NOONAN, 279 m. (1,959 alt., 423 pop.), named for an early settler, has its white buildings scattered over the northern slope of a small hill. When the town was platted in 1906, contracts stipulated that buildings should be painted white in order that the community might live up to its advertised name of the White City.
CROSBY, 292.5 m. (1,962 alt., 1,271 pop.), dominated by the dome of the Divide County Courthouse at the northern end of Main St., was named for a member of the town site company of Portal (see Tour 7). It sprang up at the junction of the Soo and G. N. branch lines, a strategic rail position that soon established it as a focal point for trade in the northwestern corner of the State.
Straight ahead (N) from the fairgrounds on a graveled road to the CROSBY CITY RECREATION PARK (swimming pool, golf course, tennis and horseshoe courts, ski jump, camping ground), 5 m., developed along the Canadian border.
At 301.5 m. is a junction with US 85 (see Tour 4), which unites with ND 5 to 311 m.
FORTUNA, 315 m. (2,190 alt., 196 pop.), a Scandinavian community, named for the Roman goddess of fortune, was established in the summer of 1913 when the branch line of the Soo Ry. was extended from Ambrose, N. Dak., to Whitetail, Mont. The day lots were sold, temporary business houses, which had been squatting a mile from the present site at a post office called Norge, were put on wheels and rolled away to the new town by night.
Right from Fortuna on a county road to the DEWITT SPRING, 1 m., whose flow fills a two-inch pipe of water the year around. It has furnished water for Fortuna since the founding of the village.
At 329 m. the route crosses the Montana Line, 66 m. E. of Scobey, Mont.
SIDE TOUR 5A
Junction ND 5—Walhalla—Leroy. ND 32, ND 55, and an unimproved road.
Junction ND 5 to Leroy, 25 m.