North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State

by Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota

TOUR 7

Carrington—Minot—Bowbells—Portal—(Regina, Sask., Can.). US 52.

Carrington to Canadian border, 241.5 m.

Soo Ry. roughly parallels entire route.

Graveled roadbed except 38 m. bituminous-surfaced between Velva and Foxholm.

Accommodations in principal towns.

US 52, pursuing a diagonal course northwest across the State, provides a direct route between the Canadian Rockies and the Middle West. It traverses a diversified farming area, and passes through the fertile Souris River valley and the treeless valley of the Des Lacs River. In the green panorama of spring the prairie grasslands, dotted with small grazing herds of white-faced Herefords or black and white Holsteins, alternate with tilled fields. By late summer tones of yellow dominate the landscape, which after the harvest is left a scarred, grimy tan.

At CARRINGTON, 0.0 m. (see Tour 2), is the junction with US 281 (see Tour 2).

At 9 m. on US 52 is the junction with ND 30, a graded dirt road.

Left on this road to the HAWKSNEST, 9 m., a high, flat-topped hill with well-timbered slopes rising 400 ft. above the surrounding plain. Near its top is a crystal-clear spring. It was named in 1873 by a party of surveyors who saw a great number of hawks swarm from the trees. On top of the hill is a large serpentine mound. After the coming of the white man the hill was a camping place for Sioux Indians traveling between Fort Totten and Fort Yates. They called the hill Huya Wayapa ahdi (where the eagle brings something home in his beak). According to Indian legend a large band of Sioux once camped near the hill but were unable to ascertain the whereabouts of a war party of Chippewa which they suspected to be near. One of the Sioux, however, observed that an eagle flying into the trees carried in its mouth what appeared to be a piece of meat cut with a knife. From the direction in which the eagle had flown the Sioux were able to find the enemy. The legend is silent on the outcome of the warriors' meeting.

Left from the Hawksnest 3 m. to CAMP KIMBALL HISTORIC SITE, where Sibley camped July 22 and 23, 1863. It was from this point that the expedition moved SW. to engage in the Battle of Big Mound (see Tour 8).

SYKESTON, 13 m. (1,233 alt., 327 pop.), a German community named for Richard Sykes, who platted the town in 1883, is on the banks of the Pipestem River and artificial Lake Hiawatha. Sykes Park provides good camping. Buffalo favored this vicinity as a grazing spot before the coming of settlers, but the semiannual hunting expeditions of the metis (see Side Tour 5A) destroyed many, and after the cattlemen arrived only an occasional specimen was sighted. The library of an Inverness, Scotland, home is adorned with the head of what was probably the last buffalo killed in this vicinity. A party of guests at the Sykes ranch in 1881, including Ewen Grant of Inverness, learned that a buffalo was grazing with the Sykes cattle, and in the exciting chase to bag the animal Grant had the good fortune to despatch him.

FESSENDEN, 36 m. (1,610 alt., 738 pop.), named for Cortez Fessenden, surveyor general of Dakota Territory from 1881 to 1885, was originally settled by a group of Welsh farmers, though the population is now predominantly Scandinavian. Fessenden was platted in 1893, and in the election of 1894 was named Wells County seat. Its citizens journeyed by teams and wagons in the still hours of the night to Sykeston, first county seat, seized the county records, and hauled them to the new location. Each year (March) Fessenden holds an agricultural exposition culminating in the coronation of an Alfalfa Queen.

HARVEY, 59.5 m. (1,596 alt., 2,157 pop.), named for Col. James S. Harvey, a former director of the Soo Line, is on the banks of the Sheyenne River. It is a division point on the Soo, and is the largest town on the route with the exception of Minot.

Right from Harvey on ND 3, a graveled road, to junction with a dirt road at 4 m.; R. on this road to BUTTE DE MORALE, 7 m., an ancient landmark rising 300 ft. above the surrounding prairie. It was to this vicinity that the metis, or French-Indian half-breeds, came in the 1840's on their buffalo-hunting expeditions (see Side Tour 5A). It is said that on one occasion a party of 1,390 people with 824 wagons and 1,200 animals camped here and slaughtered 250 buffalo in a single day. In 1853 the surveying expedition of Gov. I. I. Stevens passed the hill, and in 1862-63 Capt. James L. Fisk led two expeditions of Montana gold seekers through the vicinity.

MARTIN, 72.5 m. (1,589 alt., 211 pop.), known in early days as Casselman, was later renamed for a Soo official in order to avoid confusion with other towns of similar names. A group of Rumanians from Regina, Sask., settled here in 1893, but the population is now predominantly German, as is that of ANAMOOSE (from Chippewa uhnemoosh, dog), 80.5 m. (1,620 alt., 495 pop.).

DRAKE, 89 m. (1,634 alt., 644 pop.), named for an early settler, Herman Drake, is on the watershed between the Mouse and Sheyenne Rivers in a diversified farming and dairying area. A small railroad center, it has become a wholesale distribution point; a $20,000 cooperative creamery is operated here.

Northwest of Drake the route traverses rolling tree-dotted hills that begin to slope toward the Mouse River valley.

BALFOUR, 97 m. (1,613 alt., 197 pop.), named by the town site company, and VOLTAIRE, 116 m. (1,587 alt., 61 pop.), believed to have been named for an early settler, are both young villages incorporated in 1929.

The road makes an abrupt descent into the flat, trough-like Mouse River valley at VELVA, 122 m. (1,511 alt., 870 pop.), which is at the southwestern point of the loop of the river, near a camp site of the Sully expedition of 1865. The park-like little town is on the flood plain of the river which flows through it. First known as Mouse River Post Office, it was given its present name after organization of the town site in 1891-92. A park in the northern part of the town offers recreational facilities, and contains the First Dwelling in Velva, a log hut built in 1885.

1. Right from Velva on a dirt road winding down the Mouse River valley is VERENDRYE, 11 m. (1,554 alt., 100 pop.). First known as Falsen, the town was given its present name in honor of Pierre de la Verendrye, earliest known white explorer in the region. Right from the town pump 0.5 m. to the globular masonry DAVID THOMPSON MEMORIAL, erected by the G. N. Ry. in 1925 on a high point overlooking the river valley. On the base of the monument is the inscription: "1770—David Thompson—1885, Geographer and Astronomer passed near here in 1797 and 1798 on a scientific and trading expedition. He made the first map of the country which is now North Dakota and achieved many noteworthy discoveries in the northwest." Thompson made his explorations while an employee of the North West Fur Co.

2. Left from Velva on a graded dirt road to a junction with another graded road at 4 m.; R. here to another junction at 8 m.; L. here to a STRIP MINE which is one of the larger lignite operating units in the United States, 10 m. Here, in order to reach a vein of coal averaging 14 ft. in thickness, great shovels strip the 40-to 50-feet overburden and pile it into fantastic high mounds and ridges resembling the work of a giant mole. Nearby is a small community of some 40 homes of miners.

Northwest of Velva the route follows the foot of the hills bordering the valley to SAWYER, 128.5 m. (1,525 alt., 206 pop.), believed to have been named for a Soo Ry. official.

MINOT, 144 m. (1,557 alt., 16,099 pop.) (see Minot).

Points of Interest: Minot State Teachers College, Roosevelt Park and Zoo.

At Valley St. and 4th Ave. SE. is a junction with US 2 (see Tour 6), which unites with US 52 to 150 m. At 4th Ave. and 2nd St. SW. is the junction with US 83 (see Tour 3).

Left of the junction at 150 m. is a large tourist camp.

BURLINGTON, 152 m. (1,590 alt., 150 pop.), named for Burlington, Iowa, under the North Dakota Rural Rehabilitation Corporation became the scene of the State's first Subsistence Homestead Project. Here, in the wooded valley at the confluence of the Mouse and the Des Lacs Rivers, a model village of comfortable homes arose (1937) to replace the former dwellings of the miners who have part time employment in the lignite mines of the vicinity. When completed the project will provide homes and irrigated garden-land for more than 50 families. The cost to each owner, including land, house, barn, garage, and chicken and hog houses, will be approximately $3,500. A concrete dam and bowl spillway on the Des Lacs River will irrigate more than half the 600 acres included in the project.

A camp fire unwittingly built upon an outcropping of lignite at Burlington in the spring of 1883 is credited with first having acquainted pioneers here with the possibilities of developing the fuel on a large scale. Three men camped at the fork of the Mouse and Des Lacs Rivers were surprised one morning to find their camp fire of the previous night still burning. Upon investigation they learned that their wood fire had ignited a blackish mineral—lignite—in the earth beneath it. All lignite mines in the Burlington vicinity are underground (open on application at mine office in Burlington).

Northwest of Burlington the route follows the Des Lacs River valley to FOXHOLM, 163 m. (1,657 alt., 200 pop.), named for Foxholm, England, and CARPIO, 171.5 m. (1,696 alt., 344 pop.), which touches the hills on both sides of the narrow valley. One story has it that Carpio was named by the wife of one of the railroad officials; another that the name was suggested by the fact that the first post office was a freight car on which was posted the sign "P. O."

Right from Carpio on a graveled county road to the UPPER SOURIS MIGRATORY WATERFOWL PROJECT, 7 m., one of the largest of its type being undertaken in North Dakota by the U. S. Biological Survey. Here a marshland along the Mouse River has been purchased and a large dam constructed to impound a lake 26 m. long. A series of smaller dams farther down the river will control the flood waters of the Souris and will aid in restoring the marshes to suitable breeding and nesting grounds for migratory waterfowl. The low, chalky white, red-roofed buildings E. of the dam are Project Headquarters.

Left from the dam on a gravel road to the CP RANCH, 14 m., which maintains one of the few buffalo herds in the Northwest. Thirty-five shaggy-coated bison range in a 700-acre pasture, appearing at the ranch buildings twice daily for water. A large herd of Hereford cattle is also kept here.

DONNYBROOK, 181 m. (1,760 alt., 259 pop.), named by its founders for Donnybrook, Ireland, is at the foot of the hills bordering the western side of the Des Lacs valley.

At 189 m. the route passes S. of DES LACS LAKE, a remnant of a glacial stream, now divided into three parts and drained by the Des Lacs River. The U. S. Biological Survey has a large migratory waterfowl project in progress on the lower lake, and as the road winds along the eastern shore the nesting islands and several dams built by the survey are visible.

KENMARE, 197 m. (1,799 alt., 1,494 pop.), believed to have been named by the wife of a Canadian Pacific Ry. official for a community in Ireland, lies on a hillside facing Middle Des Lacs Lake. In the steep sides of the lake valley nearby are a number of lignite mines.

Opposite Kenmare are the Administration Buildings of the Des Lacs Lake Migratory Waterfowl Project—low white structures with red tile roofs.

At Kenmare the highway leaves the valley for the Drift Plain, which stretches away to the E. to meet the flat bed of glacial Lake Souris, beyond which lie the Turtle Mountains. To the W. against the horizon rises the eastern edge of the great Missouri Plateau topped by the Altamont Moraine, the height of land between the Missouri and Souris Rivers.

At 202 m. is the Junction with ND 5, a graveled highway (see Tour 5). US 52 and ND 5 are one route to 234 m.

At 209 m. the highway dips into a large cut to cross UPPER DES LACS LAKE, which, despite present dry conditions, was once the scene of steamboating. In early days it was navigable across the Canadian border near Northgate, and grain from points in Canada and along the lake in North Dakota was shipped via the water route to Kenmare for transshipment by rail to eastern markets. The years of continued subnormal rainfall in this region have left the upper lake dry in places.

BOWBELLS, 214 m. (1,961 alt., 695 pop.), named by English stockholders of the Soo Line for the famous Bow Bells in St. Mary-le-Bow Church in London, is the Burke County seat. Almost treeless, its squat appearance blends into the flat terrain, with the tall water tower, the only notable feature of the town, visible for miles on the level prairie.

FLAXTON, 226.5 m. (1,940 alt., 423 pop.), was given its present name because the town site was a field of flax when application for a post office was made.

At 234 m. is a junction with ND 5 (see Tour 5).

PORTAL, 241.5 m. (1,954 alt., 512 pop.), is an important international port of entry, hence its name. It is an airport of entry, and also a division point on the Soo, much of the traffic to the Canadian Northwest passing through its custom offices. The U. S. Custom and Immigration House (for custom regulations see Information for Travelers), on Boundary and Railway Aves., is a two-story brick building in Colonial style. A large canopied driveway at the front of the building permits inspection of three automobiles at once. The Canadian custom offices are directly across the avenue, which is bisected by the international boundary. Portal is the home of many sports enthusiasts, and most of its games have an international aspect. Unusual in sports is the international golf course, on which in August 1934 a young Portal golfer, George Wegener, made an international hole-in-one, driving from the eighth tee, which is in Canada, 125 yd. into the cup on the ninth green, in the United States. The curling club here is also international, being composed of both Canadian and United States citizens in the border cities of Portal and North Portal. They play this winter sport in a specially constructed domed building.

US 52 crosses the Canadian Line at the customhouses in the city of Portal, 30 m. S. of Estevan, Sask.