Although not a cash crop like potatoes and beets, corn has become increasingly valuable in North Dakota. This is especially true in the southeastern part of the State, which is the hog-raising area of North Dakota. During the five-year period of 1927-31, the average annual corn production was 20,200,000 bushels. Only in rare instances does North Dakota corn reach the cash markets.It is not husked as in many of the Corn Belt States; instead, the hogs and sometimes the cattle are permitted to feed directly on the stocks in the field. This is known as the "hogging down" method of harvesting corn. About one-half the crop is cut annually for winter fodder.
Other feed crops are also important on the North Dakota farm. Many hay and pasture crops, especially red clover and alfalfa, can be successfully grown in the Red River Valley. In the western sections, alfalfa is raised for seed. Timothy and brome grass are also valuable grass crops in the eastern area.
In 1914 sweet clover was cultivated only on demonstration farms; but by 1929 an average of more than half a million acres was being seeded annually. Each year production of seed increased, reaching a high of 171,600 bushels in 1933. Sweet clover replaces nitrogen and other essential elements in soil which has been badly depleted by overproduction of wheat. One remarkable feature of this crop is its immunity to disease and insect pests.
Sheep are found generally throughout the State, although the northern part of the Red River Valley and the southwestern corner of the Missouri Slope have proved the best sheep-raising land. The animals were brought into the State when ranching first began here, and in 1933 there were 706,000 head of sheep and lambs shipped out of the State and 15,000 slaughtered locally. In 1935 North Dakota ranked twenty-second in the number of sheep on farms and ranges.
A true picture of cattle-raising in North Dakota can scarcely be gained from present conditions. The native grasses of the western part of the State were unable to withstand the heat and insects of recent dry years. As an emergency measure, thousands of cattle were shipped from western ranches to farms in the eastern and central part of the State, and even to other sections of the country where sufficient feed was available to carry them through the winter. The number of cattle and calves was reduced from 1,835,000 in 1934 to 1,157,000 in 1935. The decrease in milk cows, since they are raised in the less arid sections of the State, has been much less than that in beef cattle. In 1934 there were 620,000 milk cows, while in 1935 the number was 596,000—a drop of only 24,000. Thus, despite reverses, North Dakota was able to maintain a position as twenty-first in the Nation in the cattle census of 1935.
Although rarely conducted as an independent enterprise, poultry-raising has had perhaps the greatest increase of any farm industry. Some type of fowl is raised on approximately 89 percent of the farms of the State. In 1929 North Dakota was listed secondin the production of turkeys, twenty-fifth in poultry and eggs, thirteenth in ducks, and fourteenth in geese.
Poultry organizations are active in the State. The North Dakota State Poultry Association has held annual shows since 1895, the All-American Turkey Show is held annually in Grand Forks, and there are numerous regional and county organizations. The North Dakota Farmers Union maintains a poultry cooperative at Williston. North Dakota is second only to Texas in supplying turkeys for the Thanksgiving and Christmas tables of the Nation.
The multitudes of wild flowers on the North Dakota prairies are an abundant source of honey; and with this natural incentive to its development, beekeeping has increased rapidly throughout the State. Although it can be successfully conducted in almost every part of the State, the most extensive areas are along the Missouri and in the Red River Valley. The sweet clover bloom is the chief source of honey, and yields abundantly in July and August. The number of bee colonies in the State increased from 32,000 in 1929 to 35,000 in 1932.
All of North Dakota was affected by the prolonged drought in the Great Plains States which began in 1929 and, except for one year, continued through 1936. High winds, intensive cultivation, and low rainfall combined to create the most destructive period of soil erosion known to the State since its earliest settlement. This combination of conditions brought production in all farm products far below normal levels. Even the Red River Valley, though it fared much better than the western part of the State, had subnormal rainfall and was subjected to frequent dust storms. To counteract the menace of drought to the prosperity of a primarily agricultural region, both State and Federal agencies began promotion of conservation in three forms: water, soil, and vegetation. Through the combined efforts of private groups and governmental agencies, ponds, marshes, lakes, and streams are being restored. Some irrigation projects, both private and public, have proved fairly successful in the western counties. The contemplated Missouri River diversion projects, with the Grand, Knife, and Heart sub-projects, would lead to reclamation of a large area of North Dakota. Planting hedges and forests to hold moisture in the soil and to prevent increased erosion constitutes the soil conservation program. To conserve vegetation, a program of dry-farming is recommended, including summer fallowing and the planting of drought-resistant crops.
Various agencies are cooperating in a program to educate farmers in these conservation plans. Extension workers, including county agents and their assistants, are employed by the United States Department of Agriculture to assist farmers. The agricultural college at Fargo, the Northern Great Plains Field Station at Mandan, the State School of Forestry at Bottineau, and experimental stations and farms are constantly conducting soil conservation and moisture control experiments designed to raise North Dakota agriculture to an even higher rank.
The fact that eastern and central North Dakota has been settled 25 or 30 years longer than the western part of the State is evident in the appearance of the farms. The average eastern farm home has well-painted and modernized buildings, surrounded by a neat lawn and grove. Electricity is in use on many farms, being supplied from either an individually owned plant or a nearby power line. Telephones, radios, and cars are generally considered necessities. Since the farms are small and close together, and small towns are within a few miles of one another, social contacts are easily maintained. Activities center in the towns, where farm women are members of clubs, lodges, and church societies, and the men of fraternal and civic organizations. Consolidated schools have supplanted many of the one-room buildings, and parent-teacher groups have a prominent social position. Libraries are found in many towns, and are patronized by rural as well as city dwellers.
The farms in central North Dakota are as a rule not as modern as those in the east, but on the whole are well kept. A somewhat different picture, however, is presented by the western farms and ranches. The semiarid climate makes it difficult for even the most ambitious farmer to improve his place with trees, shrubs, grass, and flowers. Moreover, since there were no tree claims in this part of the State, early settlers did not have the incentive to plant groves. Periods of drought have been felt more severely here, and have prevented many farmers from making modern improvements on their buildings. On some farms, the shacks erected to establish residence under the homestead act are still in use. There is, however, one modern convenience found more frequently in western rural homes than in those of the east—the furnace. The chief reason for this is the vast and accessible supply of lignite, a fuel which does not burn readily in stoves.
Since farms in western North Dakota are large, homesteads are necessarily far apart and social contacts cannot be made easily. The majority of homes do not have telephones, because the market is limited to a few patrons and the cost is therefore prohibitive. The longer distances to towns result in lack of interest in urban recreational, social, and church functions.
The one-room school predominates in western North Dakota. Libraries are few, and most of the people fail to take advantage of loaning facilities offered by State libraries.
Farm families in all parts of the State participate in various seasonal activities. During the spring and summer months, school, church, club, and old settlers picnics are scheduled frequently. When harvest season arrives the farmer is exceptionally busy, but always has time to welcome the visitors from town, who come out to watch the threshers and often stay for a cook-car dinner. Later in the fall, especially in the eastern counties, young people participate in strawstack parties. Dances and card parties are held in community halls and barn lofts during the winter.
Winter activities are limited by heavy snowfalls, which often keep communities and farms snow-bound for days. Main-traveled highways are kept open except in unusually bad weather, but side roads are often drifted over for weeks at a time. Then the radio becomes the chief source of entertainment in the farm home; radio reception on the open prairie is exceptionally good. In winter the western farmers have an advantage over those of the east, for they get less snowfall, and chinooks (warm dry winds which descend from the Rocky Mountains) often temper the weather and melt the snow, permitting social life to continue almost uninterrupted.
In every rural community "fair week" is an important date. Farmers take their best cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry to compete with their neighbors' entries for the prized blue ribbons. Farm women select their finest handiwork, their choicest jars of jellies, jams, and pickles, to enter in competition. Cookies, cakes, and pies are baked both to exhibit and to fill the picnic baskets, for when the family goes to the fair everyone is prepared to spend the day; one or two hurry home in the evening to do the chores, and return in time for the grandstand events at night. Almost every county has its annual fair in June or July, the oldest being the Pembina County Fair, which has been held at Hamilton each year since 1894. Even before this Pembina County Fair, a State fair under State subsidy was being held annually in Grand Forks, where the citizens had donated 80 acres of land for that purpose. When the first State legislature met, it created a department of agriculture, one of the duties of which was to hold an annual agricultural exhibit. Now State help is also received by the fair associations at Fargo and Minot.
Increasingly popular in recent years are the harvest festivals in various towns. These are held in September and October, when the garden products have reached maturity, and therefore often surpass the earlier fairs in the quality of exhibits. The junior chambers of commerce of the State sponsor a Golden Grain Festival which is held the latter part of August, each year in a different city of the State. In September comes the Grand Forks Harvest Festival, and the extension division of the agricultural college sponsors a similar event in Fargo early in October. Bismarck is the scene of the annual Corn Show in October.
Alfalfa Day at Fessenden in March features displays of alfalfa hay and seed, and also includes small grains, corn, and potatoes. The midwinter fair at Park River is sponsored by the Walsh County Agricultural College, and consists of exhibits from farmers throughout the Red River Valley. Other outstanding exhibits include the Barnes County Corn and Lamb Show held in Valley City the fourth week in September, and the Emmons County Breeders Association Stock Show which takes place in Hazelton each June.
On any cold winter night in the early 1800's it was not uncommon to see a fur trader set out from Pembina, with his dogsled loaded with valuable pelts, to make the long trek to St. Paul or Fort Garry. With no roads, few landmarks, and the constant danger of Indian attack, such a night trip was extremely hazardous. Daylight, however, presented even more dangers, for the reflection of the winter sun upon the snowy ground often caused snow-blindness; daytime temperatures softened the drifts so that the dogs sank deep into them, while at night they could skim easily over the frozen surface. Despite the dangers of the fur trade, many men engaged in it, taking their cargoes to the frontier cities and bringing back sled-loads of supplies to be exchanged for the furs that Indians brought to the trading posts.
The first stores were at these posts, where the Indians came to barter for blankets, trinkets, food, and alcohol, using the valuable beaver skin as the standard of reckoning. To avoid long discussions over the price of goods, the traders devised a system of marking which could be readily understood by the natives: a single horizontal line drawn on an article indicated a value of one beaver skin, two parallel lines placed the price at two skins, and so on. The quality of some English-made blankets is still designated by a survival of this early system, with lines known as "points" woven into the border.
From this frontier commerce, North Dakota industry grew. In 1909, a century after the fur trade began, the State produced goods valued at $19,150,000; and in 1935 manufactures were valued at $40,076,326, with 325 establishments each doing an annual business of $5,000 or more, and collectively employing 3,306 workers. Although these figures are small in comparison with those of essentially industrial States, they are large in view of the youthfulness of North Dakota and its distinctly agricultural economy.
The fur trade prospered until the Indian insurrections of 1863-64. Then trapping became a perilous occupation, and traders and trappers returned East. Eastward, too, went most of the settlers who had come to farm. The only ones to remain were Charles Cavileer and his little colony at Pembina, who staunchly continued to cultivate their level farms in the face of Indian dangers. With the exception of a few brave adventurers, they had the entire area virtually to themselves, until the extension of the Northern Pacificlines into the Red River Valley in 1871 promoted a period of homesteading. Then, for the first time, agriculture took its place as the leading occupation of this area.
Many of the industries which were important during the development of the State are no longer in existence. Because lumber was an expensive commodity to import, sawmills were established at Grand Forks and Fargo in the 1870's; and because the North Dakota side of the Red River could not furnish a large enough supply for the mills, logs were floated down from the Minnesota woods. Lumberjacking meant cash and wages, and many homesteaders left their families in possession of their claims while they went to Minnesota to earn money for seed and machinery and for building permanent homes on their farms. As traffic on the Red River increased, construction of steamers became an important industry for which North Dakota mills supplied much of the lumber.
On the prairies west of the Red River Valley, the homesteaders could not engage in logging and lumbering to earn money for improving their farms; but, resourcefully, they found another way to get funds. Buffalo bones were scattered abundantly upon the land from Devils Lake westward, and cash prices of eight to ten dollars a carload were paid by sugar manufacturers who used the bones in a refining process. Many homes were built and much machinery purchased with the income derived from gathering and selling this material. Gradually, however, these pioneer occupations died out. The more efficient railway supplanted the river steamers. The supply of buffalo bones was soon exhausted. New occupations, allied with the expanding agriculture of the region, grew into importance.
The first farmers here found the lack of transportation and marketing facilities a great problem. Fort Garry and St. Paul were the nearest markets for grain until 1851. In that year Father Belcourt, who had established a mission where the town of Walhalla now stands, found that sufficient power could be obtained from the Pembina River there to operate a small flour mill. The mill was built, and farmers came from as far east as Pembina to patronize it. Generally, however, there was a lack of mills throughout the region. Elevators and shipping points were far apart, and many farmers had to drive their wagonloads of grain from 25 to 100 miles to market. When the railroads were extended westward, elevators were built in the towns and at sidings, greatly simplifying the marketing problem. The new freight lines made it possible for mills to import fuel from the East, but unfortunately the cost of shipment was prohibitive. The development of North Dakota lignite mines, beginning in the 1880's, removed an important handicap to mill operation, however, and later the lowering of freightrates allowed importation of other fuel. Although a large proportion of North Dakota grain is still shipped out, there are now in the State 27 flour mills which in 1931 had an output valued at $12,000,000. The largest of these is the State-owned mill and elevator opened at Grand Forks in 1922 as part of the Nonpartisan League program of State industries.
One of the important industries which has grown out of the agriculture of North Dakota is seed production. Potatoes, clover, alfalfa, brome-grass, and corn are shipped out in large quantities. A number of nurseries ship trees, plants, and shrubs.
A French nobleman, the Marquis de Mores, was the first person to realize the possibilities of a packing plant in North Dakota. Drawing upon his own and his father-in-law's resources, he established a plant at Medora in 1883. The venture failed, partly because his grass-fed beef, produced at a high cost because of his artless business methods, could not compete with grain-fed meat; but today modern packing plants at Grand Forks and West Fargo prove that the marquis was not the impractical dreamer his contemporaries thought him.
Since most of North Dakota's industry is concerned with the processing of agricultural products, no large manufacturing centers have been developed; but mills, warehouses, poultry markets, and creameries have been established near the areas which they serve—many of the finest creameries are in sparsely settled rural areas. Fargo is the only city in the State that manufactures other than agricultural products.
Difficulties in shipping grain to outside markets provided one of the chief factors in the development of the many cooperatives which are important in the present economic life of the State. Grain farmers early realized that by acting independently they could not trade advantageously with eastern buyers. By 1891 there were ten farmers' elevators in the State, and the cooperative movement grew until the Equity Association, the National Producers Alliance, and the Better Farming Association developed the North Dakota division of the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America, which at present includes some 540 buying and consumers' cooperatives in the State. At first exclusively grain-selling organizations, the cooperatives have expanded to include the handling of twine, machinery, petroleum products, tires, electricity, dairy products, and groceries.
The period since the World War has seen the revival of the occupation of the first white settlers—the fur industry. Some trapping is done each winter, but the fur sellers today do not rely upon this nineteenth-century method of getting pelts. Instead theyhave farms on which they raise the furbearing animals, usually silver-black foxes. The climate is well suited to this industry, for the cold winters produce heavy and valuable furs.
Although agriculture and its allied industries will probably always predominate, recent years have seen the beginning of the development of North Dakota's great mineral resources, which lay neglected or unrecognized for years while farmers attempted to emulate the phenomenal success of the bonanza wheat growers.
Ranchers in the western counties early discovered large deposits of lignite, a black or brownish substance in a stage between peat and bituminous coal, lying at or near the surface of the earth. Lignite has a conspicuously woody appearance, often showing clearly the grain of the wood or the shape of the trunks and branches from which it was formed. It is known to underlie the entire western part of the State. For many years its use was entirely local, chiefly because it contains a large amount of moisture which evaporates upon exposure to the air, causing the coal to crumble. To overcome this difficulty, shipment is now made in closed boxcars; briquetting of lignite has also proved successful, and the mineral is now common fuel. Lignite is used exclusively by State institutions and by many of the manufacturing concerns in the State. In the eight-month period from November 1, 1935, to June 30, 1936, the production of 355 mines, amounted to 1,704,983 tons, valued at $2,077,800.15. New mines are continually being opened. The rapidity with which the industry has been developed is demonstrated by the fact that there were 67 more mines in operation in 1935 than in 1931, with production in 1935 twice that of 1924 and eight times that of 1908.
The interest of the university school of mines in lignite experimentation did not end with the perfecting of the briquet process. The most recent achievement of the school is the production from lignite of activated carbon, a substance (hitherto produced largely from animal bones) used in water purification, sugar refining, rubber tire manufacture, and other commercial processes. The development of this product should furnish a new and profitable industry for western North Dakota.
Western North Dakota has, in addition to its lignite beds, large deposits of clay. These, like lignite, engaged the interest of the late Dean E. J. Babcock of the university school of mines, and largely as a result of his efforts are being developed. Upon his urging, a ceramics department was created at the university in 1910 to determine the commercial value of native clays. From experiments conducted, it was found that certain varieties made excellent brick, tile, and other building materials, while others were especially suitable for pottery. Reproductions of fine European pottery and original pieces of local design turned out at the university have attracted attention at exhibitions throughout the United States. Large-scale commercial development of the State's clay deposits is centered at Dickinson, where both building materials and pottery are produced.
Sodium sulphate and bentonite are two of the more recent mineral discoveries in North Dakota. In the southwestern part of the State are large beds of bentonite which, because close to the surface, are easily accessible for commercial purposes. Bentonite is used in the manufacture of paint, rubber, soap, cosmetics, dynamite, and a variety of other products; it has also been found to give rich gold and brown tones to decorative designs on pottery. The chalky-white crystals of sodium sulphate, sometimes known as Glauber's salts, are found in few places in the United States outside of the old lake beds of northwestern North Dakota. Sodium sulphate is principally used in the manufacture of paper. Millions of tons of it are easily accessible in the open lake beds where it has been deposited by springs.
Development of mineral resources should help to solve the unemployment problem of the State—a problem which is constantly growing. Except in recent years, residents have had no difficulty in finding work, because agricultural pursuits usually require the same amount of labor year after year regardless of agricultural prices. Despite this, new factors are increasing unemployment. In the period between 1930 and 1935, North Dakota was the only State in the spring wheat belt to show an increase in population. Another primary cause of increasing unemployment is the steadily growing percentage of persons over 40 years of age: in 1900, 18.4 percent of the population was over 40, in 1920 this had increased to 20.8 percent, and in 1930 to 25.6 percent.
In keeping with the comparative unimportance of the State labor movement at present is the small number of labor unions in North Dakota. The State's first labor organization was the Bismarck Typographical Union, chartered in 1883. In 1906 the American Federation of Labor granted a charter to the Fargo Trades and Labor Assembly, and in 1911 the State Federation was officially organized. Branches of the latter have since been formed in almost all of the larger towns in the State.
State regulation of labor conditions had its beginning in 1907 with the passage of a Workmen's Compensation Act. Many revisions have since been made in this law. A State welfare commission was formed in 1917 to regulate labor conditions; and two years later, partly through the efforts of this commission, a minimum wage law was passed and placed under the administration of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau. At the same time provision was made for regulating the wages and hours of women laborers. In 1936 North Dakota was the only State having an eight-and-one-half hour day provision for women in factories, stores, hotels, laundries, cafes, and telephone and telegraph offices.
ANCIENT INDIAN TURTLE EFFIGYPhoto by Russell Reid
ANCIENT INDIAN TURTLE EFFIGYPhoto by Russell Reid
ANCIENT INDIAN TURTLE EFFIGY
Photo by Russell Reid
SIOUX SUN DANCE AS ORIGINALLY PERFORMEDCopy of an old drawing courtesy of Frank Fiske
SIOUX SUN DANCE AS ORIGINALLY PERFORMEDCopy of an old drawing courtesy of Frank Fiske
SIOUX SUN DANCE AS ORIGINALLY PERFORMED
Copy of an old drawing courtesy of Frank Fiske
A MODERN SIOUX SUN DANCE CEREMONIALPhoto by Paul S. Bliss
A MODERN SIOUX SUN DANCE CEREMONIALPhoto by Paul S. Bliss
A MODERN SIOUX SUN DANCE CEREMONIAL
Photo by Paul S. Bliss
NORTH DAKOTA IN 1879, FROM AN OLD MAP OF DAKOTA TERRITORY
The first State child-labor act was passed in 1909. Under the present law, employment of children under the age of 14 is prohibited. The proposed child-labor amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified by the North Dakota Legislature at the 1931 session.
International repute as a farming State brought North Dakota a steady stream of immigration up to the time of the World War. Tales of the rich wheatlands of Dakota drew a continuous procession of settlers with their household goods from the eastern States and from across the sea, to claim a share of the fertile western acres.
Little more than two decades has passed since this influx ceased. The State presents a patchwork of foreign groups, each still retaining many Old World customs of speech, dress, and social life. Cultural assimilation, however, has slowly veneered the life of the State with an American character which is gradually seeping into and supplanting the ways of the Old World.
The prevalence of foreign speech and customs seems quite justified by the 1930 census, which showed 105,148 persons, or 15.5 percent of the total population of 680,845, to be of foreign birth. In addition to this number, a still larger portion of the population, 45.4 percent, is first-generation American, born of foreign parents and therefore in close contact with the speech and customs of its fathers during its formative years.
Forty-two countries, most of them European, have contributed to the foreign-born population of North Dakota. Norway has the largest representation, followed in order of numbers by Russia, Germany, Canada, Sweden, and other countries, including the Netherlands, Denmark, Hungary, Finland, Rumania, and Iceland.
Unfavorable social and economic conditions among the rural population of Norway, coupled with harsh military regulations, prompted most of the Norwegian emigration to the United States. North Dakota was the natural choice of many whose families had, for generations, lived upon the land. Norwegian stock today constitutes 30 percent of the population of the State, and persons born in Norway make up 29.8 percent of its foreign-born population. Their settlements have been made throughout the northern and eastern sections of the State. In contrast with many other national groups, the Norwegians show little tendency to localize, and while predominant in many communities they manifest no aversion to settling where other groups are already represented.
The hospitality of the Norwegians is their greatest distinction. The coffeepot is always in use, and, coffee and pastries made from Old Country recipes are served whenever anyone chances into a Norwegian home, as well as at meals and between meals. TheNorwegians have a charming way of bidding each other "Tak for sidst," meaning "Thanks for the last time I met you."
They retain to a marked degree their native tongue in its various dialects orbygdespraag, widely mixed with the English language. They are fond of music, and mountain waltz melodies, polkas, and spring dances, played on the accordion or violin, are enjoyed by young and old alike. The Hardanger violin, which has eight strings, is still made and played by the older musicians. The adult Norwegian, being very independent by nature, does not readily fit into an orchestra or large chorus; such organizations are more common among the younger people.
The most fantastic of the Norwegian dances is the Halling Dance, still seen on special occasions. It is reputedly the survival of a "dance of death" from the days when the knife was the means of avenging jealousies among the young men of Halling Valley in Norway. When a man began the intricate acrobatic steps of the Halling Dance, the other dancers knew he had seen an enemy or rival in the crowd, and unobtrusively withdrew to the edge of the dance floor, leaving the enemy, often unsuspecting, in the clear. Then, in a great whirl, the Halling dancer would send his knife spinning through the air with its message of death. The dance today is an acrobatic performance which requires great skill. It includes handsprings, theHalling-kast—a whirling and kicking step—and thekrukeng, a jiglike step done in a half-sitting posture with the dancer moving about the floor.
In many Norwegian towns,Jule Bokkeor Christmas Fools still make the rounds of the homes between Christmas and New Year. They are young people dressed in costume and masked, who call on the neighbors and are given food and drink at each home visited.
Among the factors which keep alive the Old Country speech and manners are thelageror societies, each of which represents a district in Norway. Members are former residents, or descendants of residents, of the district. At their meetings, native music, dances, and costumes are revived.
A holiday in all Norwegian communities is the Seventeenth of May, Norway's Independence Day. The festivities usually include speeches, picnicking, and dancing.
Norwegian influence has been felt in every phase of North Dakota life. Among prominent figures in the State have been Paul Fjelde, sculptor; Konrad Elias Birkbough, who discovered a cure for erysipelas; Carl Ben Eielson, pioneer Alaskan aviator; R. A. Nestos, A. G. Sorlie, and Ole Olson, who became Governors of the State. In the business world, the Norwegians have influenced the rapid growth of the cooperative movement. Skiing,a Scandinavian sport, is a popular winter recreation. The accordion, favorite of both the Norwegian and the German, is widely used in concert groups and dance bands. Foods which are commonly known, although not widely prepared outside the Norwegian home, includelutefisk, which is cod cured in lye;lefse, an unleavened potato bread baked in great flat, rough, gray sheets on top of an iron range; andfattigmand, a pastry fried in deep fat.
In the first two decades of the nineteenth century there occurred a German migration into Russia which was to be felt later in North Dakota. Free lands offered by the Russian Government (desirous of having its people learn German farming methods) drew many Prussians eager to escape the heavy taxation of their homeland. Throughout the Black Sea area German colonies grew up; in later years these contributed heavily to the stream of emigration to America. Today Russo-Germans dominate the Russian element, which forms 12.8 percent of the total population of this State.
Because of this Russo-German constituency, the Russian and German racial groups in the State often overlap. Native Germans form 1.5 percent, and persons of German stock 8 percent, of the population. The Russo-Germans first came to this State about 1889, settling in the south-central section, in McIntosh and Emmons Counties. Other Russian and Russo-German settlements are in the Missouri Slope and in the central area of the State. German groups are found in the southeastern part of the State, in Ward County in the northwestern area, and in Morton in the Slope region. Among outstanding Germans who have taken part in the development of the State are two Governors, George F. Shafer and William Langer.
In its residence in Russia, the Russo-German group acquired many customs which now distinguish them from their German cousins, but the two groups have much in common. They cling tenaciously to their native tongue in their homes and churches; the Russo-Germans, however, speak a dialect which is a result of their Russian residence. Both groups retain Old Country customs of dress, most noticeable of which is the use of thetuchor shawl worn by the women in place of a hat. On Sundays and holidays some of the older women appear in beautiful handworkedtuecherand full-skirted dresses typical of peasant Europe. White stockings are often worn by the older women on holidays. The occasional appearance of a fez-like astrakhan cap during the winter bespeaks the Russian influence.
Although the dress of the older Russo-Germans is rather somber, their homes are quite the opposite. Floors throughout the house are invariably painted bright orange, this color scheme often extending to the back and front porch and steps. The exteriors of the house and other buildings are likewise sometimes painted in bright colors, with contrasting trimming. A not uncommon decorative scheme consists of two or three brilliant hues alternating in diagonal stripes across the sliding doors of garages, granaries, and barns. The interior of the summer kitchen (which is to be found back of most farmhouses and many town homes) is often painted in contrasting bright colors, one shade being used for a wainscoting effect, another for the top half of the walls and the ceiling, and a third forming a dividing border. Because of American influences, the penchant for these bright colors has become more subdued in recent years.
A popular note in home decoration is the use of bright-colored artificial flowers, which often adorn curtains, picture frames, and the organ or piano in the Russo-German home.
A typically Russian note is the common use of glass tumblers instead of cups for serving hot drinks. Another practice is the use of chicory as a substitute for coffee. A favorite delicacy of the Russo-Germans, also typically Russian, is the sunflower seed, known as the "Russian peanut." They eat these much as Americans eat peanuts. The sunflower seed is becoming popular as a confection throughout the State, and is now roasted and packaged for sale, in contrast with the old method of drying the ripe sunflower in the sun until the seeds could be brushed from the plant.
One of the most beautiful customs retained by the modern generation of Catholic Germans and Russo-Germans is the visit of the "Christmas Angels." Three young girls, trained as a rule by nuns, go dressed as angels from home to home in the community on Christmas Eve. They knock for admission, and when this is granted they enter the home, bless it, and sing one or two Christmas carols. For this service they are given a small amount of money. Another custom is the observance of "Name Day," when, on the day of the saint for whom he is named, each person must hold open house for his friends. Callers greet the host or hostess with "Happy Name Day." Birthdays, on the other hand, if they occur on a day other than the Name Day, are disregarded almost altogether.
Many German families observe December 31 as "Sylvester's Day." On this day the last person arising is "Sylvester" or the lazy member of the family for the coming year. Of course everyone in an industrious German family tries to avoid this stigma. Another New Year's custom is for all members of the family to leave through a rear door of the home at midnight and reenter through a front door. The first person to enter the home after midnight is a herald of the coming year: if he is fair, the new year will bring good luck; but if he is dark, he augurs misfortune.
The German people are fond of community music, and numerous bands and choruses have organized almost spontaneously under leaders. They are especially fond of song, and when a group of older people gathers for a social evening their chief pastime is often hymn singing. Much of the social life centers about the church, although in some communities theverein, or society, has many members and serves to keep alive the speech and customs of the Old Country, much as does the Norwegianlag.
Two interesting German religious sects are the Moravians, represented in the area near Fargo, and the Dunkards or, as they are now known, Dunkers, who have a settlement near Cando. One of the beautiful customs of the Moravians is the "love feast," a survival of an early Christian custom of breaking bread as an indication of brotherly love. The feast today generally consists of coffee and doughnuts, but the spirit is unchanged.
The Dunkers, or German Baptist Brethren, follow their early sectarian precepts of plain dress and plain living. While few of the women still wear the "dropped bonnet"—a small grey or black sunbonnet—the prayer covering or small lace cap is still worn during attendance at church services. Older members of the colony hold to the early rulings of the church in carrying no form of insurance. In early October of each year a harvest festival is held in the form of a religious observance.
From both the Germanic and the Norwegian groups is derived the most prominent foreign contribution to the language of the State: the universal use ofja("yah") foryes.
Few group characteristics attach to the Canadians, who constitute 1.5 percent of North Dakota's foreign-born population, and are found in the northeast counties and the Red River Valley. Many of them are descendants of the Selkirk colonists who settled from Fort Garry to Fort Pembina early in the nineteenth century. It is from these colonists that most of the Scottish people in this State trace their descent.
For the French-Canadians the most important festival of the year is St. Ann's Day, July 26. A shrine to St. Ann has been built by French and Indians at Belcourt on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, and here on the saint's day come the lame, the halt, and the blind, to walk or be carried in the processional. Many miracles have been claimed.
In French-Canadian communities in the Red River Valley, the colorful Old Country wedding customs are still observed. As the wedding march is played the bridal pair and their attendants enter, followed by young men dressed in highly padded French costumes, and wearing grotesque masks. They are in both male and female attire, and dance and cavort to the delight of the guests.
Like their Norwegian neighbors, the Swedes who have come to America are predominantly a rural people. In North Dakota they constitute 1.2 percent of the total population, and are found in the eastern part of the State, mainly in Cass County, and in the central section east of the Missouri in Burleigh and McLean Counties.
Smaller racial groups in the State include Hollanders, in Emmons County near the south-central border; Danes, in the east-central counties of Cass, Barnes, and Stutsman; Poles and Icelanders, in the northeast section; Hungarians, in the Slope area; Czechs, in Richland and Walsh Counties in the Red River Valley and in Stark County in the Slope area; and many others, all showing a distinct tendency to localize.
Through their national societies, the Ukrainians in Burleigh, McLean, and Billings Counties in the western half of the State have retained much of the music, dances, and costumes of their native land. These are in evidence at their club meetings and also on holidays. The costumes are colorful and elaborate, and testify to the embroidering skill of the girls.
The Bohemians in Richland and Walsh Counties likewise are noted for their musical organizations, but they do not retain their native costumes or dances. Thesokolor physical culture group is found in many of the Bohemian communities.
Thesaunaor steam bathhouse is a characteristic feature of the Finnish settlements in the southern and western sections of the State. Water sprinkled on a large brick stove or on heated rocks provides the steam for these baths, which are stifling on first trial but soon become a pleasing habit. The Finns, like the Norwegians, serve coffee to all guests who come to their homes, no matter what the hour. Coffee is drunk from the saucer, through a lump of sugar held in the cheek. Two holidays which are still celebrated in Old Country style are Midsummer's Day and New Year's. Midsummer's Day, June 24, is an occasion of picnicking, church services, confirmation of scholars, settling arguments or quarrels, and pitching horseshoes. On New Year's Eve, fortunes are told by dropping bits of melted soldering metal into cold water. One piece, melted and hardened before midnight, is a symbol of the old year; and the process is repeated with another piece after the stroke of midnight, to foretell the fortunes of the new year.
Both the Irish and the Icelanders continue to hand down their legends which have been brought from Europe. Icelandic children usually are well posted on the national sagas, including thealfa sorgur, which tell of thehuldufolk or elves; and no Irish child is so poor as to be deprived of the ghosts, the banshees, the leprechauns, and other weird creatures of the Emerald Isle.
At Ross, in northwestern North Dakota, is a small colony of Syrians, most of whom are Ahmadiyya Moslems. They have their own place of worship, and conduct services each Friday as well as on other holy days. They retain many food customs of the Near East, one of the most interesting being the use of a meal made by crushing durum wheat which has been boiled and dried in the sun. The meal is then stewed with meats or vegetables or sweet oils.
The sugar beet industry of the Red River Valley has resulted in the importation of Mexican workers, who provide cheap and skilled labor for cultivation of the beet fields. The Mexican population is not large, however, having decreased greatly from the 1930 figure of 600, and has left no permanent imprint of its folklore or customs. The Negro population, never large, is also rapidly decreasing. The 1930 census showed 377 Negroes in the State.
Although not foreign-born, the Indian population constitutes a distinct racial group. Sioux and Rolette Counties, containing the Standing Rock and Turtle Mountain groups, have the greater part of the Indian population and consequently register the highest illiteracy in the State, from 7 to 8 percent. Other counties usually have an illiteracy rate of less than 1 percent, and sometimes less than half of 1 percent.
The Indians retain many racial customs and legends despite the encroachment of the white man's civilization. The metis, of French and Chippewa blood, were famous as hunters and trappers. Many of them were found in the upper Red River Valley and adjoining territory about 1850. Their descendants now live in small clay-plastered log houses, with much of their household equipment and bedding kept in the yard.
Many of North Dakota's characteristic folkways represent foreign cultures rather than anything intrinsically American. There is no lack, however, of native customs which are gradually absorbing and supplanting the Old World ways.
Because North Dakota is a farm State, many of its customs hinge on certain matters of rural importance such as the weather and the crops. Whether or not the farm people are able or inclined to attend is the greatest factor in the success of most social and civic events. Saturday night is the farmer's night in town, a welcome holiday after his week of isolation and work. Shops and garages become social as well as commercial centers, as friends stop to exchange news, gossip, and recipes. In many communities, Saturday night dances are held, and during the summer months a vacant lot will often be the scene of open-air motion pictures, with the spectators seated in their parked cars and blowing the horns in lieu of applause when the pictures meet with approval.
In addition to such general holiday celebrations as Christmas, New Year, and Memorial Day, in the Norwegian sections of theState, Norwegian Independence Day, May 17, is also marked by festivity. Among the Russo-Germans, Ascension Day is an unusually solemn holiday. At Christmas time, holiday decoration of homes is common, and groups of young people stroll about the streets or ride in sleighs singing carols. New Year's Eve brings about the usual noisy gayety, and in many towns it is customary to fire guns in a salute as the new year comes in. Watch parties are held in the churches for the more serious-minded.
The Fourth of July is an important holiday, not so much for its historic meaning as for its local interpretation. For days previously, the skies are anxiously scanned for signs of inclement weather. As the Glorious Fourth dawns a salute is fired, usually by ex-servicemen, and soon in the early morning air the sound of hammers is heard, as booths and "concessions" rapidly go up to be draped with bunting. Flags appear on the buildings and homes. Cars begin to pour into town, parking near Main Street, which has been roped off for the races. The square is soon filled with a milling crowd, all in their best clothes, the children clutching their long-hoarded pennies and nickels which they will exchange for soda pop, ice cream, and firecrackers. The program of the day includes patriotic speeches, airplane and parachute exhibits, races, and bowery dances, and in the evening the climax of the exciting day—a fireworks display.
The Russo-Germans know the holiday simply as "the July," and in a good year it is an occasion for new clothes for the entire family, commonly designated "July dresses" and "July suits."
Conviviality often joins with practical necessity to provide social occasions for North Dakotans. Butchering, sausage making, soap making, quilting, threshing, burials, illness, all furnish opportunity for friends to meet and visit while performing some deed of necessity or kindness. The farmer who is ill during sowing time will often have his crop put in by his neighbors, and he may be called on in the fall to help harvest for the recently bereaved widow of one of his friends. The neighbor who has lost his home by fire or has had some other misfortune will probably be given a "make-glad" party, at which he will receive gifts in kind and perhaps in money. After harvest, when there is straw to be burned, the young people of the locality will hold strawstack parties, roasting wieners and marshmallows as the burning stacks light the autumn night with their red gleam.
Sometimes, with the coming of dusk on winter evenings, bobsleighs slide away from darkened country homes, filled with all the members of the family, from grandparents down to babies. Often the sleigh will pick up additional passengers at a nearby homestead, and sometimes it becomes so crowded that there is scarcely room for the boxes of sandwiches, carefully wrapped cakes,and jars of pickles among the shuffling feet and heated rocks and bricks in the bottom of the sleigh. The singing creak of the sleigh runners accompanies songs that boom out on the night air. Presently a number of sleighs reach an appointed home, but they do not pause long. Across the fields the light of a farmhouse window offers a prelude to their welcome. They become studiously quiet until they reach the door, then burst in with shouts of "Surprise!" There follows a confusion of greetings and commands:
"Get a lantern."
"Put your horses in the east stall. John, show Henry where to put his horses, and—hey, John, turn Jip and Molly out to make room for Millers' team."
"Bring in them sandwiches I brought, Helen."
"Oh, heavens, you knew all about it—you're all dressed up and ready for us. With the country line it ain't possible to surprise anyone."
(Even where there is no country telephone line, it is considered something of a feat to catch the unsuspecting host or hostess napping. Yet all North Dakotans like surprise parties, and have them on birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and every other plausible occasion.)
The farmhouse is converted into a dual-purpose hall. The accordion is placed near the stove to "thaw out," wraps are deposited in corners, on chairs, and on beds, except the one reserved for the babies. Tables, the drophead sewing machine, and everything else that will serve the purpose are arranged for card playing. One room is cleared for dancing. After the first spurt of conversation lags, the musician takes his instrument on his knee, the floor is sprinkled with corn meal or grated paraffin, and soon the house is shaking from studding to rafter. Someone suggests a quadrille, or square dance, and the room resounds with the calls: