ND 1 branches S. from US 10 at Valley City (see Tour 8).
At 19 m. is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to BIRCH CREEK HISTORIC SITE (picnic and camp grounds adjoining), 1 m. In the late 1830's the Federal Government sent its first exploratory expedition into this area under Jean N. Nicollet and Lt. John C. Fremont. Their party camped in this coulee on Birch Creek in 1839. In August 1863 a detachment of the Sibley Indian expedition under Col. Samuel McPhail also camped here, naming the site Camp Johnson for one of the officers. Later, in 1867-72, the Fort Totten-Fort Ransom trail crossed the coulee.
HASTINGS, 19.5 m. (1,453 alt., 125 pop.), was named by the N. P. Ry. for Hastings, Minn., which in turn was named for Gen. Henry Hastings Sibley (1811-1891), first Governor of Minnesota, and in 1863 commander of an expedition against the Sioux.
At 23.5 m. is the junction with ND 46, a graveled highway.
Left on this highway to the junction with an unimproved country trail, 7 m.; R. here 0.5 m. to INYAN BOSDATA, or Standing Rock, one of two rocks within the boundaries of North Dakota sacred to the Sioux tribes (see Side Tour 8C). The Sioux are reticent concerning legends of the stone, saying only that it is waukan (mysterious). About 4 ft. high, it is roughly shaped like an inverted cone, and stands atop a circular mound, from which long, narrow mounds extend both E. and W. The significance of the mound on which it stands is not definitely known, but it is believed to be of ceremonial origin. Positions of skeletons and types of artifacts found in the different strata of the few mounds excavated in this area lead archeologists to believe that the mounds were built for burial purposes. Discoveries in the oldest stratum indicate that after the retreat of the glacier the race which built the mounds was nomadic, living by the hunt and on edible tubers found in the region, while artifacts found in later strata reveal that the race had probably become agricultural and lived in permanent villages.
At 9 m. on ND 46 is the junction with an unimproved dirt road; L. here 1 m. to CAMP WEISER HISTORIC SITE, named for Dr. J. S. Weiser, surgeon with the First Minnesota Mounted Rangers, who was later killed in the Battle of Big Mound (see Tour 8). This was an encampment of the Sibley expedition the night of July 13-14, 1863.
At 30.5 m. on ND 1 is the junction with a graveled road.
Left here is FORT RANSOM, 7 m. (1,217 alt., 297 pop.), a quiet little village hidden in the trees at the foot of the hill on which are the RUINS OF OLD FORT RANSOM. Thousands of Civil War veterans, released from service, turned to the West for opportunity, crossing the plains to the gold fields in Montana and Idaho. To keep the hostile Sioux in check and to guard the immigrant wagon trains on their overland journeys, it was planned to establish a chain of forts across the prairies. Fort Ransom was the first of this chain, built in 1867 by Gen. Alfred Terry and named for Gen. Thomas Ransom, a Civil War officer. It was protected by sod and log breastworks 12 ft. high, surrounded by a ditch 8 ft. deep, a protection never greatly needed, for few Indians lived in the vicinity. In 1872 Fort Ransom was replaced by Fort Seward at Jamestown (see Tour 8). Remains of the breastworks of the fortification are visible.