ASHLEY, 77.5 m. (2,001 alt., 1,250 pop.), began as the town of Hoskins on the shore of nearby Hoskins Lake. Originally the town, as well as the lake was given the maiden name of the wife of Col. C. A. Lounsberry, historian, and at that time editor of the Bismarck Tribune. In 1888, to be on the railroad, Hoskins was moved bodily to the present site and was renamed in honor of Ashley E. Morrow, a member of the railroad construction company. In the rotunda of the McIntosh County Courthouse is a series of pictures of pioneer life. A library founded in 1912 by the Ashley Women's Club is also in the courthouse.
Right from Ashley 4 m. on ND 11, a graveled highway, to LAKE HOSKINS (swimming), a summer recreational center.
On ND 3 at 85 m. is the South Dakota Line, 84 m. N. of Aberdeen, S. Dak.
STEELE, 154.5 m. (1,855 alt., 519 pop.), granted a city charter by the Territorial legislature in 1882-83, claimed at the time of its incorporation to be the smallest city in the United States. It is named for Col. W. P. Steele, one of the original town site owners, who in 1889 sent the first legislature a certified check for $100,000 with his bid for locating the State capitol at Steele. Colonel Steele liked riding on railroad trains and meeting strangers to whom he could talk of the glowing possibilities of North Dakota. At one time he procured passes on many of the large railroads in exchange for passes on his own road, the Steele-Alaska Northwestern, which despite its impressive title was only a half-mile spur from the Northern Pacific to his brick plant NE. of Steele. When his hoax was discovered and he was hailed before a group of directors of the larger lines, he justified his position with the statement, "While my line is not as long as yours, I want it understood that it is every bit as wide."
Left from Steele on a graveled road to the junction with a dirt road, 12 m.; R. on this road to PURSIAN LAKE (swimming, picnicking), 15 m., a haven for migratory waterfowl.
DRISCOLL (L), 165.5 m. (1,870 alt., 226 pop.), is named for a N. P. Ry. stockholder.
Right from Driscoll on a road unsuitable for trailers to the junction with a country trail, 3 m.; R. here to CHASKA HISTORIC SITE, 4 m., the grave of Chaska, a Sioux Indian scout with the Sibley expedition, who died during the campaign. Chaska is said to have been one of the two friendly Indians who warned the missionaries at the Yellow Medicine (Minn.) Agency and led the whites to safety from the vengeful Sioux in the uprising of 1862.
West of Driscoll the route begins the ascent of the ALTAMONT MORAINE, the terminal moraine formed during the last advance of the Dakota lobe of the great continental ice sheets.
At 174 m. is the junction with US 83 (see Tour 3). The two highways form one route between this point and Bismarck, 198.5 m. Just W. of the junction the highway passes over a crest of the moraine, from which on a clear day the distant outline of the 19-story State capitol is visible, 24 m. W. The highway descends the western slope of the moraine in a gradual incline toward the Missouri River valley.