ARVILLA, 21.5 m. (1,019 alt., 150 pop.), was named for the wife of a bonanza farmer. The Grand Forks County Farm and Hospital, a large brick structure, is situated just across the railroad track on a 136-acre tract adjoining the town on the S. The Arvilla Academy and North Dakota Conservatory of Music, the first private college in the State to maintain a music department, was founded in 1886 by Rev. John Allen Brown, Presbyterian pastor at Arvilla. Miss Sadie P. Brown, daughter of the founder, and a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music, headed the music department. The existence of the academy was brief, for the building was destroyed by fire in 1893 and was never rebuilt.
The CRYSTAL SPRINGS STOCK FARM, 23.5 m., consisting of 2,480 acres along the Turtle River, was a bonanza farm and then a stock farm, but now is known for the spring water bottled here for commercial purposes. In its early days the 20-room house, now standing empty with its venetian shutters flapping in the wind, was the scene of a social life that rivaled the surrounding bonanza acres in expansiveness and amplitude. H. T. Hersey, a Minnesota millionaire, became interested in wheat farming and built the house. His wife installed a full staff of servants, and many parties were held for eastern friends. On several occasions James J. Hill stopped his special train here to visit the Herseys, and once a special train carrying members of the State legislature stopped while its passengers were entertained at this prairie palace. Eventually Hersey tired of his role of gentleman farmer and sold his farm to James Streeter, prominent Larimore real estate dealer and farmer.
LARIMORE, 28 m. (1,135 alt., 979 pop.), was named for N. D. Larimore, stockholder and business head of the Elk River Valley Farm, which was once the world's largest farm under single management. Most of the bonanza farms were divided into a number of tracts, each under a foreman, but the Elk River Valley Farm had all operations centralized. Its huge proportions attracted the St. Louis World's Fair Foreign Commission, which visited the farm in 1904, at which time there were 11,000 acres under cultivation. From this visit a great influx of northern Europeans resulted, leading to the breaking up of the bonanza farms and the sale of small farms to the new settlers.
The City Park (wading pool, tennis courts, tourist camp) is in the same block as the city hall.
At 32.5 m. the highway crosses the Turtle River, near a dam built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (swimming, picnic grounds).
McCANNA, 38 m. (1,142 alt., 100 pop.), was named for S. A. McCanna, owner of the McCanna Farm (R), now the largest in the western part of Grand Forks County. Large modern buildings adjacent to the town on the NW., and the use of modern farm methods make it one of the show places in the area.
NIAGARA, 44.5 m. (1,443 alt., 207 pop.), was named for Niagara County, N. Y. Because of uncertainty as to where the railroad would pass, the town was first built on skids 1 m. E. of the present site, and was moved when the railroad came in 1882.
PETERSBURG, 51.5 m. (1,524 alt., 310 pop.), named for a pioneer clergyman in the community, has a population predominantly Norwegian, as has MICHIGAN CITY, 57.5 m. (1,520 alt., 433 pop.), platted on land of the James Lamb family, who were among early arrivals in the vicinity and have continued to be prominent in local affairs. The town was named in honor of the native State of many of its first settlers. In the early 1880's an error in billing sent here an entire trainload of iron ore intended for Michigan City, Ind. The village officially retains its original name, but local usage has abridged this to "Michigan."
MAPES, 62.5 m. (1,530 alt., 56 pop.), once a prosperous grain shipping center, was named for Emery Mapes, one of the men who worked out the formula for the nationally known Cream of Wheat.