At 40.5 m. is BUFFALO CREEK HISTORIC SITE (R). A marker reads: "August 16, 1863. General Sibley marched over this spot with 3,400 soldiers on his return after driving the Indians across the Missouri River."
TOWER CITY, 43.5 m. (1,169 alt., 435 pop.), in a grove of trees, is named for Charlemagne Tower (1848-1924), a Philadelphia capitalist and diplomat, who owned much land in the vicinity. He made the foundation plantings of the trees of the city and also donated the first books to the local public library. In 1886 Baptist leaders selected this city as the site of a proposed church college to be named Tower University. Excavations had actually begun, with the expectation that Tower would be its benefactor to the extent of $100,000. Because of some misunderstanding of the preliminary arrangements, however, the endowment fund was not forthcoming. Tower offered the use of a school building, but the school, being unable to continue without financial assistance, closed its doors two years later.
At 48.5 m. is the junction with ND 32, a graveled highway.
Right on this highway is ORISKA, 0.5 m. (1,267 alt., 183 pop.), once the center of a wide wheat-growing area. The name is believed to have been that of the heroine of an old book of western poems.
At 5 m. on ND 32 to CAMP ARNOLD HISTORIC SITE, where in 1863 the Sibley expedition made one of its many overnight camps.
At 56 m. is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to CAMP SHEARDOWN HISTORIC SITE, 3 m., another stopping place of the Sibley column. A few rifle pits dug for camp protection are still visible, and a bronze tablet marks the site. No engagement took place here, the rifle pits being evidence of Sibley's precautions against Indian attack.
VALLEY CITY, 58.5 m. (1,220 alt., 5,268 pop.), seat of Barnes County, lies sheltered and hidden in the deeply wooded Sheyenne River valley. Originally known as Worthington, it was given its present name when incorporated as a city in 1881.
The city's first settlers came with the N. P. Ry. in 1872, but Jay Cooke & Co., financiers of the railroad, crashed in the Nation-wide panic of 1873, and the next five years brought a suspension of business and immigration. From 1878, however, the city had a steady growth; today it is the center of a large area of diversified farming, with flour milling and the processing of dairy products the chief industries. One notable asset of the city is a municipal light plant which supplies electrical energy at the lowest rates prevalent in the State, and provides an excellent street-lighting system without taxation. The studios and transmitter of KOVC, Valley City, are at 312 5th Ave.