garrison had been transferred to Fort Assiniboine in Montana.

Established on the Red River near the site of Pembina, Fort Pembina
was maintained from 1870 to 1895. Fort McKeen, established in 1872,
became, the same year, part of Fort Abraham Lincoln, garrisoned until
1891. It was from Fort Abraham Lincoln that Custer and his Seventh
Cavalry marched to death and disaster on the banks of the Little Big
Horn in 1876 (_see_ FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN STATE PARK). After 25 years of
occupation, Fort Yates was abandoned in 1903, when the new Fort Lincoln
was built near Bismarck with facilities for four companies of infantry
and supporting detachments. (_See Tour 8._)

These early forts were established to protect the settlers along the
frontier and to keep the Indians in order. It was after the Sioux
outbreak in Minnesota in 1862 that Gen. Henry H. Sibley was sent
to punish the Sioux. In June of 1863 he headed his army west from
Minnesota toward the Devil's Lake region, where he arrived to find the
Indians had gone south. He pursued them and on July 24 engaged them
in battle at Big Mound about seven miles north of the present town of
Tappen. They retreated, and he followed them to Dead Buffalo Lake,
northwest of Dawson, where July 26 another engagement was fought. Two
days later he met them again at Stony Lake northeast of Driscoll, but
the Sioux retreated rapidly and there was no fighting. Moving on toward
the Missouri, Sibley encamped on Apple Creek, seven miles east of the
present site of Bismarck, and again near its mouth. The Sioux fled
across the river.

Sibley, all along the route, had thrown up defensive earthworks at each
of his camps. All of these camp sites which were not plowed under have
been definitely located under direction of the State historical society.

Gen. Alfred H. Sully was to have met Sibley on the Missouri, but no
contact could be made and Sibley set out for Minnesota on August 1,
1863. Sully came up the river from Sioux City, and was near Long Lake
when he learned that Sibley had gone home and the Sioux had recrossed
the Missouri and departed for the James River. Sully gave chase--he had
been sent out to fight Indians, and fight them he would. The Battle of
Whitestone Hill, near Ellendale, followed. Whether the Indians Sully
fought had taken part in the Minnesota uprising is today regarded as
dubious, but the battle is said to have been the fiercest ever fought
on North Dakota soil. The field is now marked by a monument of a
cavalry trooper (_see Tour 2_).

Sully returned to Sioux City but was sent back the following year to
deal out still more punishment to the Sioux. After Fort Rice had been
established a scouting detachment was sent after the evasive red men,
and soon reported Sioux near Killdeer Mountain. Here an engagement was
fought July 28, 1864, in which the Indians were severely punished,
although afterwards it developed that few of them were Minnesota Sioux.

The troops proceeded up the Little Missouri, where Indians were
discovered near Medora. With difficulty Sully traversed 12 miles of
Badlands buttes and gullies, continually harassed by the sniping fire
of Indians along the route. The fighting of this day is known as the
Battle of the Badlands. Following this encounter Sully reached the
Yellowstone and returned down the Missouri.

Before he arrived at Fort Rice, he was informed that Capt. James
L. Fisk, with a party of immigrants, was in danger. Fisk, who had
made expeditions through North Dakota in 1862 and 1863, on this trip
followed Sully's trail, and in the Badlands was attacked September 1
by Indians, with the loss of several men. During the next few days
several other attacks were made, although no one was killed. Messengers
were sent to Sully for aid, and meanwhile the party threw up what
fortifications they could in the form of sod walls, and, awaited help.
After several days the soldiers arrived and brought the immigrants back
to Fort Rice, whence most of them returned to their homes. The remains
of their impromptu fortification, known as Fort Dilts, can still be
seen (_see Tour 9_).

One of the most valuable expeditions made through this State was the
Stevens Survey of 1853, sent out to discover the most advantageous
routes to the Pacific for future railroads. The party was financed by
a Federal appropriation, and the northern route, through present North
Dakota, was under the direction of Gen. I. I. Stevens.

The guide on this expedition was Pierre Bottineau, one of the
outstanding personalities in the history of North Dakota and Minnesota
during this period. Of him it has been written that

  "It was the guide Bottineau who walked from Winnipeg to St. Paul
  with James J. Hill, it was the scout Bottineau who headed Jay
  Cooke's first Northern Pacific survey across the continent, it was
  the chief Bottineau who gave his name to Bottineau County, and it
  was the gambler Bottineau who had three queens in his hand, staked
  Nicollet Island, and lost."

In 1871 the Whistler expedition went up the Little Missouri and into
Montana in search of the most practical route for a railroad to the
Pacific. Two years later the Stanley expedition, accompanied by a
large military escort, conducted another western survey. Engagements
with Indians cost this expedition a number of men. One Sioux,
Rain-in-the-Face, claimed to have had a part in killing two civilians
on the Stanley Survey, and as a result was imprisoned at Fort Lincoln
until he escaped. He gained his revenge at the Little Big Horn (_see
Side Tour 8C_).

The Northern Pacific Railway received its charter from the Government
in 1864. Magnificent Federal land grants were made: still the road
found it difficult to raise the necessary capital to finance the
venture, and Jay Cooke & Company undertook the sale of Northern Pacific
securities.

On the last day of the year 1871 the line was completed to the Red
River at Moorhead, and early in March of the next year it was extended
to Fargo. Cooke went into bankruptcy after the financial panic of
1873, but was able to obtain private funds to complete the road to the
Missouri that year. Bismarck remained the western terminus of the line
until 1879. During the next two years rails were laid to the Montana
border, completing the line across the entire State.

In 1870, just before the advent of the railways, the estimated white
population of present North Dakota was not more than five hundred.
Pembina County, extending the length of the Red River Valley and to the
western population limit, was the only organized county in the State.

The Northern Pacific was completed to the Pacific Coast in 1883.
Squatters preceded the railroad, settlers followed it, trying to guess
future town sites so they could force the company to buy them out at
the most profitable price.

The Great Northern was the second important railroad to come into the
State. By 1882 James J. Hill, the "Empire Builder," had extended a
line up the Dakota side of the Red River to Canada. Hill had a vision
of a great railroad connecting the Pacific Coast with the Great Lakes,
whence produce could be cheaply transported to New York. Construction
began in 1880 and the Great Northern was extended westward across
northern North Dakota and in 1893 reached the Coast.

The railroads linked Dakota with the East and civilization, but to the
west was the frontier. Here Sioux warriors were beginning to resent
the encroaching whites and the appropriation of their hunting grounds.
It was imperative, therefore, that soldiers be kept at Fort Abraham
Lincoln.

To understand the campaign of 1876 against the Sioux, in which Gen.
George A. Custer met his tragic end, it is necessary to go back to the
Indian treaty of 1868. The Government by this pact promised to abandon
and destroy Forts Reno and Phil Kearney in Wyoming and Fort Smith
in Montana. This having been done, the Sioux were guaranteed their
freedom in the territory between the North Platte and the Missouri and
Yellowstone Rivers. But, when gold was discovered in the Black Hills
by a Government reconnaissance expedition under Custer in the summer
of 1874, white settlers and prospectors begged for admission to the
coveted territory. Military guards at first attempted to keep them
out, but when the Indians refused in a treaty council in 1875 to sell
or lease land to miners, the Government withdrew the guard and settlers
poured in by thousands.

                                                            RING-BILLED
                                                            GULLS

  _Photo by Russell Reid_]

  PASQUES

                                           _Photo by Russell Reid_]

                                                            FLICKERTAIL

  _Photo by Russell Reid_]

  A MODERN
  INDIAN

                                           _Photo by Russell Reid_]

[Illustration: SCAFFOLD BURIAL, FORMERLY USED BY SOME INDIAN TRIBES]

Government officials were well aware, when the treaty of 1868 was
violated, that an Indian war was inevitable; but although the
Government had clearly brought the war down on its own head, it sought
the appearance of righteousness.

It was the practice of many Indians to leave their reservations because
they wanted to hunt or visit, or because the practices of dishonest
agents made life on the reservation unbearable. The Department of
the Interior sent out orders for all Indians to be back on their
reservations at a certain date, but for many it was impossible to
return within the time limit set. The Department designated these
people as "hostiles" and turned them over to the War Department, which
now had a pretext for taking punitive action.

The campaign of 1876 was planned to force the Indians onto
reservations, in order to obtain the relinquishment of the Black Hills.
Generals Crook and Gibbon, with their forces, were to meet Generals
Terry and Custer with their troops near the Rosebud River in Montana.
All were then to move southward against the Indians who were in the
hills along the Rosebud and the Little Big Horn.

On the morning of May 17, 1876, the eastern division of the expedition
started out from Fort Abraham Lincoln. The cavalry marched about the
parade grounds to the tune of _Garry Owen_, then set out to the strains
of _The Girl I Left Behind Me_. Mrs. Custer accompanied her husband on
the first day's ride, returning to the fort as the troopers continued
west.

The tragic outcome of the Battle of the Little Big Horn is well known.
Not a man of Custer's immediate command survived. The reasons for the
annihilation have been debated far and wide. Gen. E. S. Godfrey, who
participated in the battle as a lieutenant, in _Custer's Last Battle_
summarizes the affair as follows: "The causes of Custer's defeat were
first, the overpowering number of the enemy and their unexpected
cohesion; second, Reno's panic rout from the valley; third, the
defective extraction of empty cartridge shells from the carbines.... A
battle was unavoidable."

Grant Marsh had pushed his supply steamer, the _Far West_, up the
Big Horn to within 15 miles of the battlefield. Reno's wounded were
placed aboard and Marsh made the trip of 710 miles down to Bismarck
in record time. At midnight July 5 the _Far West_ docked. Colonel
Lounsberry, editor of the Bismarck _Tribune_ and correspondent of the
New York _Herald_, gave the story to the world. Mark Kellogg, special
correspondent of the _Herald_ and the _Tribune_, who had accompanied
the expedition, had been killed with Custer. Twenty-six widows wept at
Fort Lincoln. With Custer's death the frontier era in Dakota history
had ended. Although Sitting Bull's forces were undefeated, they took
refuge in Canada and remained there until 1881, when they voluntarily
surrendered.

They were returned to the reservations. Wishing to keep them there,
the authorities took horses, saddles, and arms from both hostile and
peaceable Sioux. This move, while it did not pacify the Indians, put an
end to the Indian wars.

TERRITORIAL SOLONS AND STRATEGY

At the time of the Little Big Horn campaign Dakota's Territorial
Government had functioned for 15 years and was destined to continue 13
years longer. The Territory had been organized in 1861 and President
Lincoln had appointed his family physician, Dr. William Jayne, first
Governor. As first laid out the new Territory included the present
States of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, but after
a series of changes it was reduced in 1882 to the area of the present
Dakotas.

Yankton, in the southern part of the Territory, was the capital city,
and there the first legislature met in 1862. It was an assembly
representative of every type in the Territory--all with great and
varying ideas of how the ship of state was to be kept afloat.

Thirteen members composed the house, while the senate or council had
but nine. In attendance at the session for various reasons were Jim
Somers, frontiersman, "armed like an arsenal"; Father Turner of New
York; George Kingsbury, newspaperman; Dr. Walter Burleigh, later
connected with the Indian Service and the Northern Pacific Railway; and
Gen. T. C. Campbell.

Territorial Dakota displayed no small interest in politics. Campaigns
were periods of great excitement, with long parades of ardent
supporters following the candidates, with cheering and shouting and
bragging and fighting by office seekers and votaries alike. It took
a brave man to campaign in those days. When Moses Armstrong ran for
Congress on the Democratic ticket his friend, Gen. T. C. Campbell,
invited him into his part of the Territory to speak. During the
general's speech his hat was shot off, but his oratory did not falter.
When it came Armstrong's turn to speak he hesitated about addressing
such a boisterous crowd, but the general informed him that the time to
do his praying was before he crossed the county line, not after.

County seat removals were a prime source of political interest, and
the cities in the Territory fought tooth and nail for the privileges
of the county capital. Stuffing ballot boxes was not uncommon, and in
many instances where removal was voted the defeated city would refuse
to give up the county records, and guards would be posted against
nocturnal raids of the courthouse vaults by citizens of the victorious
town. When the Emmons County _Record_ defeated a plan to move the
county seat from Williamsport in 1888, it took full advantage of its
success. Beneath the decoration of a crowing cock heading the column,
these headlines, typical of the county seat controversies, appeared in
the _Record_ November 9 of that year:

                                  ELI

        And Billsport Hath The
        Appellation Earned,
      For Lo! She Doth Get There
            With Both Feet.
      And She Moppeth the Earth
    With the Cohorts of the Wicked.
        Yea, Verily, of the Wadites,
        of the Bumstedites, and
            the Vanbekites,
    And They Shall Gnaw a File and
        Flee Into the Mountains
            of Hepsidam.
        FE!  FI!  FO!  FUM!

The entire edition, in celebration of the occasion, was printed in red
ink.

Territorial Governors and other high officials were not popular with
the people. They were usually from the East and had no interest in
the country, their salaries or political advancement being their
chief concern. Just after the first legislature had adjourned an
Indian uprising disturbed the settlers. It did not take the Governor
and other officials long to quit the Territory. Moses Armstrong,
later a Congressman, wrote, "With such rapidity do they fly, pale and
breathless, that a boy could play marbles on their horizontal coat
tails."

Dakota Territory covered about 150,000 square miles and had 36
representatives in the legislature during the 1880's for its population
of 300,000. Four judges and three prosecuting attorneys administered
matters of Territorial justice.

The second legislative session was no quieter than the first. Because
of disputed delegations there were two houses--one met on the levee by
the Missouri and the other on the hill above the river. After much time
had been lost the differences were compromised and business proceeded.

In 1863 Newton Edmunds of Yankton was appointed Governor of Dakota,
the only resident of the Territory ever to hold that office. The next
Governor was Faulk of Pennsylvania, then followed Burbank of Indiana,
Pennington of Alabama, Howard of Michigan, Ordway of Vermont, Pierce of
New York and Illinois, Church of New York and Indiana, and Mellette of
Indiana.

The northern and southern parts of the Territory had little in common,
and they kept growing farther apart as time went on. In the session of
1883 removal of the capital from Yankton was the big question. Yankton
wanted to keep it, Bismarck, Huron, Mitchell, Pierre, and Chamberlain
wanted to acquire it, and Fargo or Jamestown would have taken it if
offered. A bill was finally passed providing that the Governor appoint
nine commissioners to choose a capital city; they were to accept an
offer of not less than $100,000 and 160 acres of land on which the
capitol was to be built. The land remaining after the capitol grounds
were provided for was to be sold for the benefit of the building fund.

The commissioners named were Milo Scott of Grand Forks County, Burleigh
Spalding of Cass, Alexander McKenzie of Burleigh, Charles Myers of
Spink, George Mathews of Brookings, Alexander Hughes of Yankton, Henry
de Long of Lincoln, John P. Belding of Lawrence, and M. B. Thompson of
Clay.

The commissioners must, according to law, meet and organize at Yankton.
Feeling ran high; the city did not intend to part with the capital
without a struggle. Yanktonians awaited the commissioners.

But unknown to the citizens of Yankton, the commissioners had
chartered a special train, leaving Sioux City April 3, at 3 a. m.
The commissioners' coach was dimly lighted as the train pulled into
the city limits of Yankton. The meeting was quickly called to order,
officers were chosen, and the meeting adjourned until that afternoon in
Canton. The train had still a half mile to go to the city limits when
the meeting was over. The commissioners had satisfied the law, having
met, organized, and adjourned in Yankton.

The commission thereafter made the rounds of several towns, and was
royally entertained by prospective capital cities. Bismarck's offer of
$100,000 and 320 acres of land was the best bid received. Thus Bismarck
became the Territorial capital.

The cornerstone ceremonies took place September 5, 1883. Many high
officials and prominent citizens from the East were guests of the
Northern Pacific on the Villard "gold spike" excursion, and were
present as guests of honor at the laying of the cornerstone. Among them
were Henry Villard, president of the Northern Pacific Railway; General
Grant; General Haupt; Henry M. Teller, Secretary of the Interior; the
Hon. Sackville West, British Minister; members of the Austro-Hungarian,
the Danish, and the Norwegian-Swedish Legations; the Imperial German
Minister; Territorial Governor Ordway; and numerous United States
Senators, Governors, and mayors.

The next great task was to convince Congress that the Territory was
ready for statehood. As early as 1871 the legislature had requested
Congress to divide the Territory, and in 1874 Moses Armstrong, while
in Congress, had petitioned that the northern part be made into a new
Territory named Pembina. Nearly every year a petition was sent to
Congress praying for admission as two States. In 1860 it was suggested
that the northern part be called North Dakota. The Territorial
legislative assembly in 1889 provided that a constitutional convention
be held for North Dakota, and February 22, 1889, Congress passed an
enabling act for North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, and Montana.

Delegates to the State convention were elected May 14, 1889, and the
convention met in Bismarck July 4 of that year. A parade in which
Sitting Bull and other famous Indians participated was part of the
entertainment afforded the delegates. Election to approve or disapprove
the proposed constitution was held October 1, 1889, and as it was a
certainty that the constitution would be accepted, legislators, State
officials, and Congressmen were elected at the same time. President
Harrison on November 2, 1889, declared North Dakota a State, and John
Miller at the same moment became first Governor of North Dakota.

Hand in hand with the political development of the Territory had gone
social and economic progress. By the time statehood was attained
farmhouses and towns had broken up the barren loneliness of the
prairies. Sod shanties, the pioneers' first homes, were being replaced
by solid frame structures. Huge bonanza farms were employing hundreds
of men and using advanced farming methods that had not yet been
introduced on farms in the East (_see_ AGRICULTURE & FARM LIFE).
Schools were being built in every community. Six years before statehood
one private college had been established, and the University of North
Dakota had opened its doors and was offering courses in the arts and
sciences to ambitious pioneer youth.

POLICIES AND POLITICS SINCE STATEHOOD

When the constitutional convention for North Dakota completed its work
on August 17, 1889, the product of its labors was a document six times
as long as the Federal Constitution. Based upon a model constitution
drawn up by Prof. James Bradley Thayer of the Harvard Law School, it
contained extremely advanced and enlightened provisions, 217 sections
included in 20 articles. To these have since been added 49 amendments.

The civic pattern adopted was very similar to that in force in the
older States. The legislative branch in North Dakota consists of a
bicameral legislature which meets in January each odd-numbered year.
The executive branch is headed by the Governor, who is elected for
a term of two years. He has the general veto power and authority to
reject any item in an appropriation bill. The judicial department
consists of a supreme court of five members, elected for 10-year
terms; district courts, county courts, and justices of the peace.
The State is divided into six judicial districts, each one under an
elective district judge. County courts are courts of record concerned
with such matters as probate and guardianship, but in counties having
county courts of increased jurisdiction such courts have concurrent
jurisdiction with district courts in certain cases.

The State is divided into counties whose administrative functions
are carried out by boards of commissioners elected every two years.
Any city or village of 500 population or more may choose either the
commission form of government or the mayor and council type.

The framework of government is perhaps not very different from that
in many other States. It is the legislation in North Dakota that has
been anything but a copy of that in any sister State, and the outcome
of some of her political experiments has often been of Nation-wide
interest. The economy of the State is preponderantly rural, and the
tendency has therefore been to try anything that seemed likely to help
in the solution of the farmer's problems.

The legislature of the State of North Dakota met for the first time
November 19, 1889. This session lasted 120 days, but the length of all
subsequent sessions was fixed by the constitution at 60 days. The first
men this State sent to the United States Senate were Gilbert Pierce of
Fargo and Lyman Casey of Jamestown. H. C. Hansbrough of Devils Lake
was the first Congressman. The supreme court had for its chief justice
Guy C. H. Corliss, and Joseph M. Bartholomew and Alfred Wallin were
associate justices.

In this first session the legislature instituted a department of
agriculture for "the promotion of stock-breeding, agriculture,
horticulture, manufactures and domestic arts." A school law enacted
at this session was an enlightened and detailed piece of legislation.
North Dakota had at the beginning of statehood a well-organized school
system of 1,362 public schools with 1,741 teachers; a State university
at Grand Forks; Catholic schools at Fargo, Grand Forks, and Bismarck; a
Congregational college at Fargo; a Presbyterian college at Jamestown;
and at Tower City a Baptist college, which, however, failed to survive.

One of the most exciting battles of the first legislative session
was the bill to license the Louisiana Lottery. Rumors circulated to
the effect that bribery was being practiced, that the lobbyists for
the lottery were making liberal offers for votes. The Governor and
his friends had hired detectives from the Pinkerton Agency to mingle
with the legislators and lobbyists. When the detectives had all the
information they needed, they revealed their identity to the lottery
supporters. Fearing exposure, the lottery enthusiasts gave up the fight
and the bill was killed.

North Dakota was faced with the drought problem during the
administration of Gov. Andrew Burke (1891-92), and the people looked to
the legislature for some solution to their problems. Their petitions
were not at all times considered seriously. One member offered a
resolution praying Congress to pass a law establishing a scientific
rain bureau and a law offering a reward to anyone discovering a
practical system of producing rainfall. The house referred his
resolution to the temperance committee.

At the beginning of statehood North Dakota had been subject to a
rather autocratic form of government in spite of decidedly democratic
constitutional provisions. The State had been economically dependent
on the East. The directing powers in the early State government were
centered in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Eastern wealth had furnished
capital for the railroads, and the railroads had been responsible for
the settlement of the State. Likewise, the farmer's crops had also to
be sold in the East, and his machinery and supplies must necessarily be
purchased there.

At the time North Dakota was admitted to the Union the Republican Party
was in control. Democrats at that time in State history and for long
afterward were few and far between. These two old-line parties were the
only two worthy of note in this early period, although the Populists
polled a large vote in the first Presidential election and North Dakota
divided its first electoral vote, one vote going to the Democratic, one
to the Republican, and one to the Populist candidate.

The railroads and financial interests of St. Paul and Minneapolis had
very early begun interfering in North Dakota politics. Judson LaMoure
and Alexander McKenzie were the lords of this era, both representing
railroad interests in State politics, and the favors they were able to
bestow were a safeguard against legislation hostile to the companies.
In time they came to be the protectors of other interests, including
banks, insurance companies, line elevators, and lumber companies.

The first revolt against this system came in 1892. Gov. Andrew Burke
had vetoed a bill favored by the Farmers' Alliance which would force
railroads to lease sites or rights-of-way for grain elevators and
warehouses. The Farmers' Alliance, Democrats, and Populists fused, and
Eli C. D. Shortridge was elected Governor.

In Governor Shortridge's administration the legislature passed a bill
for highway improvement. Money was appropriated to enlarge the State
capitol building.

The tendency of legislation during the session of 1893 was definitely
toward the principles of the Populist platform. During Shortridge's
administration North Dakota attempted its first State ownership
venture. One hundred thousand dollars was appropriated to build a State
elevator at Duluth, Superior, or West Superior. The panic of 1893 came
on and the plan was not carried out. In 1894 Roger Allin, regular
Republican, was elected Governor, and with that election the first
brief rebellion against Eastern capitalism was ended.

Governor Allin felt it necessary to veto several appropriations in
order to keep within the probable revenue, and State institutions had
practically no funds for operation. In the case of the university,
salary was provided for the janitor but not for the faculty. President
Merrifield and the faculty preferred to serve without any pay rather
than close the institution, and necessary expenditures were met by
private subscription. Other institutions were kept open in the same way.

During the administration of Gov. Frank Briggs (1897-98) the
Spanish-American War broke out. The entire National Guard volunteered
its services, but many members could not be accepted because of the
quota set for North Dakota. North Dakota volunteers took part in 30
engagements and skirmishes during the Philippine insurrection.

Governor Briggs died in July 1898 and his term was completed by the
Lieutenant Governor, Joseph M. Devine, who later served several
years as commissioner of immigration. Both Briggs and Devine were
Republicans, and they were succeeded in 1898 by another member of their
party, Frederick B. Fancher, a leader in the Farmers' Alliance. Fancher
declined a second term, and was succeeded by Maj. Frank White, who had
served in the Philippines. White found the State debt the chief problem
of his administration. He served two terms and yielded his office to E.
Y. Sarles.

Legislation during Sarles' term tended toward control and regulation
of corporations. A board was created to supervise State banks, and the
manner of organizing insurance companies in the State was prescribed.

Sarles was defeated for reelection by "Honest John" Burke, a Democrat,
and the only Governor of this State to serve three terms. From the
governorship he left North Dakota to become United States Treasurer
under President Wilson, later served as chief justice of the North
Dakota Supreme Court, remaining a member of the court until his death
in 1937. Crawford, in his history of North Dakota, has said, "The
legislative history of the Burke administrations is an instructive
illustration of the ideals and motives which were so characteristic
of the [Theodore] Roosevelt era." State institutions were liberally
provided for, a primary election law was enacted, prohibition laws were
enforced, schools were improved, and various regulatory offices and
boards were created.

A second revolution in North Dakota political history was ushered in
with the election of Burke. The Progressive Republicans, enthusiastic
supporters of the so-called "LaFollette reforms," had formed a
coalition with the Democrats to elect this first Democrat Governor of
North Dakota. "It was," according to Judge Andrew Bruce in his book
_The Non-Partisan League_, "the revolution which laid the foundations
for the present Non-Partisan League, for in it the farmers found a new
war cry and new objects of anathema. The war cry was 'North Dakota for
North Dakotans' and the objects of their anathema were 'Big Business,
McKenzie, and McKenzieism.'"

Gov. Louis B. Hanna succeeded Burke in 1913. In 1912, a Presidential
election year, North Dakota's electoral votes went to Woodrow Wilson.
New apportionment gave this State three representatives in Congress
instead of two. Governor Hanna asserted his belief in businesslike
administration of government offices, and revised the accounting
methods in State departments. Throughout this period tendencies in the
State were progressive: social legislation was favored; the State grew
rapidly in population; new towns were springing up; the automobile age
had arrived.

Through all this ran the thread of the second political revolution
which Burke's election had begun, and which was continued through the
Hanna administration. It was directed principally against injustices
in the grain trade. Farmers were incapable of developing their own
marketing facilities. Millions had been invested in the mills and
elevators of St. Paul, Minneapolis, and Duluth, and in the "line"
(corporation) elevator companies throughout North Dakota. The farmers
complained of unfair methods of grading and docking their grain;
they claimed that the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce was a closed
corporation, and that its members were identified with the big milling
and elevator interests. Even conservative Senator McCumber of North
Dakota protested in 1916 before the United States Senate against abuses
in the grain trade.

The Equity Exchange had been organized in 1909 to act as a farmers'
general selling agency in St. Paul, but had been denied membership in
the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce. The Society of Equity and the
Equity Exchange tried to get a bill through the 1915 legislature for
the establishment of a State-owned elevator, but the attempt failed.
Indignation at the defeat of the bill resulted in the birth, in
February 1915, of a new political party, the Nonpartisan[1] League.

[1] The party name was originally spelled "Non-Partisan" but through
usage has been changed to its present form.

A. C. Townley, a genius in the art of organization, spread the league
gospel through the State. Townley had begun life in poverty, had
failed in a large-scale flax-growing enterprise, and had for a time
been identified with the Socialist Party. A. C. Bowen suggested the
formation of the league. Charles Edward Russell was the first editor
of the newspaper, the _Non-Partisan Leader_, and Walter Thomas Mills
drafted many of its laws. All three of these men were Socialists.

After winning the support of a prominent farmer, Fred Wood, and his two
sons, the movement spread rapidly. Before the end of the first year the
league had 30,000 members. Its platform embodied five planks:

  1. State ownership of terminal elevators, flour mills, packing
     houses, and cold storage plants.
  2. State inspection of grain and grain dockage.
  3. Exemption of farm improvements from taxation.
  4. State hail insurance on the acreage tax basis.
  5. Rural credit banks operated at cost.

"Practical salesmanship, a program of immediate and forceful action and
the use of the Ford automobile are the factors principally explaining
the rise of the Non-Partisan League," declares Herbert Gaston in his
book _The Non-Partisan League_.

Most of the league membership was Republican; it was therefore an
easy step to the use of the machinery of that party. In the primary
election of June 1916 and again in the fall the league was successful.
Lynn J. Frazier became the first league-elected Governor, and three
league-endorsed candidates, R. H. Grace, James E. Robinson, and L. E.
Birdzell, were placed on the supreme court bench.

Three hundred thousand dollars was appropriated by the legislature
to carry out the provisions of a Terminal Elevator Commission bill,
but Frazier vetoed the act, declaring the appropriation insufficient.
Among the progressive legislation enacted at this session were bills
providing for the creation of a State highway department, land title
registration (never enforced, however), increased funds for rural
schools, reduction of rate of assessments on farm improvements to 5
percent of the true value, and guarantee of deposits in State banks.

Entry of the United States into the World War brought new activities
to North Dakota in the spring of 1917. National Guard units were
sent, a Council of National Defense was created to aid in the work of
mobilization, Liberty Bonds were sold, and the State went $200,000 over
its quota in the United War Work campaign.

The World War interrupted, but did not deter, the progress of the
league program. Governor Frazier was reelected in 1918, and seven
initiated amendments were added to the State constitution, forming
the basis for the league program. The law for initiated petitions was
changed to require only 20,000 signers; the $200,000 debt limit of the
State was abolished and the State was allowed to issue or guarantee
bonds not to exceed $10,000,000.

The league's industrial program was established at the 1919 legislative
session. The industrial commission, composed of the Governor, the
attorney general, and the commissioner of agriculture and labor, was to
manage the industries and enterprises undertaken by the State. Under
authority of the new legislation, the North Dakota Mill and Elevator
Association was established. A small mill was purchased at Drake and
later a mill and elevator were built at Grand Forks with a capacity of
3,000 barrels per day and a storage capacity of 1,659,500 bushels (_see
Tour 1_).

In the March primary of 1920 an unusual initiated measure was the
center of interest. It was the "recall", which provided for the removal
of any elective officers, even judges. The measure became Article 33 of
the constitution.

The elections of 1920 again saw the league victorious. In the
Republican primaries Dr. E. F. Ladd, president of the State
agricultural college, defeated Senator Gronna for the nomination as
United States Senator. William Langer, who had been elected attorney
general in 1916 with the endorsement of the league, opposed Governor
Frazier in the primary and was defeated by a small margin. Frazier and
Ladd were elected in November.

Two important initiated measures were passed, one providing for a board
of auditors to audit the accounts of the State treasurer, the Bank of
North Dakota, and all State industries, the other amending a previous
measure so that although State funds and State institution funds must
be deposited in the Bank of North Dakota, county, township, municipal,
and school district funds need not be deposited there.

In 1920 deflation of the league's boom set in. The United States
Supreme Court declared the grain grading law unconstitutional. The
Independent Voters Association, anti-Nonpartisan, argued that the
cost of government had greatly increased under the Nonpartisans. In
the 1921 session of the legislature committees were appointed to
investigate. The minority of the Senate committee reported that the
industrial commission had practiced a policy of favoritism in affairs
of the Bank of North Dakota in distributing public funds to private
banks, so that the bank could not at that time meet its obligations;
that the commission had failed to exercise proper control of the North
Dakota Home Builders' Association, so that its affairs were hopelessly
muddled; that it had approved contracts between the Drake mill and
private merchants, especially the Consumers United Stores Company, a
subsidiary corporation of the Nonpartisan League, resulting in losses
to the State; that it had approved a policy of the Bank of North Dakota
by which $2,000,000 of a total $5,200,000 in live claims against
solvent banks were against 37 institutions mostly classed as "league
banks" or "friendly" politically; that it had allowed officers of the
bank to deposit public funds in private banks with the result that
$1,400,000 of these funds were tied up in insolvent banks.

The recall was exercised for the first time in the United States
against the governor of a State. In a special election of 1921, Frazier
was defeated by R. A. Nestos, Republican, a member of the Independent
Voters Association, or I. V. A.'s, as they were popularly called.
The other two members of the industrial commission, Attorney General
William Lemke and Commissioner of Agriculture and Labor John Hagan,
were also recalled. But measures initiated to curtail the industrial
program failed; Governor Nestos had to administer a program to which
his party was opposed. Nestos was reelected in 1922. In the same
election former Governor Frazier, running for United States Senator,
defeated J. F. T. O'Connor, Democrat, who later became comptroller of
currency under President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Governor Nestos was defeated by the Nonpartisan candidate, Arthur G.
Sorlie, in the primary of 1924 while I. V. A. Republicans won several
of the State offices. Senator Ladd died in office and a Nonpartisan
newspaperman, Gerald P. Nye, was appointed to fill the vacancy. He
holds that office at the present time (1938). When Governor Sorlie
died, Walter Maddock, Lieutenant Governor, filled out the term.

In 1928 George Shafer, an I. V. A., who had been attorney general under
Nestos, was elected Governor, and in 1930 he was reelected.

The debt limit having been increased at various times, North Dakota's
bonded debt in 1930 was estimated to be $36,357,200; $1,000,000
represented in capital stock of the Bank of North Dakota; $4,000,000
in mill and elevator construction and milling bonds; the remainder in
various real estate bond series.

By 1930 North Dakota's population was 680,845, more than double the
figure at the opening of the century. Large foreign immigrations
accounted for the approximately 88 percent rise in the 1910 census over
that of 1900, and by 1920 the figure had risen to 646,872. Statistics
of the U. S. Bureau of Census show North Dakota to have been the only
spring wheat State having an increase of population during the period
from 1930-35. The growth has been almost entirely rural; from 1920 to
1930 no new urban centers (above 2,500) have appeared in the State.

The State capitol building was destroyed by fire December 28, 1930, and
plans were immediately laid for building a new statehouse. A $2,000,000
building, unique in that it is North Dakota's only skyscraper, today
stands on Bismarck's Capitol Hill.

An initiative measure in the election of 1932 repealed the prohibition
clause in the State constitution, making North Dakota, dry since it
became a Territory, a wet State.

William Langer, who had been elected attorney general on the
Nonpartisan ticket with Frazier and later was defeated as I. V. A.
candidate for governor by Frazier, was elected Governor in 1932, once
more running as a Nonpartisan.

The period following proved a trying one for the rural population of
North Dakota. The farmers suffered because of low market prices for
farm products, low land values, bank failures, and crop failures. The
situation was acute at the beginning of Langer's administration because
many farm mortgages had been based on pre-depression valuations.
Farmers feared foreclosure and the wastage of their life efforts.

To prevent foreclosure Governor Langer declared various farm mortgage
moratoriums by executive order. For a time an embargo was in effect on
agricultural products, forbidding shipment of them from the State in
the hope that prices would be forced up. A law enacted to extend the
period of redemption on real estate mortgages was held unconstitutional
by the North Dakota Supreme Court as applied to existing mortgages. In
1933 laws were passed outlawing crop mortgages and deficiency judgments.

A stormy period in State history ensued when Governor Langer was
removed from office July 18, 1934, having been held disqualified
under the State constitution by the supreme court because of his
conviction on a Federal charge of conspiracy, arising from solicitation
of contributions from State and Federal employes for support of his
political newspaper, the _Leader_. (The Federal Courts later reversed
the conviction.) Ole Olson, Lieutenant Governor, served the remainder
of the term.

Thomas H. Moodie, first Democratic Governor to be elected in 24 years,
took office in January 1935, only to be declared ineligible by the
supreme court February 2, because of insufficient residence in the
State. Walter Welford, Nonpartisan Lieutenant Governor, became acting
Governor, the fourth to occupy the gubernatorial chair in little more
than six months.

The legislature of 1935 created a State Planning Board to make
investigations and surveys relative to the conservation and utilization
of the State's natural resources, and a State Welfare Board to act as
official agency of the State in any social welfare activity initiated
by the Federal Government and to allocate State and Federal funds
available for such purpose. The planning board has since cooperated
with the Federal Government in work which has involved development of
natural resources and building of dams to overcome effects of drought.

Other legislation of the 1935 session provided for a retail sales tax
which resulted in greatly increased revenues for education and public
welfare purposes, a drivers license law, and a two-year mortgage
foreclosure moratorium. Two radical changes in public policy effected
through initiated measures in 1935 were provision for manufacture,
sale, and distribution of beer, and for Sunday motion pictures.

Former Governor Langer, defeated by Acting Governor Welford for
the Nonpartisan nomination for the governorship in 1936, surprised
opponents in both the league and other parties by polling a majority in
the election, the first governor of any State elected in the individual
column on the ballot. In the same election North Dakota put liquor
control in the hands of counties, municipalities, and villages.

Indicative of the increasing responsibilities of State Governments, the
social-minded legislature of 1937 made the largest appropriation for
public welfare in the history of the State--more than $6,100,000 for
the 1937-39 biennium.

AGRICULTURE AND FARM LIFE

Land of supersized farms, of spring wheat and winter rye rippling in
the wind, of gigantic flower gardens of paradise-blue flax--this is
North Dakota, one of the greatest agricultural States of the Nation.

Those who have seen the vast fields in the summer know the meaning
of this land to the farmer and the stock-raiser; for while the
romantically inclined can meditate on the beauties of a bronze
wheatfield under the July sun, or the picturesque qualities of fine
cattle grazing on a hillside, the agricultural statistician can point
out that 87 percent of the land in the State is devoted to agriculture,
and, given sufficient moisture, the richly productive soil will more
than repay the efforts of the farmer or stockman who depends upon it
for his livelihood.

Here in North Dakota were the original bonanza farms--so-called because
of their almost fabulous yields of wheat--some of them two or three
townships in extent. They are gone now, but the size of the farms today
still startles those familiar with agriculture in other States, for
many holdings run as high as 10,000 acres, and the average for the
whole State is 463 acres, as against the United States average of 154.8
acres.

Ordinarily the rainfall is sufficient to bring crops of high value,
despite the fact that in the western two-thirds of the State
it is not abundant. In occasional years the moisture is poorly
distributed, resulting in lessened cash values. About twice in a
century the dry-land farming area of the United States, of which
the western two-thirds of this State is a part, is subject to major
drought conditions. At such times farming is difficult and in places
impossible--without irrigation. In the drought of the 1880's there were
few people in North Dakota to suffer. It took the recent major drought
which began in 1929 to impress not only upon North Dakotans, but upon
the Federal Government as well, the necessity for reliance in part upon
irrigation, utilizing the waters that flow so abundantly through the
State--and out of it.

More than a thousand dams are contemplated in the Works Progress
Administration program for the State. Many have already been completed,
and steps are being taken to divert the waters of the Missouri River
into the James and Sheyenne Rivers, and to utilize waters in western
tributaries of the Missouri.

Fortunately, North Dakota has never had a land boom. The result is that
prices of agricultural land are low, and with the returning rains it
is likely that the State will experience a new wave of confidence and
prosperity.

Naturally, in a State where 87 percent of the land is devoted to
agricultural pursuits, farm conditions are of paramount importance to
almost every person. Directly dependent upon the soil are the farm
residents who compose 53.6 percent of North Dakota's population.
Directly dependent upon the wealth of the farmer are the 28.6
percent who live in small rural towns, and, almost as directly, the
17.9 percent who compose the urban population. Of the urban group,
approximately one-third are employed in the processing of agricultural
products.

The same general boundaries that divide the State topographically
also designate the three agricultural belts. The Red River Valley and
Drift Prairie are combined in what is known as the black-earth belt,
the Coteau du Missouri constitutes the farming-grazing belt, and the
Missouri Slope is the grazing-forage belt.

In the black-earth belt the farms are usually small, averaging less
than 400 acres in extent. Here the average annual rainfall varies from
18 to 24 inches, 6 to 8 inches of which falls during the months of May
and June, when it is most valuable to small grains.

The black-earth region was the first part of North Dakota to be
settled. Furs were the object of the earliest white settlers there,
but the value of agricultural pursuits was by no means overlooked
even during that early period. Alexander Henry, Jr., the fur trader
who foresaw that the Red River Valley would be good agricultural land
if the transportation problem could be solved, tells in his diary of
planting a garden as early as 1800 at his trading post at the mouth of
the Pembina River, where he raised carrots, cabbages, beets, potatoes,
and other vegetables. Nor was he free from the evils which beset the
modern farmer: his crop was highly satisfactory for several years, but
in 1808 everything was eaten by the grasshoppers which swarmed across
the land. Henry's agrarian ventures were secondary to his fur trading,
however, and it was not until the friends of Charles Cavileer settled
at Pembina in 1851 that a permanent agricultural colony was established
in the State. An earlier settlement by the Selkirkers of Canada in
1812 had been short-lived. When the Cavileer colony arrived, however,
the Selkirk colonists, now established at Fort Douglas, Winnipeg, not
only provided Cavileer himself with a bride but also supplied his
people with seed wheat, oats, barley, and field peas--an invaluable
contribution.

For almost 20 years the little settlement at Pembina was the only
farming community in the State. Dakota Territory had been opened to
settlement January 1, 1863, and free lands were offered to anyone over
21 years of age who would cultivate and improve his 160-acre homestead,
and live on it 5 years. If he wished, he could also obtain a tree claim
of 160 acres.

Ten acres of this quarter-section had to be planted in trees, and
proof, substantiated by two reliable witnesses, that the trees had
been growing for eight years was necessary before the settler could
obtain clear title to the claim. The acquisition of tree claims was
sometimes hindered by the perpetration of a cruel hoax on newcomers.
One of a group of unprincipled men, interested in money rather than
in settlement of the land, and unable or unwilling to file claims,
would approach a new settler and offer him a "deal" on a piece of
land, ostensibly planted as a tree claim, with the little green tree
shoots already appearing above the ground. The settler would pay a
substantial sum for the advantage of having trees already planted, and
in good faith would file on the claim, only to find later in the year
that instead of a 10-acre grove he had an excellent but over-abundant
crop of turnips. Notwithstanding such discouragements, many fine groves
were planted which have not only added greatly to the beauty of the Red
River Valley and central North Dakota, but have been invaluable as a
protection against soil erosion.

A third tract of 160 acres could be secured under the preemption laws
which permitted the settler to locate on land before or after it was
surveyed, file declaration of intent to purchase, and pay for the
land within 18 months after filing, at the rate of $2.50 an acre for
railroad property or $1.25 for any other land. Additional land could
be obtained by buying up grants to soldiers in the United States Army.
Military land warrants could be purchased for a nominal price, often as
low as 50 cents an acre.

At first, despite the ease of obtaining land, there was no great influx
of settlers into the new land. The Nation was in the grip of the
Civil War, and Indian troubles in the West not only discouraged new
settlement but frightened out many who had already made their homes
there. Writers who had visited the Territory depicted it as "a land of
blizzards and Indians, drought and grasshoppers."

Moreover, homesteading in the northern part of the Territory was
complicated by the fact that the nearest land office was at Vermilion,
400 miles away, a long and perilous trip in the day of the oxcart and
dogsled. The only surveyed land was in the vicinity of Pembina. Here in
1868 Joseph Rolette, pioneer fur trader and settler, filed the first
homestead in North Dakota, the only one before 1870. In 1871 a few more
claims were filed, but it was not until 1885 that settlement increased
to any great extent. During that year so many "took up" land that
Dakota Territory became known as "the land of the free and the home of
the boomer ... free homesteaders and town site boomers."

The extension of the Northern Pacific across the Red River into North
Dakota was partly responsible for this sudden increase in population.
Immigrants found it easier to reach the lands which the Government
offered them. The Northern Pacific had been given by Government grant
alternate sections of land for a distance of 20 miles on each side
of its right-of-way. The land between these sections was opened to
homesteading; and since the free lands were just as desirable as
its own, the railroad could find no market for its property. It was
decided, therefore, that the only way to profit on its investment was
to encourage settlement, so that there would be an increased need of
transportation in and out of the new country. In lieu of its stocks,
which had slumped in the panic of 1873, the road sold some of its
enterprising stockholders large portions of its land grants for 40 and
50 cents an acre. Among those persuaded to invest were G. W. Cass,
B. P. Cheney, and Oliver Dalrymple. The three formed a company and
placed their 12,000 acres, in the vicinity of Fargo, under Dalrymple's
management. Thus was formed the first bonanza farm, initiating an
important era in the agricultural history of North Dakota.

The chief purpose of the early bonanza farms was to demonstrate on a
spectacular scale the potential wealth of the Red River Valley. The
farms ranged in size from 3,000 acres to the 65,000-acre Grandin farm
which covered more than 100 sections of land. Wheat was the sole crop.
All operations were conducted on a large scale, with dozens of the most
up-to-date farm machines working on the various divisions of the farms
simultaneously, and huge crews of a hundred or more employed during
the harvest season. Tales of the bumper crops were soon spread by the
transient harvest "hands," and visitors and home seekers came from far
and wide to see whether the stories of the fabulous crops were actually
true.

Two new inventions added to the success of the wheat-raising bonanza
farms. The first of these was the purifier, which made it possible to
produce a superior grade of white flour from spring wheat. The second
was a roller simplifying the milling of hard wheat, with the result
that this grain was placed at a premium. In a single year, the value of
the farms was raised from the original 40 and 50 cents to $5 an acre,
and by 1906 the lands were worth from $30 to $40.

Because they raised a single crop, the managers of the bonanza farms
found it easy to systematize and mechanize their work. The newest farm
machines were common in this newly settled area long before they were
introduced in the older States.

Eastern syndicates usually owned the bonanza farms, and resident
managers were engaged to supervise the work. As long as only wheat was
raised, the system was ideal. With the introduction of other crops,
however, difficulties arose, principally because stockholders could
not agree on a plan of operation. Almost all of the large farms were
eventually broken into smaller plots and sold to the immigrants and
easterners whom they had attracted to the West. Today, 51,149 of the
84,606 farms in the State are operated by their owners, 33,122 by
tenants, and only 335 by managers.

Thousands who were attracted by the success of the bonanza farms
and the low railroad rates came west to take up land, and were
aided in their preparation by the _Emigrant's Guide_, published by
the Commissioner of Immigration for Dakota Territory in 1870. This
contained not only such valuable information as data on the land laws,
farming methods, and transportation facilities, but also freight rates
and a list of prices of staple commodities to indicate supplies which
should be brought from the East and those which could be as cheaply
purchased in the new land. Tea was one of the most expensive of pioneer
commodities, ranging in price from $1.25 and $2 a pound. Sugar was also
high--from 12 to 16 cents a pound. For light, the homesteader had a
choice of candles at 25 cents a pound or coal oil at 80 cents a gallon.
Furniture, too, could be purchased by those who did not wish to carry
it across the prairies from their eastern homes. Extension tables sold
for $2 a foot, washstands cost from $4.50 to $10. Ox yokes were $3, a
double harness $45. So many homesteading necessities could be purchased
at the pioneer settlements that after reading Dakota newspapers of this
period a North Carolina editor announced that "the people are fully up
to the highest notch of civilization."

As the lands of the Red River Valley and the Drift Plain were occupied,
settlers were forced to go farther west into the farming-grazing belt
of the Missouri Coteau. Influenced by the fortunes being made in wheat
in the eastern part of the State, they too became wheat farmers. But
although the soil of the Missouri Coteau is almost as rich as that
farther east, it does not have the same advantageous rainfall during
the growing season; and while it produced successfully, it did not have
the spectacular production of the bonanza farms in the black-earth area.

Today, the farms in this region are somewhat larger than those of
the more easterly belt, being from 450 to 600 acres in size, but
the relative production is lower. Although grain farming still
predominates, ideally the farming-grazing region is, especially in dry
years, a livestock section.

To the west of this central region lies the Missouri Slope, which
constitutes the grazing-forage belt. Originally the farms here were
much smaller than those in other parts of the State--with the repeal in
1891 of tree claim and preemption laws, homesteaders were limited to
160 acres of free land. For a few years the settlers on the Missouri
Slope were able to file on desert claims, receiving one section at
$1.25 an acre with the understanding that they would improve the land
by irrigation; but so many people throughout the arid regions of the
United States filed on such claims fraudulently that the act was
finally amended to include the requirement that at least $3 an acre
must be spent for irrigation.

Despite this land limitation, many new settlers came to western
North Dakota during the "back to the land" movement from 1900 to
1910. Besides the farmers who took up free land, there were many
school teachers, laborers, and business and professional persons who
followed that method, or took a commuted homestead by filing on land,
staying there 14 months, and paying the Government $1.25 an acre. In
this region, where it is estimated that 30 percent of the land is
not suitable for cultivation, it was inevitable that many of these
inexperienced persons should settle on worthless property. Experienced
ranchers and farmers realized that only large farms could be operated
profitably, and purchased homesteads from dissatisfied settlers. In
this manner the size of farms increased, until now they run to 800
acres or more.

The most fertile soil of the western region is in the valley of the
Missouri. It was here that Verendrye, Lewis and Clark, Catlin, and
other early explorers found the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara women
carefully cultivating their neat fields of corn, beans, squash,
pumpkin, melons, and sunflowers.

Lack of rainfall is the chief drawback to successful agriculture in the
grazing-forage belt; but with irrigation, field crops can be raised
dependably. The value of irrigation has been demonstrated by the
success of the 20,319 acres immediately west of the Yellowstone River
in western North Dakota, an area irrigated by the Bureau of Reclamation
project of 1906. Similar projects are proposed in the basins of the
Knife, Heart, and Grand Rivers.

The grazing-forage belt as a whole, however, is not well suited to
agriculture. Texas cattlemen, driving their herds through western
Dakota to furnish beef for frontier military posts, saw its true value
as a cattle country. The nutritive grasses and natural shelters make
this an ideal cattle-raising section.

Among the earliest ranchers were the Deffenbach brothers, who opened a
ranch in the extreme southwestern corner of the present State in 1878.
Others soon followed, including soldiers who had finished their period
of enlistment in the western Army posts and were eager to settle in
the new land. Ranching of cattle and sheep became the industry of the
western part of the State. As the natural range showed inroads of the
new industry, dry-farming was introduced, the chief crops being forage
for winter feed.

The land in the three North Dakota farm belts is still used primarily
for the purpose for which it was settled. The leading spring wheat
State, North Dakota is second only to Kansas in the total wheat
production of an average year. Hard spring wheat, particularly marquis
and ceres, is an important crop, commanding a premium on the market
because of high gluten content. Three-fourths of the Nation's durum, a
hardy wheat used in the making of macaroni, is raised here. During the
period of 1924-33, North Dakota wheat production averaged 78,737,682
bushels a year. The State leads in rye and flax, and is outranked only
by Minnesota in barley production. In production of grain seeds and
cereal crops, respectively, the United States Department of Agriculture
ranks North Dakota third and seventh.

Like the gold of the wheat, the blue of the flax flower has been part
of the North Dakota picture since pioneer days. First planted for an
immediate cash income, flax has proved an ideal secondary crop because
it extends the seeding and harvesting periods, and since 1900 it has
been an established part of the cropping system of the North Central
States. One-half of the flax acreage in the United States is planted
in North Dakota. As early as 1890, the State produced 458,117 bushels.
By 1900, the figure was raised to 13,478,283 bushels, and the 10-year
annual average for 1924-33 was 5,081,157 bushels.

Winter rye is extensively planted because of the protection it affords
against erosion after a wet autumn. During the five years from 1927 to
1931, an average of 1,196,000 bushels was harvested in North Dakota.

A need for more feed crops for the cattle raised in the State has led
to increased production of barley, oats, and emmer, grains which are
used locally for feed. About 85 percent of the yield of barley is
consumed by hogs and lambs. Barley is also useful as a clean-up crop in
the control of annual weeds. The average annual production for 1924-33
was 27,227,284 bushels.

The same desire for an immediate cash crop which was the incentive
to raise flax on the pioneer farms was largely responsible for the
introduction of potatoes and sugar beets. Potatoes had almost always
been raised for local consumption, but no effort was made to produce
them in commercial quantities. Then a few enterprising farmers in
the Red River Valley planted large acreages, and were successful in
marketing the crops outside the State. Because of their high flavor,
mealiness, and large uniform size, these northern potatoes command a
premium on the market. One warehouse specializes in the shipping of
hand-picked, wrapped potatoes, packed like apples or oranges, for sale
to railways and other markets demanding fancy-grade potatoes. It is,
however, for their seed value that North Dakota potatoes are noted.
Their low fiber content makes them ideal seed stock, and under Federal
and State supervision they are certified for this purpose. In 1934
North Dakota produced 6,140,254 bushels of seed potatoes. Exports that
year totaled 8,390 carloads.

Experimentation showed that the soil which was good for northern
potatoes was also excellent for sugar beets. The first crop of beets
large enough to be listed in statistics for the State was 24,474 tons,
harvested in 1924. By 1929 the tonnage had increased to 59,104. This
is one crop which showed an increased production even in the dry year
of 1934, when production totaled 82,304 tons, and beets were raised on
13,466 acres on 485 farms. When the industry was first introduced, most
of the labor was performed by Mexicans. Under contract to beet farmers,
trainloads of these people came north each spring. Not only did they
work for very low wages, but they also developed a quality of work
rarely equaled by white beet workers. The cultivation and weeding of
sugar beets is done almost entirely by hand, a long tedious process in
the blazing sun, which the Mexican worker seemed to mind not at all. In
the fall, most of them would pack their families into second-hand cars
purchased with their summer earnings, and return south. Difficulties
of these workers in adjusting themselves to northern modes of living
discouraged the use of Mexican labor, however, and today only a few of
the larger farms still employ it. Most of the work is now carried on
by local labor, often by school children. In driving through the Red
River Valley, one can tell the farms on which sugar beets are a crop
of many years' standing, for scarcely one of these is without an old
tar-paper shack, a cook car remodeled into a house, or some other crude
dwelling which was once the home of a family of Mexicans. In otherwise
well-kept farmyards, where the buildings are comparatively modern,
these laborers' dwellings are very decrepit and out-of-place.

Although not a cash crop like potatoes and beets, corn has become
increasingly valuable in North Dakota. This is especially true in the
southeastern part of the State, which is the hog-raising area of North
Dakota. During the five-year period of 1927-31, the average annual corn
production was 20,200,000 bushels. Only in rare instances does North
Dakota corn reach the cash markets. It is not husked as in many of
the Corn Belt States; instead, the hogs and sometimes the cattle are
permitted to feed directly on the stocks in the field. This is known as
the "hogging down" method of harvesting corn. About one-half the crop
is cut annually for winter fodder.

Other feed crops are also important on the North Dakota farm. Many
hay and pasture crops, especially red clover and alfalfa, can be
successfully grown in the Red River Valley. In the western sections,
alfalfa is raised for seed. Timothy and brome grass are also valuable
grass crops in the eastern area.

In 1914 sweet clover was cultivated only on demonstration farms;
but by 1929 an average of more than half a million acres was being
seeded annually. Each year production of seed increased, reaching a
high of 171,600 bushels in 1933. Sweet clover replaces nitrogen and
other essential elements in soil which has been badly depleted by
overproduction of wheat. One remarkable feature of this crop is its
immunity to disease and insect pests.

Sheep are found generally throughout the State, although the northern
part of the Red River Valley and the southwestern corner of the
Missouri Slope have proved the best sheep-raising land. The animals
were brought into the State when ranching first began here, and in 1933
there were 706,000 head of sheep and lambs shipped out of the State and
15,000 slaughtered locally. In 1935 North Dakota ranked twenty-second
in the number of sheep on farms and ranges.

A true picture of cattle-raising in North Dakota can scarcely be gained
from present conditions. The native grasses of the western part of
the State were unable to withstand the heat and insects of recent dry
years. As an emergency measure, thousands of cattle were shipped from
western ranches to farms in the eastern and central part of the State,
and even to other sections of the country where sufficient feed was
available to carry them through the winter. The number of cattle and
calves was reduced from 1,835,000 in 1934 to 1,157,000 in 1935. The
decrease in milk cows, since they are raised in the less arid sections
of the State, has been much less than that in beef cattle. In 1934
there were 620,000 milk cows, while in 1935 the number was 596,000--a
drop of only 24,000. Thus, despite reverses, North Dakota was able to
maintain a position as twenty-first in the Nation in the cattle census
of 1935.

Although rarely conducted as an independent enterprise, poultry-raising
has had perhaps the greatest increase of any farm industry. Some type
of fowl is raised on approximately 89 percent of the farms of the
State. In 1929 North Dakota was listed second in the production of
turkeys, twenty-fifth in poultry and eggs, thirteenth in ducks, and
fourteenth in geese.

Poultry organizations are active in the State. The North Dakota State
Poultry Association has held annual shows since 1895, the All-American
Turkey Show is held annually in Grand Forks, and there are numerous
regional and county organizations. The North Dakota Farmers Union
maintains a poultry cooperative at Williston. North Dakota is second
only to Texas in supplying turkeys for the Thanksgiving and Christmas
tables of the Nation.

The multitudes of wild flowers on the North Dakota prairies are an
abundant source of honey; and with this natural incentive to its
development, beekeeping has increased rapidly throughout the State.
Although it can be successfully conducted in almost every part of the
State, the most extensive areas are along the Missouri and in the Red
River Valley. The sweet clover bloom is the chief source of honey, and
yields abundantly in July and August. The number of bee colonies in the
State increased from 32,000 in 1929 to 35,000 in 1932.

All of North Dakota was affected by the prolonged drought in the Great
Plains States which began in 1929 and, except for one year, continued
through 1936. High winds, intensive cultivation, and low rainfall
combined to create the most destructive period of soil erosion known
to the State since its earliest settlement. This combination of
conditions brought production in all farm products far below normal
levels. Even the Red River Valley, though it fared much better than the
western part of the State, had subnormal rainfall and was subjected
to frequent dust storms. To counteract the menace of drought to the
prosperity of a primarily agricultural region, both State and Federal
agencies began promotion of conservation in three forms: water, soil,
and vegetation. Through the combined efforts of private groups and
governmental agencies, ponds, marshes, lakes, and streams are being
restored. Some irrigation projects, both private and public, have
proved fairly successful in the western counties. The contemplated
Missouri River diversion projects, with the Grand, Knife, and Heart
sub-projects, would lead to reclamation of a large area of North
Dakota. Planting hedges and forests to hold moisture in the soil and to
prevent increased erosion constitutes the soil conservation program. To
conserve vegetation, a program of dry-farming is recommended, including
summer fallowing and the planting of drought-resistant crops.

Various agencies are cooperating in a program to educate farmers in
these conservation plans. Extension workers, including county agents
and their assistants, are employed by the United States Department
of Agriculture to assist farmers. The agricultural college at
Fargo, the Northern Great Plains Field Station at Mandan, the State
School of Forestry at Bottineau, and experimental stations and farms
are constantly conducting soil conservation and moisture control
experiments designed to raise North Dakota agriculture to an even
higher rank.

FARM LIFE

The fact that eastern and central North Dakota has been settled 25
or 30 years longer than the western part of the State is evident
in the appearance of the farms. The average eastern farm home has
well-painted and modernized buildings, surrounded by a neat lawn and
grove. Electricity is in use on many farms, being supplied from either
an individually owned plant or a nearby power line. Telephones, radios,
and cars are generally considered necessities. Since the farms are
small and close together, and small towns are within a few miles of
one another, social contacts are easily maintained. Activities center
in the towns, where farm women are members of clubs, lodges, and
church societies, and the men of fraternal and civic organizations.
Consolidated schools have supplanted many of the one-room buildings,
and parent-teacher groups have a prominent social position. Libraries
are found in many towns, and are patronized by rural as well as city
dwellers.

The farms in central North Dakota are as a rule not as modern as those
in the east, but on the whole are well kept. A somewhat different
picture, however, is presented by the western farms and ranches. The
semiarid climate makes it difficult for even the most ambitious farmer
to improve his place with trees, shrubs, grass, and flowers. Moreover,
since there were no tree claims in this part of the State, early
settlers did not have the incentive to plant groves. Periods of drought
have been felt more severely here, and have prevented many farmers
from making modern improvements on their buildings. On some farms, the
shacks erected to establish residence under the homestead act are still
in use. There is, however, one modern convenience found more frequently
in western rural homes than in those of the east--the furnace. The
chief reason for this is the vast and accessible supply of lignite, a
fuel which does not burn readily in stoves.

Since farms in western North Dakota are large, homesteads are
necessarily far apart and social contacts cannot be made easily. The
majority of homes do not have telephones, because the market is limited
to a few patrons and the cost is therefore prohibitive. The longer
distances to towns result in lack of interest in urban recreational,
social, and church functions.

The one-room school predominates in western North Dakota. Libraries
are few, and most of the people fail to take advantage of loaning
facilities offered by State libraries.

Farm families in all parts of the State participate in various seasonal
activities. During the spring and summer months, school, church,
club, and old settlers picnics are scheduled frequently. When harvest
season arrives the farmer is exceptionally busy, but always has time
to welcome the visitors from town, who come out to watch the threshers
and often stay for a cook-car dinner. Later in the fall, especially in
the eastern counties, young people participate in strawstack parties.
Dances and card parties are held in community halls and barn lofts
during the winter.

Winter activities are limited by heavy snowfalls, which often keep
communities and farms snow-bound for days. Main-traveled highways
are kept open except in unusually bad weather, but side roads are
often drifted over for weeks at a time. Then the radio becomes the
chief source of entertainment in the farm home; radio reception on
the open prairie is exceptionally good. In winter the western farmers
have an advantage over those of the east, for they get less snowfall,
and chinooks (warm dry winds which descend from the Rocky Mountains)
often temper the weather and melt the snow, permitting social life to
continue almost uninterrupted.

In every rural community "fair week" is an important date. Farmers
take their best cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry to compete with their
neighbors' entries for the prized blue ribbons. Farm women select their
finest handiwork, their choicest jars of jellies, jams, and pickles,
to enter in competition. Cookies, cakes, and pies are baked both to
exhibit and to fill the picnic baskets, for when the family goes to
the fair everyone is prepared to spend the day; one or two hurry home
in the evening to do the chores, and return in time for the grandstand
events at night. Almost every county has its annual fair in June or
July, the oldest being the Pembina County Fair, which has been held
at Hamilton each year since 1894. Even before this Pembina County
Fair, a State fair under State subsidy was being held annually in
Grand Forks, where the citizens had donated 80 acres of land for that
purpose. When the first State legislature met, it created a department
of agriculture, one of the duties of which was to hold an annual
agricultural exhibit. Now State help is also received by the fair
associations at Fargo and Minot.

Increasingly popular in recent years are the harvest festivals in
various towns. These are held in September and October, when the garden
products have reached maturity, and therefore often surpass the earlier
fairs in the quality of exhibits. The junior chambers of commerce of
the State sponsor a Golden Grain Festival which is held the latter part
of August, each year in a different city of the State. In September
comes the Grand Forks Harvest Festival, and the extension division of
the agricultural college sponsors a similar event in Fargo early in
October. Bismarck is the scene of the annual Corn Show in October.

Alfalfa Day at Fessenden in March features displays of alfalfa hay and
seed, and also includes small grains, corn, and potatoes. The midwinter
fair at Park River is sponsored by the Walsh County Agricultural
College, and consists of exhibits from farmers throughout the Red River
Valley. Other outstanding exhibits include the Barnes County Corn and
Lamb Show held in Valley City the fourth week in September, and the
Emmons County Breeders Association Stock Show which takes place in
Hazelton each June.

INDUSTRY AND LABOR

On any cold winter night in the early 1800's it was not uncommon to
see a fur trader set out from Pembina, with his dogsled loaded with
valuable pelts, to make the long trek to St. Paul or Fort Garry. With
no roads, few landmarks, and the constant danger of Indian attack, such
a night trip was extremely hazardous. Daylight, however, presented
even more dangers, for the reflection of the winter sun upon the snowy
ground often caused snow-blindness; daytime temperatures softened the
drifts so that the dogs sank deep into them, while at night they could
skim easily over the frozen surface. Despite the dangers of the fur
trade, many men engaged in it, taking their cargoes to the frontier
cities and bringing back sled-loads of supplies to be exchanged for the
furs that Indians brought to the trading posts.

The first stores were at these posts, where the Indians came to barter
for blankets, trinkets, food, and alcohol, using the valuable beaver
skin as the standard of reckoning. To avoid long discussions over the
price of goods, the traders devised a system of marking which could be
readily understood by the natives: a single horizontal line drawn on an
article indicated a value of one beaver skin, two parallel lines placed
the price at two skins, and so on. The quality of some English-made
blankets is still designated by a survival of this early system, with
lines known as "points" woven into the border.

From this frontier commerce, North Dakota industry grew. In 1909, a
century after the fur trade began, the State produced goods valued at
$19,150,000; and in 1935 manufactures were valued at $40,076,326, with
325 establishments each doing an annual business of $5,000 or more, and
collectively employing 3,306 workers. Although these figures are small
in comparison with those of essentially industrial States, they are
large in view of the youthfulness of North Dakota and its distinctly
agricultural economy.

The fur trade prospered until the Indian insurrections of 1863-64.
Then trapping became a perilous occupation, and traders and trappers
returned East. Eastward, too, went most of the settlers who had come
to farm. The only ones to remain were Charles Cavileer and his little
colony at Pembina, who staunchly continued to cultivate their level
farms in the face of Indian dangers. With the exception of a few brave
adventurers, they had the entire area virtually to themselves, until
the extension of the Northern Pacific lines into the Red River Valley
in 1871 promoted a period of homesteading. Then, for the first time,
agriculture took its place as the leading occupation of this area.

Many of the industries which were important during the development of
the State are no longer in existence. Because lumber was an expensive
commodity to import, sawmills were established at Grand Forks and Fargo
in the 1870's; and because the North Dakota side of the Red River could
not furnish a large enough supply for the mills, logs were floated down
from the Minnesota woods. Lumberjacking meant cash and wages, and many
homesteaders left their families in possession of their claims while
they went to Minnesota to earn money for seed and machinery and for
building permanent homes on their farms. As traffic on the Red River
increased, construction of steamers became an important industry for
which North Dakota mills supplied much of the lumber.

On the prairies west of the Red River Valley, the homesteaders could
not engage in logging and lumbering to earn money for improving their
farms; but, resourcefully, they found another way to get funds.
Buffalo bones were scattered abundantly upon the land from Devils Lake
westward, and cash prices of eight to ten dollars a carload were paid
by sugar manufacturers who used the bones in a refining process. Many
homes were built and much machinery purchased with the income derived
from gathering and selling this material. Gradually, however, these
pioneer occupations died out. The more efficient railway supplanted the
river steamers. The supply of buffalo bones was soon exhausted. New
occupations, allied with the expanding agriculture of the region, grew
into importance.

The first farmers here found the lack of transportation and marketing
facilities a great problem. Fort Garry and St. Paul were the nearest
markets for grain until 1851. In that year Father Belcourt, who had
established a mission where the town of Walhalla now stands, found that
sufficient power could be obtained from the Pembina River there to
operate a small flour mill. The mill was built, and farmers came from
as far east as Pembina to patronize it. Generally, however, there was a
lack of mills throughout the region. Elevators and shipping points were
far apart, and many farmers had to drive their wagonloads of grain from
25 to 100 miles to market. When the railroads were extended westward,
elevators were built in the towns and at sidings, greatly simplifying
the marketing problem. The new freight lines made it possible for
mills to import fuel from the East, but unfortunately the cost of
shipment was prohibitive. The development of North Dakota lignite
mines, beginning in the 1880's, removed an important handicap to mill
operation, however, and later the lowering of freight rates allowed
importation of other fuel. Although a large proportion of North Dakota
grain is still shipped out, there are now in the State 27 flour mills
which in 1931 had an output valued at $12,000,000. The largest of these
is the State-owned mill and elevator opened at Grand Forks in 1922 as
part of the Nonpartisan League program of State industries.

One of the important industries which has grown out of the agriculture
of North Dakota is seed production. Potatoes, clover, alfalfa,
brome-grass, and corn are shipped out in large quantities. A number of
nurseries ship trees, plants, and shrubs.

A French nobleman, the Marquis de Mores, was the first person to
realize the possibilities of a packing plant in North Dakota. Drawing
upon his own and his father-in-law's resources, he established a plant
at Medora in 1883. The venture failed, partly because his grass-fed
beef, produced at a high cost because of his artless business methods,
could not compete with grain-fed meat; but today modern packing plants
at Grand Forks and West Fargo prove that the marquis was not the
impractical dreamer his contemporaries thought him.

Since most of North Dakota's industry is concerned with the processing
of agricultural products, no large manufacturing centers have been
developed; but mills, warehouses, poultry markets, and creameries have
been established near the areas which they serve--many of the finest
creameries are in sparsely settled rural areas. Fargo is the only city
in the State that manufactures other than agricultural products.

Difficulties in shipping grain to outside markets provided one of the
chief factors in the development of the many cooperatives which are
important in the present economic life of the State. Grain farmers
early realized that by acting independently they could not trade
advantageously with eastern buyers. By 1891 there were ten farmers'
elevators in the State, and the cooperative movement grew until the
Equity Association, the National Producers Alliance, and the Better
Farming Association developed the North Dakota division of the Farmers
Educational and Cooperative Union of America, which at present includes
some 540 buying and consumers' cooperatives in the State. At first
exclusively grain-selling organizations, the cooperatives have expanded
to include the handling of twine, machinery, petroleum products, tires,
electricity, dairy products, and groceries.

The period since the World War has seen the revival of the occupation
of the first white settlers--the fur industry. Some trapping is
done each winter, but the fur sellers today do not rely upon this
nineteenth-century method of getting pelts. Instead they have farms on
which they raise the furbearing animals, usually silver-black foxes.
The climate is well suited to this industry, for the cold winters
produce heavy and valuable furs.

Although agriculture and its allied industries will probably always
predominate, recent years have seen the beginning of the development
of North Dakota's great mineral resources, which lay neglected
or unrecognized for years while farmers attempted to emulate the
phenomenal success of the bonanza wheat growers.

Ranchers in the western counties early discovered large deposits of
lignite, a black or brownish substance in a stage between peat and
bituminous coal, lying at or near the surface of the earth. Lignite
has a conspicuously woody appearance, often showing clearly the grain
of the wood or the shape of the trunks and branches from which it
was formed. It is known to underlie the entire western part of the
State. For many years its use was entirely local, chiefly because it
contains a large amount of moisture which evaporates upon exposure to
the air, causing the coal to crumble. To overcome this difficulty,
shipment is now made in closed boxcars; briquetting of lignite has also
proved successful, and the mineral is now common fuel. Lignite is used
exclusively by State institutions and by many of the manufacturing
concerns in the State. In the eight-month period from November 1, 1935,
to June 30, 1936, the production of 355 mines, amounted to 1,704,983
tons, valued at $2,077,800.15. New mines are continually being opened.
The rapidity with which the industry has been developed is demonstrated
by the fact that there were 67 more mines in operation in 1935 than in
1931, with production in 1935 twice that of 1924 and eight times that
of 1908.

The interest of the university school of mines in lignite
experimentation did not end with the perfecting of the briquet process.
The most recent achievement of the school is the production from
lignite of activated carbon, a substance (hitherto produced largely
from animal bones) used in water purification, sugar refining, rubber
tire manufacture, and other commercial processes. The development of
this product should furnish a new and profitable industry for western
North Dakota.

Western North Dakota has, in addition to its lignite beds, large
deposits of clay. These, like lignite, engaged the interest of the
late Dean E. J. Babcock of the university school of mines, and largely
as a result of his efforts are being developed. Upon his urging, a
ceramics department was created at the university in 1910 to determine
the commercial value of native clays. From experiments conducted,
it was found that certain varieties made excellent brick, tile, and
other building materials, while others were especially suitable for
pottery. Reproductions of fine European pottery and original pieces
of local design turned out at the university have attracted attention
at exhibitions throughout the United States. Large-scale commercial
development of the State's clay deposits is centered at Dickinson,
where both building materials and pottery are produced.

Sodium sulphate and bentonite are two of the more recent mineral
discoveries in North Dakota. In the southwestern part of the State
are large beds of bentonite which, because close to the surface, are
easily accessible for commercial purposes. Bentonite is used in the
manufacture of paint, rubber, soap, cosmetics, dynamite, and a variety
of other products; it has also been found to give rich gold and brown
tones to decorative designs on pottery. The chalky-white crystals
of sodium sulphate, sometimes known as Glauber's salts, are found
in few places in the United States outside of the old lake beds of
northwestern North Dakota. Sodium sulphate is principally used in the
manufacture of paper. Millions of tons of it are easily accessible in
the open lake beds where it has been deposited by springs.

Development of mineral resources should help to solve the unemployment
problem of the State--a problem which is constantly growing. Except in
recent years, residents have had no difficulty in finding work, because
agricultural pursuits usually require the same amount of labor year
after year regardless of agricultural prices. Despite this, new factors
are increasing unemployment. In the period between 1930 and 1935, North
Dakota was the only State in the spring wheat belt to show an increase
in population. Another primary cause of increasing unemployment is the
steadily growing percentage of persons over 40 years of age: in 1900,
18.4 percent of the population was over 40, in 1920 this had increased
to 20.8 percent, and in 1930 to 25.6 percent.

In keeping with the comparative unimportance of the State labor
movement at present is the small number of labor unions in North
Dakota. The State's first labor organization was the Bismarck
Typographical Union, chartered in 1883. In 1906 the American Federation
of Labor granted a charter to the Fargo Trades and Labor Assembly, and
in 1911 the State Federation was officially organized. Branches of the
latter have since been formed in almost all of the larger towns in the
State.

State regulation of labor conditions had its beginning in 1907 with
the passage of a Workmen's Compensation Act. Many revisions have since
been made in this law. A State welfare commission was formed in 1917
to regulate labor conditions; and two years later, partly through the
efforts of this commission, a minimum wage law was passed and placed
under the administration of the Workmen's Compensation Bureau. At
the same time provision was made for regulating the wages and hours
of women laborers. In 1936 North Dakota was the only State having an
eight-and-one-half hour day provision for women in factories, stores,
hotels, laundries, cafes, and telephone and telegraph offices.

                                           ANCIENT INDIAN TURTLE EFFIGY

  _Photo by Russell Reid_]

                                                          SIOUX
                                                          SUN DANCE
                                                          AS ORIGINALLY
                                                          PERFORMED

  _Copy of an old drawing courtesy of Frank Fiske_]

                                    A MODERN SIOUX SUN DANCE CEREMONIAL

  _Photo by Paul S. Bliss_]

[Map: NORTH DAKOTA IN 1879, FROM AN OLD MAP OF DAKOTA TERRITORY]

The first State child-labor act was passed in 1909. Under the present
law, employment of children under the age of 14 is prohibited. The
proposed child-labor amendment to the Constitution of the United States
was ratified by the North Dakota Legislature at the 1931 session.

RACIAL GROUPS AND FOLKWAYS

International repute as a farming State brought North Dakota a steady
stream of immigration up to the time of the World War. Tales of the
rich wheatlands of Dakota drew a continuous procession of settlers with
their household goods from the eastern States and from across the sea,
to claim a share of the fertile western acres.

Little more than two decades has passed since this influx ceased. The
State presents a patchwork of foreign groups, each still retaining
many Old World customs of speech, dress, and social life. Cultural
assimilation, however, has slowly veneered the life of the State with
an American character which is gradually seeping into and supplanting
the ways of the Old World.

The prevalence of foreign speech and customs seems quite justified by
the 1930 census, which showed 105,148 persons, or 15.5 percent of the
total population of 680,845, to be of foreign birth. In addition to
this number, a still larger portion of the population, 45.4 percent,
is first-generation American, born of foreign parents and therefore in
close contact with the speech and customs of its fathers during its
formative years.

Forty-two countries, most of them European, have contributed to the
foreign-born population of North Dakota. Norway has the largest
representation, followed in order of numbers by Russia, Germany,
Canada, Sweden, and other countries, including the Netherlands,
Denmark, Hungary, Finland, Rumania, and Iceland.

Unfavorable social and economic conditions among the rural population
of Norway, coupled with harsh military regulations, prompted most of
the Norwegian emigration to the United States. North Dakota was the
natural choice of many whose families had, for generations, lived
upon the land. Norwegian stock today constitutes 30 percent of the
population of the State, and persons born in Norway make up 29.8
percent of its foreign-born population. Their settlements have been
made throughout the northern and eastern sections of the State. In
contrast with many other national groups, the Norwegians show little
tendency to localize, and while predominant in many communities they
manifest no aversion to settling where other groups are already
represented.

The hospitality of the Norwegians is their greatest distinction. The
coffeepot is always in use, and, coffee and pastries made from Old
Country recipes are served whenever anyone chances into a Norwegian
home, as well as at meals and between meals. The Norwegians have a
charming way of bidding each other "_Tak for sidst_," meaning "Thanks
for the last time I met you."

They retain to a marked degree their native tongue in its various
dialects or _bygdespraag_, widely mixed with the English language. They
are fond of music, and mountain waltz melodies, polkas, and spring
dances, played on the accordion or violin, are enjoyed by young and old
alike. The Hardanger violin, which has eight strings, is still made
and played by the older musicians. The adult Norwegian, being very
independent by nature, does not readily fit into an orchestra or large
chorus; such organizations are more common among the younger people.

The most fantastic of the Norwegian dances is the Halling Dance, still
seen on special occasions. It is reputedly the survival of a "dance
of death" from the days when the knife was the means of avenging
jealousies among the young men of Halling Valley in Norway. When a
man began the intricate acrobatic steps of the Halling Dance, the
other dancers knew he had seen an enemy or rival in the crowd, and
unobtrusively withdrew to the edge of the dance floor, leaving the
enemy, often unsuspecting, in the clear. Then, in a great whirl, the
Halling dancer would send his knife spinning through the air with its
message of death. The dance today is an acrobatic performance which
requires great skill. It includes handsprings, the _Halling-kast_--a
whirling and kicking step--and the _krukeng_, a jiglike step done in a
half-sitting posture with the dancer moving about the floor.

In many Norwegian towns, _Jule Bokke_ or Christmas Fools still make
the rounds of the homes between Christmas and New Year. They are young
people dressed in costume and masked, who call on the neighbors and are
given food and drink at each home visited.

Among the factors which keep alive the Old Country speech and manners
are the _lager_ or societies, each of which represents a district in
Norway. Members are former residents, or descendants of residents, of
the district. At their meetings, native music, dances, and costumes are
revived.

A holiday in all Norwegian communities is the Seventeenth of May,
Norway's Independence Day. The festivities usually include speeches,
picnicking, and dancing.

Norwegian influence has been felt in every phase of North Dakota life.
Among prominent figures in the State have been Paul Fjelde, sculptor;
Konrad Elias Birkbough, who discovered a cure for erysipelas; Carl
Ben Eielson, pioneer Alaskan aviator; R. A. Nestos, A. G. Sorlie, and
Ole Olson, who became Governors of the State. In the business world,
the Norwegians have influenced the rapid growth of the cooperative
movement. Skiing, a Scandinavian sport, is a popular winter
recreation. The accordion, favorite of both the Norwegian and the
German, is widely used in concert groups and dance bands. Foods which
are commonly known, although not widely prepared outside the Norwegian
home, include _lutefisk_, which is cod cured in lye; _lefse_, an
unleavened potato bread baked in great flat, rough, gray sheets on top
of an iron range; and _fattigmand_, a pastry fried in deep fat.

In the first two decades of the nineteenth century there occurred
a German migration into Russia which was to be felt later in North
Dakota. Free lands offered by the Russian Government (desirous of
having its people learn German farming methods) drew many Prussians
eager to escape the heavy taxation of their homeland. Throughout
the Black Sea area German colonies grew up; in later years these
contributed heavily to the stream of emigration to America. Today
Russo-Germans dominate the Russian element, which forms 12.8 percent of
the total population of this State.

Because of this Russo-German constituency, the Russian and German
racial groups in the State often overlap. Native Germans form 1.5
percent, and persons of German stock 8 percent, of the population. The
Russo-Germans first came to this State about 1889, settling in the
south-central section, in McIntosh and Emmons Counties. Other Russian
and Russo-German settlements are in the Missouri Slope and in the
central area of the State. German groups are found in the southeastern
part of the State, in Ward County in the northwestern area, and in
Morton in the Slope region. Among outstanding Germans who have taken
part in the development of the State are two Governors, George F.
Shafer and William Langer.

In its residence in Russia, the Russo-German group acquired many
customs which now distinguish them from their German cousins, but
the two groups have much in common. They cling tenaciously to their
native tongue in their homes and churches; the Russo-Germans, however,
speak a dialect which is a result of their Russian residence. Both
groups retain Old Country customs of dress, most noticeable of which
is the use of the _tuch_ or shawl worn by the women in place of a hat.
On Sundays and holidays some of the older women appear in beautiful
handworked _tuecher_ and full-skirted dresses typical of peasant
Europe. White stockings are often worn by the older women on holidays.
The occasional appearance of a fez-like astrakhan cap during the winter
bespeaks the Russian influence.

Although the dress of the older Russo-Germans is rather somber,
their homes are quite the opposite. Floors throughout the house are
invariably painted bright orange, this color scheme often extending to
the back and front porch and steps. The exteriors of the house and
other buildings are likewise sometimes painted in bright colors, with
contrasting trimming. A not uncommon decorative scheme consists of two
or three brilliant hues alternating in diagonal stripes across the
sliding doors of garages, granaries, and barns. The interior of the
summer kitchen (which is to be found back of most farmhouses and many
town homes) is often painted in contrasting bright colors, one shade
being used for a wainscoting effect, another for the top half of the
walls and the ceiling, and a third forming a dividing border. Because
of American influences, the penchant for these bright colors has become
more subdued in recent years.

A popular note in home decoration is the use of bright-colored
artificial flowers, which often adorn curtains, picture frames, and the
organ or piano in the Russo-German home.

A typically Russian note is the common use of glass tumblers instead
of cups for serving hot drinks. Another practice is the use of chicory
as a substitute for coffee. A favorite delicacy of the Russo-Germans,
also typically Russian, is the sunflower seed, known as the "Russian
peanut." They eat these much as Americans eat peanuts. The sunflower
seed is becoming popular as a confection throughout the State, and is
now roasted and packaged for sale, in contrast with the old method of
drying the ripe sunflower in the sun until the seeds could be brushed
from the plant.

One of the most beautiful customs retained by the modern generation
of Catholic Germans and Russo-Germans is the visit of the "Christmas
Angels." Three young girls, trained as a rule by nuns, go dressed as
angels from home to home in the community on Christmas Eve. They knock
for admission, and when this is granted they enter the home, bless it,
and sing one or two Christmas carols. For this service they are given a
small amount of money. Another custom is the observance of "Name Day,"
when, on the day of the saint for whom he is named, each person must
hold open house for his friends. Callers greet the host or hostess with
"Happy Name Day." Birthdays, on the other hand, if they occur on a day
other than the Name Day, are disregarded almost altogether.

Many German families observe December 31 as "Sylvester's Day." On
this day the last person arising is "Sylvester" or the lazy member of
the family for the coming year. Of course everyone in an industrious
German family tries to avoid this stigma. Another New Year's custom
is for all members of the family to leave through a rear door of the
home at midnight and reenter through a front door. The first person to
enter the home after midnight is a herald of the coming year: if he is
fair, the new year will bring good luck; but if he is dark, he augurs
misfortune.

The German people are fond of community music, and numerous bands and
choruses have organized almost spontaneously under leaders. They are
especially fond of song, and when a group of older people gathers for a
social evening their chief pastime is often hymn singing. Much of the
social life centers about the church, although in some communities the
_verein_, or society, has many members and serves to keep alive the
speech and customs of the Old Country, much as does the Norwegian _lag_.

Two interesting German religious sects are the Moravians, represented
in the area near Fargo, and the Dunkards or, as they are now known,
Dunkers, who have a settlement near Cando. One of the beautiful customs
of the Moravians is the "love feast," a survival of an early Christian
custom of breaking bread as an indication of brotherly love. The feast
today generally consists of coffee and doughnuts, but the spirit is
unchanged.

The Dunkers, or German Baptist Brethren, follow their early sectarian
precepts of plain dress and plain living. While few of the women still
wear the "dropped bonnet"--a small grey or black sunbonnet--the prayer
covering or small lace cap is still worn during attendance at church
services. Older members of the colony hold to the early rulings of the
church in carrying no form of insurance. In early October of each year
a harvest festival is held in the form of a religious observance.

From both the Germanic and the Norwegian groups is derived the most
prominent foreign contribution to the language of the State: the
universal use of _ja_ ("yah") for _yes_.

Few group characteristics attach to the Canadians, who constitute
1.5 percent of North Dakota's foreign-born population, and are found
in the northeast counties and the Red River Valley. Many of them are
descendants of the Selkirk colonists who settled from Fort Garry
to Fort Pembina early in the nineteenth century. It is from these
colonists that most of the Scottish people in this State trace their
descent.

For the French-Canadians the most important festival of the year is St.
Ann's Day, July 26. A shrine to St. Ann has been built by French and
Indians at Belcourt on the Turtle Mountain Reservation, and here on
the saint's day come the lame, the halt, and the blind, to walk or be
carried in the processional. Many miracles have been claimed.

In French-Canadian communities in the Red River Valley, the colorful
Old Country wedding customs are still observed. As the wedding march is
played the bridal pair and their attendants enter, followed by young
men dressed in highly padded French costumes, and wearing grotesque
masks. They are in both male and female attire, and dance and cavort to
the delight of the guests.

Like their Norwegian neighbors, the Swedes who have come to America
are predominantly a rural people. In North Dakota they constitute 1.2
percent of the total population, and are found in the eastern part of
the State, mainly in Cass County, and in the central section east of
the Missouri in Burleigh and McLean Counties.

Smaller racial groups in the State include Hollanders, in Emmons County
near the south-central border; Danes, in the east-central counties of
Cass, Barnes, and Stutsman; Poles and Icelanders, in the northeast
section; Hungarians, in the Slope area; Czechs, in Richland and Walsh
Counties in the Red River Valley and in Stark County in the Slope area;
and many others, all showing a distinct tendency to localize.

Through their national societies, the Ukrainians in Burleigh, McLean,
and Billings Counties in the western half of the State have retained
much of the music, dances, and costumes of their native land. These are
in evidence at their club meetings and also on holidays. The costumes
are colorful and elaborate, and testify to the embroidering skill of
the girls.

The Bohemians in Richland and Walsh Counties likewise are noted for
their musical organizations, but they do not retain their native
costumes or dances. The _sokol_ or physical culture group is found in
many of the Bohemian communities.

The _sauna_ or steam bathhouse is a characteristic feature of the
Finnish settlements in the southern and western sections of the State.
Water sprinkled on a large brick stove or on heated rocks provides
the steam for these baths, which are stifling on first trial but
soon become a pleasing habit. The Finns, like the Norwegians, serve
coffee to all guests who come to their homes, no matter what the hour.
Coffee is drunk from the saucer, through a lump of sugar held in the
cheek. Two holidays which are still celebrated in Old Country style
are Midsummer's Day and New Year's. Midsummer's Day, June 24, is an
occasion of picnicking, church services, confirmation of scholars,
settling arguments or quarrels, and pitching horseshoes. On New Year's
Eve, fortunes are told by dropping bits of melted soldering metal into
cold water. One piece, melted and hardened before midnight, is a symbol
of the old year; and the process is repeated with another piece after
the stroke of midnight, to foretell the fortunes of the new year.

Both the Irish and the Icelanders continue to hand down their legends
which have been brought from Europe. Icelandic children usually are
well posted on the national sagas, including the _alfa sorgur_, which
tell of the _huldu_ folk or elves; and no Irish child is so poor as to
be deprived of the ghosts, the banshees, the leprechauns, and other
weird creatures of the Emerald Isle.

At Ross, in northwestern North Dakota, is a small colony of Syrians,
most of whom are Ahmadiyya Moslems. They have their own place of
worship, and conduct services each Friday as well as on other holy
days. They retain many food customs of the Near East, one of the most
interesting being the use of a meal made by crushing durum wheat which
has been boiled and dried in the sun. The meal is then stewed with
meats or vegetables or sweet oils.

The sugar beet industry of the Red River Valley has resulted in the
importation of Mexican workers, who provide cheap and skilled labor for
cultivation of the beet fields. The Mexican population is not large,
however, having decreased greatly from the 1930 figure of 600, and
has left no permanent imprint of its folklore or customs. The Negro
population, never large, is also rapidly decreasing. The 1930 census
showed 377 Negroes in the State.

Although not foreign-born, the Indian population constitutes a distinct
racial group. Sioux and Rolette Counties, containing the Standing
Rock and Turtle Mountain groups, have the greater part of the Indian
population and consequently register the highest illiteracy in the
State, from 7 to 8 percent. Other counties usually have an illiteracy
rate of less than 1 percent, and sometimes less than half of 1 percent.

The Indians retain many racial customs and legends despite the
encroachment of the white man's civilization. The metis, of French and
Chippewa blood, were famous as hunters and trappers. Many of them were
found in the upper Red River Valley and adjoining territory about 1850.
Their descendants now live in small clay-plastered log houses, with
much of their household equipment and bedding kept in the yard.

Many of North Dakota's characteristic folkways represent foreign
cultures rather than anything intrinsically American. There is no
lack, however, of native customs which are gradually absorbing and
supplanting the Old World ways.

Because North Dakota is a farm State, many of its customs hinge on
certain matters of rural importance such as the weather and the crops.
Whether or not the farm people are able or inclined to attend is
the greatest factor in the success of most social and civic events.
Saturday night is the farmer's night in town, a welcome holiday after
his week of isolation and work. Shops and garages become social as
well as commercial centers, as friends stop to exchange news, gossip,
and recipes. In many communities, Saturday night dances are held,
and during the summer months a vacant lot will often be the scene of
open-air motion pictures, with the spectators seated in their parked
cars and blowing the horns in lieu of applause when the pictures meet
with approval.

In addition to such general holiday celebrations as Christmas, New
Year, and Memorial Day, in the Norwegian sections of the State,
Norwegian Independence Day, May 17, is also marked by festivity. Among
the Russo-Germans, Ascension Day is an unusually solemn holiday. At
Christmas time, holiday decoration of homes is common, and groups
of young people stroll about the streets or ride in sleighs singing
carols. New Year's Eve brings about the usual noisy gayety, and in many
towns it is customary to fire guns in a salute as the new year comes
in. Watch parties are held in the churches for the more serious-minded.

The Fourth of July is an important holiday, not so much for its
historic meaning as for its local interpretation. For days previously,
the skies are anxiously scanned for signs of inclement weather. As the
Glorious Fourth dawns a salute is fired, usually by ex-servicemen, and
soon in the early morning air the sound of hammers is heard, as booths
and "concessions" rapidly go up to be draped with bunting. Flags appear
on the buildings and homes. Cars begin to pour into town, parking
near Main Street, which has been roped off for the races. The square
is soon filled with a milling crowd, all in their best clothes, the
children clutching their long-hoarded pennies and nickels which they
will exchange for soda pop, ice cream, and firecrackers. The program of
the day includes patriotic speeches, airplane and parachute exhibits,
races, and bowery dances, and in the evening the climax of the exciting
day--a fireworks display.

The Russo-Germans know the holiday simply as "the July," and in a good
year it is an occasion for new clothes for the entire family, commonly
designated "July dresses" and "July suits."

Conviviality often joins with practical necessity to provide social
occasions for North Dakotans. Butchering, sausage making, soap making,
quilting, threshing, burials, illness, all furnish opportunity for
friends to meet and visit while performing some deed of necessity or
kindness. The farmer who is ill during sowing time will often have his
crop put in by his neighbors, and he may be called on in the fall to
help harvest for the recently bereaved widow of one of his friends. The
neighbor who has lost his home by fire or has had some other misfortune
will probably be given a "make-glad" party, at which he will receive
gifts in kind and perhaps in money. After harvest, when there is straw
to be burned, the young people of the locality will hold strawstack
parties, roasting wieners and marshmallows as the burning stacks light
the autumn night with their red gleam.

Sometimes, with the coming of dusk on winter evenings, bobsleighs slide
away from darkened country homes, filled with all the members of the
family, from grandparents down to babies. Often the sleigh will pick up
additional passengers at a nearby homestead, and sometimes it becomes
so crowded that there is scarcely room for the boxes of sandwiches,
carefully wrapped cakes, and jars of pickles among the shuffling feet
and heated rocks and bricks in the bottom of the sleigh. The singing
creak of the sleigh runners accompanies songs that boom out on the
night air. Presently a number of sleighs reach an appointed home, but
they do not pause long. Across the fields the light of a farmhouse
window offers a prelude to their welcome. They become studiously quiet
until they reach the door, then burst in with shouts of "Surprise!"
There follows a confusion of greetings and commands:

"Get a lantern."

"Put your horses in the east stall. John, show Henry where to put
his horses, and--hey, John, turn Jip and Molly out to make room for
Millers' team."

"Bring in them sandwiches I brought, Helen."

"Oh, heavens, you knew all about it--you're all dressed up and ready
for us. With the country line it ain't possible to surprise anyone."

(Even where there is no country telephone line, it is considered
something of a feat to catch the unsuspecting host or hostess napping.
Yet all North Dakotans like surprise parties, and have them on
birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and every other plausible occasion.)

The farmhouse is converted into a dual-purpose hall. The accordion is
placed near the stove to "thaw out," wraps are deposited in corners, on
chairs, and on beds, except the one reserved for the babies. Tables,
the drophead sewing machine, and everything else that will serve the
purpose are arranged for card playing. One room is cleared for dancing.
After the first spurt of conversation lags, the musician takes his
instrument on his knee, the floor is sprinkled with corn meal or grated
paraffin, and soon the house is shaking from studding to rafter.
Someone suggests a quadrille, or square dance, and the room resounds
with the calls:

    "First two gents cross over
    And leave your lady stand,
    Side two gents cross over,
    And take her by the hand.
    Salute your corner lady,
    Salute your partners all,
    Swing the corner lady,
    And promenade round the hall."

    "First couple to the right,
    Birdie in the center and three hands round,
    Birdie fly out and hunter step in.
    Three hands round."

At midnight, after three or four hours of dancing and card playing,
"the ladies" serve lunch. The hat is passed for contributions to the
musician, but he does not take the money until he is through playing,
which is usually about 3 o'clock in the morning. Then, after a general
bedlam of looking for mislaid coats, the babies are carefully wrapped,
the younger children are wakened and rub their eyes sleepily as they
climb into the sleighs, the empty cake plates and pickle jars are
collected, farewells are called, and horses, anxious to return to their
own stalls, speed the drowsy parties home through the cold night.

The young people of the State usually have ample opportunity
for courting at such parties, or at meetings of junior church
organizations, church camps, and junior choirs. Matchmaking still
exists in isolated Russo-German, German, and Norwegian communities,
however. Except in the larger towns--and sometimes even there--the
newly married pair is usually honored by a charivari, or "chivaree,"
with the bridal couple seated conspicuously on some slowly moving
vehicle and taken through the streets to an accompaniment of blaring
automobile horns and clanging tin pans. The bridegroom is expected to
climax this procedure by buying drinks or cigars for the crowd.

Cigars are much in evidence at the birth of a first child, and also
thereafter at the birth of a son. A child born with a caul is believed
by many to have the gift of second sight, and it is also sometimes
thought that the caul is a powerful fire-fighting weapon.

Superstitions attach to many other phases of life, as well as to
births. Most of these beliefs are not peculiar to North Dakota, but
are rather a part of the folklore of the Nation. A dropped spoon means
company is coming, and so does the cat's washing its face. Snakes do
not die before sundown. A horse-hair put in water will turn into a
snake. The number of stars in the ring around the moon show the number
of days before a coming storm. Plants which bear underground should be
planted in the dark of the moon, and those which bear above ground in
the light of the moon. A window shade rolling up when no one is near it
portends a death in the family.

Many of the myriad superstitions are not believed, but nevertheless
continue to be passed on. There is some belief in ghosts and occult
powers, and scarcely any community is without the story of a strange
death and a haunted house--such as the tale of the doctor who was
mysteriously killed on a farm near Wilton and whose ghostly galloping
team disturbed the farmer so much that he was forced to move. These
stories, however, are often not credited but merely passed on for
effect. As for fortune tellers, the most popular prophets are those
who deal, not with tall dark men and long trips, but with isobars
and isotherms, for the interests of agricultural North Dakotans are
inseparable from the weather, which governs their destinies far more
surely than any other factor in their lives.

SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, AND SOCIAL CURRENTS

For many years education and religion in North Dakota were closely
associated, for the earliest schools were organized by priests. The
Scottish Highlanders of North Dakota's first white settlement--the
Selkirk colony at Pembina--were a highly religious peasant people
who keenly felt the absence of churches and schools in the land to
which they had migrated. Their sponsor, Lord Selkirk, also felt that
a church would add to the harmony and stability of the community, and
offered to contribute 25 acres for a church and 20 square miles for a
school and mission if the Bishop of Quebec would approve a church at
Pembina. The bishop acceded, and in 1818 Father Joseph Dumoulin, Father
Joseph Provencher, and William Edge, a catechist, arrived to establish
churches and schools, and study the "savage languages" in order to
"reduce those languages to regular principles so as to be able to
publish a grammar after some years of residence."

EDUCATION

The first school in North Dakota, at Pembina, had an enrollment
of 60 children, white and half-breed, and courses in English were
supplemented by lessons in planting small grains, both intended for the
enlightenment of the "savage" Chippewa. The school was conducted until
1823, when, after the determination of the international boundary, many
of the Selkirkers moved north to Canada, thus breaking up the colony.
The missionaries were withdrawn, and the school and chapel remained
closed for a quarter century. When Father George Belcourt came to the
region in 1848, he reopened the Pembina Mission and founded another at
St. Joseph in the Pembina Mountains. A school conducted at St. Joseph
by the Sisters of the Propagation of the Faith received financial
aid from the Federal Government, the first Federal support given to
education in this State.

In the early settlements of the State, a mother would often gather the
children of the neighborhood in her home for instruction, and itinerant
teachers occasionally held classes in the tent cities which sprang
up in the wake of the railroad. As the communities grew, residents
cooperated in hiring teachers and building schools. The railroad
companies assisted by shipping lumber free for schools. Between 1853
and the attainment of statehood in 1889, 1,362 schools were opened,
many of them in country communities, taught by men or women who had
come West to homestead. A teacher's report on one such school, sent
to the superintendent of the Griggs County schools in 1886, recorded
that he had taught a 62-day term, with 15 pupils enrolled and daily
average attendance of 7 7/31; that his salary was $35 a month; and that
the school building and grounds were in good condition, the former
containing a "Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, New 8-Inch Terrestrial
Globe, New Forms and Solids for object Teaching and Two Slate black
boards."

By 1883 two institutions of higher education had been founded in the
northern half of Dakota Territory. Jamestown College, the first school
in the State to offer a normal course, had been established by the
Presbyterian Church, and three months later the Territorial assembly
voted to found a University of North Dakota at Grand Forks. Originally
a liberal arts college, this institution extended its curriculum
until, in 1889, it included a law school, a college of mechanical
engineering, and a school of mines. In its first year the university
had an enrollment of 79; during 1936, 2,555 attended classes or took
correspondence work in its six colleges.

Several private colleges were opened prior to 1889, and the Enabling
Act of that year provided for the establishment of an agricultural
college and normal schools. Like the other private institutions,
Jamestown College was forced to close its doors during the financial
panic of 1893. Reopened in 1909, it is now the only endowed liberal
arts college in the State. The effects of the 1893 depression on the
university and normal schools were accentuated by the vetoing of the
appropriations for a two-year period. Weathering this crisis, the State
colleges and university reached an enrollment of 2,000 in 1904, and by
1936 their total registration exceeded 10,000.

Notable in educational history was the affiliation in 1905 of the
university and Wesley College, a Methodist school originally located at
Wahpeton. Similar affiliations were later made among other colleges,
including the North Dakota Agricultural College, where the Wesley
College buildings are now used for an interdenominational school of
religion.

To comply with the provision of the Enabling Act requiring
establishment and maintenance of a public school system open to all
children and free from sectarian control, the first legislature set
up an education department administered by three branches--a State
superintendent, county superintendents, and district boards. It also
created a tuition fund from the proceeds of school lands, supplemented
by poll taxes, school taxes levied by general law, and all fines for
violation of State statutes. The money from these sources was made
available to all schools in which the English language was taught.

The school lands to which the law referred were received by the State
in accordance with the plan of the Federal act of 1785 granting each
new State carved from the Ohio Territory section 16 of each township
for public school support. For North and South Dakota, under the
Enabling Act, this grant was doubled, giving the schools one-eighteenth
of all land surveyed. Town site boomers and speculators in other States
commonly took advantage of school land grants to buy property at prices
far below the actual value; but in the Dakotas they were forestalled
by the alert Territorial superintendent of schools, W. H. H. Beadle,
who incorporated into the constitutions of both States the provision
that school lands might not be sold at less than $10 an acre, and might
be leased as hay or grazing lands but not for cultivation, and that
the title of western coal lands included in the grant must always be
retained by the State. Similarly guarded were 750,000 acres of land
granted to other educational institutions. So successful was Beadle's
plan that it has been adopted by almost every other State admitted to
the Union since 1889.

At the State School of Science at Wahpeton, opened in 1903 as a trade
school and junior college, two methods of industrial education have
been originated, the Babcock plan and the North Dakota plan, both of
which have attracted the attention of educators throughout the United
States. The former provides for the establishment of three departments
within the school--a trade school, a junior college, and a business
school, each of which, by a plan of interaction, is made to serve
the others. The North Dakota plan, evolved to solve the problem of
providing industrial education in an agricultural State, concentrates
all trades education in one school, with the exception of night courses
offered at other points in the State under the supervision of the
school of science.

A second junior college was established in 1925 at the school of
forestry in Bottineau. North Dakota is now one of the 27 States which
have junior colleges.

Twenty parochial schools, most of them maintained by the Roman Catholic
or the Lutheran Church, offer grade and high school work, and are
governed by the State department of public instruction.

Under the supervision of the board of administration, the State
supports a school for the deaf at Devils Lake, a school for the blind