Across the deep ravine running N. and W. of the fort a lookout post was situated on BEAR DEN HILLOCK which the Sioux know as Matoti. On the slope of this hill is a large glaciated Writing Rock, on the surface of which are four deep grooves. These the Indians believe to have been written by spirits. Two legends are told of the stone: one, that a water sprite traced the markings with his finger, the other that two young women spirits came daily to write messages to the tribes, until the invasion of the white man, when they refused to send further messages. Several tumuli of the mound builders are on this hill.
At 36.5 m. on ND 1 is the junction with ND 27, a graveled highway.
Left here is LISBON, 18 m. (1,187 alt., 1,650 pop.), Ransom County seat, named by two settlers for their home cities, Lisbon, N. Y. and Lisbon, Ill. The first settlers arrived in 1878, and two years later the town site was platted. Situated at the foot of the hills bordering the Sheyenne River, the town is scattered on both wooded banks of the stream. The red-brick buildings of the State Soldiers Home, in landscaped grounds in the southern section of the town, accommodate 50 veterans. Sandager Park in the northwestern part is a well-maintained recreational center (short boat trips up river available in summer; reasonable fares). W. D. Boyce (1860-1912), Lisbon newspaper publisher during the 1880's, who became publisher of the Saturday Blade in Chicago, is credited with bringing the Boy Scout idea to the United States from England, and a fine Boy Scout Building and Park on Main St. are a memorial to him. R. N. Stevens (1852-1925), a Lisbon attorney and member of the State constitutional convention in 1889, later associated with Alexander McKenzie in Alaska, is characterized as the crafty attorney in Rex Beach's novel The Spoilers.
Left from Lisbon 1 m. on ND 9 to OAKWOOD CEMETERY, the land for which was a gift of William K. Thaw, a large landholder here in early days. It contains the graves of many soldiers. In the center of the area is a statue of a bugler in the pose of sounding taps, a memorial to the Civil War dead.
At 22 m. on ND 27 is the junction with a graveled road; R. here 2 m. to the junction with another graveled road; L. to another junction at 3 m.; R. to the SITE OF CAMP HAYES, 4.8 m. On the first bench above the level Sheyenne River flood plain Gen. H. H. Sibley and his Indian expedition camped a week in July 1863 while awaiting supplies and mail from Fort Abercrombie. At each of his camps Sibley erected breastworks of some type, and remains of the ravine trenches at this site are still visible. Like giant, round anthills, several tumuli of the mound builders project against the sky line on the hills bordering the river opposite Camp Hayes. The largest of the hills along the river here is OKIEDAN BUTTE, meaning place where they all rushed together, famed in Sioux legend. At the foot of the hill, near a spring still flowing, a Sisseton Sioux war party is said to have attacked and killed a band of 30 Arikara Indians. At this same place in the early 1880's Bvt. Gen. H. M. Creel of the U. S. Regulars reported having his command entirely surrounded by so large a herd of bison that it stretched beyond the vision of his field glasses, and took several hours in passing.
At 26 m. on ND 27 is the junction with an unimproved dirt road; R. here 3 m. to the CHEYENNE INDIAN VILLAGE SITE. A springhouse (L) stands at the entrance to the ear-shaped site. Depressions mark the position of the earth lodges that once stood here. A moat is still visible around the entire site. Many artifacts have been excavated, including traces of pottery. The homes of the Cheyennes were circular lodges, constructed of earth over a frame of logs, similar to those of the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians who lived along the Missouri River (see Side Tour 3A and Tour 8). In the eighteenth century the Cheyennes were forced into South Dakota and Wyoming by the continued attacks of the Sioux and Chippewa.
STRONG MEMORIAL PARK (picnic and camp grounds), 3.3 m., is across the road (R) from the Indian village site. The land was given the State historical society by Frank Strong, and is a memorial to him.
ND 1 continues S. to VERONA, 41 m. (1,383 alt., 222 pop.), first settled in the spring of 1883, and named for the city in northern Italy.
At 42 m. is the junction with ND 13, a graveled highway.
Left here is LAMOURE, 10 m. (1,304 alt., 889 pop.), named for Judson LaMoure (1839-1918), an early political power in the State. It is situated on the banks of the James River, and is the center of a large dairying area. Its history dates from the arrival of the railroad in 1883. As the community grew, an intense rivalry was born between LaMoure and Grand Rapids (see below), a rivalry that did not end until LaMoure, in a hot fight in 1886, won the LaMoure County seat from Grand Rapids, which thereafter declined. Like other frontier towns, LaMoure had many gaming houses and saloons. Residences being scarce, one pious family was forced to live above a saloon. When it came time for the wife to entertain the weekly prayer meeting, the saloon closed out of deference, and the next issue of the LaMoure Chronicle mentioned the incident thus: "There were spirits above and spirits below. The spirits below were spirits of wine, and the spirits above were spirits divine." One year LaMoure had no speaker for a Fourth of July celebration, while a popular speaker, Dr. E. P. Robertson of Fargo, had been engaged by Grand Rapids. He arrived at Lisbon, the end of the railroad line, and was met by a fine four-horse team and the best carriage to be found. The driver shouted, "All aboard for Grand Rapids! Right this way for Dr. Robertson!" and the unsuspecting doctor was driven to LaMoure, delivered a glowing address, was returned to Lisbon by the same rig, and reached home without having learned of his error. An occasion for excitement in LaMoure was the arrival of the steamer Nettie Baldwin in the late summer of 1883. The boat docked at a pontoon bridge, and some citizens had visions of the town's becoming an important river port. Of a second trip in 1884 the Chronicle recalls: "The climax to speculation concerning a regular commercial route came suddenly and sadly. Nettie Baldwin couldn't cut the buck, or was it the mud?" The boat was left in the water, where it lay for many years.