US 10, rising steadily toward the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, with a gain of 1,852 feet in altitude in crossing the State, traverses the three main topographic divisions of North Dakota (see Natural Setting), from the low, flat Red River Valley, across the rolling Drift Plain and out upon the Missouri Plateau. Near the end of the route are the strange and beautiful Badlands.
Most of the country along the road is cultivated, and in the fields the cycle of farming operations—plowing, seeding, cultivating, harvesting—repeats itself as the seasons progress. During the growing season, stretching far across the flat plains and over the sloping hills, the varying greens of the grains blend with the blue flax fields and the invading yellow patches of mustard. In the fall the prairies have a somber, peaceful air as their tawny stubblefields and newly plowed black acres await the first snowfall. When winter comes the never-ending expanse of white is broken by the dark pattern of roads and an occasional lead-colored clump of trees, bare and shivering in the wind, while at the distant horizon the whiteness unites with the pale blue of clear winter skies.
West of the Red River Valley trees are few except along the rivers. Yet, according to legend, this country was once heavily forested—until Paul Bunyan, the master woodsman, had his men log it off, just before his famous fight with his foreman, the Bull of the Woods, on top of the bottom of the Mountain That Stood on Its Head. As a matter of geologic fact, the area traversed by the route has been largely treeless since the gradual cooling of the climate, incident to the ice age, destroyed the tropical plant and animal life which once were profuse here.
FARGO, 0.0 m. (907 alt., 28,619 pop.) (see Fargo).
Points of Interest: North Dakota Agricultural College, Veterans' Hospital, Dovre Ski Slide.
At Front and 13th Sts. is the junction with US 81 (see Tour 1).
WEST FARGO (R) (907 alt., 127 pop.) and SOUTHWEST FARGO (L) (907 alt., 800 pop.), 5 m., suburbs of Fargo, are the center of North Dakota's meat-packing industry. An Armour & Co. Plant (open; tours at 9:30 & 11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10:30 a.m. only on Sat.; no children under 10) and a large livestock market employ the majority of the residents of these two young villages, incorporated in 1931 and 1937 respectively. Armour's plant, housed in a four-story brick building, employs more than 400 people. Connected with it is the Union Stockyards where representatives of commission firms buy livestock from North Dakota farmers. Included in the yards is an exchange building which houses offices of the company, dealers, and commission firms, and State and Federal agencies supervising market operations.
At 12 m. is the junction with a graveled county highway.
Right on this highway is MAPLETON, 1 m. (904 alt., 195 pop.), one of the oldest towns in the State, organized about 1870. It is named for the Maple River which flows through it, one of the many meandering tributaries of the Red.
At 20 m. is the junction with ND 18, a graveled highway.