[Map: KEY TO NORTH DAKOTA TOURS]
NORTH DAKOTA
A GUIDE TO THE NORTHERN PRAIRIE STATE
AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES
NORTH DAKOTA
A GUIDE TO THE NORTHERN PRAIRIE STATE
_Written by Workers of the Federal Writers' Project of the
Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota_
SPONSORED BY THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF NORTH DAKOTA
[Illustration]
_Illustrated_
KNIGHT PRINTING COMPANY
FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA
1938
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION
Harry L. Hopkins, Administrator
Ellen S. Woodward, Assistant Administrator
Henry G. Alsberg, Director, Federal Writers' Project
FOREWORD
As Governor of the State of North Dakota, I am happy to write the
foreword to the first comprehensive guidebook that has ever been
written for this State. Compiled by North Dakota writers, the
publication of this book has been made possible by means of Federal and
State funds. The importance of this book lies, not only in calling the
attention of tourists and other outsiders to the picturesque scenery
and the places of historical significance in North Dakota; but in
awakening the consciousness of North Dakota people to the historical,
sociological, and cultural heritage which is theirs.
(Signed) WILLIAM LANGER,
Governor of North Dakota.
PREFACE
_North Dakota: a Guide to the Northern Prairie State_ is something new
in this part of the country. For the first time North Dakotans and
their guests have a concise but comprehensive survey of the State,
which tells them what should be seen, and why, and how. Our aim has
been a book not only to be used in touring the State, but to be enjoyed
by fireside travellers and all who would deepen their understanding of
North Dakota.
As one of the volumes in the American Guide Series, written by
the members of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress
Administration, the North Dakota guide has more than State
significance, wide as this is. The National project was designed
primarily to give useful employment to needy writers and research
workers; it has developed into a more ambitious undertaking. The
American Guide Series, covering the forty-eight States, Puerto Rico,
Alaska, and numerous cities and towns, is unrolling a unique and
inspiring panorama of these United States with their lively background
and their vibrant present. The North Dakota guide adds its contribution
to the whole, giving the reader a picture of the State, its land and
resources, its history, people, the cities and towns they have built,
and the principal points of interest. New chapters in North Dakota's
story and other phases of its life and works are still to be told. This
volume--a pioneer enterprise in a State where the records of the past
and the varied life of today had not heretofore been assembled--may
well serve as an incentive and a foundation for further books.
Not ten or fifty or a hundred, but actually hundreds of North Dakotans
helped in the making of the guide, from the many who contributed
information about their own communities or fields of work down to the
handful of editors and writers who brought that information within the
covers of this book. In expressing the Project's appreciation of this
friendly and cooperative help, so generously given, I wish particularly
to thank Mr. Russell Reid, superintendent of the State Historical
Society of North Dakota, and his staff, especially Mrs. Florence
H. Davis and Mr. Arnold Goplen; Mr. George Will and Mr. Robert A.
Ritterbush, of Bismarck; Dr. Irvin Lavine, of the University of North
Dakota; Mr. E. A. Milligan, of Michigan City; Mr. J. A. Patterson, of
Minot; Dr. E. C. Stucke, of Garrison; and Mr. Henry Williams, of Appam.
ETHEL SCHLASINGER
_State Director_
CONTENTS
FOREWORD v
By William Langer, Governor of North Dakota
PREFACE vii
By Ethel Schlasinger, State Director, Federal Writers' Project
ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS xiii
GENERAL INFORMATION xv
ANNUAL EVENTS xix
I. SURVEY OF THE STATE
CONTEMPORARY NORTH DAKOTA 3
NORTH DAKOTA: ITS NATURAL SETTING 5
INDIANS AND THEIR PREDECESSORS 16
HISTORY 35
AGRICULTURE AND FARM LIFE 59
INDUSTRY AND LABOR 72
RACIAL GROUPS AND FOLKWAYS 78
SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, AND SOCIAL CURRENTS 88
TRANSPORTATION 95
PRESS AND RADIO 99
ARCHITECTURE 102
RECREATION 106
II. CITY NEIGHBORS
(_City Descriptions and Points of Interest_)
Bismarck 111
Fargo 126
Grand Forks 145
Minot 158
III. PLAYGROUNDS
Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park 169
Roosevelt Regional State Parks 173
IV. HIGHWAYS AND TRAILS
TOUR 1 Canadian Line (Winnipeg) to South Dakota Line
(Watertown). US 81 185
1A Mayville to Hatton. ND 7 & 18 200
2 Canadian Line (Brandon) to South Dakota Line
(Aberdeen). ND 4 & US 281 202
3 Canadian Line (Virden) to South Dakota Line
(Pierre). US 83 207
3A Garrison to Stanley. ND 37 & 8, unnumbered roads 211
3B Junction US 83 to Junction US 10. Unnumbered
roads 215
4 Canadian Line (Moosejaw) to South Dakota Line
(Belle Fourche). US 85 218
4A Hanks to Writing Rock State Park. ND 50 and unnumbered
roads 225
4B New England to Flasher. ND 21 228
5 Hamilton to Montana Line (Scobey). ND 5 232
5A Junction ND 5 to Leroy. ND 32 & 55, unnumbered
road 243
6 Minnesota Line (Duluth) to Montana Line (Glasgow).
US 2 247
6A Circular tour from Devils Lake. ND 20 & 27, Indian
Service Roads 263
6B Junction US 2 to Fort Buford State Park. Unnumbered
road 269
7 Carrington to Canadian Line (Estevan). US 52 272
8 Minnesota Line (Minneapolis) to Montana Line
(Glendive). US 10 277
8A Valley City to South Dakota Line (Aberdeen). ND 1 303
8B Dazey to Junction US 2. ND 1 & 7 308
8C Mandan to South Dakota Line (McLaughlin). ND
6, 21, & 24 312
8D Junction US 10 to Junction US 85. ND 25 318
9 South Dakota Line (McIntosh) to Montana Line
(Miles City). US 12 323
10 Medora to Bismarck. Little Missouri and Missouri
Rivers 328
CHRONOLOGY 339
BIBLIOGRAPHY 345
INDEX 361
ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
Ring-billed Gulls
Pasques
Flickertail
A Modern Indian
Scaffold Burial, Formerly Used by Some Indian Tribes
_between pages 44 and 45_
Ancient Indian Turtle Effigy
Sioux Sun Dance as Originally Performed
A Modern Sioux Sun Dance Ceremonial
North Dakota In 1879, From an Old Map of Dakota Territory
_between pages 76 and 77_
Gen. George A. Custer
Sitting Bull
Battle of the Badlands
A "Little Old Sod Shanty" of Early Days
State Capitol, Bismarck
Reviving a Norwegian Folkdance, Esmond, N. Dak.
_between pages 108 and 109_
An Early School (Oliver County, 1885)
Administration Building, Agricultural College, Fargo
Threshing
Sakakawea, Bismarck
_between pages 140 and 141_
A Red River Valley Wheatfield
Oats
_between pages 172 and 173_
Law Building, University, Grand Forks
Roosevelt Monument, Minot
_between pages 204 and 205_
Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, Blockhouse of Fort McKeen
Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, Slant Indian Village Lodge
Marquis de Mores
Badlands
_between pages 236 and 237_
Rabbit's Ears Near Amidon
Grand Canyon of the Little Missouri
_between pages 268 and 269_
Lignite Strip Mining, Velva
Arikara Woman Pounding Cherries
Writing Rock Near Grenora
Lake Upsilon, Turtle Mountains
Buffalo, Sully's Hill National Game Preserve
_between pages 332 and 333_
Barnes County Courthouse, Valley City
Sioux Camp Gathering, Fort Yates Agency
Sioux Tipis
Sioux Hoop Dance
Magpie Rock, Killdeer Mountains
_between pages 340 and 341_
MAPS
North Dakota State Map Inside back cover
North Dakota Key Map to Tours Inside front cover
Bismarck 112
Fargo 127
Grand Forks 146
Minot 159
GENERAL INFORMATION
(See State map for routes of highways, railroads, and air lines.)
=Railroads:= Chicago & North Western Ry. (Northwestern); Chicago,
Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific R. R. (Milwaukee); Farmers' Grain &
Shipping Company (Farmers' Line); Great Northern Ry. (G. N.); Midland
Continental R. R. (Midland); Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie
Ry. (Soo); Northern Pacific Ry. (N. P.). Main line of N. P. runs almost
directly E. to W. across the State. Main line of G. N. runs N., then
W., while cut-off runs in northwesterly direction. Soo line runs SE. to
NW.
=Highways:= Eight Federal highways, seven of them transcontinental or
with international connections. Inspection at international border.
State highway patrol checks violations of State highway laws and
enforces regulations. Gasoline tax, 3c.
=Motor Vehicle Laws= (digest): Maximum speed, 50 m.; on curves and
at intersections, 20 m.; approaching within 50 ft. of grade crossing
where view obstructed, 20 m.; on any highway in business or residence
district, 25 m.; passing school during recess or while children are
going to or leaving school, 20 m. Time limit for operation of car in
State by nonresident, 90 days. Hand signals must be used for a turn or
stop. Spotlights permitted. Personal injury or property damage ($50 or
over) must be reported to civil authorities.
=Prohibited:= Parking on highways; use of stickers, except those
required by law, on windshield or windows.
=Bus Lines:= Northland Greyhound Lines: Fargo via US 10 to Glendive,
Mont., Fargo via US 81 to Winnipeg. Minot-Crosby Bus Line: Minot to
Crosby via US 52 and ND 5. Checker Greyhound Lines: Noonan via ND 40 to
Regina, Saskatchewan. Studebaker Bus Line: Devils Lake to Jamestown via
US 281 and ND 19. Swanson Bus Line: Jamestown via US 281 to Aberdeen,
S. Dak. Carpenter Bus Line: Williston to Bowman and Hettinger via US
85, ND 25, ND 22, and US 12. Checker Transportation Co.: Fargo to Minot
via US 10, ND 18, ND 7, and US 52; also Fargo to Minot via US 10, ND
18, US 81, and US 2. Interstate Transportation Co.: Bismarck to Minot
via US 83, Minot to Williston via US 2, Minot to Portal via US 52,
Minot to Bismarck via US 52, ND 41, and US 83. Northern Transportation
Co.: Minot to Rolla via US 83 and ND 5, Minot to Watford City via US
83 and ND 23. N. T. Co.: Couteau to Northgate via ND 8 and US 52. Jack
Rabbit Lines: Fargo to Watertown, S. Dak. Triangle Transportation Co.:
Fargo to Grand Forks via US 81. Interstate Transit Co.: Williston to
Culbertson, Mont. via US 2.
=Air Lines:= Northwest Airlines: Chicago to Seattle (stop at Fargo
and Bismarck); Fargo to Winnipeg (stop at Pembina). Hanford Airlines:
Bismarck to Tulsa (stop at Bismarck).
=Airfields:= Forty-six landing fields. Lighted fields: A-1, Fargo and
Bismarck; intermediate, Valley City, Jamestown, Dawson, Glen Ullin,
Dickinson, Golva, Pembina.
=Customs Regulations:= Persons entering United States must report to
U. S. Immigration Office and U. S. Customs Office. Automobiles may be
brought into United States for 90 days without formal customs entry,
provided proper report is made at port of entry. If cars are to be kept
here more than 90 days, bond or deposit must be furnished, together
with guarantee of exportation of car within 6 months of importation.
Those entering Canada must report to Canadian immigration and customs
officers at point of entry. United States citizens should be prepared
to prove citizenship. Persons not citizens should be able to establish
that they are legally resident in the United States and that they will
be readmitted when returning to this country. Cars may be admitted
without charge to Canada for touring purposes and may be operated 60
days under State licenses; on request, period can be extended to 90
days. For period of 90 days to 6 months, bond or cash deposit must be
furnished. Cars returning to United States should be checked out by
Canadian customs officer at border.
=Accommodations:= Accommodations outside of cities and towns are
limited. Nearly every small town has a tourist camp. A few ranches in
the Badlands area accommodate tourists and have horses available for
riding trips. Accommodations at lake resorts offered only during the
summer months. Quarters at lake resorts crowded Fourth of July week.
=Sales and Cigarette Taxes:= Two percent sales tax on all purchases,
payable in cash. Tax of 3c per package of 20 cigarettes.
=Climate and Equipment:= Summer travelers should be prepared for
extremely warm weather. It is advisable, however, to have topcoats of
medium weight as evenings are generally cool. In spring and fall the
days are intermittently cool and warm, and topcoats are a necessity.
Persons unfamiliar with the Northwest should heed weather reports
and bulletins of the State highway department and dress as warmly as
possible during winter travel. What appears as a light flurry of snow
may in a few moments become a blizzard, blocking highways and making
travel impossible. Towns and farms are far apart; temperatures may
suddenly drop far below zero.
=Recreational Areas:= Turtle Mountain area (_Tour 5_): swimming,
fishing, boating, hiking, hunting. Roosevelt Regional State Parks:
riding, motoring, hiking. Sheyenne River Park (_Tour 1_): picnicking,
swimming, hiking; suitable in winter for skiing. Killdeer Mountain area
(_Side Tour 8D_): hiking, riding, picnicking. Turtle River State Park
(_Tour 6_): swimming, camping, picnicking. Large towns have ski and
toboggan slides, skating rinks.
=Fish and Game Laws:= Game fish are defined as black bass, wall-eyed
pike, northern pike, perch, sunfish, crappie, trout, and landlocked
salmon.
=Open Season for Fishing= (dates inclusive): Bass, crappie, and
sunfish, June 16-Oct. 31; trout and landlocked salmon, May 2-Sept. 30;
pike, any species, and perch, May 16-Oct. 31. Governor has power to
shorten or close season.
=Licenses:= Resident, 50c, nonresident, $3. No license required of
persons under age of 12. Issued by game and fish commissioner, State
capitol, Bismarck, county auditors at county courthouses.
=Limits:= Bass, trout, and landlocked salmon, 5, nor more than 5 of
all combined; wall-eyed pike and northern pike, 10, nor more than 10
of both combined; crappie and sunfish, 15, nor more than 15 of both
combined; perch, 25. No bass, landlocked salmon, trout, or pike less
than 10 in.; no crappie less than 6 in.; no sunfish less than 5 in.
These limits daily; no person to have in possession more than 2-day
limit.
=Prohibited:= No use of drugs, lime, fish berries, or explosives.
Unlawful to take fish in any manner except by angling with hook and
line held in hand or attached to rod. (Commercial fishing allowed in
certain sections, under commercial license.)
=Open Season for Hunting:= Dates of hunting season for deer and game
birds vary from year to year as well as the areas where hunting is
allowed. Copy of hunting laws furnished with hunting license.
=Licenses:= Big game: resident, $5, nonresident, $50; hunting:
resident, $1.50, nonresident, $25. Aliens not permitted to hunt.
Licenses issued by game and fish commissioner, deputies, or county
auditors.
=Limits:= Bass, trout, and landlocked salmon, 5, nor more than 5 of
breasted grouse, ruffed grouse (partridge), Chinese pheasant, Hungarian
partridge; 5 in the aggregate in a day, but number of each species
composing aggregate varies in certain counties; 10 ducks, 4 geese
including brant, 12 coots, and 10 jacksnipe a day. Not more than 1-day
bag of migratory game birds may be possessed at one time. Deer may be
possessed until 90 days after close of season.
Nonresident licensee may carry with him from State under license tag
a 2-day limit of game, if carried openly and labeled with his name,
address, and number of license.
=Camp Fires:= Any person leaving a fire without thoroughly
extinguishing it, so that it burns any wood or prairie, is guilty of a
misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both.
=Poisonous Snakes and Plants:= Rattlesnakes are rare, but are sometimes
found in the following areas: south of Bismarck in Missouri River
vicinity; western Emmons County, along Missouri; in valleys of Heart,
Little Missouri, and Cannonball Rivers; and in Badlands.
Anyone bitten by a rattlesnake should cut wound with a sharp knife and
suck the blood to remove poison. A tourniquet should be placed above
wound, and medical assistance sought at once.
Poison-ivy common in wooded areas. In June it bears loose clusters of
dull green-white blossoms, later in season replaced by glossy opaque
berries of similar color. Poison-ivy vines often are hidden in long
grass and in foliage.
To prevent irritation from contact with poison-ivy, before going into
woods bathe hands and face with a 5-percent solution of ferric chloride
in a half-and-half mixture of alcohol and water or glycerine and water.
If skin should come in contact with the plant, washing with one of
above solutions, or with laundry soap and warm water, is an excellent
treatment. Avoid spreading poison through scratching or rubbing.
Bathing affected areas in hot water will relieve irritation. If there
are open sores do not use sugar of lead or zinc oxide.
=Tourist Information Service:= General information about the
State furnished on request by the secretary, Greater North Dakota
Association, Fargo, N. Dak.
CALENDAR OF ANNUAL EVENTS
Listed here are events of general interest which occur annually in
North Dakota. Dates may vary from year to year, and should be verified.
(n f d = no fixed date)
Jan. 1 Fargo Ice Carnival
3rd wk Fargo Farmers and Homemakers Week,
Agricultural College
4th wk Grand Forks All-American Turkey Show
(usually)
n f d Valley City Ski Tournament
n f d Williston Old Fiddlers Contest
n f d Varies State Poultry Show
Feb. 21 Grand Forks Carney Song Contest, University
2nd wk Grand Forks Winter Sports Carnival
2nd wk Grand Forks Hobby Show
4th wk Fort Totten
Indian Agency Midwinter Fair
n f d Devils Lake Lake Region Sports Carnival
n f d Minot Winter Sports Carnival
n f d Varies State Class B High School Basketball
Tournament
Mch. 17 Fessenden Alfalfa Festival
n f d Bismarck State Class A High School Basketball
Tournament
n f d Park River Midwinter Fair
n f d Park River Ski Tournament
Apr. 4th Fri. Grand Forks Engineers' Day, University
May 17 State-wide Norwegian Independence Day
17 Fargo Northwest Norwegian Whist Tournament
30 Nishu (Old
Fort Berthold) Memorial Day Ceremony
1st wk Fargo May Festival, Agricultural College
2nd wk Zap Lignite Festival
4th wk Grand Forks Interfraternity Sing, University
n f d Fargo Lilac Festival, Agricultural College
n f d Grand Forks May Festival and High School Week,
University
mid month Bismarck State Art Exhibit, Capitol
June 24 St. John St. John's Day
29 Strasburg SS. Peter and Paul's Day
1st wk Williston Upper Missouri Band Tournament
n f d Devils Lake Rhythm Pageant, Deaf School
n f d Devils Lake Governor's Day, Camp Grafton
n f d Fargo North Dakota State Fair
n f d Fargo Valleyland Music Festival
n f d Grand Forks North Dakota State Fair
n f d Grand Forks State Peony Show
n f d Hazelton Emmons County Breeders Association Stock
Show
n f d Nishu Fort Berthold Indian Reservation Mother Corn
Ceremonies
n f d Nishu Fort Berthold Indian Reservation Sage Dance
n f d Turtle Mountain
Reservation Chippewa Indian Sun Dance
July last wk Belcourt St. Ann's Day
Aug. 15 Elbowoods Indian Congress
1st wk Peace Garden Rededication and Highlander's Frolic
n f d Varies Golden Grain Festival
Sept. 1st wk Elbowoods Fort Berthold Indian Reservation Fair
1st wk Fort Totten Indian Agency Fair
1st wk Fort Yates Standing Rock Indian Agency Fair
3rd wk Grand Forks Harvest Festival
4th wk Valley City Barnes County Corn and Lamb Show
Oct. last wk Bismarck State Corn Show
n f d Fargo Harvest Festival, Agricultural Extension
Division
n f d Turtle Mountain
Reservation Indian Fair
Dec. n f d Fargo 4-H Boys and Girls Club Achievement
Institute, Agricultural College
n f d Valley City Ice Carnival
SURVEY OF THE STATE
CONTEMPORARY NORTH DAKOTA
Nothing, probably, arouses the indignation of a loyal North Dakotan or
South Dakotan more than hearing his State referred to as "Dakota." Just
as an earnest Californian would display indignation at being disposed
of as merely a "Westerner", so the man from North Dakota resents having
his identity fogged over by the blanket term "Dakotan." And rightfully
so; for, while he finds no fault with his neighbors, he is quite
different from them, and quite within his rights in insisting on the
distinct character of his own State.
The person who asks, "What sort of place is North Dakota?" may get
a variety of answers, all of them true, and still be far from a
complete picture of the State. He may be told vaguely, "It's out West
somewhere," or more specifically, "North Dakota is a wheat State," or
"Isn't that where the farmers have this Nonpartisan League?" These
answers are only partly correct, for they barely touch on the two major
problems, economics and politics, in regard to which North Dakota is
now coming of age.
This is a young State. Ruts left by the wagon trains of early
explorers, military expeditions, and home seekers have not yet been
effaced from the prairies. Red men and white men, who hunted buffalo
and fought at the Little Big Horn, who saw the railroads push their
gleaming paths across the Plains, who recall a puny young man named
Theodore Roosevelt hunting in the Badlands with his short-stocked
rifle, still survive to tell their tales. In those fledgling days, the
land was rich with promise. Bonanza farms unfolded their ample acres of
wheat, thousands of cattle roamed unchecked in the gullies and over the
plains of the western counties.
The word spread, and from Europe and the eastern States came men and
women to break the new soil. Sod houses and barns and frame homes and
windmills set their seal on the prairies. Tons of wheat, thousands of
cattle and sheep and horses attested to the fertility of North Dakota.
For more than half a century the soil was exploited recklessly. Then
suddenly exhaustion and drought drove home the growing realization that
this exploitation could not go on. Water conservation, diversified
farming, and dams quickly became part of the agricultural scheme, and
are repairing the damage of unthinking abuse. Huge mineral resources
have been recognized and are being developed commercially, bringing a
new aspect to North Dakota's economy.
Marketing of farm products has had reverberations in the economic
life of the State, and has made its people alert to changing social
trends. Characteristically, in the eastern portion of the State, where
soil is richer, and rainfall more plentiful, the people are more
conservative; while to the west, where the climate is more arid and
the soil less productive, the "isms" flourish, providing a stronghold
for the leftist elements of the State's tumultuous political parties.
Because of antagonism to control of early agrarian activities by
out-of-State business interests, the Nonpartisan League, with its
socialistic platform, was formed, and many of its enterprises have been
established, some successfully, some otherwise. Cooperative economy is
prominent in the social consciousness of agricultural North Dakota,
and such groups as the Farmers' Union emphasize the trend toward
cooperatives, strengthening their position by supplying members with
purely social activities, as well as with hard economic problems into
which to get their teeth.
Freely admitted is the rural character of the State, and there is
seldom an attempt to cover native crudities with a veneer of eastern
culture. The few writers in the State recognize and honor the
possibilities of their native material; and each year finds a scattered
handful of books, usually verse, telling of the North Dakota known to
them and to seven hundred thousand other North Dakotans.
What is the North Dakota they know? A State of unbounded plains
and hills and Badlands--elbowroom. Superb sunsets. High winds and
tumbleweed. Farms and plows and sweeping fields. Gophers flashing
across the road. Little towns crowded on Saturday night, and busy
cities shipping out the products of North Dakota and supplying the
needs of the producers. Sudden blinding, isolating blizzards, and
soft, fragrant spring days with tiny sprouts of grain peering greenly
through the topsoil. Pasque flower and cactus, flame lily, and fields
of yellow mustard. The sad, slow wail of a coyote on the still prairie.
People--Norwegians, Germans, Russians, Poles, Czechs, Icelanders, but
all Americans. Square dances in barn lofts, and college "proms" with
corsages and grand marches. Teachers building fires with numbed hands
in stoves of icy one-room schools. Men in unaccustomed "best clothes"
sitting in majestic legislative halls of a skyscraper statehouse.
Political fires, sometimes smouldering, sometimes flaring, always
burning.
Endless facets are apparent in the temper and tenor of life, thought,
and action of the people of this State, still a new people, pioneers--
"_Brave spirits stirred with strange unrest,
They found broad waters and new lands,
And carved the empires of the west._"
NORTH DAKOTA: ITS NATURAL SETTING
North Dakota is a rectangular area of 70,837 square miles, lying in
what the United States Geological Survey has designated the center of
the North American Continent. It is approximately 1,500 miles from the
Atlantic, the Pacific, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Arctic Archipelago
of North America. North to south it extends 210 miles, and east to west
an average of 335 miles. On the north are the Provinces of Manitoba and
Saskatchewan, Canada; on the east, the Red River of the North and the
Bois de Sioux form the boundary between this State and Minnesota; on
the south is South Dakota and on the west, Montana.
THE SURFACE OF THE LAND
The land surface resembles three broad steps of prairie, rising a
half-mile in altitude from the eastern to the western boundary. The
first two steps lie in the Central Lowlands of the Interior Plains, the
third in the Great Plains area.
The lowest step is the fertile, floor-like Red River Valley, once the
bed of glacial Lake Agassiz. Near the Canadian boundary the valley is
about 40 miles wide, but it gradually narrows until near the South
Dakota line it is only 10 miles in width. With its northward slope of
only about one foot to the mile, an even more gradual eastward slope,
and few prominent surface features, the land offers no obstacles to
a view across miles of level checkerboard fields. Natural woods grow
along the Red River and its winding sluggish tributaries, and farmyard
groves dot the landscape.
The Pembina Escarpment, a rise of 300 to 400 feet along the western
edge of the valley, defines the beginning of the central surface-step,
the Drift Prairie, or Drift Plain. At the northern end of the
escarpment, which is a continuation of the Manitoba Escarpment in
Canada, lie the wooded Pembina Mountains, jutting sharply above the
valley floor. South of these hills the rise is less pronounced except
at the southern end, where the hills again become prominent to merge
with the Coteau des Prairies, an escarpment lying chiefly in South
Dakota.
Glacial deposits, or drift, of finely ground rock, sand, and gravel
give the Drift Prairie its name. It is a rolling, fertile plain,
varying from 70 to 200 miles in width, and broken by low ridges of
hills, shallow coulees, and numerous small lakes. To the northwest lies
the Souris River Valley, a small glacial lake bed resembling the Red
River Valley. Devils Lake, largest in the State, lies in the northern
part of the Drift Prairie, and together with Stump Lake forms the
basis of the interior drainage system; near its southern end are the
headwaters of the James and Sheyenne Rivers, both flowing southward,
the James into the Missouri and the Sheyenne into the Red.
The Missouri Escarpment, rising 300 to 400 feet above the Drift Prairie
and cutting across the State diagonally in a northwest-southeast
direction, marks the rise of the third surface-step, the Missouri
Plateau, which extends west to the Rocky Mountains. Lying along the top
of the plateau, in some places not far from the escarpment and at other
points 50 miles west of it, is the Altamont Moraine, a belt of rough,
stony hills, indicating the farthest advance of the Dakota lobe of the
Wisconsin ice sheet. In the north this moraine is a part of the Height
of Land forming the watershed between the north-and south-flowing
streams of the continent.
Between the escarpment and the Missouri River the plateau is known
as the Couteau du Missouri. West of the river it is known locally as
the Missouri Slope. The surface of the plateau, typical of the Great
Plains, is irregular and rolling, dotted with old lake beds--some of
which contain large deposits of sodium sulphate--and underlain with
vast lignite beds and valuable clay and bentonite deposits.
In the Missouri Slope is the most unusual area in the State--the
Badlands of the Little Missouri. Here erosion has formed, and continues
to form, a fantastic array of buttes in which layers of brick-red
scoria and gray, blue, and yellow clays are vividly exposed. Abrupt
buttes and mesas characterize the landscape, increasing in size and
number toward the southwest corner of the State. Among them is Black
Butte, 3,468 feet above sea level, the highest point in North Dakota.
CLIMATE
Absence of great variation in physiography gives all portions of
the State an almost uniform climate. North Dakota is situated in a
temperate region of moderate rainfall, and owing to its position in
the center of the North American Interior Plains it has a typically
continental climate.
One of the characteristics of such a climate is a wide range of
temperature, and to this the State can make good claim. North Dakota
has a recorded range from 124° F., registered September 3, 1912 at
Medora, to -60° F., recorded February 15, 1936 at Parshall. These
temperatures are, of course, unusual, but the mercury often reaches
100° F. during the summer, whereas 30° to 40° F. below zero is not
uncommon in winter. The mean temperature for the months of June, July,
and August is 65.7° F., and for December, January, and February, 9.7°
F. Relatively low humidity, averaging 68 percent, makes these extremes
less uncomfortable, however, than if the atmosphere contained more
moisture.
The sections of the State vary more in the matter of precipitation than
in any other climatic phase. The average is about 18 inches annually,
ranging from about 22 inches in the southeastern corner to about 14
inches in the southwestern corner. Most of the precipitation occurs
in the late spring and summer. During the period of 1925-34, three
years had a rainfall in excess of normal, and seven were deficient in
precipitation.
Long and severe winters are typical of this region. Nevertheless the
summers, though comparatively short, are favorable for agriculture,
owing to the long hours of sunshine. At the maximum, about June 21,
there are as many as 16 hours of sunlight a day; and this, together
with cloudless skies, contributes to the rapid growth and early
maturity of crops.
HOW THE LAND WAS FORMED
The surface of North Dakota, comparatively unvaried, is no more simple
than the geological pattern that lies beneath it. Deposited by the seas
of three geologic ages, horizontal layers of rock top each other in
methodical and unintricate succession.
In far-off Paleozoic times, when all creatures of the earth were
invertebrates, strange shellfish, unlike any existing today, lived
among the rich foliage at the bottom of the shallow sea that covered
this region. Hundreds of varieties of fossil plants and shells are
embedded in the sandstone, limestone, and shale which the sea deposited
on the uneven surface of the then-existent crystalline rocks. These
Paleozoic rocks have been encountered in deep wells in eastern North
Dakota, although nowhere in the State are they found at the surface.
Toward the close of the Paleozoic era, changing climatic conditions
caused the death of many forms of life upon the earth, and the
development of new and hardier types. With these, in the Mesozoic era,
came the new lords of the earth, the reptiles. Much of the globe from
the Arctic Ocean to New Mexico was covered by a great sea on whose
swampy shores huge dinosaurs, alligators, and crocodiles made their
homes. Largest of these grotesque creatures was the brontosaurus, with
his long snakelike neck and face and huge body. Struggling with him
for supremacy of the swamps was the armored stegosaurus, whose row of
vertical plates along his backbone from head to tip of tail made him a
formidable enemy. Among the plant and animal life that throve on the
sea bottom were shellfish three feet or more in diameter.
The earliest seas of the Mesozoic era deposited the Dakota sandstone
that underlies all of the State except the Red River Valley. It is a
soft white or gray stone, containing many marine fossils. Although
it does not appear at the surface anywhere in the State, it has
been studied from specimens obtained from deep wells here or from
outcroppings in other States.
Many rivers flowing into the prehistoric seas brought mud and clay to
mix with the soils of the sea bottom, forming the shales that today
underlie most of the Great Plains, including North Dakota. The lowest
of these, Benton shale, is dark gray, almost jet black in places, and
contains bits of pyrite (fool's gold) and gypsum. Over it lies the
bluish-gray Niobrara shale, in which natural cement is found. In the
Pembina Mountains and the Sheyenne Valley, where these rocks appear
at the surface, they have yielded shells of lamellibranchs (ancestors
of today's clams and oysters) and bones of great sharklike fish. Over
these two strata lies the Pierre shale deposit, dark bluish-gray in
color. It is frequently seen in the valleys of streams east of the
Missouri Plateau, but outcrops in only two places west of the Missouri
Escarpment--where the Missouri leaves the State, and in the valley of
the Little Beaver Creek in southwestern North Dakota. In it have been
found fossils of the chambered nautilus, the oyster, and other marine
animals, the crocodile, and the plesiosaur--that ungainly reptile which
had "the body of a turtle strung on a snake."
Once again the sea covered the State and left the rust-colored Fox
Hills sandstone, which is particularly conspicuous along the Cannonball
River where action of underground water has formed it into the
rusty-looking spheres which give the river its name. Similarly formed
cylinders of this sandstone in concretionary form are also found along
the stream, and large cylinders protrude from the top of Cannon Butte
in the Badlands like the barrels of cannon from the turret of a huge
battleship.
Near the close of the Mesozoic era, the climate of North Dakota became
warmer, almost like that of the South Atlantic States. Through the
swamps roamed horned carnivorous dinosaurs, especially triceratops,
which had "the largest head with the smallest brain of the reptile
race."
Again and again the sea invaded this swampland, depositing the Lance
formation, comprising layers of massive sandstone and shale in which
the luxuriant plant life of the area created thin beds of lignite
coal. The Lance formation underlies most of the Missouri Plateau, and
comes to the surface in two places--in the vicinity of Bismarck, and
near Marmarth. Reptilian fossils are found in both the lignite and the
intervening layers of rock.
At the dawn of the Cenozoic age, as mammalian life began to develop on
the globe, another invasion of the sea left behind it a great plateau
interspersed with swamps, marshlands, rivers, and lakes. On the plain
grew giant sequoia, cypress, juniper, and other semitropical trees.
Over the thick mat of mosses, lichens, and liverwort in the swamps
crept turtles, alligators, lizards, and other reptiles, monstrous in
size. King of this jungle was the titanothere, with its great body,
short stocky neck, and columnar legs. Long-jawed shaggy mastodons and
gigantic rhinoceroses challenged its supremacy. As these titans of
the forest lumbered through the underbrush, herds of _Merycoidodon
culbertsoni_ or ruminating hogs, _Leptomeryx evansi_, dainty deerlike
creatures no larger than jack rabbits, and little three-toed horses
scampered out of their way.
The Fort Union formation, created through successive fresh water
deposits of sediment in the swamps, contained vast quantities of rank
swamp vegetation. In the intervening millions of years this has been
turned into lignite, a very soft coal which has become North Dakota's
most valuable mineral resource. The lignite veins in the formation
indicate that the sea covered this area at least eleven times during
the period when the formation was being deposited. In addition to
lignite, the Fort Union clay shales and sandstones contain pure plastic
clay beds and some bentonite, a claylike mineral of commercial value.
The recession of the seas left a broad and gently rolling plain cut by
sluggish rivers whose wooded valleys were inhabited by the descendants
of the great swamp beasts. When the waters again invaded the plain,
the bones of these monsters were embedded in the deposits which became
the White River formation, youngest bedrock underlying the State.
So numerous are the fossil remains in the lower White River beds
that these strata are called the titanothere beds. Fossils are found
throughout the formation, however, ranging from mammal bones to the
remains of fish and turtles. Erosion has worn away much of the White
River formation in North Dakota, but it is conspicuously revealed on
the summits of White or Chalky Butte, Sentinel Butte, Black Butte, and
the Killdeer Mountains, and also in a few other small isolated areas in
the Missouri Slope.
Gradually, during the time these formations were being laid down, the
winters of this region were becoming more and more severe. Masses of
ice moved slowly southward from the Arctic Region, covering much of the
land and transforming the nearby forests, meadows, and swamps into a
treeless plain of black mucky soil with a permanently frozen subsoil
overgrown with moss, lichens, and dwarf shrubs. Fierce wintry storms
took their toll of the mammoths, rhinoceroses, and reindeer living upon
the tundras.
As the glaciers moved south, the animals were forced to flee to warmer
lands. Soon the ice mass had covered all of North Dakota except a very
small region in the southwest corner beyond the Killdeer Mountains.
When at length it receded, it left in its wake boulders, gravel, and
till--a drift soil composed of clay, sand, gravel, and boulders. Much
of this now has been worn away; on the west side of the Missouri only a
few scattered areas remain, and on the east side the till, though more
continuous, is often merely a veneer a few feet in thickness.
The early glacier was followed by the Wisconsin ice sheet, the Dakota
lobe of which covered a large part of this State, pushing back the
Missouri River, which had previously flowed north into Hudson Bay, into
its present channel.
Eventually this glacier, too, melted and receded, leaving a great lake
about 650 feet deep, nearly 700 miles long, and 200 miles wide, with an
area of not less than 110,000 square miles, including the region now
known as the Red River Valley. This lake has been named Lake Agassiz,
in honor of Louis Agassiz, first prominent advocate of the theory that
drift was formed by land ice. Lake Agassiz existed some 10,000 years
ago, lasted for probably 1,000 years, and covered an area greater than
the present Great Lakes. Its sole remnants today are Lakes Winnipeg,
Winnipegosis, and Manitoba, and Lake of the Woods.
Productive soil and ground water, closely allied resources, are North
Dakota's greatest assets. The Wisconsin glacier and Lake Agassiz are
largely responsible for the fertile soils that cover three-fifths of
the State's surface. Through the Red River Valley the lake left a fine
claylike silt 20 to 30 feet deep. The successive shore lines of the
lake, showing its gradual recession, can be plainly seen in the ridges
of sand and gravel that rise 10 to 25 feet along the western edge of
the valley. Also on the west border of the valley are three extensive
sand plains, the deltas of the Pembina, Sheyenne, and Elk Rivers,
formed by glacial debris mingled with river silt. The Souris glacial
lake bed, in the loop of the present Souris River, resembles the Red
River Valley in geological history, but covers a much smaller area.
Immediately under the silt of the old lake beds and on the surface of
the Drift Prairie is glacial drift or till. In much of the southwestern
part of the State, particularly along the western tributaries of the
Missouri, there are no glacial deposits; the topsoil is composed
largely of shale and sandstone, and, though not so fertile as the old
lake beds and glacial plains to the east, provides fine range country.
NATURAL RESOURCES
Especially valuable to those who depend on the land for their
livelihood are the numerous artesian wells and natural springs which
furnish necessary water supplies. The artesian basin on the southern
border of the State and extending into South Dakota has been designated
by a Federal authority as the most important in America and probably in
the world.
People of the State have been awakened in recent years to a
consciousness of the need for water conservation. Long abuse of
seemingly unlimited artesian supplies resulted in lessening pressure in
the wells. Simultaneously, drought, high winds, and the broken unwooded
plains conspired to deplete the surface waters left by rains and winter
snows. Within 20 years one-third of the lakes in North Dakota became
extinct.
To counteract these disastrous effects, a program of Federal, State,
and private water and soil conservation has begun. Trees are being
planted to hold the soil and conserve the moisture of rain and snow.
A program of dam construction is under way in every county in the
State. Dry-land farming and supplemental irrigation have been adopted
to conserve the soil and return to it the elements which it has lost
through constant cultivation.
North Dakota is indebted to the ancient seas and glaciers not only
for the fertility of its soil but also for many of its most important
mineral resources. Almost inexhaustible is the vast supply of lignite,
estimated at 600 billion tons, which underlies the western half of the
State. The veins, once the luxuriant plant life of a far distant age,
vary from a fraction of an inch to 40 feet in thickness.
The southwestern corner of the State contains excellent beds of clay,
deposited by the seas and now used for building materials and pottery.
Two beds in the Dickinson vicinity, each containing approximately 29
million cubic yards, yield the finest clays in the State. A layer of
yellow sand clay overlies the whitish plastic variety here; the two
combine to form a number of colors, and have the added advantage of
being free from iron. Plastic clay beds of importance, although not so
valuable commercially as the Dickinson deposits, are found throughout
the southwestern corner of the State. They yield one of the rarest and
most valuable types of clay for pottery and other specialized purposes.
Shales found near the western clay beds are used in the manufacture of
cheaper building materials.
The discovery of two large bentonite fields in southwestern North
Dakota in 1930 opened up a new mineral resource. This claylike mineral
is used as a binding agent and filler in many commercial processes,
such as the manufacture of soaps, paints, and cosmetics. The larger
deposit--in the Little Badlands--covers 25 square miles and contains
about 100 million tons of the mineral, while the Chalky Butte deposit
near Amidon contains about 60 million tons. The beds are easily
accessible, being uncovered in many places.
Extensive sodium sulphate deposits have been formed in old lake beds in
the northwestern corner of the State, where the mineral-bearing waters
have evaporated, leaving a deposit of sodium sulphate crystals. North
of the town of Grenora, 1,150 acres are covered with sodium sulphate
beds ranging from a few inches to more than 30 feet in depth. Miller,
North, and McKone Lakes, near Alkabo, contain more than 20 million
tons. Sodium sulphate, also known as Glauber's salt, is commercially
valuable, especially in the pulp and paper industries. Owing to lack
of knowledge of its existence in this country, it has been imported
largely from Canada.
Although geologists have doubted that oil exists in commercial
quantities in North Dakota, considerable interest has been shown in
the wells near Marmarth in the southwestern corner of the State. Their
proximity to the Montana oil fields increases the possibility of the
success of these wells. Much interest has also been shown in the
development of a potential oil field south of Ray in northwestern North
Dakota.
Hidden beneath the earth's surface are other minerals deposited
during the geologic formation of the various strata. These include
fuller's earth, sandstone, granite, gneiss, and gold; but because of
their limited quantity and inaccessibility, they are commercially
unimportant. The glacial deposits are important because they include
the sand and gravel used extensively for road surfacing. Some of the
eastern lake beds contain marl, a clay from which Portland cement is
made. The extent and purity of the deposits are not definitely known.
(For discussion of industrial development of mineral resources see
INDUSTRY AND LABOR.)
PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE
North Dakota falls into three distinct zones of plant and animal life:
the Turtle Mountain region and a few scattered areas in the Canadian,
or cold, zone; the Missouri and Little Missouri Valleys in the upper
austral, or warmer, zone; and the remainder of the State in the
transition zone.
Because of its semiarid climate, the State has only 600 square miles of
wooded area. Native forests are found chiefly along streams and lakes,
and in the Turtle and Killdeer Mountains. Despite the limited forested
area, a surprising variety of trees is found. Throughout the Red River
Valley, Turtle Mountains, and Devils Lake region plant life is similar
to the Minnesota type, while such trees as the elm, green ash, box
elder, poplar, and cottonwood are also common.
Although the cottonwood's ability to withstand drought makes it one of
the most desirable species of trees in North Dakota, efforts are being
made in many towns to eradicate the tree because of the ubiquitous soft
white "cotton" which floats from its branches like summer flurries of
snow.
During the fall and early winter, the thickets of the northern Red
River Valley are aflame with the highbush cranberry, which lent its
Indian name to Pembina, first permanent white settlement in the State.
Other berries grow profusely along all the eastern streams, and many
families assure themselves of a winter supply of jams and jellies by
picking the June berries, chokecherries, wild plums, and wild grapes.
In the woods along the Missouri and Little Missouri grow trees of the
Missouri type--the broadleaf cottonwoods, willows, ash, elm, buffalo
berry, and flowering currant. A trace of the Rocky Mountain type
of forest is found in the Badlands and on the buttes of the Little
Missouri, where the yellow pine and red cedar grow.
Not only trees but other forms of vegetation differ widely from the
eastern to the western sections of the State. The long Indian-grass and
blue grass typical of the east is replaced on the western ranges by
short buffalo grass and grama grass, the two forming a dense mat over
the ground. Due to differences in rainfall, the western grasses are
much duller and more grayish in color than those of the eastern section.