here =3 m.= to the CHEYENNE INDIAN VILLAGE SITE. A springhouse (L)
stands at the entrance to the ear-shaped site. Depressions mark the
position of the earth lodges that once stood here. A moat is still
visible around the entire site. Many artifacts have been excavated,
including traces of pottery. The homes of the Cheyennes were circular
lodges, constructed of earth over a frame of logs, similar to those
of the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians who lived along the Missouri
River (_see Side Tour 3A and Tour 8_). In the eighteenth century the
Cheyennes were forced into South Dakota and Wyoming by the continued
attacks of the Sioux and Chippewa.
STRONG MEMORIAL PARK (_picnic and camp grounds_), =3.3 m.=, is across
the road (R) from the Indian village site. The land was given the State
historical society by Frank Strong, and is a memorial to him.
ND 1 continues S. to VERONA, =41 m.= (1,383 alt., 222 pop.), first
settled in the spring of 1883, and named for the city in northern Italy.
At =42 m.= is the junction with ND 13, a graveled highway.
Left here is LAMOURE, =10 m.= (1,304 alt., 889 pop.), named for Judson
LaMoure (1839-1918), an early political power in the State. It is
situated on the banks of the James River, and is the center of a large
dairying area. Its history dates from the arrival of the railroad
in 1883. As the community grew, an intense rivalry was born between
LaMoure and Grand Rapids (_see below_), a rivalry that did not end
until LaMoure, in a hot fight in 1886, won the LaMoure County seat from
Grand Rapids, which thereafter declined. Like other frontier towns,
LaMoure had many gaming houses and saloons. Residences being scarce,
one pious family was forced to live above a saloon. When it came
time for the wife to entertain the weekly prayer meeting, the saloon
closed out of deference, and the next issue of the LaMoure _Chronicle_
mentioned the incident thus: "There were spirits above and spirits
below. The spirits below were spirits of wine, and the spirits above
were spirits divine." One year LaMoure had no speaker for a Fourth
of July celebration, while a popular speaker, Dr. E. P. Robertson of
Fargo, had been engaged by Grand Rapids. He arrived at Lisbon, the end
of the railroad line, and was met by a fine four-horse team and the
best carriage to be found. The driver shouted, "All aboard for Grand
Rapids! Right this way for Dr. Robertson!" and the unsuspecting doctor
was driven to LaMoure, delivered a glowing address, was returned to
Lisbon by the same rig, and reached home without having learned of his
error. An occasion for excitement in LaMoure was the arrival of the
steamer _Nettie Baldwin_ in the late summer of 1883. The boat docked at
a pontoon bridge, and some citizens had visions of the town's becoming
an important river port. Of a second trip in 1884 the _Chronicle_
recalls: "The climax to speculation concerning a regular commercial
route came suddenly and sadly. _Nettie Baldwin_ couldn't cut the buck,
or was it the mud?" The boat was left in the water, where it lay for
many years.
At =13 m.= on ND 13 is the junction with ND 63, a graveled highway;
R. here is GRAND RAPIDS, =19 m.= (1,320 alt., 60 pop.), named for the
cataract in the James River at this point. The little village, once a
prosperous county seat, lies at one of the widest points of the James
River flood plain. It was the first organized town in LaMoure County,
and until 1886 was the county seat. In that year it lost the position
to LaMoure after a bitter struggle, although the editor of the LaMoure
_Chronicle_ dared to sympathize with Grand Rapids, to an extent that
won him in his home city the title of "Leper of LaMoure."
On ND 63 to LAMOURE COUNTY MEMORIAL PARK (_picnic and camp grounds_,
_playgrounds_, _swimming_, _horseshoe courts_, _athletic field_),
=20 m.=, is a 53-acre tract along the James River, established as a
memorial to LaMoure County World War dead. Many county gatherings are
held here each summer.
ND 1, S. of Verona, continues over the level prairie. At =57 m.= is a
junction with ND 11, which unites with ND 1 between this point and =70
m.=
OAKES, =58 m.= (1,310 alt., 1,709 pop.), on a level rise of ground 1
m. E. of the James River, is at the extreme northern end of the bed of
glacial Lake Dakota. The town site was platted in 1886 at the junction
of the N. P. and North Western Rys., and was named for Thomas Fletcher
Oakes (1843-1911), one-time vice president and general manager of the
N. P. Ry. A short time later the Soo Line built into the new community,
and these railroad facilities were a factor in the rapid growth of the
town. It was incorporated as a city in 1888. The foresight of Oakes'
first citizens is indicated by the exceptional width of the streets.
The million dollar NORTH AMERICAN CREAMERY PLANT is the chief
industrial plant of the town.
CENTRAL PARK, in the western part of town, contains a lighted
ice-skating rink.
South of Oakes the low-lying hills of the Missouri Plateau (R) are
visible in the distance, while a range of hills (L) marks the Height of
Land between the Sheyenne and James Rivers. Rain falling on the western
side of these hills finds its way into the James and the Gulf of Mexico
via the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, while that falling to the E.
enters the Sheyenne and eventually makes its way to Hudson Bay through
the Red River.
LUDDEN, =69 m.= (1,303 alt., 164 pop.), was named by the town site
owner, Frank Randall, for Mr. and Mrs. J. D. Ludden of St. Paul, Minn.,
who had cared for him when he was an infant. First settled nearby in
1883, the town was moved in 1886 to its present site on the railway.
There are many Finns in the community who still use the _sauna_, or
steam bath, of their native land. Early marriage is common among them;
the Finnish tongue is usually spoken in the homes.
At =75 m.= the route crosses the South Dakota Line, 48 m. =NE.= of
Aberdeen, S. Dak.
SIDE TOUR 8B
Junction US 10--Cooperstown--Junction US 2. ND 1 & 7.
Junction with US 10 to junction with US 2, 93 m.
N. P. Ry. branch line roughly parallels route between US 10 and
Binford.
Graveled roadbed throughout.
Usual tourist accommodations in principal towns.
This route proceeds north over the smooth plain of the fertile
black-earth belt, through the hills of the upper Sheyenne River basin.
First the Indians and later the metis or half-breeds hunted the large
herds of buffalo that once roamed this lake-dotted region. Among the
earliest white comers here were the Nicollet-Fremont exploratory
expedition in the 1830's, the Stevens survey party in 1853, the Sibley
expedition in 1863, and in the 1870's, the soldiers, scouts, and wagon
trains following the Fort Totten-Fort Abercrombie trail.
Bonanza farms flourished in this region during the last two decades of
the nineteenth century, but were subdivided eventually into smaller
farms taken up by Scandinavian immigrants who began to come here in the
1880's. The first Norwegian community in North Dakota was established
near this route, and the fine farms of the present-day Norse residents
are visible from the highway.
ND 1 branches N. from its junction with US 10, 5 m. W. of Valley City
(_see Tour 8_).
DAZEY, =22.5 m.= (1,428 alt., 251 pop.), was named for the father of
Charles T. Dazey, author of the play _In Old Kentucky_. The elder Dazey
owned the town site.
Right from Dazey on ND 26, a graveled highway, to CAMP CORNING HISTORIC
SITE, =8 m.=, where Sibley's expedition spent the night of July 16,
1863. The camp was named for an officer on the Sibley staff.
WALUM, =27.5 m.= (1,429 alt., 60 pop.), was named in 1900 for a
prosperous landowner of this vicinity.
HANNAFORD, =31 m.= (1,416 alt., 351 pop.), named for J. M. Hannaford,
one-time vice president of the N. P. Ry., lies W. of Bald Hill Creek,
tributary of the Sheyenne River.
At =33 m.= is the junction with a dirt road.
Right here =2 m.= to the junction with another dirt road; R. here to
CAMP POPE, =2.3 m.=, made by members of the Sibley expedition in August
1863 on their return to Minnesota after driving the Sioux W. of the
Missouri River.
At =36 m.= the route crosses both the Sibley and the Fort Totten-Fort
Abercrombie trails, although no traces of these routes are visible from
the highway. The Sibley expedition, in pursuit of the Sioux believed to
be responsible for the Minnesota Massacre (_see_ HISTORY), had learned
that the Indians were encamped near Devils Lake (_see Side Tour 6A_),
so the long column of 4,000 men, 1,350 mules, 800 horses, and 225
wagons set out in a northwesterly course toward the lake from Lisbon
(_see Side Tour 8A_). Before they arrived, however, they learned that
their quarry had gone to the Missouri, so they changed their course to
the W. The Sibley route toward Devils Lake was followed by the heavy
traffic between Fort Totten and Fort Abercrombie in the next decade.
At =41.5 m.= is the junction with ND 7, a graveled highway.
Right here is COOPERSTOWN, =1 m.= (1,425 alt., 1,053 pop.). It was
founded in 1882 by T. J. and Rollin C. Cooper, brothers who, flush with
the profits of successful mining ventures in Colorado, arrived in this
vicinity in 1880, and became bonanza farmers. They were instrumental
in building the Sanborn, Cooperstown & Turtle Mountain R. R. (later an
N. P. Ry. branch) into the town in 1883, and as terminal of this road
Cooperstown grew rapidly.
Although old-fashioned, rambling houses set in spacious lawns and
numerous old buildings fronting the business streets create an
unhurried atmosphere, Cooperstown has contributed several progressives
to the national picture. Gerald P. Nye (1892-), U. S. Senator from
North Dakota, chairman (1936) of the committee for investigation of
the munitions industry, was a weekly newspaper editor here when he
was appointed to a vacancy in the Senate in 1925. Former Congressman
James H. Sinclair (1871-), member of the Agricultural Committee
(1925-1935), and coauthor of the Norris-Sinclair farm relief bill, was
superintendent of the Cooperstown schools (1896-1898), and register of
deeds (1899-1905). Thomas R. Amlie (1897-), Wisconsin Congressman, and
Edward D. Stair (1859-), publisher of the Detroit (Mich.) _Free Press_,
are also former residents.
Stair established Cooperstown's first paper, the _Courier_, the year
the town was founded, and even before coming here had a hand in its
history. He was feature writer for the Fargo _Argus_ and was also
working as a mail clerk on a railroad terminating in Hope at the time
that Cooperstown, then only a small settlement, decided to contest
Hope's right to the county seat. Stair learned that Hope was colonizing
voters with an eye to the coming county seat election, and exposed
the plan in a series of stories in the _Argus_. Hope residents were
enraged, and warned him, if he wished to keep his skin unpunctured, to
stay out of town, which was extremely difficult in view of the fact
that his train made a lay-over of several hours there. His fellow
mail clerk, a six-foot newspaper man, came to his support, and the
two, with six-shooters dangling from their hips, sauntered about Hope
unmolested but hungry, for the only hotel in town refused to sell food
to the enemy. Cooperstown won the election, but Hope refused to concede
victory, and it required two raids by Cooperstown residents to obtain
the county records for the new county seat.
On the Griggs County Courthouse grounds stands the _Opheim Log Cabin_,
the first permanent white home in the county. Built in 1879 by Omund
Nels Opheim on his claim NE. of Cooperstown, it was moved to its
present site to become a pioneer memorial, and contains the hand-made
furniture used by its former occupants.
East from Cooperstown on ND 7 to the junction with a dirt road, =3
m.=; R. here to another junction, =7 m.=; R. on a prairie trail to a
circular group of five conical MOUNDS, =7.5 m.= From excavations made
in similar mounds along the lower Sheyenne River (_see Side Tour 8A_)
archeologists believe that most of these tumuli were built for burial
purposes.
ND 1 and 7 are identical between =41.5 m.= and =49.5 m.=, where ND
1 proceeds R. to enter the rounded, lake-dotted hills of the DOVRE
MORAINE, seventh ridge formed by debris deposited during the halts of
the retreating glaciers. The Nicollet-Fremont and Stevens expeditions,
the Sibley column, and both a gold seekers' caravan and an immigrant
train guided by Capt. James Fisk crossed this moraine at various times,
camping on some of the lakes.
At =55 m.= is the junction with a prairie trail. At this junction
is (R) CAMP ATCHESON HISTORIC SITE, commemorating establishment of
Sibley's base camp July 18, 1863.
Left on the prairie trail to LAKE SIBLEY, =0.5 m.=, a small morainic
lake on the northeastern shore of which is the actual _Site of Camp
Atcheson_. The camp was named for Capt. Charles Atcheson of Sibley's
staff. When General Sibley heard from friendly Chippewa Indians that
the Sioux he was pursuing were fleeing from the Devils Lake region
toward the Missouri River, he hastily ordered trenches dug and
breastworks thrown up, and inside this fortification placed all his
sick men, weak horses, the baggage train, the cattle, and the surplus
of supply wagons. Leaving two companies of infantry to maintain the
camp he started after the Sioux. The main column, traveling light,
succeeded in driving them across the Missouri near Bismarck, and
returned to the base camp a month later. On a hill overlooking the lake
from the NE. a marble marker denotes the grave of a private who died
here.
At 57 =m.= is the junction with an unimproved dirt road.
Right here to LAKE JESSIE, =2.3 m.=, where the bed of a once
mirror-like body of water now blows with alkali dust. In the early
1900's 12 ft. of water covered the lake bed, but in 1933 motorcycle
races were run here. A heavy growth of timber, which has survived
the lake, and a fine spring at its west end made it a landmark for
explorers of the region. Nicollet and Fremont camped here in 1839, and
Fremont named the lake for his fiancee, Jessie Benton. In 1853 Gov. I.
I. Stevens, guided by Pierre Bottineau (_see_ HISTORY), camped on the
lake on his way to become Governor of Washington Territory. In 1862
Capt. James Fisk, guiding a party of gold seekers to the fields in
Montana and Utah, camped on Lake Jessie, and again in 1863 stopped at
the lake several days with an immigrant train he led through the State.
The second Fisk expedition and the Sibley column, on Lake Sibley, were
but a few miles apart, and the two camps exchanged visits.
BINFORD, =57.5 m.= (1,518 alt., 317 pop.), was named for Ray Binford,
attorney for the D. B. S. Johnston Land Co., which purchased and
platted the town site. The company bought the homestead of Gilbert
Gilbertson, an early settler. The many names used by Gilbertson
illustrate the common Norwegian practice of changing the surname on
arrival in this country, sometimes using the name of the father with
"son" affixed, and sometimes adopting the title of the home district
as surname. To add to this, Americans thought these names too long or
foreign to be practical, and changed them for the newcomers. Gilbertson
filed on his homestead as Gilbert Gilbertson, but was equally well
known in his community as Gabriel Gabrielson, Gilbert Gabrielson, and
Gabriel Gilbertson.
Left (NW) from Binford on a graveled road is MOSE, =6 m.= (1,539 alt.,
30 pop.). Here are the ANSONIA KENNELS, which raise white German
shepherds. This is a remnant of an industry that reached its peak in
Griggs County in 1924 when the Nation-wide fad for German police dogs
was at its height. In that year as many as 400 farmers were breeding
dogs in the county, and animals totaling a value of more than $100,000
were shipped to all parts of the United States, to South America, and
to the Philippine Islands. The industry had its beginning in 1914 near
Cooperstown when farmer Torkel Njaa imported a German shepherd for a
watchdog. Njaa was so pleased with the animal that he imported two
females. His success in raising and marketing dogs caught the fancy of
other farmers, and led to the establishment of the industry.
At =63.5 m.= is the junction with a graveled spur.
Left here to RED WILLOW LAKE, =2 m.= On the southern shore is a TOURIST
PARK (_cabins_, _boats_, _swimming_, _camping_, _fishing_), part of a
1,300-acre State game refuge. A pavilion (_seating capacity 1,500_)
serves for recreational purposes and is the scene of many conventions,
including an annual Lutheran Bible Camp (_June_).
ND 1 crosses the wooded SHEYENNE RIVER at =69.5 m.= and at =82.5 m.=
skirts the eastern end of STUMP LAKE, a body of water that once covered
approximately 10,000 acres, but is now reduced to slightly more than
2,000. The Sioux called the lake Wamduska (_serpent_), and believed it
was once a great forest which the Great Spirit, in anger, allowed to be
swallowed by water. On clear days logs can be seen below the surface,
and where the water has receded many large stumps protrude from the
ground, giving the lake bed the appearance of a timbered area logged
off by beavers. Geologists believe that Stump Lake was once connected
with Devils Lake, 10 m. W., and had an outlet into the Sheyenne River.
The wooded area along the eastern shore has been transformed into
a recreational park, and BIRD ISLAND, a 350-acre peninsula in the
southwestern bay of the lake, has been set aside as a U. S. Biological
Survey game reserve.
At =87 m.= is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to the junction with an unimproved road at =2 m.=;
R. here to WAMDUSKA HOTEL, =2.5 m.=, a lonely 75-room building that is
a silent reminder of the village of Wamduska, platted, peopled, and
abandoned because of a railroad survey. The town was founded in the
1880's when it was believed that the G. N. Ry. would be constructed
along Lake Wamduska, as it was then called, but the survey was made 10
m. to the N., and Wamduska died. Today the old hotel is used as a farm
storehouse.
At =93 m.= is the junction with US 2 (_see Tour 6_) 1 m. E. of Lakota
(_see Tour 6_).
SIDE TOUR 8C
Mandan--Cannonball--Fort Yates--South Dakota Line. ND 6, 21, & 24.
Mandan to South Dakota Line, 85 m.
Graveled roadbed except 15 m. unimproved dry-weather roadbed on ND
21.
Accommodations at Fort Yates only.
This route traverses the North Dakota section of the Standing Rock
Indian Agency (_for history of the agency see_ INDIANS AND THEIR
PREDECESSORS) where Sitting Bull, Rain-in-the-Face, and Chief Gall,
Father Pierre De Smet, and Maj. James McLaughlin made early history
in the Dakotas. When organized in 1868 the reservation contained four
million acres. The treaty with the Sioux in 1887, however, provided
for white settlement, and when the area was opened for homesteading in
1910 the reservation was reduced to 1,343,000 acres. Today all of Sioux
County constitutes the North Dakota portion of the agency. Here 1,600
members of the upper and lower bands of the Yanktonai Sioux make their
homes in an area of rugged brown hills, smooth grasslands, and rugged,
distorted, gray-blue buttes. On the South Dakota side of the agency
live 1,100 Hunkpapa and Blackfoot Sioux.
ND 6 branches S. from its junction with US 10 at MANDAN (_see Tour 8_),
crosses the Heart River, and passes the U. S. NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS
FIELD STATION (_guides available at office_). At =4 m.= is the U. S.
NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS DAIRY STATION (R). Various crops, plants, trees,
shrubs, methods of farming, breeds of cattle, and even buildings are
tried, tested, and adapted to the dry farming of the Missouri Slope
country at these two Government experimental stations.
As the highway gradually ascends from the river valley to the flowing
prairies, high hills and buttes are outlined in a blue haze against the
southwestern horizon. At =9 m.= (R) is the CESKY ZAKOPNIK (pronounced
_Chesky za kop' neek_) or retreat of the Western Czechoslovakian
Fraternal Organization, a social, benevolent, and protective society.
The Cesky Zakopnik is a lodge hall and social center for the Czechs
of Mandan and the vicinity. These people are thoroughly Americanized.
Their dances (_public_), quite American in all other respects, have one
unusual feature, the dancing of Sala Naninka De Zeli (_Annie Went to
the Cabbage Patch_), a folk dance with intricate steps. It is usually
performed once or twice during the evening, and the older people
particularly enjoy it.
The sharp, high-pointed peak (L) of LITTLE HEART BUTTE (Sioux name,
Ta canta wakpa cikala paha), an early-day landmark, is visible from
a distance before the road passes it at =11 m.= The Bismarck Weather
Bureau uses the peak several times daily for observations of visibility.
At =15 m.= is the junction with a graveled road.
Right here is ST. ANTHONY, =0.5 m.= (1,790 alt., 116 pop.), a small
community settled in 1887 by Roman Catholic German-Hungarians from
Ohio. In 1906 a parochial school was opened, and despite the small
size of the community this institution is still in operation, with an
enrollment of more than 120.
The highway enters range country with few fences or farms. At =26 m.=
is a junction with ND 21 (=see Side Tour 4B=), which unites with ND 6
to =33 m.= Here, as the highway begins to descend into the valley of
the Cannonball River, there is a far-reaching view of country severe
and imposing. Steep grass-covered hills and mesas give way to sharp,
abrupt, gray clay cones and buttes that rise in confusion from the
plain. The work of erosion in the creation of these formations is
visible in many sidehills, where the top layers of earth have worn away
to expose the bedrock strata beneath.
At =32 m.= is the junction with a graveled roadbed.
Right here is BREIEN, =1 m.= (1,694 alt., 53 pop.). Between the highway
and the town is a natural park with camping facilities.
The CANNONBALL RIVER is crossed at =32.5 m.= The river, its thin fringe
of trees contrasting with the gray-brown of the valley, is so named
because of the odd spheroidal formations found in its waters and in the
steep banks of its valley. These concretions, believed to have been
formed by the action of moisture within the Fox Hills sandstone, have
been carried away in such large numbers by collectors that today only
the small "cannonballs" are found along the stream. The Cannonball was
the northern boundary of the Standing Rock Reservation before the area
was opened to white settlement in 1910, and now is the northern limit
of jurisdiction of the agency.
Left at =33 m.= on ND 21, an unimproved dry-weather roadbed; the route
passes through rugged hills S. of the Cannonball, reaching SOLEN, =40
m.= (1,671 alt., 103 pop.), on the riverbank.
The route continues through country occasionally dotted with the small
frame buildings of white farmers and the log huts of Indian families.
At =49 m.= is the junction with ND 24, a graveled highway; R. on this
route.
Left from the junction with ND 24 on ND 21 to the junction with an
unimproved road, =1 m.=; straight ahead (N) =0.3 m.= to the steep
western slope of the HOLY HILL OF THE MANDANS (R). Almost every tribe
of American Indians has a tradition of a great flood which covered
all the earth. The Mandan legend tells that an ark came to rest on
this hill near the Cannonball River, and after the waters subsided the
First Man and First Woman stepped out on the hill. Mandan, Arikara, and
Sioux all revere the place, and the older natives are reticent about
approaching the hilltop.
While the hill is steep on its western slope, it rolls gently into the
surrounding terrain to the E. Clustered at its top are four granite
boulders. Carved into the face of the largest, a red stone, are many
symbols: buffalo tracks, bear paws, thunderbird tracks, serpents, and
turtles. The three smaller gray rocks also carry one or two symbols
each. Through legend and story the existence of these writing rocks
had been indicated for many years, but, because of Indian reticence
regarding sacred objects, their exact location was not definitely
established until early in 1937. For clearness and number of carvings
they compare with the Grenora Writing Rock (_see Side Tour 4A_).