Left from the dam on a gravel road to the CP RANCH, 14 m., which maintains one of the few buffalo herds in the Northwest. Thirty-five shaggy-coated bison range in a 700-acre pasture, appearing at the ranch buildings twice daily for water. A large herd of Hereford cattle is also kept here.
DONNYBROOK, 181 m. (1,760 alt., 259 pop.), named by its founders for Donnybrook, Ireland, is at the foot of the hills bordering the western side of the Des Lacs valley.
At 189 m. the route passes S. of DES LACS LAKE, a remnant of a glacial stream, now divided into three parts and drained by the Des Lacs River. The U. S. Biological Survey has a large migratory waterfowl project in progress on the lower lake, and as the road winds along the eastern shore the nesting islands and several dams built by the survey are visible.
KENMARE, 197 m. (1,799 alt., 1,494 pop.), believed to have been named by the wife of a Canadian Pacific Ry. official for a community in Ireland, lies on a hillside facing Middle Des Lacs Lake. In the steep sides of the lake valley nearby are a number of lignite mines.
Opposite Kenmare are the Administration Buildings of the Des Lacs Lake Migratory Waterfowl Project—low white structures with red tile roofs.
At Kenmare the highway leaves the valley for the Drift Plain, which stretches away to the E. to meet the flat bed of glacial Lake Souris, beyond which lie the Turtle Mountains. To the W. against the horizon rises the eastern edge of the great Missouri Plateau topped by the Altamont Moraine, the height of land between the Missouri and Souris Rivers.
At 202 m. is the Junction with ND 5, a graveled highway (see Tour 5). US 52 and ND 5 are one route to 234 m.
At 209 m. the highway dips into a large cut to cross UPPER DES LACS LAKE, which, despite present dry conditions, was once the scene of steamboating. In early days it was navigable across the Canadian border near Northgate, and grain from points in Canada and along the lake in North Dakota was shipped via the water route to Kenmare for transshipment by rail to eastern markets. The years of continued subnormal rainfall in this region have left the upper lake dry in places.
BOWBELLS, 214 m. (1,961 alt., 695 pop.), named by English stockholders of the Soo Line for the famous Bow Bells in St. Mary-le-Bow Church in London, is the Burke County seat. Almost treeless, its squat appearance blends into the flat terrain, with the tall water tower, the only notable feature of the town, visible for miles on the level prairie.