BINFORD, 57.5 m. (1,518 alt., 317 pop.), was named for Ray Binford, attorney for the D. B. S. Johnston Land Co., which purchased and platted the town site. The company bought the homestead of Gilbert Gilbertson, an early settler. The many names used by Gilbertson illustrate the common Norwegian practice of changing the surname on arrival in this country, sometimes using the name of the father with "son" affixed, and sometimes adopting the title of the home district as surname. To add to this, Americans thought these names too long or foreign to be practical, and changed them for the newcomers. Gilbertson filed on his homestead as Gilbert Gilbertson, but was equally well known in his community as Gabriel Gabrielson, Gilbert Gabrielson, and Gabriel Gilbertson.
Left (NW) from Binford on a graveled road is MOSE, 6 m. (1,539 alt., 30 pop.). Here are the Ansonia Kennels, which raise white German shepherds. This is a remnant of an industry that reached its peak in Griggs County in 1924 when the Nation-wide fad for German police dogs was at its height. In that year as many as 400 farmers were breeding dogs in the county, and animals totaling a value of more than $100,000 were shipped to all parts of the United States, to South America, and to the Philippine Islands. The industry had its beginning in 1914 near Cooperstown when farmer Torkel Njaa imported a German shepherd for a watchdog. Njaa was so pleased with the animal that he imported two females. His success in raising and marketing dogs caught the fancy of other farmers, and led to the establishment of the industry.
At 63.5 m. is the junction with a graveled spur.
Left here to RED WILLOW LAKE, 2 m. On the southern shore is a Tourist Park (cabins, boats, swimming, camping, fishing), part of a 1,300-acre State game refuge. A pavilion (seating capacity 1,500) serves for recreational purposes and is the scene of many conventions, including an annual Lutheran Bible Camp (June).
ND 1 crosses the wooded SHEYENNE RIVER at 69.5 m. and at 82.5 m. skirts the eastern end of STUMP LAKE, a body of water that once covered approximately 10,000 acres, but is now reduced to slightly more than 2,000. The Sioux called the lake Wamduska (serpent), and believed it was once a great forest which the Great Spirit, in anger, allowed to be swallowed by water. On clear days logs can be seen below the surface, and where the water has receded many large stumps protrude from the ground, giving the lake bed the appearance of a timbered area logged off by beavers. Geologists believe that Stump Lake was once connected with Devils Lake, 10 m. W., and had an outlet into the Sheyenne River. The wooded area along the eastern shore has been transformed into a recreational park, and Bird Island, a 350-acre peninsula in the southwestern bay of the lake, has been set aside as a U. S. Biological Survey game reserve.
At 87 m. is the junction with a graveled road.
Left on this road to the junction with an unimproved road at 2 m.; R. here to WAMDUSKA HOTEL, 2.5 m., a lonely 75-room building that is a silent reminder of the village of Wamduska, platted, peopled, and abandoned because of a railroad survey. The town was founded in the 1880's when it was believed that the G. N. Ry. would be constructed along Lake Wamduska, as it was then called, but the survey was made 10 m. to the N., and Wamduska died. Today the old hotel is used as a farm storehouse.
At 93 m. is the junction with US 2 (see Tour 6) 1 m. E. of Lakota (see Tour 6).