1999 Ford Ranger

There are two lamps, one on the outer side of each head light, that never turn on. I'm not sure what they are for and I'm wondering how to activate them or what their function is. I tried turning on the parking lamps, hazards, high beams, low beams, all combinations of these, and these lights won't illuminate. They reside to the outer side of each headlight in a clear housing.

 

They are daytime running lights. Your bulbs, or possibly a fuse are blown. Swap those out and they will work just fine. You can also wire them up to blink when you use your turn signals if you want.

 

which fuse would i check? or could i look at the fuse box and figure it out via labels or diagrams?

 

Daytime running lights are your headlights without any other lights (tails, corners, turn signals) I think those are just corner marker lights.
Check the bulbs and fuses. He is right, you can wire them to your turn signals

 

so they would come on when i turn the headlight switch to the first position? (parking lamps only)

 

No, daytime running lamps turn on when you turn on your truck. Nothing else, no light switch no fogs. Just the ignition. The corners, tails and turn indicators turn on when you turn the **** to the first click. DRL's stay on with these too. Full headlights for driving at night turn on on the second click. At this point all lights are on. Your DRL's have a module that dies and might keep your lights on all the time even if the truck is off. My dynasty did until I unplugged them.
They are mandatory in Canada, I'm not sure about the state's. I had a friend at a dealer disable mine as I like the look of indicators and/or fogs during dusk and dawn. I feel they stick out more than the DRL's do.