All towns along the route W. of Minot are populated principally by Scandinavians.
DES LACS, 245.5 m. (1,932 alt., 205 pop.), is named for Des Lacs River and Lake (see Tour 7). The little town received publicity in 1922 when it elected a complete ticket of women officials. One eastern newspaper wrote a glowing description of a campaign torchlight parade around the city hall and told of the enthusiasm which the men of the town felt over the winning ticket; but a writer for a women's magazine, sent out to look over the situation, was forced to report that there was no city hall, and that "the men were not so enthusiastic now, perhaps because they did not like to have their own backyards cleaned up."
LONETREE, 249.5 m. (2,002 alt., 36 pop.), was named by the railroad company for the one tree that was there when the rails were laid. This little town figured prominently in the Burlington-Minot battle for the seat of "Imperial Ward" County in 1888, turning the election for Minot (see Minot).
BERTHOLD, 253.5 m. (2,089 alt., 511 pop.), is the center of a certified seed potato raising area. In the late 1880's it was the nearest railhead to Fort Berthold on the Indian reservation to the S., hence its name.
At 262 m. the terrain becomes more rolling and from here to the Missouri River the route traverses the ALTAMONT MORAINE, a range of hills lying on the eastern portion of the Missouri Plateau, and marking the farthest advance of the western lobe of the last or Dakota Glacier.
TAGUS, 265 m. (2,189 alt., 136 pop.), was named for a rancher named Taguson.
Left from Tagus on an unimproved dirt road to CARPENTER LAKE (swimming), 6 m.
BLAISDELL (L), 273 m. (2,264 alt., 100 pop.), was named for Alfred Blaisdell, a settler who later became secretary of state of North Dakota.
PALERMO (L), 280.5 m. (2,201 alt., 205 pop.), is the namesake of a city in Sicily.