Marquis deMores to transport meat of cattle slaughtered at Medora to eastern markets.
May 12: Michigan City (now Michigan) was platted.
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 130