McKENZIE, 180 m. (1,700 alt., 175 pop.), is named for Alexander McKenzie, early day political boss in North Dakota.
At 185.3 m. is the junction with a dirt road.
Right on this road to VERENDRYE, STATE PARK, 1 m., believed by many historians to be the point at which in 1738 Pierre de la Verendrye, earliest white explorer of present North Dakota, first visited the Mandan Indians. Prior to the investigation of this site in 1936 it was generally supposed that Verendrye's first contact with the Mandans had been made near Sanish, and a monument commemorating the meeting had been erected at that place (see Tour 6). The Menoken site shows clearly the position of the bastions and moat of the old fortifications, and saucer-shaped depressions indicate where the earth lodges once stood. In addition, pottery, flint chips, and other artifacts have been found. Verendrye's journal states that he presented a leaden plate, bearing the name of the exploring party, to the Mandan chief at the village he visited. A similar plate was given to the Indians by Verendrye's sons on an expedition farther S. in 1741, and was found buried in the earth near Fort Pierre, S. Dak. in 1913. The first plate, however, has not been recovered and may now lie buried somewhere in the Menoken site.
MENOKEN, 185.5 m. (1,720 alt., 60 pop.), has had a number of names, and still retains two officially. In early railroad days it was known as Seventeenth Siding, and later as Blaine. For transportation purposes it is now called Burleigh, to distinguish it from several other towns on the N. P. Ry. which have names beginning with M.
At 186 m. is the junction with a county graded dirt road.
Right on this road to the TRANSMITTING PLANT OF KFYR, 2.5 m., Bismarck's broadcasting station. The 704-foot all-steel vertical radiator, one of the three tallest self-supporting aerials in the United States (1938), can be seen for many miles.
Between Menoken and Bismarck the route crosses and recrosses APPLE CREEK, along which Sibley's army traveled for some distance. In ancient times this small, meandering stream was a great rushing glacial river.
At 196.5 m. (R) loom the brick walls of the STATE PENITENTIARY (tours daily exc. Sat. and Sun. at 9, 10, and 11 a.m., 2, 3, and 4 p.m.). When the prison was built (1885-89), the walls were of cottonwood logs wired together at the top. The present walls, 27 ft. high and 1,650 ft. long, and made of bricks from clay found in the vicinity, were constructed by prison labor in 1889. The island-type of prison architecture has been employed, and there are two cell blocks of 160 cells each, all locked by a master control. Inmates are employed in the twine plant, which has an annual output of more than four million pounds; on the 950-acre farm; and in the auto license and tag plant.
The fact that most criminals come from large centers of population is given as the reason that North Dakota, an agricultural State with no large cities, has a low prison population. In 1937 it was only 270.