I | INTRODUCTION |
North
Dakota, state in the West North Central United States. It is bounded by
Minnesota on the east, South Dakota on the south, and Montana on the west. North
of it lies Canada. North Dakota belongs to the vast plains section of the United
States, and like other plains states it is predominantly agricultural. Bismarck
is the capital of North Dakota. Fargo is the largest city.
Early European residents were originally
involved in fur trading, but after wars with Native Americans subsided and
railroads were constructed, settlers poured into the state to take up its rich
farmland. However, the prairie farmers have not always been successful
economically. Political affairs in the state have vividly reflected the farmers’
resentments against outside control of wheat prices and against the rates
charged for storage and transportation of their grain. When the region including
present-day North Dakota was made a territory of the United States in 1861, it
was named for the Dakota people who lived there. Residents chose to retain the
name when the territory was divided into north and south states upon admission
into the Union on November 2, 1889. North Dakota is the 39th state. The Dakota
people are better known as the Sioux, and have given the state one of its
several nicknames—the Sioux State. North Dakota is called the Peace Garden
State—in reference to the International Peace Garden on the border between North
Dakota and Manitoba. Finally, the state is called the Flickertail State,
referring to the flickertail ground squirrel common to central North
Dakota.
II | PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY |
Located at the geographical center of the
North American continent, North Dakota is bounded on the north by the 49th
parallel, which separates it from the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and
Saskatchewan. Its eastern boundary, the only natural boundary of the state,
consists of the Red River of the North, or Red River, and one of its headwater
streams, the Bois de Sioux River. North Dakota’s boundaries enclose a
rectangular area of 183,112 sq km (70,700 sq mi), including 4,465 sq km (1,724
sq mi) of inland water, making it the 18th largest state in the nation. From
north to south its maximum distance is 341 km (212 mi), and from east to west,
North Dakota extends for 581 km (361 mi). The state slopes downward from
southwest to northeast. The lowest point, 229 m (750 ft) above sea level, is
found at the Red River near Pembina, in the northeastern corner of the state.
The state’s highest point, 1,069 m (3,506 ft), is White Butte, in southwestern
North Dakota. The mean elevation of the state is about 580 m (1,900 ft).
North Dakota is a Plains state. Although it
is largely flat or rolling, there are rough and hilly sections. In relatively
recent geologic time a continental glacier spread over all but the southwestern
section. It brought soil from Canada, scoured down the highlands, and filled in
the lowlands. The glacier blocked the northward-flowing Red River, forming the
glacial Lake Agassiz, whose dry lake basin forms the flat and fertile Red River
valley in the east.
A | Natural Regions |
Two major physiographic provinces, or
natural regions, are represented in North Dakota. These are the Central Lowland
and the Great Plains, both subdivisions of the Interior Plains. Eastern North
Dakota belongs to the Western Lake section of the Central Lowland. The low
plains around the Red River are the remains of the lake basin of Lake Agassiz.
West of the old lake basin the terrain rises a little and is known as a drift
plain because of the drift, or finely ground rock and gravel, left by the
glacier. In the northern part of the state the Pembina escarpment separates the
Red River valley and the drift plain and is especially noticeable in the Pembina
Mountains. In Canada the escarpment is called the Manitoba escarpment. The
remainder of the Red River valley is separated by several successive beaches
laid down by the retreating glacial Lake Agassiz. Another feature of the Central
Lowland in North Dakota is the Turtle Mountains. Straddling the North
Dakota-Manitoba border, these mountains, which resemble a mesa 760 m (2,500 ft)
in elevation, present an interesting contrast to the plains because they are
forested. Marking the division between the Central Lowland on the east and the
Great Plains on the west is a section called the Coteau du Missouri, or “hills
of the Missouri,” which is part of the glaciated section of the Missouri
Plateau. The coteau, up to 40 km (25 mi) wide, consists of moraine, or boulders
and rocks left by the glacier. The glacial moraine of the Coteau du Missouri
appears in a series of hummocks and hills 30 to 40 m (100 to 150 ft) high. The
coteau runs roughly parallel to the Missouri River in a long diagonal belt
through the state.
The glaciated portion of the Missouri
Plateau is mostly a subdued rolling prairie. The Missouri River has cut a
channel from 120 to 150 m (400 to 500 ft) deep, and the stream bed between the
bluffs is as much as 5 km (3 mi) wide in some places. Many old lake basins are
seen in this plateau area, and here and there isolated mountains rise above the
surface of the land. An example is the Killdeer Mountains in west central North
Dakota. These sandstone-capped buttes are remnants of the landscape prior to the
wind and water erosion and rise about 180 m (about 600 ft) above the surrounding
countryside.
The unglaciated section of the Missouri
Plateau in the southwestern corner of North Dakota is distinct from the other
parts of the state chiefly because its surface features have not been affected
by glaciation. This section contains White Butte, the highest elevation in the
state, Sentinel Butte, Black Butte, Bullion Butte, the Killdeer Mountains, and
the Badlands. They were so named by early travelers who found them bad lands to
travel through. North Dakota’s Badlands are only one of several such areas in
which erosion near rivers has cut down the land surrounding the river systems,
leaving small buttes or peaks surrounded by deep gullies and ravines. Badlands
topography is seen in dry areas where vegetation has not grown up to prevent
such erosion, especially when sudden torrential rains occur. Usually in such
areas the surface material is soft and easily cut away. In the Badlands of North
Dakota slow-burning beds of lignite coal have melted adjoining clay beds into
colorful masses called clinker. The Badlands follow much of the Little Missouri
River to the point where it empties into the Missouri River.
B | Rivers and Lakes |
The Missouri River, which flows south into
the Mississippi River, and the Red River of the North, which flows north into
Lake Winnipeg and ultimately into Hudson Bay, drain North Dakota. The principal
tributaries of the Missouri in North Dakota are the Cannonball, Heart, James,
Knife, and Little Missouri rivers. Tributaries of the Red that flow through
North Dakota include the Sheyenne, Goose, Park, Pembina, and Souris rivers.
Many small lakes dot the glaciated portion
of North Dakota. Devils Lake is the largest natural lake in the state. Its
waters are salty because it lacks an outlet. There are also many artificial
lakes. The largest, Lake Sakakawea, is a reservoir on the Missouri River north
of Bismarck and is one of the largest lakes in the United States, covering 1,458
sq km (563 sq mi). Other important reservoirs include Arrowhead, Darling, and
Heart Butte. Lake Oahe, also a reservoir on the Missouri, is shared between
North and South Dakota.
C | Climate |
North Dakota has hot summers and long cold
winters. Its maximum precipitation falls in spring and early summer. Weather
conditions, including temperature, can change rapidly. Mean temperatures in
Bismarck, near the center of the state, are representative of those of most
parts of the state. January, the coldest month, has an average temperature of
-13° C (9° F), and July, the warmest month, averages 21° C (70° F). Extremes of
49° C (121° F) and -51° C (-60° F) have been recorded. At Bismarck, the growing
season averages 134 days, as the average date of the last killing frost is May
11 and that of the first killing frost is September 22. The length of the
growing season drops to about 110 days in the northerly reaches of the state.
The long periods of summer sunshine at this latitude, providing as much as 16
hours of daylight in summer, help crops to mature quickly, thus compensating
somewhat for the relatively short growing season.
Temperatures in the north are, on the
average, several degrees lower than those in the south. Some of the greatest
variations are from west to east. The west is affected by Chinook winds while
the east is not. Average January temperatures range from -10° C (14° F) in the
west to -16° C (3° F) in the east. The range for precipitation is also greater
from east to west. Precipitation ranges from 510 mm (20 in) in the east to 360
mm (14 in) in the west. Snowfall is relatively light, although low temperatures
keep the snow from melting and strong winter winds can cause enormous
snowdrifts. Most of the precipitation falls during the growing season and
therefore benefits farming. The precipitation averages are about the minimum
needed for farming, and at times dry years have caused crop disasters.
D | Soils |
The most valuable natural resource of
North Dakota is its deep, dark, and rich soil. Developed under grass, this soil
is among the best in the world and is capable of great agricultural production.
Most of the soil is a loam, clay or a silt loam. The soils of the eastern part
of the state, classified as udic haploborolls, are darker, deeper, and more
productive than the chestnut-brown soils of the unglaciated Missouri
Plateau.
E | Plant Life |
North Dakota belongs to the grasslands
that extend from the Rocky Mountains to the forests of eastern North America.
Tall prairie grasses predominate in the east, especially the Red River valley,
but short steppe grasses are dominant in the west. The central part of the state
is a transitional zone of mixed tall, mid, and short prairie grasses. Most of
the grasslands have been plowed for crops, but there are still about 6 million
hectares (about 15 million acres) of grass in the state, most of it native
prairie grass. In draws or hollows scattered brushes or shrubs are found,
usually consisting of one or several varieties of chokecherries, Juneberries,
wild plums, hawthorns, raspberries, buckbrushes, and wild roses. The wild
prairie rose is the state flower.
North Dakota is a grassland state, and
native forests amount to only 1.5 percent of its land area. Most of the forests
are found in the Turtle Mountains, the Pembina Gorge region, the Missouri,
Sheyenne, and Pembina river valleys, and around Devils Lake. The principal trees
are the green ash, elm, quaking aspen, birch, oak, and cottonwood. In the
western part of the state, ponderosa pines and cedars (junipers) are found. Most
forestry activities in North Dakota are focused on planting. Both state and
federal agencies participate in planting programs to establish shelterbelts and
windbreaks to prevent wind from blowing away precious topsoil.
F | Animal Life |
The great herds of bison that once roamed
freely on the North Dakota prairie can now be seen in wildlife refuges and
national park units. Elk and moose can be found in the forest areas between the
Turtle Mountains and Pembina Gorge in the northeast, while elk also can be found
in the Badlands, where wild horses also run. White-tailed deer are abundant
throughout the state, and mule deer and antelope abound in the western part.
Bighorn roam the Badlands, and the howl of the coyote can be heard at night.
Rabbits, foxes, and squirrels are common. Mink, muskrat, skunks, beaver,
weasels, and an occasional raccoon also inhabit the state, and prairie dog
colonies can still be found.
Birds are abundant. There are sage hens,
sharp-tailed grouse, plover, and ruffed grouse, as well as ducks, geese,
pelicans, gulls, grebes, and other water birds. There are also many hawks, owls,
and eagles. The Souris Loop refuges contain almost 300 species of birds. The
ring-necked pheasant, wild turkey, chukar, and Hungarian partridge have been
brought into the state. Among the fishes that live in the waters of the state
are pike, saugers, trout, salmon, walleyes, and muskellunge.
G | Conservation |
Conservation of natural resources has
become a major consideration in North Dakota. The state soil conservation
committee, the state game and fish department, and the state water commission
work with federal agencies to conserve the state’s natural resources.
Since the 1930s, the time of the Dust Bowl
in the United States, prevention of soil erosion has been of special concern in
the state. Many farmers have put conservation practices into effect. All of the
state’s land area is included in soil conservation districts.
Hundreds of dams have been constructed in
the state for flood control, municipal water supply, and irrigation. The largest
is Garrison Dam on the Missouri River. Other important dams are Baldhill Dam, on
the Sheyenne River; Homme Dam, on the Park River; Dickinson and Heart Butte
dams, on the Heart River; Bowman-Haley Dam, on the Grand River; and Jamestown
Dam, on the James River.
All of North Dakota’s coal production
comes from strip mining, in which the soil and rock above the coal is stripped
off by excavating machines. The land in a strip-mined area is devastated, but it
can be reclaimed or restored for farming, grazing, or other productive uses. A
state law requires the reclamation of land in strip-mined areas.
North Dakota does not have any significant
urban or industrial pollution. However, the many irrigation and water diversion
projects in the state have caused concern over possible pesticide and sediment
runoff, and the major Garrison Diversion Project in western North Dakota was
halted in the late 1970s after it was determined that agricultural runoff might
disturb the ecology of the Souris River.
III | ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES |
North Dakota is an agricultural state.
Farming is, directly or indirectly, the major source of income. However, mining,
manufacturing, and tourism are also important. The extraction of mineral
fuels—petroleum, coal, and natural gas—is the principal mining activity. Food
processing is the chief type of manufacturing.
North Dakota had a work force of 358,000 in
2006. Of those the largest share, 40 percent, worked in the diverse service
sector, doing such jobs as working in tourist establishments or data processing.
Another 21 percent worked in wholesale or retail trade; 21 percent in federal,
state, or local government, including those in the military; 9 percent in
farming (including agricultural services), forestry, or fishing; 7 percent in
manufacturing; 14 percent in finance, insurance, or real estate; 21 percent in
transportation or public utilities; 5 percent in construction; and 1 percent in
mining. In 2005, 7 percent of North Dakota’s workers belonged to labor unions.
The state has a right-to-work law, which prohibits union membership as a
condition of employment.
A | Agriculture |
In 2005 there were 30,300 farms in North
Dakota. Of those 72 percent produced annual income of more than $10,000, a high
rate by national standards. Many of the remaining farms were sidelines for
operators who held other jobs. Farmland occupied 15.9 million hectares (39.4
million acres), of which 67 percent was cropland. Most of the rest was used as
range for livestock grazing. In the early 1990s about 41,000 people worked on
farms in North Dakota. That represented a decrease of nearly one-fifth from the
early 1980s. However, projections are that employment in farming will remain
steady into the early 2000s.
North Dakota lies in the heart of the
spring wheat belt, where wheat is planted in spring and harvested in late
summer. The state is surpassed only by Kansas in total wheat production. It
harvests more durum wheat, which is used in making pasta, and other varieties of
spring wheat than any other state. In barley, sunflower seed, and flaxseed the
state also ranks first in the nation. Furthermore, it is a leading producer of
dry beans, potatoes, honey, oats, and sugar beets. After wheat, cattle provide
the second most important source of income for North Dakota’s farmers. The state
also produces such crops as hay, soybeans, and corn, as well as dairy products
and hogs.
A1 | Patterns of Farming |
The land bordering the Red River in
eastern North Dakota is the richest agricultural land in the state. In addition
to wheat growing, a variety of specialty crops are raised, including sugar
beets, soybeans, and sunflowers, as well as most of the potatoes grown in the
state. In the southeast, corn and oats are important and hogs, as well as
cattle, are raised. Corn and hogs, traditionally raised together, are the
important products of the Corn Belt, which borders this part of the state.
Throughout much of the rest of North Dakota, cash grains, largely wheat but also
barley and oats, are usually grown. Flax is grown in many areas. In the Missouri
Coteau and in the southwestern part of the state many farmers combine cattle
ranching with wheat growing. In south central North Dakota, dairy cattle are
numerous.
B | Mining |
Mineral fuels account for 97 percent of
the value of North Dakota’s mineral output. Petroleum, which was first brought
into production in 1951, accounted for three-fifths of the value of North
Dakota’s annual mineral output in the late 1990s. It occurs in a large geologic
structure, called the Williston Basin, that underlies western North Dakota as
well as parts of South Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
Lignite, a low-grade coal, has been mined
in the state since the 1880s. Output reached 3.3 million tons in 1950 and did
not exceed that total again until 1966. Thereafter, production increased
steadily, reaching 28 million metric tons in 2006. Only Texas produces more
lignite than North Dakota.
Like other mineral fuels in North Dakota,
lignite comes from the western half of the state. Mercer, Oliver, and McLean
counties account for more than 90 percent of the production. Some of the lignite
beds in southwestern North Dakota contain small amounts of uranium.
In national production the state ranks
ninth in production of oil although it extracts just 2 percent of the U.S.
total. Most of the crude oil is refined at Mandan, although some is shipped to
refineries in other states. Williams and McKenzie counties lead all the others
in petroleum production.
Natural gas was discovered in North
Dakota at the end of the l9th century. Commercial production began in 1929. Most
of the gas is taken from the oil wells of the Williston Basin. The largest of
the nation’s three coal gasification plants is in North Dakota, located near
Beulah. It turns the state’s lignite into a high quality synthetic natural gas,
in addition to several chemical byproducts with industrial uses.
Other minerals of importance are sand and
gravel, which are made into bricks and other products. Salt is found in the
Williston Basin, peat is extracted in Bottineau County, and lime is made at
Drayton.
C | Manufacturing |
North Dakota’s distance from large
consumer centers and sparse population have discouraged the growth of
manufacturing. The state ranks 47th in the nation as a manufacturing state,
ahead of only Alaska, Hawaii, and Wyoming. Its industries are tied closely to
the agricultural activity of the state. The production of industrial machinery,
primarily for use on farms, and food processing together account for two-thirds
of the total income generated by industry. Machinery production is the leading
source of industrial income in North Dakota. The production of dairy products is
the leading food-processing activity. Agricultural cooperatives are becoming
increasingly popular in the state as farmers band together in an effort to
retain a portion of the value added to the raw materials they produce. Closely
tied to agriculture are such manufactures as animal feeds and fertilizers. Among
the larger establishments in terms of employees are printing and publishing
firms and petroleum and natural-gas refineries. Several firms make wood products
such as household and commercial furniture and kitchen cabinets. Stone, clay,
and glass products supply the construction industry. The state’s largest
manufacturing center is Fargo. Other centers are Grand Forks, the
Bismarck-Mandan area, and Minot.
D | Electricity |
Thermal power plants fueled by the
state’s lignite supply account for 95 percent of the electricity generated. The
remaining electricity comes from hydroelectric sources. The large Garrison Dam
project on the Missouri River is publicly owned and operated. Fuels are more
than adequate to support increased industry in the state.
E | Transportation |
North Dakota has an extensive system of
railroad lines, many serving to transport agricultural products from small
farming communities. Farm products account for 55 percent of the goods hauled by
rail and originating in the state, coal makes up 20 percent, and processed foods
represent another 19 percent. In 2004 the state had 5,782 km (3,593 mi) of
railroad track.
The principal east-west highway is
Interstate 94, which draws a nearly straight line across the southern portion of
the state. The main north-south route is Interstate 29, along the eastern
border. In 2005 North Dakota had 139,680 km (86,793 mi) of public roads, of
which 919 km (571 mi) were federal interstate highways.
There were 8 airports in the North Dakota
in 2007, many of which were private airfields. The largest was in Fargo,
although none of the state’s airports were considered busy by national
standards.
IV | THE PEOPLE OF NORTH DAKOTA |
A | Population Patterns |
North Dakota is the 18th largest state,
but in population it ranked 47th in 2000, with 639,715 people. Its population
density was just 3.6 persons per sq km (9.2 per sq mi). In 1930 the state had
681,000 inhabitants, but the population then declined to 620,000 in 1950. The
population grew by about 2 percent in the 1950s, then fell 2 percent in the
1960s. From 1970 to 1980 the population grew by 5.7 percent, only to fall again
by 2.1 percent between 1980 and 1990. It grew by just 0.5 percent between 1990
and 2000.
In 2000 only 56 percent of North Dakotans
were classified as urban dwellers. The rural population has dropped markedly,
however, since 1950 and undoubtedly will continue to do so as farmers seek
employment in the cities. Some of North Dakota’s cities have shown sharp
population increases. Bismarck more than doubled in population between 1950 and
1990.
B | Principal Cities |
North Dakota has three standard
metropolitan statistical areas. The Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area, which
extends into Minnesota, had a 2006 population of 187,000. The Grand Forks
metropolitan area, which also extends into Minnesota, had a population of
96,500. The Bismarck metropolitan area had a population of 101,100. The city of
Fargo by itself had 90,056 inhabitants in 2006. Bismarck, with 58,333 people,
Grand Forks, with 50,372, and Minot, with 34,745, were the only other large
cities. Most of North Dakota’s cities are important railroad junctions and
therefore serve as supply centers for their regions. Fargo and Grand Forks are
university cities, as well as trade and commercial centers, and Minot has a
large state college. Bismarck, the capital, is the administrative center of the
state and also a major commercial center. Bismarck grew up as a natural
transportation junction because the Missouri River could easily be crossed at
that site.
The ancestors of many North Dakotans
emigrated from Norway, Germany, Russia, and Canada. In 2000 whites comprised the
largest share of the population, representing 92.4 percent of the people. Native
Americans, many of whom were of the Ojibwa and Sioux peoples, were 4.9 percent
of the population; blacks were 0.6 percent, Asians were 0.6 percent, and those
of mixed heritage or not reporting race were 1.5 percent. Native Hawaiians and
other Pacific Islanders numbered 230. Hispanics, who may be of any race, were
1.2 percent of the population.
C | Religion |
More than three-quarters of North Dakota’s
population are members of a Christian church, the highest rate of church
membership of any state outside of Utah. Most church members belong to
Protestant denominations, the largest of which is the Lutherans. Nearly
one-third of churchgoers are members of the Roman Catholic church.
V | EDUCATION AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS |
A | Education |
At the time the state was created, in 1889,
there were more than 1,000 public schools. In the middle of the 20th century,
North Dakota, like many other states, began to consolidate its school districts
for greater economy and efficiency, and by 2001 the number of school districts
had been reduced to 228. School attendance is compulsory for all children from
the age of 7 to 16. About 6 percent of the state’s children attend private
schools.
In the 2002–2003 school year North Dakota
spent $7,721 on each student’s education, compared to a national average of
$9,299. There were 12.7 students for every teacher (the national average was
15.9 students per teacher). Of those older than 25 years of age in 2006, 88.1
percent had a high school diploma, the national norm being 84.1 percent.
A1 | Higher Education |
North Dakota’s major institutions of
higher education are the state-supported University of North Dakota in Grand
Forks, and North Dakota State University in Fargo. In 2004–2005 the state had 14
public and 7 private institutions of higher education. They included Dickinson
State University, in Dickinson; Jamestown College, in Jamestown; University of
Mary , in Bismarck; Mayville State University, in Mayville; Minot State
University, in Minot, with a two-year school in Bottineau; and Valley City State
University, in Valley City.
B | Libraries |
The first of the state’s public libraries
was opened in Grafton in 1897. That same year the superintendent of public
instruction established the traveling library system, which for decades rotated
books from school to school throughout the state. The state library commission
was also established, primarily to serve rural needs. The state has 82
tax-supported library systems. Each year the libraries circulate an average of
7.4 books for every resident. The largest libraries in the state are at the
University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University. Both have
extensive special collections that include Scandinavian and Icelandic literature
and materials on North Dakota’s history and politics. The University of North
Dakota has a complete set of the original Nuremberg Trial records, which
document war crimes committed during World War II (1939-1945) (see War
Crimes Trials).
C | Museums |
Two well-known museums are the museum of
the State Historical Society at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck,
and the University of North Dakota Zoology Museum, in Grand Forks. The society’s
museum houses exhibits relating to North Dakota’s Native Americans and pioneers,
and the university’s museum has natural history exhibits. The Geographical
Center Historical Museum, at Rugby, is located on the site of the geographical
center of the North American continent. The State Historical Society and a
number of county historical societies maintain small museums in several
cities.
D | Communications |
Colonel Clement H. Lounsberry won fame as a
journalist for his reporting of the rout of General George A. Custer at the
Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Lounsberry, who for some years had been a
reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune, founded the Bismarck Tribune
as a weekly in 1873. It is North Dakota’s oldest newspaper. Other leading
newspapers are the Forum, published in Fargo, and the Grand Forks
Herald. In 2002 there were 8 daily newspapers in North Dakota.
North Dakota’s first radio station, WDAY,
in Fargo, went on the air in 1922, within two years of the first radio broadcast
in the United States. In 2002 the state had 34 AM and 44 FM radio stations, and
24 television stations.
E | Music and Theater |
The early settlers brought with them a
great love for music and pageantry that continued in their new land. Almost
every community has a band and singing group, and there are a number of amateur
theater groups in the state. Grand Forks, Fargo, and Minot sponsor community
symphony orchestras. Other communities offer annual concert series by visiting
musicians, and various towns have associations for the study and exhibition of
art. Grand Forks is home to the North Dakota Ballet Company, and Fargo is the
site of the Fargo-Moorhead Civic Opera Company.
VI | RECREATION AND PLACES OF INTEREST |
North Dakotans participate in a variety of
winter sports. These include skating, sleighing, and tobogganing. Ski trails and
tows are being opened at various locations in the state, and the larger cities
hold winter sports carnivals. People are also attracted to annual summer
pageants depicting historical events associated with North Dakota and to the
numerous agricultural fairs in the state.
The state’s many wildlife refuges (more than
any other state) offer bountiful opportunities to observe animals. Bison,
antelope, and bighorn sheep can frequently be seen, as can the hundreds of
different species of birds that make the state home.
A | National Parks |
The two units of Theodore Roosevelt
National Park encompass 28,509 hectares (70,447 acres) of rugged Badlands.
Inside the park, near Amidon, is an area where burning underground coal beds
emit an intense heat through a fissure in the earth’s surface. Prehistoric plant
and animal fossils, as well as several petrified forests, are found at this
location. Buttes, domes, and cones that resisted erosion rise up on both sides
of the Little Missouri River. Mineral deposits cause these rock towers to cast
hues of lavender, green, yellow, and red.
The Knife River Indian Villages National
Historic Site, near Stanton, contains the location of large Native American
villages encountered during the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. The
Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site is a reconstruction of the fort
that was the major trading center of the northern plains in the early
1800s.
International Peace Garden, which lies
partly in North Dakota and partly in Manitoba, Canada, features a formal garden,
lakes, and picnic areas and honors the long friendship between the two nations.
It is operated by a nonprofit corporation.
Two national grasslands, Sheyenne and
Little Missouri, are strongholds for dozens of wildlife species. Sheyenne,
located in the southeastern portion of the state, is well known as a stopping
ground for migratory songbirds. Little Missouri grassland is located on North
Dakota’s western border.
There are 17 national wildlife refuges and
preserves dotted across the state. One of the country’s biggest game preserves
is Sully’s Hill, where bison, elk, and deer can be seen in their natural
environment.
B | State Parks |
Most of North Dakota’s 16 state parks have
picnicking and camping facilities. Several others offer fishing opportunities.
The wooded Turtle River State Park attracts visitors with its many lakes ideal
for swimming and boating.
C | State Forests |
While usually thought of as a prairie
state, a variety of trees grow in North Dakota’s four state forests. The aspen,
bur oak, green ash, and balsam poplar that grow in Homen and Turtle Mountain
state forests are ideal habitat for moose and deer, as well as a variety of
smaller creatures. Tetrault Woods State Forest is a mixture of woods and
wetlands, while Sheyenne State Forest is dominated by hardwoods such as elm,
green ash, and oak.
D | Other Places to Visit |
Garrison Dam and Lake Sakakawea are of
great interest to visitors, as are the rich oil fields at Fryburg. A noteworthy
historic site is the Château de Mores, the lodge of the Marquis de Mores, in the
village of Medora, which was founded by the marquis in 1883. The state historic
site at Fort Abercrombie contains restored infantry blockhouses dating from
pioneer days, and Whitestone Hill Battlefield State Historic Site enshrines the
site where a particularly fierce battle occurred between the Native Americans
and United States Cavalry forces. The restored boyhood home of band leader
Lawrence Welk can be visited in Strasburg. North America’s tallest structure, at
629 m (2,063 ft), is the television tower near Blanchard, north of Fargo. Native
American tribes have opened gambling casinos in several areas.
E | Annual Events |
Residents and visitors enjoy year-round
festivals and fairs in North Dakota. Historic sites featuring reenactments of
pioneering days are especially popular in the summertime. West Fargo hosts the
Red River Valley Fair in July. Sodbuster Days, in mid-July, remember the pioneer
farmers with demonstrations of agricultural techniques using antique tools and
engines. The North Dakota State Fair, held in Minot, is also in July. Dickinson
Roughrider Days, during the Fourth of July weekend, is the city’s largest rodeo.
Events feature barrel racing, roping, and bareback riding by professional rodeo
riders. A long-running football rivalry between the University of North Dakota
and North Dakota State University captures statewide attention with an annual
game.
VII | GOVERNMENT |
North Dakota is governed under its
original constitution, adopted in 1889, as amended. A constitutional amendment
may be proposed by the state legislature or by an initiative. To become
effective, it must be approved by a majority of voters in a general
election.
A | Executive |
Executive power in the state is vested
in the office of governor who is elected for a four-year term. Also elected for
four years are the lieutenant governor; secretary of state; state auditor; state
treasurer; superintendent of public instruction; the commissioners of
agriculture, labor, insurance, and taxes; and the attorney general. Three public
service commissioners are elected for six-year terms.
B | Legislative |
The Legislative Assembly comprises a
47-member Senate and a 94-member House of Representatives. Senators serve for
four years; representatives serve for two years. The voters have the power of
initiative—that is, they can propose constitutional changes through petition and
a subsequent vote at the polls. They have the related power of referendum,
whereby they can approve or reject at the polls a constitutional amendment
proposed by the legislative assembly.
C | Judicial |
Judicial power in the state lies with a
supreme court of five members, each elected for a ten-year term, seven district
courts whose 25 judges are elected for six-year terms, county magistrates, and
numerous county justices and police magistrates.
D | Local Government |
Each of the 53 counties in North Dakota
is governed by an elected board of commissioners and other elective officials,
including sheriffs, auditors, and treasurers. The commissioners serve four
years, and other officials two years. North Dakota’s cities have the mayor and
city council, commission, or city manager form of government.
E | National Representation |
North Dakota elects two U.S. senators
and one member of the United States House of Representatives. The state casts
three electoral votes.
VIII | HISTORY |
A | Early Inhabitants |
The first people in what is now North
Dakota were hunters and gatherers who appeared about 15,000 to 20,000 years ago.
They had stone weapons and hunted many different animals, but disappeared about
5000 bc. About 2,000 years ago
native peoples from the areas of present-day Minnesota and Wisconsin moved to
the grasslands in what is now eastern North Dakota. In about ad 1100 the ancestors of the Mandan and
Hidatsa peoples migrated to the area of North Dakota. By the end of the 17th
century the Mandan, with their allies, the Hidatsa and Arikara, lived a largely
sedentary life in earthen lodges clustered in fortified villages. They raised
corn, beans, pumpkins, squash, sunflowers, melons, and tobacco and supplemented
that diet by hunting and gathering. They conducted wide-ranging trading
expeditions that covered the area between the Rocky Mountains, what is now
northern Michigan, and the Gulf of Mexico.
The Cheyenne, whom the Ojibwa had
driven out of Minnesota in the late 17th century, settled first on the Sheyenne
River in what is now North Dakota, living in earth lodges, and farming. The
Ojibwa destroyed this settlement about 1770, and the Cheyenne moved into the
Black Hills of what is now South Dakota, became dependent on the bison, and
adopted a nomadic lifestyle. By the early 19th century in the area of
present-day North Dakota, the Yanktonai and Teton Sioux peoples lived in the
southeast and southwest, respectively; the Ojibwa lived in the northeast, and
the Assiniboine, related to the Yantonai Sioux, lived in the northwest.
B | European Exploration |
In 1682 the French explorer René-Robert
Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, traveled down the Mississippi River and claimed all
the land drained by the river for France, including most of present-day North
Dakota. The first person of European descent known to have entered North Dakota
was Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye, who traveled there in
1738. La Vérendrye had been authorized by the king of France to explore new
areas for the fur trade and to search for the Northwest Passage, a route that
was believed to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean through what is
now Canada. Such a route would allow ships to sail directly to Asia. La
Vérendrye did not find the passage, but he did visit many Mandan villages and
noted the complexity of their civilization, their farms, and their
fortifications. Two sons of La Vérendrye also crossed the areas of present-day
North Dakota and South Dakota in 1742.
More than 50 years elapsed before more
European explorers visited the area. In 1797 David Thompson of the North West
Company mapped and explored the Assiniboine and Souris rivers, the Turtle
Mountains, and much of what is now central North Dakota. The same year Charles
Chaboillez of the North West Company built the first fur-trading post in North
Dakota at the confluence of the Pembina River and the Red River of the
North.
C | The Louisiana Purchase |
In 1763 France was defeated by Great
Britain in the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the last in a series of
battles between Great Britain and France for domination in North America, and
lost nearly all its North American possessions. However in 1762 France had
secretly ceded all its lands west of the Mississippi (called the Louisiana
Territory) to Spain, France’s ally in the war. France regained the land in 1800
under an agreement with Spain, and in 1803 the United States bought a huge
region, including what is now the western half of North Dakota, from France as
part of the Louisiana Purchase.
After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803,
United States President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark to explore the newly acquired territory west of the Mississippi
River (see Lewis and Clark Expedition). In 1804 they reached what is now
North Dakota and spent the winter of 1804 and 1805 at Mandan and Hidatsa
villages. While with the Mandan, Lewis and Clark met the French trader Toussaint
Charbonneau, whom they hired as an interpreter and guide for the rest of their
trip west. Charbonneau’s Shoshone wife, Sacagawea (or Sacajawea) and their young
son were also allowed to go with the expedition when it set out in April 1805.
Sacagawea proved invaluable. When the expedition encountered a tribe of Shoshone
led by her brother, Sacagawea obtained food, horses, and guides, which allowed
the explorers to continue. The following spring Lewis and Clark returned along
the same route, and in September 1806 they left Sacagawea and Charbonneau at the
Mandan village near present-day Stanton.
D | White Settlement |
By 1801 the Hudson’s Bay and XY
companies had established fur-trading posts in the area. That same year the
North West Company’s Alexander Henry abandoned Chaboillez’s post and built a new
one, later called Fort Henry, on the opposite bank of the Red River. Henry
established posts in other parts of what is now North Dakota and wrote
enthusiastically of his visits to the Mandan. Fur-trading companies continued to
build trading posts throughout the area until the late 1830s when the fur trade
began to decline.
In time a community of Native Americans
and Métis (people of mixed Native American and European ancestry) grew up around
the fur-trading posts. Métis staffed the trains of carts carrying furs and
merchandise between Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Permanent white settlement had started
in 1812, when a group of Scottish and Irish settlers under the sponsorship of
Thomas Douglas, 5th earl of Selkirk, left Winnipeg in what is now Canada to
start a colony at Pembina. These settlers began farming and built log houses and
a stockade, which they named Fort Daer. In 1818 they founded the state’s first
church and first school. Britain and the United States agreed on the 49th
parallel as the boundary between the territory of the two nations in 1818, and
when a U.S. survey in 1823 showed that the Fort Daer settlers were no longer in
British territory, the colony moved across the border to Canada.
During the last years of the fur trade
many prominent people visited the area of present-day North Dakota, including
the naturalist John James Audubon; Paul Wilhelm, the prince of Wurttemberg; and
Maximillian, the prince of Wied. The famous artist George Catlin also visited in
1832, riding aboard the Yellowstone, the first steamboat to sail up the
Missouri River to Fort Union. During his eight-year stay, Catlin wrote, painted,
or sketched much of what he experienced on the upper Missouri River. Especially
valuable are his descriptions of many of the ceremonies of the Mandan prior to
their decimation by smallpox in 1837. The remaining Mandan, Arikara, and Hidatsa
moved near Fort Berthold, where their descendants live today.
E | The Dakota Territory |
Until the late 1840s white settlement
in the area of present-day North Dakota was largely limited to the areas along
the Missouri. That began to change after the admission of Iowa to the Union in
1846, the discovery of gold in California in 1848, and the organization of the
Minnesota Territory in 1849, each of which implied that what is now North Dakota
would eventually become a territory as well. That possibility encouraged white
settlers to move into the area. In the 1850s two land companies were formed, the
Dakota Land Company in Minnesota and the Western Town Company in Iowa, each
wanting to secure desirable land in the anticipated Dakota territory. By spring
of 1857 both companies had built separate communities at the site of present-day
Sioux Falls, South Dakota. By early 1861 hundreds of settlers had migrated to
the region, establishing communities in what is now South Dakota at Vermillion,
Yankton, and Bon Homme, and occupying farms in the surrounding lands. On March
2, 1861, President James Buchanan signed the act establishing Dakota Territory,
which included all of present-day North and South Dakota, as well as large
portions of Wyoming and Montana. The first legislature of the Dakota Territory
met in what is now Yankton, South Dakota, in 1862. In 1868 the creation of the
Wyoming Territory established the western boundary of the Dakotas. The southern
boundary was fixed in 1882.
F | Conflict with Native Americans |
To protect those living along the
Missouri River and the migrants and settlers traveling through the area of
present-day North Dakota on their way to the Pacific Coast, the federal
government built many short-lived military posts in the latter half of the 19th
century. The first of these, Fort Abercrombie, was built on the Red River in
1857. In 1862 Sioux peoples from Minnesota besieged Fort Abercrombie for several
weeks. In 1863 U.S. General Henry H. Sibley and his troops headed west and drove
the Sioux across the Missouri River. General Alfred H. Sully followed Sibley and
fought several bloody battles with other Sioux bands that had probably not taken
part in the earlier Minnesota war.
The U.S. government, despite building
more forts to protect travelers, could not decisively defeat the various Sioux
peoples. The government turned to negotiation instead, holding peace discussions
with Sioux leaders in the mid-1860s. In 1868 many of them signed a treaty under
which the United States agreed to abandon the Bozeman Trail, which led through
Sioux lands to the mining camps of Montana, and in exchange the Sioux accepted a
reservation west of the Missouri River. Not all Sioux signed the treaty, and
many refused to live on the reservation.
In 1853 U.S. General Isaac Ingalls
Stevens had led a party across what became North Dakota, surveying possible
routes for a transcontinental railroad, and in 1864 the U.S. Congress had
provided land grants to help build what became the Northern Pacific Railroad
from Minnesota to what is now Washington state. The railroad arrived in northern
Dakota Territory in 1871, crossed the Red River in June 1872, and reached
Bismarck a year later. The Sioux deeply resented the construction of the
railroad, however, and railroad workers had to be escorted by U.S. troops. In
1874 an expedition led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer discovered
gold in the Black Hills in what is now South Dakota, and white miners flooded
into the area in violation of the 1868 treaty, which prohibited whites
trespassing on Sioux lands.
The Sioux, fearing the loss of their
land, went to war. Much of the fighting between the U.S. government and the
Sioux, led by the Hunkpapa Sioux Sitting Bull and the Oglala Sioux Crazy Horse,
took place outside the area of present-day North Dakota, including the Battle of
the Little Bighorn in 1876, in which Sioux and Cheyenne killed Custer and about
260 U.S. soldiers near the Little Bighorn River in what is now Montana. Within
the year, however, the Sioux had suffered a series of defeats, and most returned
to the reservations. Sitting Bull and his band went to Canada and remained there
until 1881, when they returned to surrender at Fort Buford, in northern Dakota
Territory, marking the end of the military threat posed by Native Americans to
white control over the area. In the late 1880s followers of the Native American
messiah Wovoka introduced the ghost dance, which was supposed to help the Native
Americans regain their lands and live in peace. The ghost dance gave the Sioux
hope and added to their restlessness. In North Dakota the army believed Sitting
Bull might instigate a rebellion, and on December 15, 1890, he was arrested at
the Standing Rock Reservation south of Bismarck. As he was being led away from
his cabin over the objections of his men, a gunfight erupted during which
Sitting Bull and 12 others were killed. In the next two decades the U.S.
government reduced the size of the Native American reservations dramatically,
opening up large amounts of land to white settlement.
G | Farming |
In 1851 a group of settlers sponsored
by Charles Cavileer had begun the first permanent farming community at Pembina.
The colony grew slowly; as late as 1870 there were no more than 2,500 whites
permanently living in the area of present-day North Dakota. The Civil War
(1861-1865) and warfare with Native Americans had kept most settlers out,
although the Homestead Act of 1862 had offered 65 hectares (160 acres) to
settlers who remained on the land for five years, and railroads sold land very
cheaply. In 1868 Joseph Rolette, who had been a fur trader at Pembina for 25
years, made the first land claim under the Homestead Act. During the 1870s a few
more claims were filed in the Red River valley.
Rapid agricultural development in the
eastern area of North Dakota began after the arrival of the railroads in the
1870s and 1880s, which provided access to the markets of Minneapolis and Saint
Paul in Minnesota and Chicago in Illinois. As the Red River valley became a
supplier of wheat for emerging milling businesses in Minnesota, farmers poured
into the northern part of Dakota Territory along with merchants and others who
provided services to farmers. The farm and farm-service population gradually
spread westward from the Red River valley to the Missouri River valley. The
railroad companies, in an effort to attract settlers and their business,
conducted nationwide advertising campaigns that portrayed the northern Dakota
Territory as a bountiful land.
In the 1870s entrepreneurs began
creating farms of thousands of acres, called bonanza farms, in North Dakota.
Managers hired hundreds of workers to plant and harvest the wheat in these very
profitable operations. The first bonanza farm was created in 1875 in the Red
River valley from land purchased from the Northern Pacific Railroad. Oliver
Dalrymple managed its 16,200 hectares (40,000 acres); others had farms as large
as 25,500 hectares (63,000 acres).
In the 1870s and 1880s most farmers
prospered. Settlers, responding to railroad advertisements and letters from
relatives, immigrated from the eastern United States and from northern Europe,
especially from Norway. In the 1880s and 1890s large numbers of ethnic Germans
from Russia, Ukrainians, Czechs, and others from central and eastern Europe
arrived in western Dakota Territory to start their own wheat farms, although
much of this land received far too little rain for successful farming. By 1900,
after North Dakota had become a state, the population had increased to 320,000
and in the next ten years another 250,000 people arrived.
H | Cattle Ranches |
The cattle raising industry also grew
rapidly after the railroad arrived. The possibility of quick profits attracted
both U.S. and European investors, especially in the western region of what is
now North Dakota, where grasslands could rapidly fatten cattle for the Chicago
market. Dakota Territory ranchers included future U.S. President Theodore
Roosevelt (1901-1909) and the Frenchman Antoine de Vallombrosa, the marquis de
Mores. Both arrived in northern Dakota Territory in 1883 at the age of 25.
Roosevelt had come to hunt in the Badlands and established the Elkhorn and
Maltese Cross ranches, and at one time probably had about 5,000 head of cattle.
Roosevelt got along well with the other ranchers, and eventually served as
chairman of the Stockgrowers’ Association. The marquis settled on the Little
Missouri River and founded the town of Medora. He bought thousands of head of
cattle and more than 10,000 sheep, hired more than 100 cowboys, opened a
meatpacking plant, and built a chateau for his wife and himself, a guest house,
and a hotel. Ranchers were generally successful until a drought in 1886, the
hard winter that followed, and a decline in cattle prices changed the industry.
Ranches became smaller and were fenced, cowboys disappeared, and beef cattle
replaced the roaming range cattle.
I | Statehood |
During the late territorial period and
after statehood, the most influential man in North Dakota was Alexander
McKenzie, Northern Pacific Railroad representative and skillful political
operative who dominated state politics without ever holding a state office.
Later referred to as Alexander the Great, McKenzie had arrived in northern
Dakota Territory with a wagon train in 1867 when he was 17 and settled in
Bismarck in 1873. He became an influential lobbyist for the railroad and
eventually the leader of the North Dakota Republican Party. In 1883 McKenzie
arranged with Dakota Territorial Governor Nehemiah Ordway to move the
territorial capital from Yankton, in the south, to Bismarck, in the north, an
action that intensified the belief that southern and northern Dakota Territory
had little in common. In 1887 a general election set the boundary between
northern and southern Dakota Territory; on February 22, 1889, the U.S. Congress
passed the enabling act permitting both Dakotas, Montana, and Washington to
become states; and on November 2, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed the
documents that made North Dakota and South Dakota the 39th and 40th states of
the Union. McKenzie and the well funded Republican Party dominated early state
politics; all the first state officials were Republicans, including the
governor, John Miller, and legislation favored the interests of the railroad
companies.
J | Farm Protest |
Many farmers, however, believed that
railroads charged excessive rates for shipping North Dakota goods out of the
state and favored eastern manufacturers shipping goods into it. Railroads also
owned many of the grain elevators that graded farmers’ grain and set the price
to be paid for it. In addition, large wheat buyers in Minnesota conspired with
the railroads to keep the price for wheat low. With the North Dakota legislature
largely controlled by railroad interests, in the early 1880s farmers began
creating their own cooperative associations, and in 1885 founded the Dakota
Farmers’ Alliance to advance the social, educational, financial, and political
interests of Dakota Territory farmers. The Alliance collected money from farmers
to buy coal, twine, and other products as a cooperative venture. Although it had
little money, the Alliance signed a contract with a plow manufacturer and even
created an insurance company to save farmers money on insurance.
Efforts to pass laws to regulate the
railroad failed consistently until 1906 when Democrat John Burke was elected
governor. In 1911 Democrats and Republican progressives, who believed in using
state power to meet the needs of individuals, gained control of the legislature.
Although they did not seriously threaten railroad companies, they did pass laws
providing compensation for injured workers, reforming election practices, and
regulating the railroad practice of providing free passes.
The beginning of World War I in 1914
helped North Dakota farmers by increasing demand for wheat, but serious problems
in agriculture reemerged in the 1920s. Low crop prices and high costs of
production prevented many farmers from sharing in the general increase in
prosperity in the 1920s, and in the 1930s economic depression, drought, dust
storms, and grasshopper infestations made it even more difficult for farmers to
repay their debts. Thousands of small farmers could not survive and left the
state in the early 1920s; many businesses collapsed, and entire towns vanished.
The exodus accelerated in the 1930s, despite state and federal programs
providing easier credit and stabilizing crop prices. Those who remained on the
land began to run larger farms, invested in more mechanization, and adopted more
scientific farming methods.
K | Early 20th-Century Politics |
Politicians tried once again to respond
to the needs of farmers. In 1915 Arthur C. Townley, a former flax farmer and a
skilled organizer for the Socialist Party in North Dakota, started a new
political organization, the Nonpartisan League (NPL). Townley believed that a
nonpartisan group could pass the agricultural reforms that farmers wanted.
Townley quickly attracted a number of bright and ambitious colleagues such as
Lynn Frazier, William Lemke, and William Langer, as well as the support of a
large number of farmers. In 1916 the NPL won a number of overwhelming victories;
Frazier became governor, receiving almost 80 percent of the vote. The NPL
enacted a law establishing a nine-hour workday for women, created a state
highway commission, and dramatically increased state funding for rural
education. Two of the most enduring features of the early NPL, however, were the
creation in 1919 of the state-owned Bank of North Dakota, which helped farmers
borrow money for improvements, and a state-owned and operated grain mill and
elevator.
William Langer was elected governor in
1932. Within a few months a federal court convicted Langer of conspiracy to
obstruct an act of Congress after he tried to solicit political contributions
from federal employees. After a series of appeals, the conviction was reversed,
and in 1936 Langer was reelected without NPL support, the first governor in the
United States to be elected as an independent. Langer was the most influential
figure of the 1930s; he provided strong leadership during the difficult drought
years of the Great Depression, the economic hard times of the 1930s. He gained
considerable support for an embargo on grain shipments from the state that
helped raise grain prices, and in 1937 he authorized the creation of a state
water conservation commission to develop and conserve water resources. In 1939
Langer was succeeded by the Democrat John Moses, who investigated financial
irregularities in state-owned enterprises and cut government spending.
L | Recent Developments |
World War II (1939-1945) helped the
state recover from the Depression. Because many North Dakotans were
German-Americans, opposition to U.S. involvement in the war was strong in North
Dakota. The war, however, brought federal work programs that created jobs and
increased the demand for farm products that encouraged innovative agricultural
techniques such as the use of new pesticides and fertilizers that increased
productivity. In the late 1940s prices for farm goods dropped, agricultural
unemployment increased, and as people began leaving rural areas, farms became
fewer and larger. Farm consolidation in North Dakota continued into the 1990s.
Between 1987 and 1992, the number of farms decreased by about 12 percent, but
the acreage of the remaining farms increased by about 11 percent. In 1890 the
rural population was about 95 percent of the total population; in 1990 North
Dakota’s rural population fell below 50 percent of the state’s total population
for the first time, to about 47 percent.
Since the 1980s North Dakota has
diversified its economy. Although agriculture remains the most important
industry, agriculture-related producer cooperatives now also manufacture
finished products such as pasta and ethanol. Energy industries have also
developed: North Dakota now produces a substantial amount of crude oil; several
coal-fired electrical generating plants sell electricity to neighboring states;
and North Dakota has the only significant plant in the United States that
converts coal to natural gas. A wide variety of small manufacturing businesses
have appeared, and tourism has become a major industry.
Native Americans in North Dakota have
also been economically and politically important. In 1990 more than 25,300
Native Americans were living in North Dakota, and they remain an integral part
of North Dakota society. In 1992, 58 Native Americans held public offices and
Native Americans contributed more than $1.3 billion to the state’s economy.
In April 1997 North Dakota was hit by
the flooding of the Red River, which forms the North Dakota-Minnesota border and
empties into Lake Winnipeg in Canada. The river crested at more than 16 m (54
ft), about 8m (about 26 ft) above flood level, and damaged many areas, including
the cities of Fargo and Grand Forks. Almost all of the residents of Grand Forks
had to be evacuated, and the flood caused electrical fires in the downtown
section of the city that destroyed 11 buildings. President Bill Clinton visited
the area and declared a state of emergency.
M | Politics |
Republicans controlled North Dakota
politics from 1944 until 1960, when Democrat Quentin Burdick was elected U.S.
senator and his popularity helped fellow Democrat William L. Guy win the
governorship. In 1964 Lyndon B. Johnson became the first Democratic presidential
candidate to win North Dakota since Franklin Delano Roosevelt had won it in
1936, and following Johnson’s lead, the Democrats swept the lower house of the
legislature. In 1968 the state voted for the Republican presidential candidate,
Richard M. Nixon, and elected a Republican legislature, but Democrats retained
the governorship through the 1970s. In 1980 Allen I. Olson, a Republican, was
elected governor, but in 1984 he was defeated by Democrat George Sinner, who was
reelected in 1988. Sinner chose not to run in 1992 and was succeeded in office
by Republican Edward T. Schafer. Schafer was reelected in 1996. In 2000
Republican John Hoeven was elected governor. Hoeven was reelected in 2004.
The history section of this article was
contributed by Russell R. Veeder. The remainder of the article was contributed
by Lowell R. Goodman.
No comments:
Post a Comment