MINTO, 63 m. (826 alt., 565 pop.), originally settled by Canadians and named for an Ontario town, is now a Czech and Polish settlement. The Feast of St. Wenslaus, September 28, and Czechoslovakian Independence Day, October 28, are occasions of festivity. Minto is situated on the Forest River. There is a park by the stream S. of the town (swimming pool, recreational area, and campgrounds.)
ARDOCH, 69 m. (830 alt., 110 pop.), also named for an Ontario town, is now predominantly Polish. Lake Ardoch, a large artificial lake constructed as a water conservation and migratory waterfowl project, adjoins the town on the E.
At 80.5 m. is the second junction with ND 44 (see above).
MANVEL, 81.5 m. (826 alt., 183 pop.), is named for Gen. A. A. Manvel of the G. N. Ry. Originally known as the Turtle River station, it was one of six stops on the Fort Abercrombie-Fort Garry trail in the 1860's. The stage station was a crude log hut, roofed first with prairie sod and later with a thatch of weeds when the rain washed the sod away. The hut had one window and one door. Cooking was done on a fireplace made of clay dobes or hand-made bricks. For meals, served on an improvised table, the traveler paid 50 cents, and for the same price he had the privilege of sleeping on the dirt floor. These stations were comfortable, however, in the coldest weather, with great fires roaring in the fireplaces to warm and cheer the traveler.
At 92.5 m. is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to the GRAND FORKS SILVER FOX FARM, 2 m. (visitors allowed Jan. 1-June 1; arrange with manager). About 200 pair of foxes are kept at the farm each winter.
Left at 93 m. is a stone memorial marking a point on the old RED RIVER OXCART TRAIL between St. Paul, Minn., and Fort Garry (Winnipeg), Canada. During the late summer and fall most of the traffic through the region was on this trail. It was first used by traders at Fort Garry to transport furs to St. Paul. The exact route is not known today, but it is believed to have run through Grand Forks on 3rd St., turned S. at the present corner of S. 3rd St. and Minnesota Ave., whence it followed approximately the route of US 81 to the Lincoln Park golf course. Here it is believed to have turned E. toward the river, which it followed to Frog Point (Belmont, see below), and thence up the valley. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cavileer, pioneer settlers at Pembina, made a romantic honeymoon journey to St. Paul on this trail in 1840.
At 93 m. is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to the NORTHERN PACKING COMPANY PLANT (open), 0.3 m., which in its 15-year existence (1937) has purchased more than $20,000,000 worth of livestock.
At 93.5 m. (R) is the NORTH DAKOTA STATE MILL AND ELEVATOR (open weekdays 9-5; conducted tours), a State-owned plant. A product of the Nonpartisan League's industrial program, this institution has played an important role in State politics since its opening in 1922. As early as 1915 the Society of Equity and the Equity Exchange had attempted to establish a State-owned elevator, but had failed, and this failure hastened the formation of the Nonpartisan League. By 1919 the league was strong enough in the legislature to establish its industrial program, part of which was a State mill and elevator. The State Industrial Commission governs the mill and elevator. Managership is generally considered a political plum. Whether or not the mill is a paying venture is a perennially hotly debated question. Its opponents, taking into consideration the original cost of the mill, an amount in excess of $3,000,000, cannot see how it will ever pay for itself, while those who favor its operation maintain that it makes a profit, and assert further that the creation of a market within the boundaries of the State is of invaluable benefit to the farmers. Salesmen for the State sell the mill's product in eastern States, and one of the accusations repeatedly hurled at the mill manager during political campaigns is that Dakota Maid Flour retails at a lower price in the East than in North Dakota.