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 8

(Minneapolis, Minn.)—Fargo—Valley City—Jamestown—Bismarck—Mandan—Dickinson—(Glendive, Mont.). US 10.

Minnesota Line to Montana Line, 368 m.

N. P. Ry. and Northwest Airlines parallel route across State.

Paved or bituminous-surfaced roadbed except 73 m. graveled.

Accommodations chiefly in towns.

US 10, rising steadily toward the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, with a gain of 1,852 feet in altitude in crossing the State, traverses the three main topographic divisions of North Dakota (see Natural Setting), from the low, flat Red River Valley, across the rolling Drift Plain and out upon the Missouri Plateau. Near the end of the route are the strange and beautiful Badlands.

Most of the country along the road is cultivated, and in the fields the cycle of farming operations—plowing, seeding, cultivating, harvesting—repeats itself as the seasons progress. During the growing season, stretching far across the flat plains and over the sloping hills, the varying greens of the grains blend with the blue flax fields and the invading yellow patches of mustard. In the fall the prairies have a somber, peaceful air as their tawny stubblefields and newly plowed black acres await the first snowfall. When winter comes the never-ending expanse of white is broken by the dark pattern of roads and an occasional lead-colored clump of trees, bare and shivering in the wind, while at the distant horizon the whiteness unites with the pale blue of clear winter skies.

West of the Red River Valley trees are few except along the rivers. Yet, according to legend, this country was once heavily forested—until Paul Bunyan, the master woodsman, had his men log it off, just before his famous fight with his foreman, the Bull of the Woods, on top of the bottom of the Mountain That Stood on Its Head. As a matter of geologic fact, the area traversed by the route has been largely treeless since the gradual cooling of the climate, incident to the ice age, destroyed the tropical plant and animal life which once were profuse here.

FARGO, 0.0 m. (907 alt., 28,619 pop.) (see Fargo).

Points of Interest: North Dakota Agricultural College, Veterans' Hospital, Dovre Ski Slide.

At Front and 13th Sts. is the junction with US 81 (see Tour 1).

WEST FARGO (R) (907 alt., 127 pop.) and SOUTHWEST FARGO (L) (907 alt., 800 pop.), 5 m., suburbs of Fargo, are the center of North Dakota's meat-packing industry. An Armour & Co. Plant (open; tours at 9:30 & 11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10:30 a.m. only on Sat.; no children under 10) and a large livestock market employ the majority of the residents of these two young villages, incorporated in 1931 and 1937 respectively. Armour's plant, housed in a four-story brick building, employs more than 400 people. Connected with it is the Union Stockyards where representatives of commission firms buy livestock from North Dakota farmers. Included in the yards is an exchange building which houses offices of the company, dealers, and commission firms, and State and Federal agencies supervising market operations.

At 12 m. is the junction with a graveled county highway.

Right on this highway is MAPLETON, 1 m. (904 alt., 195 pop.), one of the oldest towns in the State, organized about 1870. It is named for the Maple River which flows through it, one of the many meandering tributaries of the Red.

At 20 m. is the junction with ND 18, a graveled highway.

Right on this road is CASSELTON, 2 m. (936 alt., 1,254 pop.), named for Maj. G. W. Cass (1810-1888) of Minneapolis, stockholder in the N. P. Ry. and proponent of the railroad nursery that propagated the poplar trees that today line the streets. It was the boyhood home of William Langer (1886-), Governor of the State (1933-1934; 1937-1939) and a storm center in Nonpartisan League politics (see History).

During the bonanza farm era (see Agriculture and Farm Life) Casselton was headquarters of the huge Dalrymple farm, which made it a metropolis of the Red River Valley. One of the earliest practical uses of the telephone in the United States, and what may have been the introduction of the instrument into this State (see Tour 1), was made in 1876 on the Dalrymple farm. Oliver Dalrymple had taken advantage of low prices occasioned by the panic of 1873 to buy 100,000 acres of Red River Valley land owned by the N. P. Ry. and had set out to demonstrate that the land was valuable for farming. The first year he seeded 1,280 acres and harvested 32,000 bu. of wheat. By 1878 he was farming 13,000 acres and by 1895, 65,000 acres. His land was divided into subfarms, each with a superintendent and foreman, and all using the most modern farm equipment obtainable. Dalrymple, on a visit to the Philadelphia Centennial in 1876, became interested in the newly invented telephone, and at the close of the fair purchased several of the instruments for installation on his subfarms and headquarters farm at Casselton.

Among the churches in Casselton is one maintained by a small group of Moravians, a German religious sect that came to the State during the early years of settlement.

On ND 18 at 18 m. to the D. H. HOUSTON FARM, where the principle of the roll film camera was developed. Houston, a native of Wisconsin, had already invented one camera when he homesteaded in North Dakota in 1869. Although he acquired 6,000 acres of land and became one of the early bonanza farmers, he continued his experiments in photography, and in 1881 developed the principle of the roll film camera, selling his patent to George Eastman. It has been said that Houston named his device "kodak" for North Dakota, but the generally accepted story is that Eastman himself coined the word because he desired a catchy, easily remembered name that could be used in any language. Houston's inventive interests included agricultural improvements, and in the 1880's he developed an improved bluestem wheat which, producing four to five bushels more per acre than other varieties, was soon in great demand throughout the Wheat Belt. He also patented improvements on the disc plow.

At 26.5 m. is the junction with a graveled road.

Right on this road is WHEATLAND, 2 m. (991 alt., 300 pop.), a quiet, pretty village named for the vast wheat acreage formerly seeded on the bonanza farms in the area.

At 30.5 m. the highway passes over a noticeable rise of land. This is Herman Beach, the western shore of ancient Lake Agassiz, which in glacial times covered 100,000 sq. m. and lay over the eastern portion of the State, reaching from Lake Winnipeg in Canada to Lake Traverse in South Dakota. It is estimated that when this gravelly ridge was formed by the waves of the lake, the water at the present site of Fargo was 175 ft. deep.

BUFFALO, 37.5 m. (1,201 alt., 242 pop.), is named for Buffalo, N. Y.

Left from Buffalo on a graveled highway is ALICE, 11 m. (1,124 alt., 169 pop.), named for a relative of a railroad superintendent.

At the Multz Cafe is a Collection of Indian Artifacts (open).

At 40.5 m. is BUFFALO CREEK HISTORIC SITE (R). A marker reads: "August 16, 1863. General Sibley marched over this spot with 3,400 soldiers on his return after driving the Indians across the Missouri River."

TOWER CITY, 43.5 m. (1,169 alt., 435 pop.), in a grove of trees, is named for Charlemagne Tower (1848-1924), a Philadelphia capitalist and diplomat, who owned much land in the vicinity. He made the foundation plantings of the trees of the city and also donated the first books to the local public library. In 1886 Baptist leaders selected this city as the site of a proposed church college to be named Tower University. Excavations had actually begun, with the expectation that Tower would be its benefactor to the extent of $100,000. Because of some misunderstanding of the preliminary arrangements, however, the endowment fund was not forthcoming. Tower offered the use of a school building, but the school, being unable to continue without financial assistance, closed its doors two years later.

At 48.5 m. is the junction with ND 32, a graveled highway.

Right on this highway is ORISKA, 0.5 m. (1,267 alt., 183 pop.), once the center of a wide wheat-growing area. The name is believed to have been that of the heroine of an old book of western poems.

At 5 m. on ND 32 to CAMP ARNOLD HISTORIC SITE, where in 1863 the Sibley expedition made one of its many overnight camps.

At 56 m. is the junction with a graveled road.

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 the Valley 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. is City 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 the Barnes 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 to 63.5 m., where ND 1 (see Side Tour 8B) branches R.

On US 10 at the western end of the city is Pioneer 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 a special 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.

At 93.5 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 an Aviary where 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 (see Bismarck) and in the Vernon Gale Collection (see Valley City above).

JAMESTOWN, 95.5 m. (1,405 alt., 8,187 pop.), Stutsman County seat, lies in the fertile valley of the winding James 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, the Belle of Richmond, the St. Paul Pioneer Press said, "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 the State 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.

The Alfred Dickey Library, corner 5th Ave. S. and Pacific St. W., is built of red Hebron (N. Dak.) brick. Its style shows a Byzantine influence.

The Site of Fort William H. Seward is 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 of State, 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 Jamestown 2 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.

At 126 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 the Lake George Migratory Waterfowl Project. On the southern shore is Streeter Memorial Park, a World War memorial.

At 132 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. After having 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 is Camp 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 the Lodge 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.

At 25 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 Napoleon Homestead, which is still in operation. Two pigeon-holes in a desk in the Homestead office 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 Burnstad 2 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.

At 53.5 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 Wishek 6.5 m. on a graveled road to Doyle Memorial Park on 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.

At 65 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 Bismarck Tribune. In 1888, to be on the railroad, Hoskins was moved 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 the McIntosh County Courthouse is 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 Ashley 4 m. on ND 11, a graveled highway, to LAKE HOSKINS (swimming), a summer recreational center.

On ND 3 at 85 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.

At 174 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.

At 185.3 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 with M.

At 186 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.

At 196.5 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.

At 197 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.

At 4 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 the Assiniboine, 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.) (see Bismarck).

Points of Interest: State Capitol, Liberty Memorial Building, Roosevelt Cabin, State historical society museum.

At Main Ave. and 6th St. is the junction with US 83 (see Tour 3).

At 199.5 m. US 10 crosses the MISSOURI RIVER on the $1,358,000 Liberty Memorial Bridge, erected in 1922, first highway span across the river in North Dakota. At each end are large natural boulders bearing bronze plaques dedicating the bridge to men and women who served in the World War.

Natural gas from the fields at Baker, Mont., is piped to Bismarck through a line crossing the Missouri on this bridge.

At the Bismarck end of the bridge is the junction with a county graveled highway (see Side Tour 3B).

Thoroughfare of early exploration of western North Dakota and Montana, the Missouri is still known to the Sioux Indians native to this region as Wakpa Hehanka (elk river). According to Sioux legend, once, during the great spring break-up, a large herd of elk were crossing the stream when the ice broke beneath them, precipitating them into quicksand. They perished, and when the ice had floated down the river the antlers of the elk were left protruding like branches from the sand bar.

The time changes from central to mountain standard W. of the river; watches and clocks of west-bound travelers should be turned back one hour, those of east-bound travelers should be set an hour ahead.

Along the highway on the flat lowlands between Bismarck and Mandan are several tourist camps and night clubs.

MANDAN, 203.4 m. (1,642 alt., 5,037 pop.), its business section stretched along one side of its long main street, lies crowded between the N. P. railroad yards and the hills bordering the Heart River valley near the confluence of the Heart and the Missouri.

Named for the agricultural Mandan Indian tribe, this western, overgrown small town is in the area they once occupied, and near two of their ancient village sites. One, Crying Hill Village, is on the bluffs along the Missouri, NE. of the city; the other, known as the Motsiff Site, 2 m. S. on the banks of the Heart. The town itself is so young that many of the original false-front frame or ornate red-brick buildings are still standing. A village grew up here quickly when the railroad crossed the Missouri in 1881, and incorporation as a city followed in 1883. With the settling of the adjoining territory, which began within two years after the founding of the town, development was rapid. Early ranching in the region has given way to grain raising, dairying, and diversified dry farming, and the city has become a wholesale and retail distribution center serving a large agricultural area.

One of the chief economic supports of the city is the N. P. Ry., which maintains a division point here. The Railway Depot is a red brick copy of Washington's Mount Vernon home, and the flagpole in the park surrounding it was used at Fort Abraham Lincoln when Gen. George A. Custer was in command (see Fort Lincoln State Park). In the railroad park, in an ellipse formed by the driveway, stands a small bronze Statue of Theodore Roosevelt as a Rough Rider, a reproduction of a large monument in a Minot park (see Minot). On the depot platform, during the summer months, Yanktonai Sioux perform bits of native dances for the benefit of tourists on the fast trains. On this platform Nov. 1, 1926, Queen Marie of Rumania, making a transcontinental tour, was adopted by the Sioux.

The Railroad Yards are unusual in that their accommodations facilitate handling and housing of the large Pacific type locomotives known as Five Thousands, so called because they are numbered above 5,000. Because of their great length, 125 ft., and their weight, 550 tons, they cannot be used on the sharp curves of the Rocky Mountains; they are therefore employed exclusively on the steep Mandan-Billings, Mont., run. Five Thousands are used only for heavy freight traffic. The largest turntable on the N. P. system, 126 ft. long, handles these giants of the rails.

At 1st St. and 2nd Ave. NW. is the Memorial Building, which has the largest indoor swimming pool in the State. The building was constructed under a Federal project.

The J. D. Allen Taxidermist Shop, 302 5th Ave. NW., contains a rare collection of Indian relics, original paintings, and a variety of mounted specimens of animals, birds, and fish found in the State. In the hodgepodge of his workshop, Allen, who came to Mandan as a youth in 1881, has mounted thousands of specimens, and has done work for Theodore Roosevelt and for members of European nobility. His hobby has been painting, and, although self-taught in his avocation, he has captured the spirit of early North Dakota scenes as have few trained artists. Several of his canvases hang in the museum of the State historical society (see Bismarck).

KGCU, with studios and transmitter in the Kennelly building, is at 205 1st St. NW.

Chautauqua Park (picnic grounds, tourist camp, golf course, clubhouse, tennis and horseshoe courts) in the southwestern part of the city is on ND 6.

Left from Mandan 1.3 m. on a graveled road to the STATE TRAINING SCHOOL, to which modern buildings and well-landscaped grounds give the appearance of an up-to-date preparatory school rather than an institution for delinquent juveniles. The school, which is one of four in the United States housing both boys and girls, and the only one offering a four-year high school course, teaches farming, carpentry, cooking, laundering, and sewing.

On the high bluffs on the south edge of the city is the U. S. NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS FIELD STATION (see Side Tour 8C).

At Mandan is the junction with ND 6, a graveled highway (see Side Tour 8C).

Left from Mandan on 6th Ave. SE. which becomes a county graveled road and crosses the HEART RIVER, 1 m., which in Sioux translation is called Tacanta Wakpa Tanka.

FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN STATE PARK, 4.5 m. (see Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park).

The graveled road proceeds S. over the benchland of the Missouri to SCHMIDT, 11 m., an elevator and railroad siding. Here the route becomes a graded dirt road, and continues S.

At 18 m. the road cuts through an extending clay ridge which protrudes like an eagle's beak from the Badlands-like formation to the R. To the W. here rises a flat-topped steep cliff jutting away from the other hills and connected with them only by a narrow neck. On this mesa once stood the Eagle's Nose Village of the Mandans, believed by some to have been built by the great Mandan tribal hero Good Furred Robe, although this origin has also been attributed to the Huff Site (see below). To reach the old village site one must ascend the SW. side of the hill. From the top there is a far-reaching view of the beautiful Missouri valley, stretching S. from the gray outlines of the capitol at Bismarck and the blockhouses on the hill at Fort McKeen.

At 20 m. is HUFF, a store and railroad station. At 20.5 m. (L) is the HUFF INDIAN VILLAGE STATE PARK, site of a Mandan village. According to legend the Mandan people at one time lived underground, but under the leadership of four chiefs, headed by Good Furred Robe, they climbed a vine to enter this world through an opening in the ground to the surface. Good Furred Robe then laid out their first village, placing the houses in rows like corn. This legend is believed by some Indians to refer to the Huff Site, whose heavily sodded lodge rings suggest great age. The reason for the somewhat rectangular shape of some of the depressions has not yet been determined.

South of Huff to FORT RICE STATE PARK, 29 m., the site of a fort established by Gen. Alfred H. Sully on his Indian expedition in 1864. It served as a military post until 1877, when it was succeeded by Fort Yates down the river. In 1868 Fort Rice was the scene of a peace council with the Sioux. Sitting Bull and some five thousand followers, resentful of the appropriation of their lands by the white settlers, had refused to go on reservations and had moved to the Powder River in present Wyoming, where they lived the free, open life to which they were accustomed. They harbored a bitter hatred for the white people, but there was one white man whom Sitting Bull trusted. He was Father Pierre Jean De Smet, a Jesuit missionary who had spent years among the Indians of the western plains, and was sincerely interested in their welfare. He was known to the Sioux as "Black Robe." The War Department and the Indian Bureau, eager to negotiate with the Sioux, sent Father De Smet to lead a delegation to Sitting Bull's camp. Many of the hostile Indians had vowed to kill any white man on sight, but their leader learned that it was "Black Robe" who was approaching, and welcomed him heartily. During the council which followed Father De Smet gave Sitting Bull a brass and wood crucifix, which the Sioux leader, although he never professed Catholicism, prized highly all his life. At the instigation of the priest, Sitting Bull, while refusing to attend a peace council himself, sent two representatives, Chief Gall and Bull Owl, whom he instructed to say, "Move out the soldiers and stop the steamboats and we shall have peace." The peace council was held at Fort Rice, and led to the Laramie Treaty later that year, which unfortunately was violated in 1875 by the Indian Bureau and the War Department, precipitating the hostilities that ended in the disastrous Battle of the Little Big Horn in June 1876 (see History).

West of Mandan US 10 enters that part of the Missouri Plateau known locally as the Missouri Slope, and proceeds over the rolling grasslands typical of this area. As the route progresses through the Slope region, buttes jutting up from the prairie become more numerous. Many are crowned with brick-red scoria (clay baked in the earth by the heat of burning lignite beds lying adjacent), and others have scoria formations protruding from their sides.

At 209.5 m. is the junction with ND 25, a graveled highway (see Side Tour 8D).

At 231 m. (L) is the WRONG SIDE UP MONUMENT, a four-foot natural boulder bearing a bronze plate, commemorating an incident to which the New Salem Holstein Breeders' Circuit, nationally known dairy organization, credits its success. As one of the early settlers was breaking land preparatory to seeding it for the first time, a Sioux Indian and his son approached. The father, turning a piece of the sod back into its natural position, remarked, "Wrong side up." His son explained that the father believed the soil should not be plowed. The farmer, heeding his advice, grazed cattle on his land instead. Neighbors followed his example, and today NEW SALEM, 232 m. (2,163 alt., 804 pop.), is the center of an extensive dairying area. The town was named by members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church for the Biblical city of Salem.

GLEN ULLIN, 251.5 m. (2,065 alt., 950 pop.), a Russo-German community, has a name suggested to a railroad official by the Scottish ballad Lord Ullin's Daughter. An intermediate lighted airport is maintained here by the Department of Commerce. Levon West, the etcher, once attended Glen Ullin high school.

HEBRON, 267 m. (2,155 alt., 1,348 pop.), is in a small valley just W. of the divide between the Heart and Knife Rivers. Like New Salem, its name is of Biblical origin. The town has more brick-faced buildings in its business district than most towns of similar size because of the proximity of the $250,000 Hebron Brick Plant (for directions inquire at post office; open weekdays 9-5). Clay deposits suitable for brick manufacture, discovered here in 1904, led to the development of the field. The plant, on the eastern outskirts of the town, ships its products to all parts of the Northwest, the Pacific Coast States, and Canada.

Emil Krauth, son of one of Hebron's early settlers, is an authority on butterflies, and received recognition of his work in 1935 when entomologists named a small yellow butterfly, Colias christina krauthii, for him. At his residence he has a Butterfly Collection (open; for directions inquire at post office), 100 cases displaying specimens gathered from many parts of the world.

Just NW. of the town, where a cemetery now lies, Fort Sauerkraut was built at the time of a false Indian scare in 1892. There is no record of why it was given its odd name.

Right from Hebron on a country trail to CROWLEY FLINT QUARRY STATE PARK, 22 m. Here the Indians obtained flint from which to make arrow and spear heads. The process of making an arrowhead or spear point was tedious, the only tool being a piece of bone or horn that had been buried two weeks in wood ashes to remove grease and temper the material. On the palm of one hand was placed a buckskin covering, and on this was laid the flint, held in place by the fingers of the same hand. Using the bone tool in the other hand, the worker began flaking chips from the flint, first up one side and then the other, until the stone assumed the shape wanted. Today unfinished or broken arrowheads and spear points are occasionally found in the quarry.

West of ANTELOPE (L), 275 m. (2,410 alt., 20 pop.), the route follows closely the trail made by Custer's Seventh Cavalry in June 1876, on their way from Fort Abraham Lincoln to the Little Big Horn country in Montana, to meet death at the hands of the Sioux they pursued (see History). The deep ruts cut in the prairie by the military wagons of the expedition, and later by those traveling over the same trail to Fort Keogh, Mont., are visible R. and parallel to the highway where it passes S. of YOUNG MEN'S BUTTE, 277.5 m. According to legend, when the Arikara Indians were still living on the Grand River, in what is now South Dakota, a group separated from the tribe and set out toward the northwest to seek a new home. Two young men in the party, however, grew lonesome for the sweethearts they had left behind, and when they reached this butte they decided to return to their old home. The remainder of the party continued on the journey, and was never heard from again.

Left from Antelope an unimproved dirt road leads to the Heart River, 8 m., and the SITE OF GENERAL SULLY'S TEMPORARY BASE CAMP for the Battle of Killdeer Mountains. On his march to the Yellowstone River, in 1864, Sully corraled his wagon train at this camp, and, traveling light, moved quickly N. to the Killdeer Mountains to make a surprise attack on a camp of 5,000 Sioux (see Side Tour 8D).

RICHARDTON, 278 m. (2,465 alt., 710 pop.), is the home of Assumption Abbey of the Benedictine order. The buildings, of Gothic and Romanesque styles, give the impression of having been transplanted from ancient Europe to the North Dakota prairie. Twin red-roofed steeples raise burnished crosses above the buildings, which are constructed in a square around a garden court. The abbey, completed in 1910, includes St. Mary's Monastery, St. Mary's Church, and a high school and junior college for boys. The library contains 14,000 volumes, among which are several books dated 1720 and bound in pigskin. The town is named for C. B. Richardton, official of a steamship company that sought homes for German immigrants, and is predominantly Russo-German.

At 284 m. is TAYLOR (2,487 alt., 263 pop.). South of here along the Heart River are large deposits of bentonite; a clay used for commercial manufacture of paints, cleaners, linoleum, cosmetics, and other products (see Industry and Labor).

At 299.5 m. is the junction with a graveled road.

Left on this road is LEHIGH, 2 m. (2,347 alt., 203 pop.), named for Lehigh, Pa., because both are mining towns. Here is a Briquetting Plant (open to large parties and school or college groups; guides). This is the only plant in the United States producing lignite briquets with a B. t. u. (British thermal unit: 778 foot-pounds energy) rating of 15,000. Raw lignite has a B. t. u. rating of about 6,500. Eighteen thousand tons of briquets are produced annually by the million dollar plant. The work of the late E. J. Babcock of the State university has been of great importance in adapting the lignite briquetting process to North Dakota coal. The chief byproduct of the plant is creosote, of which about 70,000 gallons are shipped to eastern markets each year. Research conducted on activated carbon, a lignite product used in the manufacture of tires and for filtration purposes, points to commercial development of this byproduct (see Industry and Labor).

DICKINSON, 302.5 m. (2,305 alt., 5,025 pop.), principal stock and wheat shipping point in the central Missouri Slope area, and Stark County seat, is on the slope of a hill overlooking the Heart River, which cuts through the prairie S. of the city. The town is still young enough to retain much of the friendly atmosphere of the early West.

When the railroad reached this point in 1880, the site was known as Pleasant Valley Siding, but in 1883 the name was changed by H. L. Dickinson, the town's first merchant, to honor his cousin Wells S. Dickinson, a New York State senator.

The town defeated Gladstone and Belfield for county seat in 1884, and the same year saw its development as a forwarding point for freight to the booming Black Hills gold fields. On April 15 alone, more than 220,000 lbs. of freight destined for the Hills were received at Dickinson.

In 1886 the Dickinson Press reported: "The first Fourth of July celebration attempted in Dickinson took place last Monday. It exceeded the anticipation of all and proved to be a grand success—a day that will long be remembered. The day dawned bright and cool. Early in the morning people began to arrive and by ten o'clock the largest crowd ever assembled in Stark County lined the principal streets. The train from the west brought a number of Medora people. Amongst them was Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, the orator of the day. The celebration consisted of: A Parade, Addresses by Hon. Theodore Roosevelt and Hon. John A. Rae, Races, Fire Works, and a dance in the evening."

Russo-German immigrants seeking homes in this country were early attracted to Dickinson by the Catholic mission established there by Bishop Martin Marty of St. Paul, and today the southern part of the city is a Russo-German settlement, almost a town within a town. Although the younger generation is Americanized, the older women still wear old-fashioned, long, dark dresses, and cover their heads with dark scarfs or tuecher. There are halls for social functions, and for the gala wedding dances which often last several days.

The $2,000,000 plant of the Dickinson Fire and Pressed Brick Co. (open) adjoins the city on the S. The plant, which has a capacity of 20,000 bricks daily, utilizes the various clays found in the company's 200 acres along the Heart River. Fine pottery is also manufactured. Among the clays used is a rare plastic clay which is worked into sewer pipe and fire brick, and produces a fine buff shade for facing bricks. In addition there are clays, semi-shales, and red clays that are worked into old red sandstone, red, and terra cotta shades for facing.

In the northern part of the city are the Dickinson Country Club (golf), Whitney Swimming Pool (open June-Sept.; nominal fee), and Athletic Field (gridiron, baseball diamond, running track, and tennis courts), and Rocky Butte Park (picnicking).

Atop a knoll on 10th Ave. W. is the campus of the Dickinson State Normal School. Its buildings, in English Tudor style, constructed of Hebron brick with white sandstone trim, were not occupied until 1924, although classes were held in the Dickinson Elks building as early as 1918. On the top floor of May Hall is a natural history museum.

Left (S) from Dickinson on ND 22 to a U. S. Department of Commerce intermediate AIRPORT, 6 m.

At 303.5 m, is a junction with a graveled road.

Right on this road to the DICKINSON SUBSTATION AND NORTH DAKOTA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, 2 m. Here, under State and Federal supervision, experiments are conducted in fruit production, dry land farming, and the raising of forage and cereal crops.

At 320 m. is the junction with a graveled spur.

Left on this spur is SOUTH HEART, 1 m. (2,474 alt., 150 pop.) so named because of its position on the southern bank of the Heart River. One mile W. of the town the trail made in 1864 by Gen. Alfred Sully and his troops on their return from the Battle of Killdeer Mountain is plainly visible. South of the town on a country trail is CUSTER HILL, 7 m., where Custer made camp on his way to the Big Horn country in Montana in 1876. Breastworks thrown up as a protection are still visible.

BELFIELD, 322 m. (2,578 alt., 653 pop.), is in a small valley along a tributary of the Heart River. The Dakota Colloidal Corp., which operates the only Bentonite Plant (open weekdays 9-4) in the State, procures the mineral from a clay found N. of town, and uses it in the manufacture of soaps and washing powders. Here is a junction with US 85 (see Tour 4).

At 330 m. the route comes dramatically upon the BADLANDS, cut into the heart of the plateau. In every direction stretches a confusion of bare, grotesque, garish buttes, their tops level with the surrounding prairies. Down their sides broad earth strata—brown, ash gray, sulphur yellow, and salmon—deposited through geological ages, have been exposed by years of erosion. French explorers named this region mauvaises terres a traverser, or bad lands to travel through.

Right at 332 m. is PAINTED CANYON with its jumble of gorges and superb buttes. Spread as far as one can see toward the northern horizon is a magnificent display of buttes, showing in varying light and shadow the great charm of this never-monotonous country. A drive lined with a wall of brick-red scoria (see Natural Setting), mottled with green, like weathered bronze, parallels the highway, providing a good point from which to take photographs.

As the highway descends into the Badlands, it twists through ravines and valleys. At 335 m. is the eastern entrance to the SOUTH ROOSEVELT REGIONAL STATE PARK (see Roosevelt Regional State Parks).

MEDORA, 341.5 m. (2,265 alt., 200 pop.), seat of Billings County, lies along the eastern bank of the Little Missouri River, at the foot of a steep wall of yellow clay cliffs. Now a center for tourists attracted by its history and the scenic beauty of the surrounding area, it was formerly such a bustling cattle town that on one occasion a thousand Texas steers stampeded across the tracks and stopped a train. In the same era, it is said, the more or less adequately named son of the plains, Hell-Roaring Bill Jones, saw an old gentleman in a derby get off the train here. Derbies and plug hats were especially scorned by the cowboys, so with a grunt of disapproval Bill shot off the offending bit of haberdashery. The gentleman hastened to reenter the train, leaving his dismantled headgear to the West. But not so Bill Jones: "Come back!" he roared in tones that compelled obedience. "We don't want the blinkety-blank thing in Medora."

In 1879 a military camp named Little Missouri (see below) was established here on the opposite river bank to protect workers of the N. P. Ry. from Indian attacks. This typically rough frontier post saw the arrival in 1883 of two notable young men of almost the same age. Theodore Roosevelt, a young New York assemblyman of 25, traveling for his health and also to forget the recent loss of both his mother and wife, already displayed the rugged, direct personality which later characterized the wielder of the "big stick." Because of his eastern dress and his heavy glasses he became known as "the four-eyed dude from New York", or, more briefly, "Four-eyes"—until one evening with his naked fists he knocked out and disarmed a bully. Thereafter his nickname was subtly changed to "Old Four-eyes."

The other young man was the Marquis de Mores, a handsome, spirited Frenchman. Arriving in America about six months earlier with his bride, the rich and charming Medora Von Hoffman of New York, he had made a hunting trip to the West and, with characteristic dash, decided to build a packing plant in the cattle country to capitalize on the advantage of avoiding the cost of shipping live animals to eastern abattoirs. Wealthy in his own right and backed by his millionaire father-in-law, de Mores came to the wild Badlands to build the plant that was to be the center of operations for the Northern Pacific Refrigerator Car Co., incorporated to operate in five Territories and nine States, and to do a general transportation business.

Because of some disagreement over contemplated real estate purchases in Little Missouri, de Mores bought a huge tract of land on the east side of the river, where he built his packing plant and with it a town, named Medora for his wife.

In the middle eighties Medora, together with Mingusville (present Wibaux, Mont.), had become the center of a new, rich, cattle-grazing section. The round-up area extended to a radius of 75 m., and in some round-ups as many as 100 men were employed. Large outfits ran probably 100,000 head, and ranchers like Roosevelt, who grazed 2,000 to 3,000 head, were considered small cattlemen.

Many factors operated against the success of de Mores' packing plant, which opened in the fall of 1883. He himself was young, rash, inexperienced, and often ill-advised. His friends found him honest and confiding, and less open minds than his took advantage of him. There were costly mistakes, and many hundreds of thousands were spent before any meat was sold. Moreover, eastern packers undersold de Mores and forced ruinously low prices. Since he had to depend on grass for feed, he could supply his trade from his own stock only at certain seasons, and at the other times had to buy from outside parties, who took advantage of the situation to charge him high prices. A plan to feed cattle at Medora never materialized. De Mores ran sheep, but hundreds died. To cap it all, the public apparently did not like grass-fed meat.

Another ill-starred enterprise was the Medora-Deadwood stage line, begun in the fall of 1884 with the idea of securing a mail contract and some of the passenger and freight traffic going to the Black Hills gold fields by way of Dickinson. The route from Medora to Deadwood was shorter than that from Dickinson, but it was also rougher. De Mores' horses were wild, and often broke up equipment. In addition, the mail contract failed to materialize; the shift from placer to deep mining lessened the flow of transients into the Hills; and after one trip over the rough road, freight shippers usually chose the Dickinson route. The line was ordered discontinued in the spring of 1886, ending another of the marquis' dreams.

Many people of the Little Missouri Valley did not like de Mores. They doubted his claim to the peerage, or, if they believed it, regarded it as an affront to their almost belligerent democracy. Such things as his special car on the N. P. Ry. and his occasional trips East or abroad irked them. Worst of all, he began to fence his land—a glaring infraction of wide-open range etiquette. His fences were cut; he had them mended. They were cut open again. Things went from bad to worse. Stories were carried to de Mores of threats against his life. He appealed to the sheriff at Mandan for the arrest of the trouble makers. When the deputy sheriff arrived, they bluffed him out, and de Mores, thinking the deputy overpowered or perhaps killed, endeavored to make the arrest. There was shooting, and when the smoke cleared, one man was dead.

This was in June 1883. Twice dismissed by lower courts, the charge against de Mores was finally brought in district court in Bismarck in September 1885. He was acquitted. About a year after the trial, realizing that his packing plant was not to be a success, he closed its doors, and took his family to Europe. At the age of 38, while on an expedition to Africa, he was ambushed and killed by native guides.

Except for his neighbor Roosevelt, the Badlands have never known a more notable figure than this Frenchman with his dreams of their industrial development.

Theodore Roosevelt was a frequent visitor at the de Mores' chateau (see below) during the months he spent in Dakota Territory. On his first hunting trip here in 1883 he was so attracted by the wild country that he made arrangements to become a partner in a ranching enterprise, and for the next six years he spent part of each year here, first at the Maltese Cross, or Chimney Butte Ranch (see Bismarck), 7 m. up the Little Missouri, and later at the Elkhorn, 35 m. downstream (see Tour 10). Both ranch sites are difficult to reach, and little is to be seen at them other than the sites where the buildings stood.

Roosevelt's ranching ventures were not financially successful; he ran small herds, and was interested more in the condition of his health than that of his fortune. His keen delight in hunting and the rough cowboy life, however, won him many friends. In the spring of 1884 he acted as chairman of the local Stockmen's Association, and the same year he was the principal speaker at Dickinson's first Fourth of July celebration. One day a cowboy overheard someone say, "That fool Joe Ferris

In company with the other stockmen of the valley, Roosevelt lost heavily in the severe winter of 1886-87. It is said that scarcely a rancher did not lose at least half his stock—the Hash-Knife, a large outfit, lost 65,000 head.

Roosevelt's trips to the West thereafter were of shorter duration. One of the strongest links that bound him to this country was his famous Rough Riders, made up mainly of western men, who served under him in the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt visited Medora in 1900, on a campaign tour, and again in 1903, and was warmly received each time by his old neighbors and friends.

Medora was briefly the home of Tom Mix, screen actor, who was married here to Olive M. Stokes, Jan. 19, 1909. Mix, then a circus performer, and Miss Stokes had just completed contracts with the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West Show.

Right at the entrance to Main St. is the little buff brick Athenais Chapel, built for the marquise by her husband in 1884, and named for their daughter. It was presented to the village in 1920 by members of the de Mores family, and is still in use as the Roman Catholic church of the community.

Fronting Main St. is the Rough Riders Hotel, erected by de Mores in 1884. It served as headquarters for cattlemen and cowpunchers of the day; and although it was built a year after Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota, the story is told that his first night in Medora was spent here. Doubtless, however, he spent many nights in the hotel, which suggested to him the name of his Spanish-American War regiment.

One block down Main St. (L) is a bronze Statue of Marquis de Mores, erected by the family in 1926. It stands in a small plot which is part of De Mores State Park, three tracts comprising about 77 acres, deeded to the State Historical Society of North Dakota in 1936 by Louis, Count de Vallombrosa, eldest son of the marquis. On a second unit of the park, in the northwestern part of town, is the Site of the de Mores Packing Plant. The abandoned buildings, with mammoth refrigerators and machinery and mysterious dark passages, long bore the legend, "Rent free to any responsible party who will make use of them." Fire destroyed them in 1907; all that remains today is a tall, gaunt, yellow brick chimney.

Left from Medora on a winding graded county dirt road to the CUSTER TRAIL RANCH, 5 m., named by its founders, Howard, Willis, and Alden Eaton, for its position on the trail of the fatal military expedition to the Little Big Horn in 1876. It is at the confluence of the Little Missouri River and Davis Creek, where a Custer camp erected parapets for protection from possible Indian attack. Deep ruts cut by the wagons of the expedition are still visible near the ranch buildings. This ranch was established in the late 1880's, and is the first of the "dude ranches" which have become so popular in the West. The owners were neighbors of Roosevelt, whose Chimney Butte Ranch was 2 m. upstream. In 1897 Ernest Thompson Seton, naturalist and author, while gathering material for his books Lives of the Hunted and Coyotito, spent the month of September here with the Eatons. The ranch still has its quota of summer visitors, but in the early 1900's the Eatons transferred their activities to the vicinity of the Big Horn Mountains.

At 341.7 m. the route crosses the bridge leading over the LITTLE MISSOURI RIVER. Except in times of flood the stream, which is narrow here, is shallow and sluggish.

At 341.8 m. is the junction with an improved road.

Left on this road to the third unit (60 A.) of the De Mores State Park, the DE MORES CHATEAU, 0.5 m., commanding an excellent view of the river, the bluffs, and the village. The chateau is a 28-room, 2-story frame structure with a wide veranda, and windows guarded by old-fashioned shutters.

Deserted by its wealthy young owners and their retinue of servants, and subjected to the aging of half a century, it presents a vastly different picture from that of 1883, when the ambitious Frenchman built it for his red-haired bride.

Although the establishment of the packing plant was de Mores' chief reason for being in Dakota, he and the marquise led an active social life, entertaining settlers of the region and also many distinguished guests from the East and from Europe, who came to hunt. An item in the Bismarck Tribune of Sept. 4, 1885, read:

"She Killed Three Bears

"The Marquise, wife of Marquis de Mores, has returned from her hunt in the Rocky mountains, where she killed two cinnamon bears and one large grizzly bear. The accomplished lady, who was a few years ago one of New York City's popular society belles, is now the queen of the Rocky mountains and the champion huntress of the great northwest."

During their residence in America two children were born to the de Mores, a son, Louis, and a daughter, Athenais. A third child, Paul, was born in France soon after the family left Medora. The marquise died in 1920 as the result of an injury received while serving as a nurse in the World War. Although she returned to Medora only once (1893), she removed nothing from the chateau to which she came as a bride. It was left in the hands of a caretaker until its transfer to the State historical society in 1936.

At 341.9 m. (L) are the partly filled cellar holes that mark the SITE OF LITTLE MISSOURI, Medora's predecessor. The story is told that, during the heyday of the town, passengers on a train pausing opposite a hotel here heard the sound of shots. Presently, to their horror, the door opened and a group of cowboys carried out a limp body. Soon there were more shots, and another body was brought out. Before the train left the cowboys figured they had given the "dudes" an eyeful. The "bodies" all belonged to the same man, and the shots had been aimed so as to do no harm.

At 343 m. is the junction with a graveled road.

Right on this road to the sandstone pillars marking the western entrance to the South Roosevelt Regional State Park, 0.1 m. (see Roosevelt Regional State Parks).

At 347.5 m. is the first glimpse of FLAT TOP BUTTE (L), sometimes known as Square Butte, whose mesa-like top contains nearly a section of land. On a slope of this butte occurred a skirmish between Sully's punitive expedition of 1864 and a band of Hunkpapa and Sans Arc Sioux led by Sitting Bull. Harried by a sniping fire from the Sioux, the 2,200 soldiers, on quarter rations because of insufficient supplies, and burdened with an immigrant train of 600 people and 120 oxcarts, had sweltered through a hot August day. Just as darkness was closing over the Badlands they discovered a spring on the northeastern slope of Flat Top Butte, only to have Sitting Bull, who realized their need of the water, suddenly pour in a heavy fire from the nearby hills. The firing continued intermittently all night. In the morning, however, the Sioux withdrew and went hunting. Several Indians were killed during the encounter and many soldiers wounded.

At 355.5 m. the highway reaches the level prairie after a gradual rise out of the Badlands. From here is visible (L) Sentinel Butte (3,350 alt.), second highest point in the State, a large flat-topped mesa in the distance. Right is the CAMEL'S HUMP, a peculiarly rounded, grass-covered hill.

At 358 m. is the village of SENTINEL BUTTE (2,706 alt., 219 pop.), which was named for the nearby mesa to the S. The Sully expedition, following its encounter with the Sioux at Flat Top, passed over the present town site.

Left from the town on a graveled road to the junction with a county dirt road, 3 m.; L. here to a gate (L) at 4.3 m.; follow rutted trail to foot of southern slope of SENTINEL BUTTE, 5 m. In a pass at the top of this slope are two supposed graves of sentinels killed while on guard. Conflicting stories are told of the sentinels' identity. One Indian legend says romance was involved in the slaying of the two; another, that they were Arikara scouts surprised by a Sioux war party. Nearly 80 acres of grassland are on the flat top of Sentinel Butte, and its precipitous sandstone cliff-sides rise 719 ft. above the surrounding prairies. From the eastern rim of the butte on a clear day is a panorama of the Badlands, with Flat Top Butte in the foreground, and the diggings of several private lignite coal mines visible in the slopes of the neighboring hills. To the S. and W. the plain stretches away into the distance: nicely squared patches of green in the spring and early summer, rippling areas of gold during harvest, and squares of plowed black earth etched against patches of grimy yellow stubble in the fall.

BEACH, 365.5 m. (2,755 alt., 1,263 pop.), is named for Capt. Warren Beach of the Eleventh Infantry, who accompanied the Stanley railroad survey expedition in 1873. Beach is Golden Valley County seat, center of a large agricultural area in western North Dakota and eastern Montana, and a grain shipping point. John M. Baer, the political cartoonist, was postmaster in Beach from 1913 to 1915, and later became a North Dakota Congressman.

US 10 crosses the Montana Line, 368 m., 42 m. E. of Glendive Mont. (see Mont. Tour 1).