Goose River, which the French Canadians who first explored it called
Rivière Aux Outardes (_River of the Geese_), because of the great
number of wild geese that nested on its banks. The route proceeds along
the western edge of glacial Lake Agassiz. The rich, black soil--a
sandless, clayey silt, peculiar to western States and locally known
as gumbo--becomes a muggy, sticky mass when wet. Before the era of
graveled highways, travel was virtually impossible after even the
lightest rainfall, as wagon or automobile wheels became clogged with
the heavy, gummy earth; even today this is true on unimproved roads.
ND 7 branches W. from US 81 (_see Tour 1_) 5 m. S. of Cummings.
MAYVILLE, =12 m.= (891 alt., 1,199 pop.), was named for May Arnold,
first white child born in the Hudson's Bay Co. trading post established
near the present town site in the early 1870's. It is a small,
tree-shaded, staid college town on the banks of the Goose River. First
settled in 1881, it was moved to the railroad which was built through
here in 1883. In that year Mayville and Portland conspired to win the
county seat for a new town, Traill Center, platted midway between the
two older towns, planning that if their candidate won the election
the three towns would merge into one city. So brisk was the campaign
that the ballots cast outnumbered the legal voters, and Traill Center
won 2,011 to 450. The election was contested, however, and while the
case was in litigation the Territorial legislature transferred the two
western tiers of townships in Traill County to Steele County. This lost
Traill Center its strategic position and with it the county seat.
MAYVILLE STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE, in the northern part of the town,
founded in 1889, held its first classes in 1893. When Gov. Roger Allin
in 1895 vetoed funds for operating the colleges in North Dakota,
enterprising citizens kept the schools open by popular subscription.
Bud Reeves, wealthy Minneapolis man who pioneered at Buxton and later
became a political figure in the State (_see Tour 1_), was one of the
leaders in the drive for funds to support the schools. In one day he
collected $2,000 from heads of large Minneapolis grain firms.
On the college campus is a log cabin built in 1879 and used as the
first schoolhouse in the Mayville area.
ALM'S PARK, on the eastern edge of the city, is a tourist park and
camp; ISLAND PARK, in the western part, is a recreational center.
RAILROAD PARK, E. of the Great Northern depot, contains a tall marble
pillar on which is a bronze plaque bearing a relief of Bjornstjerne
Bjornson, famed Norwegian author. The plaque is the work of Paul
Fjelde, who once attended the Valley City Teachers College (_see Tour
8_).
In Mayville is the home of Rev. and Mrs. A. M. West, parents of the
etcher Levon West (1900-), who has also won recognition for photography
under the pseudonym of Ivan Dmitri.
At the western end of the long business street of PORTLAND, =14.5
m.= (987 alt., 500 pop.), is the gravel ridge of CAMPBELL'S BEACH,
second hump of sand laid down in prehistoric times by the retreating
waters of Lake Agassiz. Portland has four producers and consumers
cooperatives--an oil company, elevator, creamery, and store. Across the
street from a large Lutheran church in the western part of the town
stand the now unused buildings of BRUFLAT ACADEMY, one of the first
private educational institutions in the State, established by the local
Lutheran Church in 1889. Portland and vicinity were first settled in
1871, and the place became a boom town when the railroad arrived in
1881.
At =19 m.= is the junction (R) with ND 18, a graveled highway on which
the route proceeds N.
At =24 m.= is the junction with a county dirt road.
Left on this road to the THORVAL STAVENS FARM, =1 m.=, where the
success story of an outstanding but nevertheless typical Norwegian
immigrant family is told by the buildings ranging from the lowly sod
house of Hans Anderson Stavensbraaten, who homesteaded here in 1870,
to the 15-room home and the airplane hangar of his grandson, Thorval
Stavens. The original family home and its contents are preserved as a
MUSEUM. Across the road is the first school in the district, built in
1879.
HATTON, =27 m.= (1,085 alt., 804 pop.), named for Frank Hatton, Third
Assistant Postmaster General when the town was founded in 1882, is at
the southern end of the Elk River Delta, a rich, fertile deposit laid
down in ancient times as the waters of the melting glacier flowed into
Lake Agassiz.
Hatton was the birthplace and boyhood home of Col. Carl Ben Eielson
(1897-1929), pioneer Alaskan aviator. Eielson left the University of
Wisconsin to enlist in the Army Air Service in 1916. Following the
World War he barnstormed in North Dakota and neighboring States in a
plane purchased for him by friends in the vicinity of Hatton. In 1922
he went to Alaska where he pioneered in aviation and flew the first
air mail in the Territory. His experience as an Arctic flyer drew the
attention of the English explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins, and in 1928 the
pair made their flight across the top of the world from Point Barrow to
Spitzbergen. When Wilkins gave his attention to the Antarctic, Eielson
piloted him on several flights over that continent. He returned to
Alaska in 1929 and late that year was killed while attempting to save
the passengers and cargo of the ice-bound ship _Nanuk_ off North Cape,
Siberia. He had already made one trip to the ship, bringing back six
passengers and part of the fur cargo, when a fierce storm took its
toll. Eielson and his mechanic, Earl Borland, crashed, and it was more
than a month before their bodies were found in the wreckage of their
plane. Eielson's body was returned with honors to Hatton, where it was
interred in the family plot, marked with an unpretentious stone. In the
CITY HALL is the _Alaskan_, a plane he used in his explorations with
Wilkins in 1926, and at the ELMER OSKING HOME is a collection of the
many medals he received. A part of the fin of the Hamilton all-metal
plane in which he died is displayed in the museum of the State
historical society (_see_ BISMARCK).
TOUR 2
(Brandon, Man., Can.)--Hansboro--Cando--Minnewaukan--Jamestown--
Edgeley--Ellendale--(Aberdeen, S. Dak.). ND 4 & US 281.
Canadian boundary to South Dakota Line, 253 m.
Branch of G. N. Ry. parallels route between Cando and Churchs
Ferry, branch of N. P. Ry. between Brinsmade and Jamestown, Midland
R. R. between Jamestown and Edgeley.
Graveled roadbed entire route except for 3 m. dirt grade from
Canadian boundary to Hansboro.
Accommodations in principal towns.
South of the international boundary the route traverses an uneven
terrain formed by mighty glaciers as they retreated across the region
during the ice age. It passes Devils and Arrowood Lakes and crosses
the pleasant wooded valleys of the Sheyenne and James Rivers. Between
the groves and farmhouses along the way are thousands of acres of open
fields and grasslands. Brown and black in spring, these soon turn green
with the crops of wheat, oats, barley, corn, and cultivated grasses
grown in this diversified farming area. The southern part of the route
passes through some of the best pheasant-hunting country in the State,
while grouse and duck are also plentiful.
ND 4 crosses the Canadian boundary, =0.0 m.=, 8 m. S. of Cartwright,
Man., Canada.
HANSBORO, =3 m.= (1,595 alt., 176 pop.), is named for Henry Clay
Hansbrough, the first Representative (1889-91) sent to Congress from
North Dakota, and later U. S. Senator (1891-1909). The town is a port
of entry, and the U. S. customhouse is here.
At =15 m.= is the junction with ND 5 (_see Tour 5_), a graveled
highway, which between this point and =20 m.= is identical with ND 4.
ROCK LAKE, =21 m.= (1,548 alt., 279 pop.), is on the southern end
of the long, narrow, fresh-water lake of the same name. The U. S.
Biological Survey has created a migratory waterfowl sanctuary by
constructing a large, earthfill dam on the lake just NE. of town.
Overflow from the water impounded will be sufficient to raise the
levels of a number of smaller lakes in the area. At Rock Lake is a
junction (L) with ND 5 (_see Tour 5_).
At =35 m.= is a junction with a county road.
Left on this road to SNYDER LAKE, =3 m.=, a recreational center
(_swimming and picnicking facilities_).
CANDO, =44.5 m.= (1,486 alt., 1,164 pop.), received its name at a
county commissioners' meeting in 1884, when, during the heat of an
argument over the selection of the Towner County seat, P. P. Parker,
chairman of the board, called out above the confusion, "There has been
much talk about our not having power to locate this county seat where
we see fit. But we'll show you that we can do it. And furthermore, just
to show you what we can do, we'll name this county seat 'Can-do.'"
Left from Cando on ND 17, a graveled highway, to a DUNKER (Dunkard)
COLONY, =8 m.= (about 100 members), the first settlement of this
religious organization in the State. The sect, known officially as
the German Baptist Brethren, originated in Germany in 1708. Shortly
thereafter its members began to come to Pennsylvania, whence they
spread westward. The group at Cando was brought in by the G. N. Ry. in
1894 to aid in colonizing the land along their route. The practices and
tenets of the Dunkers (Ger., _those who dip or immerse_) are similar to
those of the Baptists. Older members still retain many of the early
customs of plain dress, no jewelry or other adornment, simple living,
and no form of insurance; the women wear the small lace prayer cap for
church attendance. A harvest festival in early October has become an
outstanding holiday of the church life.
MAZA, =53.5 m.= (1,463 alt., 70 pop.), is the center of a
wheat-producing and stock-raising community. The derivation of the name
of the town is not definitely known, but is believed to have been from
_maize_, the Indian word for corn.
At =54 m.= is the junction with a graveled county road.
Left on this road is LAC AUX MORTES (Fr., _lake of the dead_), =4.5
m.=, named by French trappers who visited the region in the early
1860's. Indian tradition says that one winter during a severe smallpox
epidemic the dead were so numerous that the trees were filled with
bodies. Fire destroyed the woods a few years later. At the present time
(1938) the lake is nearly dry.
At =59 m.= is the junction with US 2, which unites with US 81 between
this point and =66 m.=
Between BRINSMADE, =72 m.= (1,560 alt., 199 pop.), named for a noted
Congregational minister, the Rev. S. Brinsmade, of Beloit, Wis.,
and MINNEWAUKAN (Sioux, _spirit water_), =84 m.= (1,458 alt., 480
pop.), the road makes several sharp, right-angle turns, necessitating
cautious driving. Minnewaukan, the Benson County seat, during its
early years stood on the western shore of Devils Lake, and there was a
steamboat landing on the eastern edge of town, where the Benson County
fairgrounds now stand. The shore line of the lake has receded, however,
and for many years the water has not reached within several miles of
this point.
South of Minnewaukan the road skirts land that was the bed of Devils
Lake when that body of water was truly an inland sea, and crosses drift
prairie, from which the chain of high morainic hills bordering Devils
Lake is visible (L) in the distance, and reaches the pretty valley of
the SHEYENNE RIVER, named for the Cheyenne (Sioux, _people of alien
speech_) Indians. Early explorers misspelled the name, changing C to
S--an error that aids in distinguishing this river from the Cheyenne of
South Dakota. In crossing the stream here the route descends into the
valley over terraces cut by glacial waters thousands of years ago.
SHEYENNE, =105.5 m.= (1,476 alt., 417 pop.), on the river, originally
was a mile and a half from its present site, and was moved when the
survey for the N. P. Ry. was made.
NEW ROCKFORD, =116 m.= (1,533 alt., 2,195 pop.), on the James River
approximately 25 m. from its source, was first called Garrison, later
Rockford, and still later, with the coming of the N. P. Ry., New
Rockford. It is the Eddy County seat and the home of Ole H. Olson, a
Governor of the State (1934).
[Illustration:
LAW BUILDING, UNIVERSITY, GRAND FORKS]
[Illustration:
ROOSEVELT MONUMENT, MINOT]
BARLOW, =124 m.= (1,537 alt., 322 pop.), was named for its founder, F.
G. Barlow, who as a member of the first North Dakota Legislature (1889)
fought the Louisiana Lottery bill (_see_ HISTORY).
CARRINGTON, =132.5 m.= (1,579 alt., 1,717 pop.), is named for M. D.
Carrington, who platted the city in 1882, and gave sites for the
school, churches, and Foster County Courthouse. It has a 10,000-volume
MUNICIPAL LIBRARY in the City Hall on Central Ave. and 1st St. N. On
the western side of town is a landscaped and well-equipped tourist
camp. Here is a junction with US 52 (_see Tour 7_), which unites with
US 281 between this point and Jamestown.
MELVILLE, =142 m.= (1,597 alt., 50 pop.), was originally laid out as
New Port, but because of a disagreement over the price of the site the
railway company moved the town one-half mile W. and called it Melville.
At EDMUNDS, =149 m.= (1,594 alt., 100 pop.), is the junction with a
graveled county road.
Left on this road to ARROWOOD LAKE, =6 m.=, the largest of the chain
of three lakes through which the James River flows. Before white
settlement the Indians came here from great distances to obtain
Juneberry shoots for their arrow shafts. On the southeastern shore is
a CCC CAMP, and on the western shore the buildings of the ARROWOOD
MIGRATORY REFUGE. This reserve is highly valued by the Biological
Survey as a summer breeding ground, and is an important feeding place
for pelicans.
PINGREE, =155 m.= (1,547 alt., 266 pop.), was named for Hazen Senter
Pingree, who, with a rack and wagon and a team of oxen, came to Dakota
Territory in 1880 to start a potato plantation. His venture was a
failure, so he went to Michigan, where he became an important shoe
manufacturer, was made mayor of Detroit, and twice served as Governor
of the State (1897-1900).
BUCHANAN, =163 m.= (1,546 alt., 150 pop.), was named for its founder,
James A. Buchanan, a prominent early settler.
South of Buchanan the route continues over rolling terrain toward
the valley of the James River, a steep-sided, flat-bottomed trough,
approximately a mile wide.
JAMESTOWN, =176 m.= (1,405 alt., 8,187 pop.) (_see Tour 8_).
_Points of Interest_: Jamestown College, State Hospital for the
Insane, Fort Seward State Park.
At 5th Ave. and 3rd St. is the junction with US 10 (_see Tour 8_).
The area L. of the route here was once the scene of one of those
devastating prairie fires that terrorized and impoverished the early
farmers of the Plains States. This blaze, which began Sept. 25, 1888,
swept the entire region from near Jamestown to LaMoure.
"A heavy and smoke laden atmosphere and a sky streaked with a
dull red reflection of burning grass proclaimed the fierce raging
of prairie fires north, south and west of the city last night,"
reported the Jamestown _Daily Alert_.... "For at least 40 miles
in width the fire burned off every vestige of grass unprotected by
breaks. One could hardly recognize the charred land the next day.
Thousands of bushels of grain were burned and many men lost all
they had, grain, buildings and stock."
EDGELEY, =215 m.= (1,565 alt., 821 pop.), was named by Richard Sykes,
once owner of the site, for his former home in England. It is the
meeting point of an N. P. Ry. branch line, a branch of the Milwaukee R.
R., and the Midland main line.
From Edgeley to the South Dakota Line, the hills of the Missouri
Plateau loom (R) in the distance.
At =237 m.= is a junction with a graveled county road.
Left on this road to WHITESTONE HILL BATTLEFIELD STATE PARK, =16 m.=,
where Gen. Alfred Sully and his command met a band of Sioux Indians on
the evening of Sept. 3, 1863, in the most severe engagement fought on
North Dakota soil since the coming of the white man. A granite monument
25 ft. in height, bearing the figure of a mounted cavalryman, has been
erected about three-fourths of a mile NW. of the site of the battle.
Reinterred about the base of the monument, each with an appropriate
marker, are the remains of the soldiers who died here. Generals Sully
and Sibley had been sent out from Minnesota to punish the Indians who
had taken part in the Minnesota Massacre of 1862. Sully was to move up
the Missouri, while Sibley marched W. across the country. When Sully,
delayed by low water, arrived in the neighborhood of present Bismarck,
where he was to meet Sibley, he found the latter had given up the idea
of the proposed meeting and started on the return journey to Minnesota.
He also discovered that the Sioux, who had fled over the Missouri upon
Sibley's approach, had now recrossed to their old hunting grounds on
the James River. He immediately set out in pursuit, and overtook them
in a three-day march. The Indians retreated while the soldiers, on
higher ground, poured in a murderous fire. Sully's casualties were 34
men wounded and 19 killed, while the Indian loss was estimated at 150.
It is now believed that the Sioux encountered here did not take part in
the Minnesota Massacre. The perpetrators of the massacre were known to
have fled W., however, and it was natural for the soldiers to regard
any Indians they met as enemies.
ELLENDALE, =248 m.= (1,448 alt., 1,264 pop.), named for Ellen Dale
Merrill, wife of a Milwaukee R. R. official, is the Dickey County
seat. At the end of Main St. on the eastern edge of the trim little
town, attractively arranged on a well-kept campus, are the six brick
buildings of the STATE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, a teachers college
and vocational institution. When it opened its doors in 1889 it offered
the first free course in manual training in the United States.
At =253 m.= US 281 crosses the South Dakota Line, 35 m. N. of Aberdeen,
S. Dak. (_see S. Dak. Tour 11_).
TOUR 3
(Virden, Man.,
Can.)--Westhope--Minot--Washburn--Bismarck--Linton--(Pierre, S.
Dak.). US 83.
Canadian boundary to South Dakota Line, 278.5 m.
Soo Ry. branch parallels route between Max and Bismarck, N. P.
Ry. main line between Bismarck and Sterling, N. P. branch roughly
parallels between Sterling and Linton, Milwaukee R. R. branch
between Linton and Strasburg.
Graveled roadbed except for about 75 m. bituminous-surfaced.
Accommodations in principal towns.
South of the Canadian boundary US 83 follows a southwesterly course
across the flat fertile bed of glacial Lake Souris, over the central
Drift Prairie and the hilly upland of the Coteau du Plateau du
Missouri, crossing the South Dakota Line near the center of the
boundary.
Most of the area is diversified dry-farming country, where the emerald
blades of young grain in summer blend with the green and blue of flax
and the verdant stalks of growing corn. As the crops mature the chief
tones of the landscape gradually change to amber and gold, until after
harvest the fields are covered with tawny, violet-shadowed stubble,
dotted with the dull taupe of Russian thistle. Along the Mouse River
and the Missouri, the timberland is a vivid green in summer, and in
autumn becomes a fantasy of fall color in which yellows, ochers,
scarlets, and copper all strive for dominance.
US 83 crosses the Canadian border 8 m. S. of Coulter, Man., Canada.
Here is a customhouse.
WESTHOPE, =6 m.= (1,508 alt., 521 pop.), is a port of entry to Canada.
It was named by an official of a G. N. Ry. town site company, who
expected exceptional agricultural prosperity for the town. Far to the
L., beyond the level prairie that is the bed of the great prehistoric
lake, are the blue shadows outlining the Turtle Mountains (_see Tour
5_).
At =12.5 m.= is the junction with ND 5 (_see Tour 5_), which unites
with US 83 to =29.5 m.=
MINOT, =66.5 m.= (1,560 alt., 16,099 pop.) (_see_ MINOT).
_Points of Interest:_ Minot State Teachers College, Roosevelt Park
and Zoo.
At 2nd St. and 4th Ave. SW. is the junction with US 2 (_see Tour 6_)
and US 52 (_see Tour 7_).
South of Minot the route is over level drift prairie, gradually rising
to a ridge of hills at =85 m.= This is the HEIGHT OF LAND, the northern
rim of the Plateau du Missouri, which is the watershed between the
Gulf of Mexico and Hudson Bay, and also marks the farthest advance of
the last glacier. In addition to its geologic interest, the elevation
commands a view northward almost to the Canadian border.
MAX, =96 m.= (2,100 alt., 500 pop.), a Russo-German community, was
named for the eldest son of an early settler.
At =109 m.= is the junction with ND 37 (_see Side Tour 3A_).
COLEHARBOR, =118 m.= (1,900 alt., 153 pop.), derives its name from the
unsuccessful attempt to make this a river shipping point for lignite
coal, which is mined in this vicinity.
UNDERWOOD, =126 m.= (2,020 alt., 488 pop.), is the center of a large
diversified farming area. The railway conductor for whom it was named,
in appreciation of the honor, donated a bell to the school. The town
has a circulating library, begun by a 72-year-old man, Edward Erickson,
who bound newspaper and magazine stories into books. With these he
began his collection, and by the time of his death in 1932 his work,
together with donations, had resulted in a library of 8,000 volumes,
most of them now available to the public at the office of the Underwood
_News_.
WASHBURN, =143 m.= (1,731 alt., 753 pop.), McLean County seat, on the
eastern bank of the Missouri River, is named for Gen. W. D. Washburn
of Minneapolis, who was instrumental in its development. One of the
earliest Missouri boat landings was established at Washburn, and
the town was an important trading post in pioneer days. Where the
waterworks stand NW. of the city is the SITE OF A SIOUX-ARIKARA BATTLE
fought on May 22, 1869; it resulted in the death of Swift Runner, young
Ree chieftain. On E. Main St. stands the LOG CABIN OF JOSEPH HENRY
TAYLOR (_open by arrangement_; _inquire at_ Leader _office_), trapper,
hunter, and author, who built the house near Painted Woods (_see Side
Tour 3B_) in the early 1870's. He established a woodyard there, and
also became the first postmaster of the settlement; the post office
was a hole cut in the trunk of an oak tree. Taylor printed his books
in his own shop, writing the stories as he set the type by hand. His
books include _Frontier and Indian Lives_ and _Kaleidoscopic Lives_,
both reflecting the somewhat florid literary style of the time, but
nevertheless giving a colorful and engrossing picture of the frontier
of his day.
Right from W. Main St. in Washburn on a well-marked country road to
FORT MANDAN STATE PARK, =14 m.=, site of Fort Mandan on the north bank
of the big bend in the Missouri. Here the Lewis and Clark expedition
spent the winter of 1804-5 with the friendly Mandan Indians. It was
here that Sakakawea, or Bird Woman, a young Shoshone Indian girl,
joined the expedition which she helped to guide to the Pacific (_see_
BISMARCK). Warring Sioux destroyed the buildings of the fort in 1805,
and the ever changing river channel has altered the landscape so that
it is impossible to identify the exact site (_see Tour 10_). Near
the markers that have been erected are the trenches of unidentified
expeditions.
At =150.5 m.= is the junction with a county dirt road (_see Side Tour
3B_).
WILTON, =160 m.= (2,152 alt., 1,001 pop.), named for Wilton, Maine, is
on the McLean-Burleigh County line and is the center of a Ukrainian
settlement. These people come from Galicia, a province of the former
Austro-Hungarian Empire, and found work in the lignite mines which
at that time were just opening here. One group arrived in 1897 and a
second two years later. Many old customs are preserved, including folk
dances performed in picturesque, brightly colored costumes by both old
and young people. The Ukrainians are fond of flowers and their homes
usually have beautiful gardens, in which they can be seen working in
the early hours of summer days.