Charles Larpenteur, who was at Fort William, tells in his memoirs of
going into an Indian camp in weather so cold that his mules froze to
death in the shelter provided for them, and obtaining 180 buffalo
robes for 5 gal. of alcohol, which sufficed to make everyone in the
camp drunk twice. The use of liquor was a sore point between Fort
Union and Fort William, for although it was illegal in Indian country
Sublette had been able to get a supply into Fort William, while every
similar effort at Fort Union had been defeated. Larpenteur describes
the opening of trade at Fort William thus: "The liquor trade started
at dark, and soon the singing and yelling commenced. The Indians were
all locked up in the fort, for fear that some might go to Fort Union,
which was about two and one-half miles distant. Imagine the noise. Five
hundred Indians with their squaws, all drunk as they could be, locked
up in that small space." (The stockade was 150 ft. by 130 ft.) "The
debauch continued during that entire night and well into the next
day ... Indians in stupor from drink lay in every direction."
Competition grew keen. Beaver skins, which ordinarily were worth $3,
brought as much as $12. It was the policy of the American Fur Co.,
however, to buy out its competitors if it could not frighten them out.
Accordingly, after a year of bitter rivalry, an agreement was reached
whereby Sublette and Campbell sold Fort William to the Astor concern
and moved W., leaving the profitable upper Missouri valley trade to
Fort Union.
In 1842 a new post, called Fort Mortimer, was built by Fox, Livingston
& Co. a short distance back from the bank at the Fort William site. The
new traders did not long survive the competition of Fort Union, and in
1846 found it expedient to sell out to the American Fur Co. Some 12
years later an adobe trading post was erected here, but little is known
of it other than that it was abandoned in 1858 and was finally torn
down in 1866, its materials being used in the building of Fort Buford.
TOUR 7
Carrington--Minot--Bowbells--Portal--(Regina, Sask., Can.). US 52.
Carrington to Canadian border, 241.5 m.
Soo Ry. roughly parallels entire route.
Graveled roadbed except 38 m. bituminous-surfaced between Velva and
Foxholm.
Accommodations in principal towns.
US 52, pursuing a diagonal course northwest across the State, provides
a direct route between the Canadian Rockies and the Middle West. It
traverses a diversified farming area, and passes through the fertile
Souris River valley and the treeless valley of the Des Lacs River. In
the green panorama of spring the prairie grasslands, dotted with small
grazing herds of white-faced Herefords or black and white Holsteins,
alternate with tilled fields. By late summer tones of yellow dominate
the landscape, which after the harvest is left a scarred, grimy tan.
At CARRINGTON, =0.0 m.= (_see Tour 2_), is the junction with US 281
(_see Tour 2_).
At =9 m.= on US 52 is the junction with ND 30, a graded dirt road.
Left on this road to the HAWKSNEST, =9 m.=, a high, flat-topped hill
with well-timbered slopes rising 400 ft. above the surrounding plain.
Near its top is a crystal-clear spring. It was named in 1873 by a party
of surveyors who saw a great number of hawks swarm from the trees. On
top of the hill is a large serpentine mound. After the coming of the
white man the hill was a camping place for Sioux Indians traveling
between Fort Totten and Fort Yates. They called the hill Huya Wayapa
ahdi (_where the eagle brings something home in his beak_). According
to Indian legend a large band of Sioux once camped near the hill but
were unable to ascertain the whereabouts of a war party of Chippewa
which they suspected to be near. One of the Sioux, however, observed
that an eagle flying into the trees carried in its mouth what appeared
to be a piece of meat cut with a knife. From the direction in which the
eagle had flown the Sioux were able to find the enemy. The legend is
silent on the outcome of the warriors' meeting.
Left from the Hawksnest =3 m.= to CAMP KIMBALL HISTORIC SITE, where
Sibley camped July 22 and 23, 1863. It was from this point that the
expedition moved SW. to engage in the Battle of Big Mound (_see Tour
8_).
SYKESTON, =13 m.= (1,233 alt., 327 pop.), a German community named for
Richard Sykes, who platted the town in 1883, is on the banks of the
PIPESTEM RIVER and artificial LAKE HIAWATHA. Sykes Park provides good
camping. Buffalo favored this vicinity as a grazing spot before the
coming of settlers, but the semiannual hunting expeditions of the metis
(_see Side Tour 5A_) destroyed many, and after the cattlemen arrived
only an occasional specimen was sighted. The library of an Inverness,
Scotland, home is adorned with the head of what was probably the last
buffalo killed in this vicinity. A party of guests at the Sykes ranch
in 1881, including Ewen Grant of Inverness, learned that a buffalo was
grazing with the Sykes cattle, and in the exciting chase to bag the
animal Grant had the good fortune to despatch him.
FESSENDEN, =36 m.= (1,610 alt., 738 pop.), named for Cortez Fessenden,
surveyor general of Dakota Territory from 1881 to 1885, was originally
settled by a group of Welsh farmers, though the population is now
predominantly Scandinavian. Fessenden was platted in 1893, and in the
election of 1894 was named Wells County seat. Its citizens journeyed
by teams and wagons in the still hours of the night to Sykeston,
first county seat, seized the county records, and hauled them to the
new location. Each year (_March_) Fessenden holds an agricultural
exposition culminating in the coronation of an Alfalfa Queen.
HARVEY, =59.5 m.= (1,596 alt., 2,157 pop.), named for Col. James S.
Harvey, a former director of the Soo Line, is on the banks of the
SHEYENNE RIVER. It is a division point on the Soo, and is the largest
town on the route with the exception of Minot.
Right from Harvey on ND 3, a graveled road, to junction with a dirt
road at =4 m.=; R. on this road to BUTTE DE MORALE, =7 m.=, an ancient
landmark rising 300 ft. above the surrounding prairie. It was to this
vicinity that the metis, or French-Indian half-breeds, came in the
1840's on their buffalo-hunting expeditions (_see Side Tour 5A_). It is
said that on one occasion a party of 1,390 people with 824 wagons and
1,200 animals camped here and slaughtered 250 buffalo in a single day.
In 1853 the surveying expedition of Gov. I. I. Stevens passed the hill,
and in 1862-63 Capt. James L. Fisk led two expeditions of Montana gold
seekers through the vicinity.
MARTIN, =72.5 m.= (1,589 alt., 211 pop.), known in early days as
Casselman, was later renamed for a Soo official in order to avoid
confusion with other towns of similar names. A group of Rumanians
from Regina, Sask., settled here in 1893, but the population is
now predominantly German, as is that of ANAMOOSE (from Chippewa
_uhnemoosh_, dog), =80.5 m.= (1,620 alt., 495 pop.).
DRAKE, =89 m.= (1,634 alt., 644 pop.), named for an early settler,
Herman Drake, is on the watershed between the Mouse and Sheyenne Rivers
in a diversified farming and dairying area. A small railroad center,
it has become a wholesale distribution point; a $20,000 cooperative
creamery is operated here.
Northwest of Drake the route traverses rolling tree-dotted hills that
begin to slope toward the Mouse River valley.
BALFOUR, =97 m.= (1,613 alt., 197 pop.), named by the town site
company, and VOLTAIRE, =116 m.= (1,587 alt., 61 pop.), believed to have
been named for an early settler, are both young villages incorporated
in 1929.
The road makes an abrupt descent into the flat, trough-like Mouse River
valley at VELVA, =122 m.= (1,511 alt., 870 pop.), which is at the
southwestern point of the loop of the river, near a camp site of the
Sully expedition of 1865. The park-like little town is on the flood
plain of the river which flows through it. First known as Mouse River
Post Office, it was given its present name after organization of the
town site in 1891-92. A park in the northern part of the town offers
recreational facilities, and contains the FIRST DWELLING IN VELVA, a
log hut built in 1885.
1. Right from Velva on a dirt road winding down the Mouse River
valley is VERENDRYE, =11 m.= (1,554 alt., 100 pop.). First known as
Falsen, the town was given its present name in honor of Pierre de la
Verendrye, earliest known white explorer in the region. Right from the
town pump =0.5 m.= to the globular masonry DAVID THOMPSON MEMORIAL,
erected by the G. N. Ry. in 1925 on a high point overlooking the river
valley. On the base of the monument is the inscription: "1770--David
Thompson--1885, Geographer and Astronomer passed near here in 1797 and
1798 on a scientific and trading expedition. He made the first map of
the country which is now North Dakota and achieved many noteworthy
discoveries in the northwest." Thompson made his explorations while an
employee of the North West Fur Co.
2. Left from Velva on a graded dirt road to a junction with another
graded road at =4 m.=; R. here to another junction at =8 m.=; L. here
to a STRIP MINE which is one of the larger lignite operating units
in the United States, =10 m.= Here, in order to reach a vein of coal
averaging 14 ft. in thickness, great shovels strip the 40-to 50-feet
overburden and pile it into fantastic high mounds and ridges resembling
the work of a giant mole. Nearby is a small community of some 40 homes
of miners.
Northwest of Velva the route follows the foot of the hills bordering
the valley to SAWYER, =128.5 m.= (1,525 alt., 206 pop.), believed to
have been named for a Soo Ry. official.
MINOT, =144 m.= (1,557 alt., 16,099 pop.) (_see_ MINOT).
_Points of Interest_: Minot State Teachers College, Roosevelt Park
and Zoo.
At Valley St. and 4th Ave. SE. is a junction with US 2 (_see Tour 6_),
which unites with US 52 to =150 m.= At 4th Ave. and 2nd St. SW. is the
junction with US 83 (_see Tour 3_).
Left of the junction at =150 m.= is a large tourist camp.
BURLINGTON, =152 m.= (1,590 alt., 150 pop.), named for Burlington,
Iowa, under the North Dakota Rural Rehabilitation Corporation became
the scene of the State's first SUBSISTENCE HOMESTEAD PROJECT. Here,
in the wooded valley at the confluence of the Mouse and the Des Lacs
Rivers, a model village of comfortable homes arose (1937) to replace
the former dwellings of the miners who have part time employment in the
lignite mines of the vicinity. When completed the project will provide
homes and irrigated garden-land for more than 50 families. The cost to
each owner, including land, house, barn, garage, and chicken and hog
houses, will be approximately $3,500. A concrete dam and bowl spillway
on the Des Lacs River will irrigate more than half the 600 acres
included in the project.
A camp fire unwittingly built upon an outcropping of lignite at
Burlington in the spring of 1883 is credited with first having
acquainted pioneers here with the possibilities of developing the
fuel on a large scale. Three men camped at the fork of the Mouse and
Des Lacs Rivers were surprised one morning to find their camp fire
of the previous night still burning. Upon investigation they learned
that their wood fire had ignited a blackish mineral--lignite--in the
earth beneath it. All lignite mines in the Burlington vicinity are
underground (_open on application at mine office in Burlington_).
Northwest of Burlington the route follows the Des Lacs River valley to
FOXHOLM, =163 m.= (1,657 alt., 200 pop.), named for Foxholm, England,
and CARPIO, =171.5 m.= (1,696 alt., 344 pop.), which touches the hills
on both sides of the narrow valley. One story has it that Carpio was
named by the wife of one of the railroad officials; another that the
name was suggested by the fact that the first post office was a freight
car on which was posted the sign "P. O."
Right from Carpio on a graveled county road to the UPPER SOURIS
MIGRATORY WATERFOWL PROJECT, =7 m.=, one of the largest of its type
being undertaken in North Dakota by the U. S. Biological Survey. Here
a marshland along the Mouse River has been purchased and a large dam
constructed to impound a lake 26 m. long. A series of smaller dams
farther down the river will control the flood waters of the Souris and
will aid in restoring the marshes to suitable breeding and nesting
grounds for migratory waterfowl. The low, chalky white, red-roofed
buildings E. of the dam are PROJECT HEADQUARTERS.
Left from the dam on a gravel road to the CP RANCH, =14 m.=, which
maintains one of the few buffalo herds in the Northwest. Thirty-five
shaggy-coated bison range in a 700-acre pasture, appearing at the ranch
buildings twice daily for water. A large herd of Hereford cattle is
also kept here.
DONNYBROOK, =181 m.= (1,760 alt., 259 pop.), named by its founders for
Donnybrook, Ireland, is at the foot of the hills bordering the western
side of the Des Lacs valley.
At =189 m.= the route passes S. of DES LACS LAKE, a remnant of a
glacial stream, now divided into three parts and drained by the Des
Lacs River. The U. S. Biological Survey has a large migratory waterfowl
project in progress on the lower lake, and as the road winds along the
eastern shore the nesting islands and several dams built by the survey
are visible.
KENMARE, =197 m.= (1,799 alt., 1,494 pop.), believed to have been named
by the wife of a Canadian Pacific Ry. official for a community in
Ireland, lies on a hillside facing MIDDLE DES LACS LAKE. In the steep
sides of the lake valley nearby are a number of lignite mines.
Opposite Kenmare are the ADMINISTRATION BUILDINGS of the Des Lacs Lake
Migratory Waterfowl Project--low white structures with red tile roofs.
At Kenmare the highway leaves the valley for the Drift Plain, which
stretches away to the E. to meet the flat bed of glacial Lake Souris,
beyond which lie the Turtle Mountains. To the W. against the horizon
rises the eastern edge of the great Missouri Plateau topped by the
Altamont Moraine, the height of land between the Missouri and Souris
Rivers.
At =202 m.= is the Junction with ND 5, a graveled highway (_see Tour
5_). US 52 and ND 5 are one route to =234 m.=
At =209 m.= the highway dips into a large cut to cross UPPER DES
LACS LAKE, which, despite present dry conditions, was once the scene
of steamboating. In early days it was navigable across the Canadian
border near Northgate, and grain from points in Canada and along the
lake in North Dakota was shipped via the water route to Kenmare for
transshipment by rail to eastern markets. The years of continued
subnormal rainfall in this region have left the upper lake dry in
places.
BOWBELLS, =214 m.= (1,961 alt., 695 pop.), named by English
stockholders of the Soo Line for the famous Bow Bells in St.
Mary-le-Bow Church in London, is the Burke County seat. Almost
treeless, its squat appearance blends into the flat terrain, with the
tall water tower, the only notable feature of the town, visible for
miles on the level prairie.
FLAXTON, =226.5 m.= (1,940 alt., 423 pop.), was given its present name
because the town site was a field of flax when application for a post
office was made.
At =234 m.= is a junction with ND 5 (_see Tour 5_).
PORTAL, =241.5 m.= (1,954 alt., 512 pop.), is an important
international port of entry, hence its name. It is an airport of
entry, and also a division point on the Soo, much of the traffic to
the Canadian Northwest passing through its custom offices. The U. S.
CUSTOM AND IMMIGRATION HOUSE (_for custom regulations see_ INFORMATION
FOR TRAVELERS), on Boundary and Railway Aves., is a two-story brick
building in Colonial style. A large canopied driveway at the front
of the building permits inspection of three automobiles at once. The
Canadian custom offices are directly across the avenue, which is
bisected by the international boundary. Portal is the home of many
sports enthusiasts, and most of its games have an international aspect.
Unusual in sports is the international golf course, on which in August
1934 a young Portal golfer, George Wegener, made an international
hole-in-one, driving from the eighth tee, which is in Canada, 125 yd.
into the cup on the ninth green, in the United States. The curling club
here is also international, being composed of both Canadian and United
States citizens in the border cities of Portal and North Portal. They
play this winter sport in a specially constructed domed building.
US 52 crosses the Canadian Line at the customhouses in the city of
Portal, 30 m. S. of Estevan, Sask.
TOUR 8
(Minneapolis, Minn.)--Fargo--Valley
City--Jamestown--Bismarck--Mandan--Dickinson--(Glendive, Mont.). US
10.
Minnesota Line to Montana Line, 368 m.
N. P. Ry. and Northwest Airlines parallel route across State.
Paved or bituminous-surfaced roadbed except 73 m. graveled.
Accommodations chiefly in towns.
US 10, rising steadily toward the foothills of the Rocky Mountains,
with a gain of 1,852 feet in altitude in crossing the State, traverses
the three main topographic divisions of North Dakota (_see_ NATURAL
SETTING), from the low, flat Red River Valley, across the rolling Drift
Plain and out upon the Missouri Plateau. Near the end of the route are
the strange and beautiful Badlands.
Most of the country along the road is cultivated, and in the fields
the cycle of farming operations--plowing, seeding, cultivating,
harvesting--repeats itself as the seasons progress. During the growing
season, stretching far across the flat plains and over the sloping
hills, the varying greens of the grains blend with the blue flax fields
and the invading yellow patches of mustard. In the fall the prairies
have a somber, peaceful air as their tawny stubblefields and newly
plowed black acres await the first snowfall. When winter comes the
never-ending expanse of white is broken by the dark pattern of roads
and an occasional lead-colored clump of trees, bare and shivering in
the wind, while at the distant horizon the whiteness unites with the
pale blue of clear winter skies.
West of the Red River Valley trees are few except along the rivers.
Yet, according to legend, this country was once heavily forested--until
Paul Bunyan, the master woodsman, had his men log it off, just before
his famous fight with his foreman, the Bull of the Woods, on top of the
bottom of the Mountain That Stood on Its Head. As a matter of geologic
fact, the area traversed by the route has been largely treeless since
the gradual cooling of the climate, incident to the ice age, destroyed
the tropical plant and animal life which once were profuse here.
FARGO, =0.0 m.= (907 alt., 28,619 pop.) (_see_ FARGO).
_Points of Interest_: North Dakota Agricultural College, Veterans'
Hospital, Dovre Ski Slide.
At Front and 13th Sts. is the junction with US 81 (_see Tour 1_).
WEST FARGO (R) (907 alt., 127 pop.) and SOUTHWEST FARGO (L) (907 alt.,
800 pop.), =5 m.=, suburbs of Fargo, are the center of North Dakota's
meat-packing industry. An ARMOUR & CO. PLANT (_open_; _tours at 9:30 &
11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10:30 a.m. only on Sat._; _no children
under 10_) and a large livestock market employ the majority of the
residents of these two young villages, incorporated in 1931 and 1937
respectively. Armour's plant, housed in a four-story brick building,
employs more than 400 people. Connected with it is the Union Stockyards
where representatives of commission firms buy livestock from North
Dakota farmers. Included in the yards is an exchange building which
houses offices of the company, dealers, and commission firms, and State
and Federal agencies supervising market operations.
At =12 m.= is the junction with a graveled county highway.
Right on this highway is MAPLETON, =1 m.= (904 alt., 195 pop.), one
of the oldest towns in the State, organized about 1870. It is named
for the MAPLE RIVER which flows through it, one of the many meandering
tributaries of the Red.
At =20 m.= is the junction with ND 18, a graveled highway.
Right on this road is CASSELTON, =2 m.= (936 alt., 1,254 pop.), named
for Maj. G. W. Cass (1810-1888) of Minneapolis, stockholder in the N.
P. Ry. and proponent of the railroad nursery that propagated the poplar
trees that today line the streets. It was the boyhood home of William
Langer (1886-), Governor of the State (1933-1934; 1937-1939) and a
storm center in Nonpartisan League politics (_see_ HISTORY).
During the bonanza farm era (_see_ AGRICULTURE AND FARM LIFE)
Casselton was headquarters of the huge Dalrymple farm, which made it
a metropolis of the Red River Valley. One of the earliest practical
uses of the telephone in the United States, and what may have been the
introduction of the instrument into this State (_see Tour 1_), was made
in 1876 on the Dalrymple farm. Oliver Dalrymple had taken advantage of
low prices occasioned by the panic of 1873 to buy 100,000 acres of Red
River Valley land owned by the N. P. Ry. and had set out to demonstrate
that the land was valuable for farming. The first year he seeded 1,280
acres and harvested 32,000 bu. of wheat. By 1878 he was farming 13,000
acres and by 1895, 65,000 acres. His land was divided into subfarms,
each with a superintendent and foreman, and all using the most modern
farm equipment obtainable. Dalrymple, on a visit to the Philadelphia
Centennial in 1876, became interested in the newly invented telephone,
and at the close of the fair purchased several of the instruments for
installation on his subfarms and headquarters farm at Casselton.
Among the churches in Casselton is one maintained by a small group of
Moravians, a German religious sect that came to the State during the
early years of settlement.
On ND 18 at =18 m.= to the D. H. HOUSTON FARM, where the principle of
the roll film camera was developed. Houston, a native of Wisconsin,
had already invented one camera when he homesteaded in North Dakota in
1869. Although he acquired 6,000 acres of land and became one of the
early bonanza farmers, he continued his experiments in photography,
and in 1881 developed the principle of the roll film camera, selling
his patent to George Eastman. It has been said that Houston named his
device "kodak" for North Dakota, but the generally accepted story is
that Eastman himself coined the word because he desired a catchy,
easily remembered name that could be used in any language. Houston's
inventive interests included agricultural improvements, and in the
1880's he developed an improved bluestem wheat which, producing four
to five bushels more per acre than other varieties, was soon in great
demand throughout the Wheat Belt. He also patented improvements on the
disc plow.
At =26.5 m.= is the junction with a graveled road.
Right on this road is WHEATLAND, =2 m.= (991 alt., 300 pop.), a quiet,
pretty village named for the vast wheat acreage formerly seeded on the
bonanza farms in the area.
At =30.5 m.= the highway passes over a noticeable rise of land. This
is Herman Beach, the western shore of ancient Lake Agassiz, which in
glacial times covered 100,000 sq. m. and lay over the eastern portion
of the State, reaching from Lake Winnipeg in Canada to Lake Traverse in
South Dakota. It is estimated that when this gravelly ridge was formed
by the waves of the lake, the water at the present site of Fargo was
175 ft. deep.
BUFFALO, =37.5 m.= (1,201 alt., 242 pop.), is named for Buffalo, N. Y.
Left from Buffalo on a graveled highway is ALICE, =11 m.= (1,124 alt.,
169 pop.), named for a relative of a railroad superintendent.
At the Multz Cafe is a COLLECTION OF INDIAN ARTIFACTS (_open_).
At =40.5 m.= is BUFFALO CREEK HISTORIC SITE (R). A marker reads:
"August 16, 1863. General Sibley marched over this spot with 3,400
soldiers on his return after driving the Indians across the Missouri
River."
TOWER CITY, =43.5 m.= (1,169 alt., 435 pop.), in a grove of trees, is
named for Charlemagne Tower (1848-1924), a Philadelphia capitalist and
diplomat, who owned much land in the vicinity. He made the foundation
plantings of the trees of the city and also donated the first books
to the local public library. In 1886 Baptist leaders selected this
city as the site of a proposed church college to be named Tower
University. Excavations had actually begun, with the expectation that
Tower would be its benefactor to the extent of $100,000. Because of
some misunderstanding of the preliminary arrangements, however, the
endowment fund was not forthcoming. Tower offered the use of a school
building, but the school, being unable to continue without financial
assistance, closed its doors two years later.
At =48.5 m.= is the junction with ND 32, a graveled highway.
Right on this highway is ORISKA, =0.5 m.= (1,267 alt., 183 pop.), once
the center of a wide wheat-growing area. The name is believed to have
been that of the heroine of an old book of western poems.
At =5 m.= on ND 32 to CAMP ARNOLD HISTORIC SITE, where in 1863 the
Sibley expedition made one of its many overnight camps.
At =56 m.= is the junction with a graveled road.