James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway was pushing west through Dakota Territory in 1887 when it was found necessary to stop near here and build a bridge across a coulee. Where construction halted there immediately sprang up a large tent town, which was generally assumed to be the start of a permanent settlement. The railroad company, however, had selected a town site to the east, on the Souris River, and when this became known the exodus was sudden and complete; almost overnight the tent town was transplanted to the new location. This mushroom-like appearance, coupled with an almost phenomenal growth to 5,000 population during its first year, earned the new frontier settlement the title of the Magic City.
The first white man to settle on the ground now incorporated into the city of Minot was Erik Ramstad, who in May 1885 had come from Grafton, N. Dak., and settled by squatter's right on a quarter section bisected by the Souris. Late in the summer of 1886 he relinquished 40 acres south of the river to the town site people, and this land together with another 40 acres to the south became the original site of Minot. On July 16, 1887, less than a year after settlement, Minot was an incorporated city. A few weeks later an entire slate of city officers was selected in a campaign which set a high standard for many heated city elections of later years. Principal interest centered about the candidates for mayor, and with typical frontier camaraderie the defeated man was the first to sign the bond of office for his victorious opponent. At its initial meeting the newly elected city council selected as the city's first police chief William Flumerfelt, a saloon-keeper.
When Minot's first Christmas arrived, in 1887, not a church graced the town. To observe the season a Christmas tree was set up in Jack Doyle's saloon, which stood on the site of the present Woolworth store at the corner of Central Avenue and Main Street. Most of the town turned out for the celebration, gifts were hung on the tree, and everyone was given candy.
Many early residents were buried in a cemetery in southwest Minot, although no markers remain. This burial place on one occasion almost saw the interment of a person who, by virtue of being very much alive, was quite undeserving of inclusion here. It happened that a local character known as Spider had gone to his reward, and "the boys" had taken over his obsequies, stopping on the way to the cemetery to fortify themselves at a saloon. Reaching the grave, they attempted to lower the coffin, but one end dropped down and the other caught on the side of the grave. John J. Powers, a well-known rancher, was selected to straighten the coffin, but in getting down he was caught between it and the wall of the grave. Disregarding his protests, the high-spirited pallbearers proceeded to shovel in dirt, and he was covered except for his head and shoulders when passersby, hearing his cries, arrived on the scene and effected a rescue.
It was events like this that earned Minot the name of a wild town; and, considering the type of people who flocked into the new city—transient railroad workers and hangers-on, horse and cattle thieves who at that time infested the west and northwest sections of the State, gamblers who saw opportunity in the new settlement, and criminals who had escaped across the boundary from Canada—it is hardly remarkable that the town soon had a reputation for lawlessness and iniquity. Many pioneer residents of Minot still remember a certain railway passenger conductor who would call the name of the station, "MINOT, this is M-I-N-O-T, end of the line. Prepare to meet your God!"
In spite of the disreputable element, many dependable citizens selected the boom town for their permanent homes, and to them the development of the city has been due. As early as 1887 Marshall McClure was publishing the first newspaper, the weekly Minot Rustler-Tribune. The city had its first wooden sidewalk in 1888, and the same year Main Street was lighted with kerosene lamps. The city council passed an ordinance against speeding with horses, the limit being set at eight miles per hour. Apparently the council of that day believed that actions speak louder than words, for on one occasion it adjourned to go out in a body to grub stumps and fix a road that needed repair. In 1889 this same progressive body voted that the city pay 50 cents per barrel for the first 10 barrels of water delivered at any fire in the city. The first fire wagon was John Strommen's dray, which was used to haul water every time an alarm was turned in.
Burlington (see Tour 7), the first community in the Souris region, had confidently expected that the Great Northern would be routed past its door, but instead the road chose the Minot site. The Magic City thereupon set out to deprive its rival of the county seat as well. Arrangements were made for the railroad company to sidetrack an old freight car at Lonetree 28 miles west of Minot. Telegraph wires were strung into it, and the roadmaster presented an affidavit to the county commissioners stating that a station had been opened. Burlington protested: Lonetree belonged in the Burlington precinct, it claimed, and there were not enough residents to open the polls. The railroad installed two operators, a station agent and a helper; Lonetree was declared a precinct, and it is said that railroad crews as far west as Glasgow, Mont., voted. Minot became the county seat.
Settlers rushed into "Imperial Ward" County when it was surveyed and opened to homesteading in 1896. The origin of the county's nickname is apparent from the following description in Colonel Lounsberry's Record: "... a small sized empire of 5,000 square miles rich in soil, clays, coal, and the energy of its people, immigration unequaled, steady and firm like the flow of a river." Land entries at Minot during the first nine months of 1905 were said to be greater than at any other U. S. land office in the country. Homesteaders slept on the floor of the office to avoid losing their turn in filing for land.
Imperial Ward remained intact until 1910, when its ample acres were carved into Renville, Burke, Mountrail, and present Ward Counties.
Deer, antelope, prairie and timber wolves, foxes, mink, otter, beaver, ducks, and geese provided early settlers of the Minot area with food, furs, and sport. In the winter, when water holes were opened in the frozen river for stock, fish would come up to the openings in such numbers that they could easily be speared with pitchforks, and it was not uncommon at these watering places to see fish frozen and stacked up like cordwood.