STORY ARCHIVES
North Dakota's 'French Connection'
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North Dakota's Oil Industry: Lighting Up Our Economy
Just off US Highway 2, on the outskirts of Stanley, lies a destination some call "Bakken Central." On any given morning over the past two years, oil field workers might stand as many as 20-deep waiting to pay for the fuel and food they need to get to and through another 12-hour day in the nation's hottest oil play.
Early North Dakota Automobile Adventures
That day in 1914, Chester P. Hallett of Casselton had to feel pretty good as he entered the dusty last stretch of the two-mile race in his 10 horsepower cyclecar, ahead of the motorcycle. As the Cass County Reporter said, "On the last mile just as Hallett was turning into the home, he pulled his steering post out of its place and his car went over," ending the race. Frank Jaszkowiak of Bismarck built a gasoline runabout in 1902, and on its maiden voyage promptly smashed into a tree, the state's first auto accident. A doozie too, as the April 7, 1902, Bismarck Daily Tribune said the auto "was capable of making eight to ten miles an hour on good level road."
The Prairie Pothole Region
We live upon a sea of grass, content to be offshore... With wind and waves and room to sail, we could not ask for more.... In the 2001 Spring and Summer issues of North Dakota Horizons, longtime North Dakota artist and outdoor writer Burt Calkins wrote about the Sheyenne National Grasslands. Since 2004, primarily because of the people he met during a month as an artist-in-residence at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center at Washburn, Calkins has been musing about North Dakota's Prairie Pothole Region. "Thousands and thousands of people from all over the country and indeed the world, visited the Center to embrace and celebrate America's westward expansion during the 200th Anniversary of the Lewis & Clark epic exploration," he recalls. "I visited with hundreds in my gallery and studio. I kept hearing the same thing over and over, which was, ‘We had absolutely no idea how beautiful and lovely North Dakota is.'" Calkins remembers 2004 as a wet year. "Visitors enjoyed the lushness, color and fecundity of millions of acres of wheat, oats, barley, sunflowers, corn, flax and more. They loved the uncrowded, open highways, vaulting blue skies, clean air, friendly people and tidy towns. They found Main Street and indeed, rural America again. They talked of grazing livestock and pastoral landscapes, of wild game and a sky full of waterfowl, and of hearing the song of the western meadowlark. They were captivated." Through his observations and original artwork in these next several pages, Calkins guides North Dakota Horizons readers on a personal journey through the state's Prairie Pothole Region.
Summer 2009: Westward Ho!
As I walk beside the creaking and groaning wagon, I consider what I have left behind for the next seven days: a bed, a flush toilet and a refrigerator, and a shower - the simple comforts of home. The pioneers traveled in the same vehicles that we're using: canvas-topped, flare-boxed, wooden-wheeled wagons. These utilitarian vehicles would later be used as freight wagons to bring in the harvest from the fields.
Spring 2009: Tyler Lyson & 'Dakota' the Dinomummy
Marmarth, North Dakota: 67 million years ago, the Late Cretaceous Period The surroundings were a subtropical paradise, and lush plant life covered the ground. The area was teeming with dinosaurs. These creatures came in many shapes and sizes, but one species in particular stood out from the rest. Hadrosaurs, plant eaters or herbivores, were common dinosaurs then, but they would go on to have an important role in advancing the science of paleontology with the discovery of the mummified hadrosaur called "Dakota."
Winter 2008: 'Emptied Prairie' or '50 Miles of Elbow Room!'
In late 2007, the venerable National Geographic magazine was producing its January 2008 issue. One of the stories in that issue was an "Emptied Prairie" feature that presented a desolate look at rural North Dakota. During this same time period that magazine was being produced, some other people were involved in a markedly different endeavor. These 155 former and present North Dakotans were sharing their love for their state in essays they submitted in a "Why I LUV ND" project sponsored by the North Dakota Department of Commerce. This project was designed to help tell the stories of people who live, or lived, in North Dakota and their journeys and adventures there. Many people responding to the negative tone of the National Geographic article used national rankings, statistics and other facts to illustrate the state's quality of life and current economic prosperity. But the personal stories of those who wrote "Why I LUV ND" entries are another perspective about life in North Dakota today.
Fall 2008: Bodmer's 'Vanishing Frontier' images
Three decades after the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery made its epic journey across the United States, another expedition traveled the same 3,000 miles on the Upper Missouri River from St. Louis to Fort McKenzie near Great Falls, Montana. They spent approximately seven months in what is now North Dakota at Fort Clark Trading Post near present-day Washburn and Fort Union Trading Post near present-day Williston.
Summer 2008: 1862 Homestead Act weaves a common thread
As the country spends the next two years commemorating the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's February 12, 1809, birth, North Dakota's ties to the 16th President center on a handful of Lincoln's actions that shaped the direction of Dakota Territory. Three of these are appointing the territory's first two governors and signing both the Northern Pacific Railroad charter and the U.S. Homestead Act.
Spring 2008: "Epic! Just Epic!"A Maah Daah Hey Trail Journal
Mountain biking is Gregg Pattison's passion. Whenever he can, the 45-year-old husband and father of two young daughters from Lakeville, Minnesota, commutes to his mechanical engineering job on a bike. His adventures have taken him to some of the best mountain biking trails in the country, both racing and riding for enjoyment in Colorado, Utah, Wisconsin, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and Minnesota.
Winter 2007: North Dakota ice fishing
Off the point of Gull Island in the Van Hook Arm of Lake Sakakawea, a worn and well-traveled highway has formed across the ice. Driving along this road is a strange sensation, especially since it is along a similar a path many traveled by boat just a few months before. Several small ice houses with pickups parked beside dot this "roadside," reminiscent of small farm houses that line a country road. A few miles off at the end of the road, more ice houses are clustered together resembling a small village on the frozen lake.
Fall 2007: Fargo's Plains Art Museum
The rough textures of heavy timber and brick walls commonly found in a warehouse present a striking contrast to the refined and refinished modern art gallery interior of Fargo's Plains Art Museum. What began as the Red River Art Center in the mid-1960s in the former Moorhead, Minnesota, post office became the Plains Art Museum in 1975. The museum acquired Fargo's International Harvester warehouse building at 704 First Avenue North in 1994. After intense renovation, it moved into its new home in 1997 and now combines elements of the original warehouse and a modern museum.
Summer 2007: Queens of the Western Culture
For many little girls growing up, being a beauty queen means perfecting that wave, that smile, the strut, and eventually the reaction upon hearing those four life-changing words, "And the runner-up is-" and praying her name doesn't follow them.
Spring 2007: Ten years later...Grand Forks
That became the rallying cry after the flood in Grand Forks. And today as city leaders look back to the bleak days of April 1997 most of them agree things are better now than they were 10 years ago. The newspaper was down, but not out. Some schools were ruined, but replaced. There has been a re-imaging of the downtown. Attractive new floodwalls protect the city from the Red River. New infrastructure is in place. New housing has been provided. Older houses have been repaired. A Greenway has been created behind the dikes all along the Red River.
Winter 2006: Hooligans still happy despite change
With the change of mission assigned to the North Dakota Air National Guard - the "Happy Hooligans" of the 119th Fighter Wing - some regrets might not be surprising. However, it would take a strenuous search to find strong disappointment among the crews at their Hector Field base in Fargo. It's business as usual, although the nature of the business has changed.
Fall 2006: Three decades of Hostfest!
The countdown has begun for a grand 30th celebration in 2007, but first it's time for the 29th annual Norsk Hostfest October 10 to 14 in Minot. Once again named to the American Bus Association's Top 100 Events in North America, Norsk Hostfest ("host" means "fall" in Norwegian), began in 1978 with the introduction of a one-night Scandinavian festival. Local groups provided musical entertainment, and four Minot Lutheran churches made Norwegian foods. Today, Norsk Hostfest officially encompasses five nights and four days at the State Fair Center, filling the North Dakota State Fairgrounds with tour buses, recreational vehicles and drive-in traffic.
Summer 2006: North Dakota's Mountains
As North Dakotans, we are pretty loose with our usage of the geographic term "mountain." We call landforms that rise a few hundred feet above the surrounding countryside mountains, while our neighbors in South Dakota call a feature that rises more than 4,000 feet above the surrounding area a hill (Black Hills).
Spring 2006: Doug Burgum's Prairie Fire 20 Years and Blazing
Many North Dakotans have heard of business entrepreneur extraordinaire Doug Burgum, who is now chairman of Microsoft Business Solutions in Fargo. But what impact has he had on the state's attitude about economic development over the past 20 years? In the following exclusive interview, he talks about the uphill battle he faced convincing others that high-tech could be successful in North Dakota.
Winter 2005: The Aurora Borealis: Chasing a Natural Beauty
As a young boy, Lyndon Anderson caught his first glimpse of them dancing majestically in the clear night sky near his home in Baldwin, North Dakota. He was awestruck and amazed, but it wasn't until decades later that he became serious about 'chasing' one of North Dakota's regal natural beauties - the aurora borealis, or northern lights.
Fall 2005: North Dakota's veterans telling their stories
"Thousands of our men will be returning to you after Europe. They have been gone a long time and they have seen and done a lot and felt things you cannot know. They will be changed. They will have to learn how to adjust themselves to peace. Last night we had a violent electrical storm around our countryside. The storm was half over before we realized that the flashes and the crashings around us were not artillery, but plain old thunder and lightning. It will be odd to hear only thunder again. You must remember that such little things as that are in our souls and it will take time." Written by famed World War II journalist Ernie Pyle in late August 1944, France, and published in his 1944 book,"Brave Men."
Summer 2005: New Cowboy Hall of Fame
It has taken more than a decade of dedication and perseverance, but the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame Center of Western Heritage and Cultures: Native Americans, Ranching and Rodeo is ready to preserve the stories of the legendary western lifestyle that has made a lasting impact on the state's heritage. The Hall of Fame, scheduled for its grand opening on August 6, is not only a center of heritage and history; it is a home for the legends of the plains, and a place where future generations will be able to take a journey through northern plains history.
Spring 2005: 400 Species Make North Dakota Birder's Paradise
When they think of North Dakota, many people embrace its peaceful environment. They escape the stresses of everyday life by standing on the North Dakota prairie. It's green with native grasses, the breeze blows through their hair, and the birds sing in this unspoiled land of wonder.
Winter 2004: Prairie Churches of North Dakota
Churches hold many memories within their walls. Christine Hall, age 92, clearly remembers a particular Christmas hymn from Thingvalla Lutheran Church, built in 1892. After singing a brief section in the Icelandic language, she translates the title as, "Today There is Joy in Weary Hearts."
Fall 2004:Maris Museum Honors Baseball Hero and Favorite Son
The quiet man whom baseball writer Robert Creamer once described as "probably the most misunderstood and least appreciated of American sports heroes" is not without honor in his own city. Roger Maris, the Fargoan who in 1961 shook the baseball world by breaking Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, has not been admitted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Instead, he enjoys a more populist sort of apotheosis - the shrine in his hometown shopping mall.
Summer 2004: Bringing the prairie home with wildflowers
Every year the kaleidoscope brings new and fresh marvels - a splash of blue here and a whispering of yellow there. North Dakota's prairie, its grasses and flowers, are an ever-evolving montage of color. That, in part, is what drew Roger Rostvet and Dawn Ohlhouser to wildflowers. "I've driven around this county for 30 years and never paid much attention," Roger said.
Spring 2004: New Courses Scoring Aces with National Golfers
Melting snow and warmer temperatures are not only the first signs of spring for golfers across North Dakota. They also represent the beginning of a new season on the links at the state's many golf courses. Although North Dakota has not been traditionally considered a great golf destination, state enthusiasts have been changing that perception in the past decade. North Dakota has more golf holes per capita than any other state in the country. Four of the newest public golf courses have increased the number of holes in the state, but they have also drawn national attention to some spectacular golf experiences available in North Dakota.
Winter 2003: Sakakawea Statue Newest Symbol at U.S. Capitol
Is it possible for two multi-ton moldings of bronze to tell the story of a state, its heritage and its people? If so, visitors to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., - like those who have walked the state Capitol Grounds in Bismarck for decades - will be given a lesson in the cultural diversity, strength, dignity and perseverance of the people of North Dakota.
Spring 2003: How to plant 150,000 flowers
Some of the International Peace Garden's biggest fans are not welcome. They just make life difficult for horticulturist Connie Lagerquist and her summer crew. One day last summer Lagerquist and her crew were finishing last minute touch-ups prior to the weekend's arrival of 700 people planning to celebrate the Eastern Star and Masons Jubilee at the International Peace Garden.
Winter 2003: North Dakota's church quilters
Five women - and an occasional extra or two - in a small Bowbells church made a big impact last year when they donated 250 quilts to Lutheran World Relief. The "spring chick" in Bowbells' Bethlehem Lutheran Church quilters' group is 60 and the others are over 70. They say quilting keeps them cognizant of a larger world outside the every day routines of their small town, provides socialization and friendship as they work together and gives them satisfaction that they are helping others less fortunate.
Fall 2002: Live History at Fort Ransom's Sodbuster Days
When I'm waiting at a stoplight and can hear the "thump thump thump" of the stereo in the car next to me, I sometimes find myself yearning for a simpler time. I imagine I am not alone. Evidence of this is the popularity of reenactment festivals that celebrate the past. Renaissance festivals, fur trading rendezvous and Civil War reenactments come to mind. Some can be overly commercial, blurring their original intent. For those looking for an authentic experience of the past, Sodbuster Days at the Sunne Demonstration Farm at Fort Ransom State Park is a must.
Summer 2002: Digging Up the Past
Paleontology's determined pursuit of the elusive mosasaur - the 'T-Rex' of the ancient ocean - took a new turn last summer when nearly 100 eco-tourists descended on the Pembina Gorge in northeast North Dakota to become amateur scientists digging for fossilized marine bones.
Spring 2002: A STICKY BUSINESS Dakota's Busy Beekeepers
It's hardly as dramatic as the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, Calif., or the buzzards to Hinckley, Ohio. One day a field is empty and the next day you see white, wooden boxes stacked here and there on its edge or in a nearby shelterbelt.
Winter 2002: North Dakota's Winter Playground
Tired of burying yourself in a good book for your winter adventure? Then head to north central North Dakota where winter recreational opportunities abound. Whether your desire is to reflectively enjoy the crisp outdoors with a quiet cross-country ski trip across a pristine landscape, or to stretch your physical abilities taking wild snowmobile rides or doing tricky snowboarding jumps, you'll find the glistening snow, towering trees and abundance of wildlife in the greater Bottineau area the perfect backdrop.
Fall 2001: Rolling out the red carpet
When captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through North Dakota nearly 200 years ago, an entire civilization already lived here. The expedition's journals recorded contact with the American Indians, the area's early land formations and the shifting Missouri River with its swift current, sandbars, eroding banks and partially submerged logs.
Summer 2001: Following the Lewis and Clark Trail
"I asscended to the top of the cutt bluff this morning, from whence I had a most delightfull view of the country, the whole of which except the valley formed by the Missouri is void of timber or underbrush, exposing to the first glance of the spectator immence herds of Buffaloe, Elk, deer, & Antelopes feeding in one common and boundless pasture..." Meriwether Lewis, April 22, 1805
Spring 2001: The Turtle Mountains: Scenic, Serene, Secluded
The best example of North Dakota's lush lakes and gardens reveals itself in the Turtle Mountains, where a state-designated scenic byway begins at the intersection of N.D. Highway 30 and Rolette County Road 4006 south of St. John.
Winter 2001: For the Love of Horses and Rig
A block-long fragment of old cement highway lay in the shade between the freeway and a grove of trees. Coarse ditch grasses grow to the very edge of the old road and a thin green ribbon of weeds divides the narrow lanes that once ran over a thousand miles between Michigan and the heart of Montana.
Fall 2000: Roads Less Traveled
Past well-kept farms and tidy ranches, Barnes County Road 21 parallels the Sheyenne River in springtime tranquility partly created by the simple lack of traffic as the blacktopped road winds south.
Summer 2000: North Dakota's Wild Kingdoms
To many, North Dakota is a land of wide-open expanses and home to a smattering of prairie dogs, deer and antelope. Seldom do people consider this state to be home to wild, exotic animals. North Dakota's four zoos house secret, wild kingdoms waiting for the curious and the adventurous to discover their animal sanctuaries.
Spring 2000: The Loop That Has No End
The year is '99. The date, Oct. 25. The place - a railroad depot dead in the midst of grain country in east central North Dakota. A civil engineer stands along a shiny new stretch of railroad track. He can't help but admire the trackage, an end-of-the-line turn-around railroad loop. The only one like it in the country, even on the continent.
Winter 2000: North Dakota Christmas Tree Farmers
The Victorians borrowed the Christmas tree from a medieval German midwinter celebration; and, as early as 1605, the first decorated tree was documented by a visitor to Strasbourg, then a part of the Hapsburg Empire. In 1800 a tree was put up for a party by Queen Charlotte, the German-born wife of George III, for a Christmas Day party at Windsor Castle.
Fall 1999: Minot's Norsk Hostfest
Minot's Norsk Hostfest is better than a trip abroad to the Scandinavian countries. While traveling overseas is accompanied by high price tags and extended stays, Hostfest features the people and traditions of Scandinavia accompanied by North Dakota friendliness in a budget-pleasing package wrapped into five nights and four days.
Summer 1999: North Dakota's New Adventure Trail
Warmth begins to trickle back to my shoeless feet after fording my mountain bike across the knee-high water of the Little Missouri River. A trail post further down the bank is emblazoned with the outline of a turtle, which is a Mandan Indian symbol for "long, fruitful life." At this point of the ride, a turtle seemed more appropriate to the speed at which I was pedaling. Trail posts beckoned me to higher ground and soon the effort of climbing the skinny trail etched into the hillside was rewarded with a stunning panoramic view of the Little Mo below.
Spring 1999: Authentic Adventure on the 'Misery'
Long before Lewis and Clark, long before the establishment of the fur trade, even long before the Native American cultures that thrived there arrived, the Missouri River cut its course through a section of North Dakota near present-day Washburn. Geese pounded upriver, passing the sandbars and jutting clay banks as they followed the timeless waterway. Stilt-legged herons speared fish from the shallows. Deer crept out of the cottonwoods and willows to drink of the muddy water.
Winter 1999: Chilly Challenge
On the upside, flooded Devils Lake is fishing heaven - and not just during the summer. Fishing through a six-inch hole in the ice can be enjoyable, especially on those days when the sun shines, the wind isn't blowing and the fish bite. You'll likely find the greatest number of people ice fishing on North Dakota's largest natural lake during the annual ice fishing tourney - the state's largest gathering on ice. This winter, it's being held from 1-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30.
Fall 1998: Cowhands are tourists at Knife River Ranch
Cattle mill about restlessly, kept at bay by quivery horses anticipating the day's work. Ron Wanner urges his horse forward, stopping beside each eager wrangler to give brief instructions.
Article is now only available to subscribers. We'll be posting it in a couple of weeks for the general public.
North Dakota's Oil Industry: Lighting Up Our Economy
Just off US Highway 2, on the outskirts of Stanley, lies a destination some call "Bakken Central." On any given morning over the past two years, oil field workers might stand as many as 20-deep waiting to pay for the fuel and food they need to get to and through another 12-hour day in the nation's hottest oil play.
Early North Dakota Automobile Adventures
That day in 1914, Chester P. Hallett of Casselton had to feel pretty good as he entered the dusty last stretch of the two-mile race in his 10 horsepower cyclecar, ahead of the motorcycle. As the Cass County Reporter said, "On the last mile just as Hallett was turning into the home, he pulled his steering post out of its place and his car went over," ending the race. Frank Jaszkowiak of Bismarck built a gasoline runabout in 1902, and on its maiden voyage promptly smashed into a tree, the state's first auto accident. A doozie too, as the April 7, 1902, Bismarck Daily Tribune said the auto "was capable of making eight to ten miles an hour on good level road."
The Prairie Pothole Region
We live upon a sea of grass, content to be offshore... With wind and waves and room to sail, we could not ask for more.... In the 2001 Spring and Summer issues of North Dakota Horizons, longtime North Dakota artist and outdoor writer Burt Calkins wrote about the Sheyenne National Grasslands. Since 2004, primarily because of the people he met during a month as an artist-in-residence at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center at Washburn, Calkins has been musing about North Dakota's Prairie Pothole Region. "Thousands and thousands of people from all over the country and indeed the world, visited the Center to embrace and celebrate America's westward expansion during the 200th Anniversary of the Lewis & Clark epic exploration," he recalls. "I visited with hundreds in my gallery and studio. I kept hearing the same thing over and over, which was, ‘We had absolutely no idea how beautiful and lovely North Dakota is.'" Calkins remembers 2004 as a wet year. "Visitors enjoyed the lushness, color and fecundity of millions of acres of wheat, oats, barley, sunflowers, corn, flax and more. They loved the uncrowded, open highways, vaulting blue skies, clean air, friendly people and tidy towns. They found Main Street and indeed, rural America again. They talked of grazing livestock and pastoral landscapes, of wild game and a sky full of waterfowl, and of hearing the song of the western meadowlark. They were captivated." Through his observations and original artwork in these next several pages, Calkins guides North Dakota Horizons readers on a personal journey through the state's Prairie Pothole Region.
Summer 2009: Westward Ho!
As I walk beside the creaking and groaning wagon, I consider what I have left behind for the next seven days: a bed, a flush toilet and a refrigerator, and a shower - the simple comforts of home. The pioneers traveled in the same vehicles that we're using: canvas-topped, flare-boxed, wooden-wheeled wagons. These utilitarian vehicles would later be used as freight wagons to bring in the harvest from the fields.
Spring 2009: Tyler Lyson & 'Dakota' the Dinomummy
Marmarth, North Dakota: 67 million years ago, the Late Cretaceous Period The surroundings were a subtropical paradise, and lush plant life covered the ground. The area was teeming with dinosaurs. These creatures came in many shapes and sizes, but one species in particular stood out from the rest. Hadrosaurs, plant eaters or herbivores, were common dinosaurs then, but they would go on to have an important role in advancing the science of paleontology with the discovery of the mummified hadrosaur called "Dakota."
Winter 2008: 'Emptied Prairie' or '50 Miles of Elbow Room!'
In late 2007, the venerable National Geographic magazine was producing its January 2008 issue. One of the stories in that issue was an "Emptied Prairie" feature that presented a desolate look at rural North Dakota. During this same time period that magazine was being produced, some other people were involved in a markedly different endeavor. These 155 former and present North Dakotans were sharing their love for their state in essays they submitted in a "Why I LUV ND" project sponsored by the North Dakota Department of Commerce. This project was designed to help tell the stories of people who live, or lived, in North Dakota and their journeys and adventures there. Many people responding to the negative tone of the National Geographic article used national rankings, statistics and other facts to illustrate the state's quality of life and current economic prosperity. But the personal stories of those who wrote "Why I LUV ND" entries are another perspective about life in North Dakota today.
Fall 2008: Bodmer's 'Vanishing Frontier' images
Three decades after the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery made its epic journey across the United States, another expedition traveled the same 3,000 miles on the Upper Missouri River from St. Louis to Fort McKenzie near Great Falls, Montana. They spent approximately seven months in what is now North Dakota at Fort Clark Trading Post near present-day Washburn and Fort Union Trading Post near present-day Williston.
Summer 2008: 1862 Homestead Act weaves a common thread
As the country spends the next two years commemorating the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's February 12, 1809, birth, North Dakota's ties to the 16th President center on a handful of Lincoln's actions that shaped the direction of Dakota Territory. Three of these are appointing the territory's first two governors and signing both the Northern Pacific Railroad charter and the U.S. Homestead Act.
Spring 2008: "Epic! Just Epic!"A Maah Daah Hey Trail Journal
Mountain biking is Gregg Pattison's passion. Whenever he can, the 45-year-old husband and father of two young daughters from Lakeville, Minnesota, commutes to his mechanical engineering job on a bike. His adventures have taken him to some of the best mountain biking trails in the country, both racing and riding for enjoyment in Colorado, Utah, Wisconsin, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and Minnesota.
Winter 2007: North Dakota ice fishing
Off the point of Gull Island in the Van Hook Arm of Lake Sakakawea, a worn and well-traveled highway has formed across the ice. Driving along this road is a strange sensation, especially since it is along a similar a path many traveled by boat just a few months before. Several small ice houses with pickups parked beside dot this "roadside," reminiscent of small farm houses that line a country road. A few miles off at the end of the road, more ice houses are clustered together resembling a small village on the frozen lake.
Fall 2007: Fargo's Plains Art Museum
The rough textures of heavy timber and brick walls commonly found in a warehouse present a striking contrast to the refined and refinished modern art gallery interior of Fargo's Plains Art Museum. What began as the Red River Art Center in the mid-1960s in the former Moorhead, Minnesota, post office became the Plains Art Museum in 1975. The museum acquired Fargo's International Harvester warehouse building at 704 First Avenue North in 1994. After intense renovation, it moved into its new home in 1997 and now combines elements of the original warehouse and a modern museum.
Summer 2007: Queens of the Western Culture
For many little girls growing up, being a beauty queen means perfecting that wave, that smile, the strut, and eventually the reaction upon hearing those four life-changing words, "And the runner-up is-" and praying her name doesn't follow them.
Spring 2007: Ten years later...Grand Forks
That became the rallying cry after the flood in Grand Forks. And today as city leaders look back to the bleak days of April 1997 most of them agree things are better now than they were 10 years ago. The newspaper was down, but not out. Some schools were ruined, but replaced. There has been a re-imaging of the downtown. Attractive new floodwalls protect the city from the Red River. New infrastructure is in place. New housing has been provided. Older houses have been repaired. A Greenway has been created behind the dikes all along the Red River.
Winter 2006: Hooligans still happy despite change
With the change of mission assigned to the North Dakota Air National Guard - the "Happy Hooligans" of the 119th Fighter Wing - some regrets might not be surprising. However, it would take a strenuous search to find strong disappointment among the crews at their Hector Field base in Fargo. It's business as usual, although the nature of the business has changed.
Fall 2006: Three decades of Hostfest!
The countdown has begun for a grand 30th celebration in 2007, but first it's time for the 29th annual Norsk Hostfest October 10 to 14 in Minot. Once again named to the American Bus Association's Top 100 Events in North America, Norsk Hostfest ("host" means "fall" in Norwegian), began in 1978 with the introduction of a one-night Scandinavian festival. Local groups provided musical entertainment, and four Minot Lutheran churches made Norwegian foods. Today, Norsk Hostfest officially encompasses five nights and four days at the State Fair Center, filling the North Dakota State Fairgrounds with tour buses, recreational vehicles and drive-in traffic.
Summer 2006: North Dakota's Mountains
As North Dakotans, we are pretty loose with our usage of the geographic term "mountain." We call landforms that rise a few hundred feet above the surrounding countryside mountains, while our neighbors in South Dakota call a feature that rises more than 4,000 feet above the surrounding area a hill (Black Hills).
Spring 2006: Doug Burgum's Prairie Fire 20 Years and Blazing
Many North Dakotans have heard of business entrepreneur extraordinaire Doug Burgum, who is now chairman of Microsoft Business Solutions in Fargo. But what impact has he had on the state's attitude about economic development over the past 20 years? In the following exclusive interview, he talks about the uphill battle he faced convincing others that high-tech could be successful in North Dakota.
Winter 2005: The Aurora Borealis: Chasing a Natural Beauty
As a young boy, Lyndon Anderson caught his first glimpse of them dancing majestically in the clear night sky near his home in Baldwin, North Dakota. He was awestruck and amazed, but it wasn't until decades later that he became serious about 'chasing' one of North Dakota's regal natural beauties - the aurora borealis, or northern lights.
Fall 2005: North Dakota's veterans telling their stories
"Thousands of our men will be returning to you after Europe. They have been gone a long time and they have seen and done a lot and felt things you cannot know. They will be changed. They will have to learn how to adjust themselves to peace. Last night we had a violent electrical storm around our countryside. The storm was half over before we realized that the flashes and the crashings around us were not artillery, but plain old thunder and lightning. It will be odd to hear only thunder again. You must remember that such little things as that are in our souls and it will take time." Written by famed World War II journalist Ernie Pyle in late August 1944, France, and published in his 1944 book,"Brave Men."
Summer 2005: New Cowboy Hall of Fame
It has taken more than a decade of dedication and perseverance, but the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame Center of Western Heritage and Cultures: Native Americans, Ranching and Rodeo is ready to preserve the stories of the legendary western lifestyle that has made a lasting impact on the state's heritage. The Hall of Fame, scheduled for its grand opening on August 6, is not only a center of heritage and history; it is a home for the legends of the plains, and a place where future generations will be able to take a journey through northern plains history.
Spring 2005: 400 Species Make North Dakota Birder's Paradise
When they think of North Dakota, many people embrace its peaceful environment. They escape the stresses of everyday life by standing on the North Dakota prairie. It's green with native grasses, the breeze blows through their hair, and the birds sing in this unspoiled land of wonder.
Winter 2004: Prairie Churches of North Dakota
Churches hold many memories within their walls. Christine Hall, age 92, clearly remembers a particular Christmas hymn from Thingvalla Lutheran Church, built in 1892. After singing a brief section in the Icelandic language, she translates the title as, "Today There is Joy in Weary Hearts."
Fall 2004:Maris Museum Honors Baseball Hero and Favorite Son
The quiet man whom baseball writer Robert Creamer once described as "probably the most misunderstood and least appreciated of American sports heroes" is not without honor in his own city. Roger Maris, the Fargoan who in 1961 shook the baseball world by breaking Babe Ruth's single-season home run record, has not been admitted into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Instead, he enjoys a more populist sort of apotheosis - the shrine in his hometown shopping mall.
Summer 2004: Bringing the prairie home with wildflowers
Every year the kaleidoscope brings new and fresh marvels - a splash of blue here and a whispering of yellow there. North Dakota's prairie, its grasses and flowers, are an ever-evolving montage of color. That, in part, is what drew Roger Rostvet and Dawn Ohlhouser to wildflowers. "I've driven around this county for 30 years and never paid much attention," Roger said.
Spring 2004: New Courses Scoring Aces with National Golfers
Melting snow and warmer temperatures are not only the first signs of spring for golfers across North Dakota. They also represent the beginning of a new season on the links at the state's many golf courses. Although North Dakota has not been traditionally considered a great golf destination, state enthusiasts have been changing that perception in the past decade. North Dakota has more golf holes per capita than any other state in the country. Four of the newest public golf courses have increased the number of holes in the state, but they have also drawn national attention to some spectacular golf experiences available in North Dakota.
Winter 2003: Sakakawea Statue Newest Symbol at U.S. Capitol
Is it possible for two multi-ton moldings of bronze to tell the story of a state, its heritage and its people? If so, visitors to the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., - like those who have walked the state Capitol Grounds in Bismarck for decades - will be given a lesson in the cultural diversity, strength, dignity and perseverance of the people of North Dakota.
Spring 2003: How to plant 150,000 flowers
Some of the International Peace Garden's biggest fans are not welcome. They just make life difficult for horticulturist Connie Lagerquist and her summer crew. One day last summer Lagerquist and her crew were finishing last minute touch-ups prior to the weekend's arrival of 700 people planning to celebrate the Eastern Star and Masons Jubilee at the International Peace Garden.
Winter 2003: North Dakota's church quilters
Five women - and an occasional extra or two - in a small Bowbells church made a big impact last year when they donated 250 quilts to Lutheran World Relief. The "spring chick" in Bowbells' Bethlehem Lutheran Church quilters' group is 60 and the others are over 70. They say quilting keeps them cognizant of a larger world outside the every day routines of their small town, provides socialization and friendship as they work together and gives them satisfaction that they are helping others less fortunate.
Fall 2002: Live History at Fort Ransom's Sodbuster Days
When I'm waiting at a stoplight and can hear the "thump thump thump" of the stereo in the car next to me, I sometimes find myself yearning for a simpler time. I imagine I am not alone. Evidence of this is the popularity of reenactment festivals that celebrate the past. Renaissance festivals, fur trading rendezvous and Civil War reenactments come to mind. Some can be overly commercial, blurring their original intent. For those looking for an authentic experience of the past, Sodbuster Days at the Sunne Demonstration Farm at Fort Ransom State Park is a must.
Summer 2002: Digging Up the Past
Paleontology's determined pursuit of the elusive mosasaur - the 'T-Rex' of the ancient ocean - took a new turn last summer when nearly 100 eco-tourists descended on the Pembina Gorge in northeast North Dakota to become amateur scientists digging for fossilized marine bones.
Spring 2002: A STICKY BUSINESS Dakota's Busy Beekeepers
It's hardly as dramatic as the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, Calif., or the buzzards to Hinckley, Ohio. One day a field is empty and the next day you see white, wooden boxes stacked here and there on its edge or in a nearby shelterbelt.
Winter 2002: North Dakota's Winter Playground
Tired of burying yourself in a good book for your winter adventure? Then head to north central North Dakota where winter recreational opportunities abound. Whether your desire is to reflectively enjoy the crisp outdoors with a quiet cross-country ski trip across a pristine landscape, or to stretch your physical abilities taking wild snowmobile rides or doing tricky snowboarding jumps, you'll find the glistening snow, towering trees and abundance of wildlife in the greater Bottineau area the perfect backdrop.
Fall 2001: Rolling out the red carpet
When captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through North Dakota nearly 200 years ago, an entire civilization already lived here. The expedition's journals recorded contact with the American Indians, the area's early land formations and the shifting Missouri River with its swift current, sandbars, eroding banks and partially submerged logs.
Summer 2001: Following the Lewis and Clark Trail
"I asscended to the top of the cutt bluff this morning, from whence I had a most delightfull view of the country, the whole of which except the valley formed by the Missouri is void of timber or underbrush, exposing to the first glance of the spectator immence herds of Buffaloe, Elk, deer, & Antelopes feeding in one common and boundless pasture..." Meriwether Lewis, April 22, 1805
Spring 2001: The Turtle Mountains: Scenic, Serene, Secluded
The best example of North Dakota's lush lakes and gardens reveals itself in the Turtle Mountains, where a state-designated scenic byway begins at the intersection of N.D. Highway 30 and Rolette County Road 4006 south of St. John.
Winter 2001: For the Love of Horses and Rig
A block-long fragment of old cement highway lay in the shade between the freeway and a grove of trees. Coarse ditch grasses grow to the very edge of the old road and a thin green ribbon of weeds divides the narrow lanes that once ran over a thousand miles between Michigan and the heart of Montana.
Fall 2000: Roads Less Traveled
Past well-kept farms and tidy ranches, Barnes County Road 21 parallels the Sheyenne River in springtime tranquility partly created by the simple lack of traffic as the blacktopped road winds south.
Summer 2000: North Dakota's Wild Kingdoms
To many, North Dakota is a land of wide-open expanses and home to a smattering of prairie dogs, deer and antelope. Seldom do people consider this state to be home to wild, exotic animals. North Dakota's four zoos house secret, wild kingdoms waiting for the curious and the adventurous to discover their animal sanctuaries.
Spring 2000: The Loop That Has No End
The year is '99. The date, Oct. 25. The place - a railroad depot dead in the midst of grain country in east central North Dakota. A civil engineer stands along a shiny new stretch of railroad track. He can't help but admire the trackage, an end-of-the-line turn-around railroad loop. The only one like it in the country, even on the continent.
Winter 2000: North Dakota Christmas Tree Farmers
The Victorians borrowed the Christmas tree from a medieval German midwinter celebration; and, as early as 1605, the first decorated tree was documented by a visitor to Strasbourg, then a part of the Hapsburg Empire. In 1800 a tree was put up for a party by Queen Charlotte, the German-born wife of George III, for a Christmas Day party at Windsor Castle.
Fall 1999: Minot's Norsk Hostfest
Minot's Norsk Hostfest is better than a trip abroad to the Scandinavian countries. While traveling overseas is accompanied by high price tags and extended stays, Hostfest features the people and traditions of Scandinavia accompanied by North Dakota friendliness in a budget-pleasing package wrapped into five nights and four days.
Summer 1999: North Dakota's New Adventure Trail
Warmth begins to trickle back to my shoeless feet after fording my mountain bike across the knee-high water of the Little Missouri River. A trail post further down the bank is emblazoned with the outline of a turtle, which is a Mandan Indian symbol for "long, fruitful life." At this point of the ride, a turtle seemed more appropriate to the speed at which I was pedaling. Trail posts beckoned me to higher ground and soon the effort of climbing the skinny trail etched into the hillside was rewarded with a stunning panoramic view of the Little Mo below.
Spring 1999: Authentic Adventure on the 'Misery'
Long before Lewis and Clark, long before the establishment of the fur trade, even long before the Native American cultures that thrived there arrived, the Missouri River cut its course through a section of North Dakota near present-day Washburn. Geese pounded upriver, passing the sandbars and jutting clay banks as they followed the timeless waterway. Stilt-legged herons speared fish from the shallows. Deer crept out of the cottonwoods and willows to drink of the muddy water.
Winter 1999: Chilly Challenge
On the upside, flooded Devils Lake is fishing heaven - and not just during the summer. Fishing through a six-inch hole in the ice can be enjoyable, especially on those days when the sun shines, the wind isn't blowing and the fish bite. You'll likely find the greatest number of people ice fishing on North Dakota's largest natural lake during the annual ice fishing tourney - the state's largest gathering on ice. This winter, it's being held from 1-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30.
Fall 1998: Cowhands are tourists at Knife River Ranch
Cattle mill about restlessly, kept at bay by quivery horses anticipating the day's work. Ron Wanner urges his horse forward, stopping beside each eager wrangler to give brief instructions.