At Fort Totten is the junction (L) with a graveled Indian Service road, from this point the tour route.
Right from Fort Totten on ND 57 to the INDIAN RESETTLEMENT TRACT (R), 0.5 m., where the Government has constructed 13 new homes for the Indians.
At 2 m. on ND 57 are the DEVIL'S EARS, two long hills through which the highway runs. A man passing between these hills loses his mind, according to Indian legend, but regains it as soon as he comes out of the valley. The Indians are reluctant to discuss these hills with strangers; for while their pre-Christian philosophy included no devils, the hills were believed to have some connection with the Great Mystery or Great Spirit.
On the graveled Indian Service road is the 800-acre SULLY'S HILL NATIONAL GAME PRESERVE, 15.5 m. (no admission charge; picnic shelters, playgrounds, pure water, camping facilities; vehicles not allowed within fenced area). Trees and shrubs cover the hills of the park almost to their peaks, and tiny lakes dot the valleys, making this a beautiful spot. The park and its highest point, Sully's Hill, are named for Gen. Alfred H. Sully, to commemorate his Indian expeditions into North Dakota. A high woven-wire fence encloses small herds of buffalo, elk, and deer, also wild fowl. Some of the animals are quite tame, and amuse visitors with their antics. More than 14,000 people visited the park in 1935.
The DEVIL'S TOOTH (L), 17 m., a boulder about 6 ft. high and 5 ft. square at the base, resembles a tooth with its roots extending upward. This rock is greatly revered by the Indians, who tell that an Indian mother wandered over the hill one day carrying her child, and disappeared. Searchers, looking for her in vain, found this large stone, which had not been here before, and concluded it was the spirit of the woman and child. The stone has since had a reputation of connection with evil spirits. Gifts are often left here by Indians when a relative has died, but it is said that other Indians sometimes appropriate these offerings. It is an old custom for an Indian to give away part or even all of his possessions after the death of a loved one.
At 19 m. L. on a graveled Indian Service road.
At 21 m. (R) is small, attractive COURT LAKE (charge of 10c per day or 25c per wk. for use of bathing beach), named for Ignatius Court, the Indian who helped Father Hunt print a Siouan newspaper in the early days of St. Michael's Mission, and who served for many years as official interpreter at the Fort Totten Agency.
At 21.8 m. is a junction with a graveled Indian Service road (L), now the route.
Right on this road is ST. MICHAEL, 2 m. (1,470 alt., 180 pop.), at the foot of Mission Hill, which affords a good view of the surrounding country. Here is St. Michael's Mission, established in 1874 by the Grey Nuns order of the Roman Catholic Church, through the efforts of Maj. William H. Forbes, first Indian agent on the reservation. At the mission lived and worked Father Jerome Hunt (see above). The old mission church is still standing.