Although James J. Hill was one of the first to sponsor steamboat traffic on the Red River, it was not until 1880 that he began building the Great Northern Railway down the Red River Valley to Grand Forks, and thence westward to Minot in 1887. Other lines of the Northern Pacific and Great Northern, main and branch lines of the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie, and branches of other roads soon entered the State. In order to build permanent business for their lines, they brought in new settlers, gave special rates on household and farm equipment, and in every way encouraged settlement. It was because of the railroads that bonanza farming, an important phase of North Dakota history, was introduced. The State is now served by seven railroads, with more than 5,000 miles of trackage. The Dakota Division of the Great Northern, with its 1,800 miles of main-line track, is the largest railroad division in the world.
With the railroads came the telegraph lines, the first of which was established between Winnipeg and Abercrombie, with offices at Fargo and Grand Forks, in 1871. Soon all of the young Territory was in communication with the outside world.
The colorful era of the steamboat had ended with the coming of the cheaper and speedier transportation by rail, but methods of local transportation remained unaltered. The horse still furnished the power, although fashions in wagons and buggies might change.
It was left for the twentieth century to usher in the age of speed. In the first decade, the wheezing steam automobile chugged with difficulty over sticky gumbo roads in the Red River Valley, and over scoria trails in the west. Automobiles were rare, and possession of one marked the owner as an aristocrat or a public nuisance, according to the point of view of the observer.
When the internal combustion motor vehicle was improved, road building began in earnest. Bus companies, established to fill a need for north and south transportation facilities not provided by the railroads, opened a campaign for better roads. They were joined by an ever increasing number of car owners, and as a result road conditions have been steadily improved since the early 1920's.
The first bus line in the State was begun in 1922, between Bismarck and Minot. Although the next two years saw the introduction of many bus and truck lines, these were not regulated by State law until placed under jurisdiction of the board of railway commissioners by legislative act in 1925. Immediately, operating permits were required from all companies, one of the first being granted to the Northland Transportation Company, forerunner of the Northland Greyhound Line. Today a network of bus and truck lines covers the State.
The airplane proved admirably suited to this part of the country. The clear dry atmosphere afforded ideal flying conditions, and almost every part of the State was suitable for landing fields, even without improvement. Municipalities became interested in the new mode of transportation, hangars were built, and runways laid out. Now all of the larger cities and towns have airports, and almost every small town has its landing field. Private planes are found at the airports, and here and there ships are seen on farms, where mechanically minded lads pilot them in leisure hours for their own pleasure. All planes and pilots must be licensed under a State law of 1929, as well as conform to the regulations of the Department of Commerce.
Cheering crowds at Fargo, Grand Forks, and Pembina greeted the pilots of the first air mail between the Twin Cities and Winnipeg in 1928. Hundreds of letters and cards were carried on this flight for collectors who desired copies of the special commemorative cancellation stamp. North Dakotans' air mail letters now reach Washington, D. C. or Los Angeles 12 hours after mailing. Daily service on the original line is still maintained, and two other regular lines have been extended into the State, one between Chicago and Seattle which stops at Fargo and Bismarck, the other from Bismarck to Tulsa, Okla.
Transportation has advanced with amazing rapidity since the Territory of Dakota was organized in 1861. Nevertheless, a severe winter such as that of 1935-36 is capable of halting communication almost completely. But even then, with automobile traffic at a standstill because of blocked roads, trains delayed because of mountainous snowdrifts, and planes grounded because snow and ice made landing too hazardous, the radio still kept the State in constant touch with the outside world.