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.
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).
At9 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 Hawksnest3 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 thePipestem Riverand artificialLake Hiawatha. SykesPark 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 theSheyenne 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 at4 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 Chippewauhnemoosh, 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 theFirst 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 pump0.5 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 at4 m.; R. here to another junction at8 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.) (seeMinot).
Points of Interest: Minot State Teachers College, Roosevelt Park and Zoo.
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 to150 m.At 4th Ave. and 2nd St. SW. is the junction with US 83 (see Tour 3).
Left of the junction at150 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 firstSubsistence HomesteadProject. 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 areProject 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.
At189 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 facingMiddle Des Lacs Lake. In the steep sides of the lake valley nearby are a number of lignite mines.
Opposite Kenmare are theAdministration Buildingsof 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.
At202 m.is the Junction with ND 5, a graveled highway (see Tour 5). US 52 and ND 5 are one route to234 m.
At209 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.
At234 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 seeInformation 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.
(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.
(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 (seeNatural 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.) (seeFargo).
Points of Interest: North Dakota Agricultural College, Veterans' Hospital, Dovre Ski Slide.
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. AnArmour & 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.
At12 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 theMaple Riverwhich flows through it, one of the many meandering tributaries of the Red.
At20 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 (seeHistory).
During the bonanza farm era (seeAgriculture 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, andwhat 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 at18 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.
At26.5 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.
At30.5 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 aCollection of Indian Artifacts(open).
At40.5 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.
At48.5 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.
At5 m.on ND 32 to CAMP ARNOLD HISTORIC SITE, where in 1863 the Sibley expedition made one of its many overnight camps.
At56 m.is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to CAMP SHEARDOWN HISTORIC SITE,3 m.,another stopping place of the Sibley column. A few rifle pits dug for camp protection are still visible, and a bronze tablet marks the site. No engagement took place here, the rifle pits being evidence of Sibley's precautions against Indian attack.
VALLEY CITY,58.5 m.(1,220 alt., 5,268 pop.), seat of Barnes County, lies sheltered and hidden in the deeply wooded Sheyenne River valley. Originally known as Worthington, it was given its present name when incorporated as a city in 1881.
The city's first settlers came with the N. P. Ry. in 1872, but Jay Cooke & Co., financiers of the railroad, crashed in the Nation-wide panic of 1873, and the next five years brought a suspension of business and immigration. From 1878, however, the city had a steady growth; today it is the center of a large area of diversified farming, with flour milling and the processing of dairy products the chief industries. One notable asset of the city is a municipal light plant which supplies electrical energy at the lowest rates prevalent in the State, and provides an excellent street-lighting system without taxation. The studios and transmitter of KOVC, Valley City, are at 312 5th Ave.
On an attractive campus at the southern end of 5th Ave. is theValley City State Teachers College, established in 1890. In 1895 Gov. Roger Allin vetoed the State appropriations for the university and colleges, and, like Other State educational institutions, the Valley City college was kept open by popular subscriptions for the biennial period. One of the outstanding alumni of the school is Paul Fjelde, a former student of Lorado Taft, who was commissioned to do the bust of Abraham Lincoln that North Dakota presented to Norway in 1914. A copy of this work has been placed in the auditorium of the college.
Near the college campus on 1st St. isCity Park, which contains recreational facilities and a small zoo.Chautauqua Park(swimming pool,playgrounds,large auditorium) is in the northeastern part of the city.
In theBarnes County Courthouse, 6th St. bet. 3rd and 4th Aves., is a small museum which includes the Indian collection of Vernon Gale, an amateur archeologist. Among his exhibits are several stone hearts, which have been found only in the valley of Spiritwood Lake (see below).
The N. P. Ry.High Bridge, known as the "Hi-Line", casts its long shadow across the river valley N. of Chautauqua Park. Including the approaches, it measures 1 m., a long railroad trestle for its height, which is 148 ft. above the water level of the Sheyenne.
Right from Valley City on Chautauqua Blvd., which becomes a graveled road leading to a spot still known as ASHTABULA,17 m., the name of a post office once operated here. A ford in the Sheyenne at this point, Sibley's Crossing, was used by Capt. James Fisk's immigrant trains to the Montana gold fields in 1862 and 1863, and twice by the Sibley military expedition in 1863, and later was on the Fort Ransom-Fort Totten trail. Deep ruts of wagon trains are still visible and can be traced across the valley.
At Valley City is a junction (L) with ND 1, a graveled highway (see Side Tour 8A), which unites with US 10 to63.5 m., where ND 1 (see Side Tour 8B) branches R.
On US 10 at the western end of the city isPioneer Park(R), where an outdoor amphitheater has been built. The park also contains a small frame schoolhouse, typical of the pioneer period, which was moved from its site four miles west of the city.
SANBORN,70.5 m.(1,443 alt., 343 pop.), named for J. N. Sanborn, a Fargo pioneer, was at one time a booming trade center, and seemed destined to become important, until two severe blows retarded its growth. First, in 1880, after a hot campaign, it lost the county seat election to Valley City; and then, in 1882, the county treasurer, whose bond had been furnished by the businessmen of the town, absconded with the county moneys, including aspecial fund for the erection of a courthouse. Among the early settlers of Sanborn was I. W. Barnum, brother of P. T. Barnum of circus fame.
ECKELSON,75.5 m.(1,472 alt., 100 pop.), was named for A. O. Eckelson, a N. P. Ry. civil engineer of the 1870's, and was first platted a mile E. of its present site. Because of the steep incline of the railroad at that point, however, trains were unable to stop and the town had to be moved to more level ground.
SPIRITWOOD,82.5 m.(1,475 alt., 267 pop.), is named for the lake 16 m. NW.
At93.5 m.is the junction with ND 20, a graveled highway.
Right on this highway to the junction with a county graveled road,10 m.; R. here to SPIRITWOOD LAKE (bathing beaches,boathouses,cottages,golf course,and two pavilions on the southern shore), 16 m., an attractive resort in a wooded valley. It is known to the Sioux as Minneskaya (water with white foam on top). According to an Indian legend, a grief-stricken girl plunged into its waters to join her drowned lover, and her spirit still resides in the lake.
On the northern shore of the lake the State Game and Fish Commission maintains anAviarywhere Mongolian pheasants are confined for breeding purposes. Eggs are hatched on nearby farms and the poults are then returned to the aviary for distribution throughout the State.
In the vicinity of Spiritwood Lake have been found several heart-shaped stones marked with a small cross, probably representing a star. This is the only locality in the State where these stone hearts have been found, and archeologists believe they are the product of the early Indians. Specimens are on display at the State historical society museum (seeBismarck) and in the Vernon Gale Collection (seeValley Cityabove).
JAMESTOWN,95.5 m.(1,405 alt., 8,187 pop.), Stutsman County seat, lies in the fertile valley of the windingJames River, described as the longest unnavigable river in the world. The story is told that the stream received its name from a French-Indian hunter-trapper who, having lost his way, was overcome with joy upon discovering the little river and gave it his own name—Rivière de Jacques.
The first settlement at Jamestown was made in the fall of 1871, when a corps of five or six N. P. Ry. engineers spent the winter here in order to be in readiness for work in the spring. Soldiers from Fort Ransom (see Side Tour 8A) acted as a guard for the engineers, and in June a military post, Fort Cross (later Fort Seward), was established. During the summer settlers and businessmen came to the community, and a brisk trade was carried on with the 500 railroad workers and the 3 companies of soldiers stationed at the fort.
On Sept. 13, 1872, the first train to enter Jamestown crossed the river into the city. Less than a month later construction crews, incensed because of unpaid wages, stopped work, and even began tearing up the newly laid tracks. Soldiers from the fort quickly quelled North Dakota's first strike.
Railroads played an important role in Jamestown's inception and growth. At one time there were prospects that two other railroads besides the N. P. would come into the city, and hope was high that the place would become an important railroad center. Although these plans did not fully materialize, one of the new roads, the Midland Continental, did make the city its home office. Financed by English capital, the Midland began to build in 1913, with plans for a line connecting Winnipeg, Man., with the Gulf of Mexico. The World War intervened, foreign support was withdrawn, and operations ceased after completion of only 70 m. of road, from Edgeley to Wimbledon.
The first church services here were held in a schoolhouse, and a pioneer tells of how these meetings were faithfully attended by an old Indian "clad in great dignity and an old nightshirt." Jamestown's first church, the Presbyterian, was erected in 1881. The first resident Roman Catholic priest arrived the same year, and resided in a rectory that measured 14 x 22 ft. Although there were many places in the State where Catholic church services had long been held, Jamestown in September 1889 became the first seat of the diocese of North Dakota.
In 1879 a group of local businessmen organized the James River Navigation Co. Of their first steamer, theBelle of Richmond, the St. PaulPioneer Presssaid, "The craft is composed of a steam-whistle, an engine the size of a teakettle and a little boat under it." Ice put a stop to river navigation that fall, and in May the following year the initial trip of a new boat that had been built during the winter proved unsuccessful.
The fertile James River Valley land has produced such bountiful crops that between 1875 and 1900 farmers often paid for their lands in two years. A writer of that time says that "though North Dakota didn't have granite bluffs and waterfalls for its beauty, a land that would yield twice its cost in the first year would look rather beautiful to most men."
Maxwell Anderson (1888-), Pulitzer Prize playwright (1933), and Curtis D. Wilbur (1867-), Secretary of War in President Coolidge's cabinet, once attended school in Jamestown.
The two leading institutions of Jamestown overlook the city from the river bluffs on both sides of town. To the SE. is theState Hospital For The Insane, with its handsome buildings and beautifully landscaped grounds, a little city within its 2,000 acres of farm land.
Jamestown College, on high bluffs (L) on the northeastern edge of the city, is the oldest, and only private, college in North Dakota. Founded by the Red River Presbytery in 1883, it was the first school in the State to offer normal school training for teachers. A plan for construction in semi-Gothic style has been followed, with the result that the buildings present a pleasing and uniform campus group.
On the campus is Voorhees Chapel, one of the finest college chapels in the Midwest; it is built of reinforced concrete, Bedford stone, and mat-faced Menominee brick. The interior is constructed with huge hammer beams of Gothic type, and there are two high Gothic windows. The chapel is also used for musical and dramatic performances, as the intent of the institution is to make this building the center of college life and associations.
Klaus Park, at the southwestern edge of the city, with entrances on Elder and Willow Aves., consists of 26 acres of heavily wooded land lying between the James River and Pipestem Creek. It was donated to the city by the heirs of Anton Klaus, prominent pioneer affectionately known as "the father of Jamestown." An outdoor swimming pool is supplied with warm artesian water. Preserved in the park is one of the original millstones used in Jamestown's first flour mill built by Anton Klaus in 1879.
Nickeus Park(equipped playgrounds), at the northern end of 5th Ave., is in a loop of the James River. It was donated to the city as a memorial to a pioneer Jamestown attorney, by Mrs. Fannie B. Nickeus, his widow.
City Park(municipal tourist camp,ball park,fairgrounds,and tennis courts), at the southern end of 4th Ave., consists of a 52-acre tract along the wooded James River. The Park Auditorium, completed in 1936 as a WPA project, is a domical building, the design of its facade carried out in the straight lines and angles of modern architecture. Constructed with laminated truss-type arches which support the entire roof load, the auditorium has 25,000 sq. ft. of floor space unobstructed by supporting columns. Its acoustics is excellent, owing to the vaulted shape of the roof and the absorbing quality of the timbers in the arches.
KRMC, Jamestown's radio broadcasting station, has its studios in the Gladstone Hotel building at 412 Front St. W.; its transmitter is just across the James River S. of the city.
TheAlfred Dickey Library, corner 5th Ave. S. and Pacific St. W., is built of red Hebron (N. Dak.) brick. Its style shows a Byzantine influence.
TheSite of Fort William H. Sewardis indicated by a marker on US 281 at the foot of the bluffs on the northwestern outskirts of the city. The post, named for President Lincoln's Secretary ofState, was abandoned in 1877, and in 1925 the N. P. Ry. donated the site, which is on the bluffs SW. of the marker, as a State park.
Left from Jamestown2 m.on Monroe St. to HOMER STATE PARK, a five-acre tract along the James River that was the site of an unidentified skirmish between white men and Indians.
ELDRIDGE,103.5 m.(1,538 alt., 100 pop.), named for a pioneer family, is the most westerly town on the route lying within the Central Lowland of the Interior Plains. Between Eldridge and WINDSOR,112.5 m.(1,839 alt., 110 pop.), whose name was suggested by that of Windsor, Ont., there is a rise of 300 ft., which marks the division between the Central Lowland and the Great Plains. The Missouri Plateau, as this section of the Great Plains is called, extends beyond the western border of the State. As the route continues into the plateau, the altitude rises slightly to the village of CLEVELAND,116 m.(1,849 alt., 273 pop.),—named for Cleveland, Ohio—only to fall away gradually and then rise once more in topping the Altamont Moraine (see below.)
MEDINA,124 m.(1,791 alt., 407 pop.), named for Medina, N. Y., has a strongly Russo-German population. It was originally known as Midway for its position halfway between Jamestown and Steele, and during the first two decades of the century was an important commercial point in the area.
At126 m.is the junction with ND 30, a graveled highway.
Left on this highway to the junction with a graded dirt road,12 m.; R. here to the junction with another dirt road,17 m.; R. to another junction,18 m.; and L. to Lake George, commonly known as SALT LAKE (swimming), 19 m., because of its heavy impregnation with natural salts. It is said to be one of the deepest lakes in the State. The southern shore has an excellent sand beach. Northeast of the lake are fresh-water springs; here, on land controlled by the Biological Survey through an easement, dikes and dams have been built to create a fresh-water feeding and nesting ground known as theLake George Migratory Waterfowl Project. On the southern shore isStreeter Memorial Park, a World War memorial.
At132 m.are CRYSTAL SPRINGS LAKES. A cairn (L) houses a spring (good water). The lake offers fine opportunity to study varieties of shore birds, as the marshes of the spring-fed waters provide attractive breeding places. CRYSTAL SPRINGS,132.5 m.(1,777 alt., 69 pop.), is named for the neighboring lakes.
West of Cleveland (see above) the route descends in a gentle grade to TAPPEN,140.5 m.(1,764 alt., 268 pop.), named for an early settler.
Right from Tappen on a country trail, unsuited for trailers, to McPHAIL'S BUTTE HISTORIC SITE,10 m.It was from this hill that Col. Samuel McPhail directed the movement of his regiment of Minnesota Rangers July 24, 1863, in the Battle of Big Mound, one of the Sibley expedition encounters with the Sioux. Afterhaving been harried by the white soldiers, a small group of Sioux had asked to talk with a delegation of the enemy, and the meeting was apparently proceeding in an amicable manner when without warning a young Indian shot Dr. J. S. Weiser, one of the party, in the back. The Battle of Big Mound was precipitated, and the Sioux were forced to retreat farther W. Northeast of the battle site is BURMAN HISTORIC SITE,2 m., where Dr. Weiser is buried.
DAWSON,146 m.(1,736 alt., 306 pop.), named for the town site owner, Dawson Thompson, is in a fertile subirrigated area. A route for migratory birds crossing the United States passes through the Dawson vicinity, and a U. S. game reserve is 7 m. S. of the town on ND 3. At Dawson is one of the six Department of Commerce intermediate lighted airports in the State.
Left from Dawson on ND 3, a graveled highway, to LAKE ISABEL,5 m.Here isCamp Grassick, a children's summer camp operated by the North Dakota Anti-Tuberculosis Association. It is named for Dr. J. Grassick, pioneer Grand Forks physician. Just E. of Lake Isabel are theLodge and Game Reserve of G. L. Slade(private). Slade, a son-in-law of the late James J. Hill, the railroad builder, maintains breeding and nesting grounds for pheasants and waterfowl—even creating his own Lake Slade by pumping water from deep wells—and brings large parties of Easterners here to hunt.
At25 m.is NAPOLEON (1,955 alt., 709 pop.), seat of Logan County, named for Napoleon Goodsill who was president of the town site company. The first business establishment (1886) was a supply store operated jointly with a newspaper, the NapoleonHomestead, which is still in operation. Two pigeon-holes in a desk in theHomesteadoffice served as boxes for the first post office in Napoleon.
BURNSTAD,40.5 m.(1,963 alt., 142 pop.), was formerly the trade center of a large cattle industry. C. P. Burnstad, for whom the town was named, was known as the "Logan County Cattle King", and grazed as many as 5,000 cattle on 54 sections of land.
Left from Burnstad2 m.on a graded dirt road to BEAVER LAKE STATE PARK (swimming,picnicking), a recreational area developed by WPA labor. A game refuge surrounds the lake.
At53.5 m.on ND 3 is WISHEK (2,010 alt., 1,145 pop.), where, as in many of the neighboring towns, Russo-Germans make up the greater part of the population. The town is named for J. H. Wishek of Ashley, who owned the town site and donated lots for churches, parks, the town hall, and a bandstand.
Left from Wishek6.5 m.on a graveled road toDoyle Memorial Parkon GREEN LAKE (swimming,picnicking). The land for this recreational area and memorial to pioneers was given to the State by Mr. and Mrs. John J. Doyle of Wishek.
At65 m.on ND 3 is DANZIG (2,029 alt., 86 pop.), named for the Free City of Danzig in Europe.
ASHLEY,77.5 m.(2,001 alt., 1,250 pop.), began as the town of Hoskins on the shore of nearby Hoskins Lake. Originally the town, as well as the lake was given the maiden name of the wife of Col. C. A. Lounsberry, historian, and at that time editor of the BismarckTribune. In 1888, to be on the railroad, Hoskins wasmoved bodily to the present site and was renamed in honor of Ashley E. Morrow, a member of the railroad construction company. In the rotunda of theMcIntosh County Courthouseis a series of pictures of pioneer life. A library founded in 1912 by the Ashley Women's Club is also in the courthouse.
Right from Ashley4 m.on ND 11, a graveled highway, to LAKE HOSKINS (swimming), a summer recreational center.
On ND 3 at85 m.is the South Dakota Line, 84 m. N. of Aberdeen, S. Dak.
STEELE,154.5 m.(1,855 alt., 519 pop.), granted a city charter by the Territorial legislature in 1882-83, claimed at the time of its incorporation to be the smallest city in the United States. It is named for Col. W. P. Steele, one of the original town site owners, who in 1889 sent the first legislature a certified check for $100,000 with his bid for locating the State capitol at Steele. Colonel Steele liked riding on railroad trains and meeting strangers to whom he could talk of the glowing possibilities of North Dakota. At one time he procured passes on many of the large railroads in exchange for passes on his own road, the Steele-Alaska Northwestern, which despite its impressive title was only a half-mile spur from the Northern Pacific to his brick plant NE. of Steele. When his hoax was discovered and he was hailed before a group of directors of the larger lines, he justified his position with the statement, "While my line is not as long as yours, I want it understood that it is every bit as wide."
Left from Steele on a graveled road to the junction with a dirt road,12 m.; R. on this road to PURSIAN LAKE (swimming,picnicking),15 m., a haven for migratory waterfowl.
DRISCOLL (L),165.5 m.(1,870 alt., 226 pop.), is named for a N. P. Ry. stockholder.
Right from Driscoll on a road unsuitable for trailers to the junction with a country trail,3 m.; R. here to CHASKA HISTORIC SITE,4 m., the grave of Chaska, a Sioux Indian scout with the Sibley expedition, who died during the campaign. Chaska is said to have been one of the two friendly Indians who warned the missionaries at the Yellow Medicine (Minn.) Agency and led the whites to safety from the vengeful Sioux in the uprising of 1862.
West of Driscoll the route begins the ascent of the ALTAMONT MORAINE, the terminal moraine formed during the last advance of the Dakota lobe of the great continental ice sheets.
At174 m.is the junction with US 83 (see Tour 3). The two highways form one route between this point and Bismarck,198.5 m.Just W. of the junction the highway passes over a crest of the moraine, from which on a clear day the distant outline of the 19-story State capitol is visible, 24 m. W. The highway descends the western slope of the moraine in a gradual incline toward the Missouri River valley.
McKENZIE,180 m.(1,700 alt., 175 pop.), is named for Alexander McKenzie, early day political boss in North Dakota.
At185.3 m.is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to VERENDRYE, STATE PARK,1 m., believed by many historians to be the point at which in 1738 Pierre de la Verendrye, earliest white explorer of present North Dakota, first visited the Mandan Indians. Prior to the investigation of this site in 1936 it was generally supposed that Verendrye's first contact with the Mandans had been made near Sanish, and a monument commemorating the meeting had been erected at that place (see Tour 6). The Menoken site shows clearly the position of the bastions and moat of the old fortifications, and saucer-shaped depressions indicate where the earth lodges once stood. In addition, pottery, flint chips, and other artifacts have been found. Verendrye's journal states that he presented a leaden plate, bearing the name of the exploring party, to the Mandan chief at the village he visited. A similar plate was given to the Indians by Verendrye's sons on an expedition farther S. in 1741, and was found buried in the earth near Fort Pierre, S. Dak. in 1913. The first plate, however, has not been recovered and may now lie buried somewhere in the Menoken site.
MENOKEN,185.5 m.(1,720 alt., 60 pop.), has had a number of names, and still retains two officially. In early railroad days it was known as Seventeenth Siding, and later as Blaine. For transportation purposes it is now called Burleigh, to distinguish it from several other towns on the N. P. Ry. which have names beginning withM.
At186 m.is the junction with a county graded dirt road.
Right on this road to the TRANSMITTING PLANT OF KFYR,2.5 m., Bismarck's broadcasting station. The 704-foot all-steel vertical radiator, one of the three tallest self-supporting aerials in the United States (1938), can be seen for many miles.
Between Menoken and Bismarck the route crosses and recrosses APPLE CREEK, along which Sibley's army traveled for some distance. In ancient times this small, meandering stream was a great rushing glacial river.
At196.5 m.(R) loom the brick walls of the STATE PENITENTIARY (tours daily exc. Sat. and Sun. at 9, 10, and 11 a.m., 2, 3, and 4 p.m.). When the prison was built (1885-89), the walls were of cottonwood logs wired together at the top. The present walls, 27 ft. high and 1,650 ft. long, and made of bricks from clay found in the vicinity, were constructed by prison labor in 1889. The island-type of prison architecture has been employed, and there are two cell blocks of 160 cells each, all locked by a master control. Inmates are employed in the twine plant, which has an annual output of more than four million pounds; on the 950-acre farm; and in the auto license and tag plant.
The fact that most criminals come from large centers of population is given as the reason that North Dakota, an agricultural State with no large cities, has a low prison population. In 1937 it was only 270.
At197 m.is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to FORT LINCOLN,3 m., only survivor of the 12 military posts that have been established in North Dakota since earliest settlement. The post, which covers an area of 900 acres, has brick buildings of modified Colonial design. It was first occupied in 1903, although established as a military reservation in 1895. In 1913 its garrison was removed, but in 1917 it was used as a concentration camp for midwestern troops headed for France. After the World War it was not garrisoned until 1927, when Companies I, K, L, and M of the Third Battalion, Fourth Infantry were ordered here. Including detachments of Headquarters, Quartermasters and Service Corps, Medical Corps, and Signal and Finance Corps, the post numbers 426 enlisted men and 20 officers (1937). Since 1928 it has been designated a C. M. T. C. camp for a four-week period each summer, with a quota of 200 men.
At4 m.is a junction with a dirt road; R. here to another junction,4.8 m.; L. to SIBLEY ISLAND PARK (shelters,tables,and benches),7 m.Sibley Island was actually an island when General Sibley fought the Sioux here in 1863, but now, because of the changing river channel, is a part of the river lowlands. The Indians, fleeing before the advancing column, were here forced to abandon large quantities of supplies and equipment, and to hurry across the Missouri. Two Sibley men, carrying orders to detachments in the woods, were ambushed and killed, and the Masonic burial given one is believed to have been the first instance of the use of this funeral rite within the borders of the State. The bodies were removed later, but the position of one grave is still indicated by a marker. Prior to the Sibley encounter the island was known as Assiniboine Island, from the fact that theAssiniboine, a river steamer carrying Prince Maximilian's exploring party, was destroyed by fire near here (1834).
BISMARCK,198.5 m.(1,672 alt., 11,090 pop.) (seeBismarck).