SIDE TOUR 8B
Junction US 10—Cooperstown—Junction US 2. ND 1 & 7.
Junction with US 10 to junction with US 2, 93 m.
N. P. Ry. branch line roughly parallels route between US 10 and Binford.
Graveled roadbed throughout.
Usual tourist accommodations in principal towns.
This route proceeds north over the smooth plain of the fertile black-earth belt, through the hills of the upper Sheyenne River basin. First the Indians and later the metis or half-breeds hunted the large herds of buffalo that once roamed this lake-dotted region. Among the earliest white comers here were the Nicollet-Fremont exploratory expedition in the 1830's, the Stevens survey party in 1853, the Sibley expedition in 1863, and in the 1870's, the soldiers, scouts, and wagon trains following the Fort Totten-Fort Abercrombie trail.
Bonanza farms flourished in this region during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, but were subdivided eventually into smaller farms taken up by Scandinavian immigrants who began to come here in the 1880's. The first Norwegian community in North Dakota was established near this route, and the fine farms of the present-day Norse residents are visible from the highway.
ND 1 branches N. from its junction with US 10, 5 m. W. of Valley City (see Tour 8).