Chapter IV: Highways and Trails (15)

At =174 m.= is the junction with US 83 (_see Tour 3_). The two highways form one route between this point and Bismarck, _198.5 m._ Just W. of the junction the highway passes over a crest of the moraine, from which on a clear day the distant outline of the 19-story State capitol is visible, 24 m. W. The highway descends the western slope of the moraine in a gradual incline toward the Missouri River valley.

McKENZIE, =180 m.= (1,700 alt., 175 pop.), is named for Alexander McKenzie, early day political boss in North Dakota.

At =185.3 m.= is the junction with a dirt road.

Right on this road to VERENDRYE, STATE PARK, =1 m.=, believed by many historians to be the point at which in 1738 Pierre de la Verendrye, earliest white explorer of present North Dakota, first visited the Mandan Indians. Prior to the investigation of this site in 1936 it was generally supposed that Verendrye's first contact with the Mandans had been made near Sanish, and a monument commemorating the meeting had been erected at that place (_see Tour 6_). The Menoken site shows clearly the position of the bastions and moat of the old fortifications, and saucer-shaped depressions indicate where the earth lodges once stood. In addition, pottery, flint chips, and other artifacts have been found. Verendrye's journal states that he presented a leaden plate, bearing the name of the exploring party, to the Mandan chief at the village he visited. A similar plate was given to the Indians by Verendrye's sons on an expedition farther S. in 1741, and was found buried in the earth near Fort Pierre, S. Dak. in 1913. The first plate, however, has not been recovered and may now lie buried somewhere in the Menoken site.

MENOKEN, =185.5 m.= (1,720 alt., 60 pop.), has had a number of names, and still retains two officially. In early railroad days it was known as Seventeenth Siding, and later as Blaine. For transportation purposes it is now called Burleigh, to distinguish it from several other towns on the N. P. Ry. which have names beginning with _M_.

At =186 m.= is the junction with a county graded dirt road.

Right on this road to the TRANSMITTING PLANT OF KFYR, =2.5 m.=, Bismarck's broadcasting station. The 704-foot all-steel vertical radiator, one of the three tallest self-supporting aerials in the United States (1938), can be seen for many miles.

Between Menoken and Bismarck the route crosses and recrosses APPLE CREEK, along which Sibley's army traveled for some distance. In ancient times this small, meandering stream was a great rushing glacial river.

At =196.5 m.= (R) loom the brick walls of the STATE PENITENTIARY (_tours daily exc. Sat. and Sun. at 9, 10, and 11 a.m., 2, 3, and 4 p.m._). When the prison was built (1885-89), the walls were of cottonwood logs wired together at the top. The present walls, 27 ft. high and 1,650 ft. long, and made of bricks from clay found in the vicinity, were constructed by prison labor in 1889. The island-type of prison architecture has been employed, and there are two cell blocks of 160 cells each, all locked by a master control. Inmates are employed in the twine plant, which has an annual output of more than four million pounds; on the 950-acre farm; and in the auto license and tag plant.

The fact that most criminals come from large centers of population is given as the reason that North Dakota, an agricultural State with no large cities, has a low prison population. In 1937 it was only 270.

At =197 m.= is the junction with a graveled road.

Left on this road to FORT LINCOLN, =3 m.=, only survivor of the 12 military posts that have been established in North Dakota since earliest settlement. The post, which covers an area of 900 acres, has brick buildings of modified Colonial design. It was first occupied in 1903, although established as a military reservation in 1895. In 1913 its garrison was removed, but in 1917 it was used as a concentration camp for midwestern troops headed for France. After the World War it was not garrisoned until 1927, when Companies I, K, L, and M of the Third Battalion, Fourth Infantry were ordered here. Including detachments of Headquarters, Quartermasters and Service Corps, Medical Corps, and Signal and Finance Corps, the post numbers 426 enlisted men and 20 officers (1937). Since 1928 it has been designated a C. M. T. C. camp for a four-week period each summer, with a quota of 200 men.

At =4 m.= is a junction with a dirt road; R. here to another junction, =4.8 m.=; L. to SIBLEY ISLAND PARK (_shelters_, _tables_, _and benches_), =7 m.= Sibley Island was actually an island when General Sibley fought the Sioux here in 1863, but now, because of the changing river channel, is a part of the river lowlands. The Indians, fleeing before the advancing column, were here forced to abandon large quantities of supplies and equipment, and to hurry across the Missouri. Two Sibley men, carrying orders to detachments in the woods, were ambushed and killed, and the Masonic burial given one is believed to have been the first instance of the use of this funeral rite within the borders of the State. The bodies were removed later, but the position of one grave is still indicated by a marker. Prior to the Sibley encounter the island was known as Assiniboine Island, from the fact that the _Assiniboine_, a river steamer carrying Prince Maximilian's exploring party, was destroyed by fire near here (1834).

BISMARCK, =198.5 m.= (1,672 alt., 11,090 pop.) (_see_ BISMARCK).

_Points of Interest_: State Capitol, Liberty Memorial Building,
Roosevelt Cabin, State historical society museum.

At Main Ave. and 6th St. is the junction with US 83 (_see Tour 3_).

At =199.5 m.= US 10 crosses the MISSOURI RIVER on the $1,358,000 LIBERTY MEMORIAL BRIDGE, erected in 1922, first highway span across the river in North Dakota. At each end are large natural boulders bearing bronze plaques dedicating the bridge to men and women who served in the World War.

Natural gas from the fields at Baker, Mont., is piped to Bismarck through a line crossing the Missouri on this bridge.

At the Bismarck end of the bridge is the junction with a county graveled highway (_see Side Tour 3B_).

Thoroughfare of early exploration of western North Dakota and Montana, the Missouri is still known to the Sioux Indians native to this region as Wakpa Hehanka (_elk river_). According to Sioux legend, once, during the great spring break-up, a large herd of elk were crossing the stream when the ice broke beneath them, precipitating them into quicksand. They perished, and when the ice had floated down the river the antlers of the elk were left protruding like branches from the sand bar.

The time changes from central to mountain standard W. of the river; watches and clocks of west-bound travelers should be turned back one hour, those of east-bound travelers should be set an hour ahead.

Along the highway on the flat lowlands between Bismarck and Mandan are several tourist camps and night clubs.

MANDAN, =203.4 m.= (1,642 alt., 5,037 pop.), its business section stretched along one side of its long main street, lies crowded between the N. P. railroad yards and the hills bordering the Heart River valley near the confluence of the Heart and the Missouri.

Named for the agricultural Mandan Indian tribe, this western, overgrown small town is in the area they once occupied, and near two of their ancient village sites. One, Crying Hill Village, is on the bluffs along the Missouri, NE. of the city; the other, known as the Motsiff Site, 2 m. S. on the banks of the Heart. The town itself is so young that many of the original false-front frame or ornate red-brick buildings are still standing. A village grew up here quickly when the railroad crossed the Missouri in 1881, and incorporation as a city followed in 1883. With the settling of the adjoining territory, which began within two years after the founding of the town, development was rapid. Early ranching in the region has given way to grain raising, dairying, and diversified dry farming, and the city has become a wholesale and retail distribution center serving a large agricultural area.

One of the chief economic supports of the city is the N. P. Ry., which maintains a division point here. The RAILWAY DEPOT is a red brick copy of Washington's Mount Vernon home, and the flagpole in the park surrounding it was used at Fort Abraham Lincoln when Gen. George A. Custer was in command (_see_ FORT LINCOLN STATE PARK). In the railroad park, in an ellipse formed by the driveway, stands a small bronze STATUE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT as a Rough Rider, a reproduction of a large monument in a Minot park (_see_ MINOT). On the depot platform, during the summer months, Yanktonai Sioux perform bits of native dances for the benefit of tourists on the fast trains. On this platform Nov. 1, 1926, Queen Marie of Rumania, making a transcontinental tour, was adopted by the Sioux.

The RAILROAD YARDS are unusual in that their accommodations facilitate handling and housing of the large Pacific type locomotives known as Five Thousands, so called because they are numbered above 5,000. Because of their great length, 125 ft., and their weight, 550 tons, they cannot be used on the sharp curves of the Rocky Mountains; they are therefore employed exclusively on the steep Mandan-Billings, Mont., run. Five Thousands are used only for heavy freight traffic. The largest turntable on the N. P. system, 126 ft. long, handles these giants of the rails.

At 1st St. and 2nd Ave. NW. is the MEMORIAL BUILDING, which has the largest indoor swimming pool in the State. The building was constructed under a Federal project.

The J. D. ALLEN TAXIDERMIST SHOP, 302 5th Ave. NW., contains a rare collection of Indian relics, original paintings, and a variety of mounted specimens of animals, birds, and fish found in the State. In the hodgepodge of his workshop, Allen, who came to Mandan as a youth in 1881, has mounted thousands of specimens, and has done work for Theodore Roosevelt and for members of European nobility. His hobby has been painting, and, although self-taught in his avocation, he has captured the spirit of early North Dakota scenes as have few trained artists. Several of his canvases hang in the museum of the State historical society (_see_ BISMARCK).

KGCU, with studios and transmitter in the Kennelly building, is at 205 1st St. NW.

CHAUTAUQUA PARK (_picnic grounds_, _tourist camp_, _golf course_, _clubhouse_, _tennis and horseshoe courts_) in the southwestern part of the city is on ND 6.

Left from Mandan =1.3 m.= on a graveled road to the STATE TRAINING SCHOOL, to which modern buildings and well-landscaped grounds give the appearance of an up-to-date preparatory school rather than an institution for delinquent juveniles. The school, which is one of four in the United States housing both boys and girls, and the only one offering a four-year high school course, teaches farming, carpentry, cooking, laundering, and sewing.

On the high bluffs on the south edge of the city is the U. S. NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS FIELD STATION (_see Side Tour 8C_).

At Mandan is the junction with ND 6, a graveled highway (_see Side Tour 8C_).

Left from Mandan on 6th Ave. SE. which becomes a county graveled road and crosses the HEART RIVER, =1 m.=, which in Sioux translation is called Tacanta Wakpa Tanka.

FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN STATE PARK, =4.5 m.= (_see_ FORT ABRAHAM LINCOLN STATE PARK).

The graveled road proceeds S. over the benchland of the Missouri to SCHMIDT, =11 m.=, an elevator and railroad siding. Here the route becomes a graded dirt road, and continues S.

At =18 m.= the road cuts through an extending clay ridge which protrudes like an eagle's beak from the Badlands-like formation to the R. To the W. here rises a flat-topped steep cliff jutting away from the other hills and connected with them only by a narrow neck. On this mesa once stood the Eagle's Nose Village of the Mandans, believed by some to have been built by the great Mandan tribal hero Good Furred Robe, although this origin has also been attributed to the Huff Site (_see below_). To reach the old village site one must ascend the SW. side of the hill. From the top there is a far-reaching view of the beautiful Missouri valley, stretching S. from the gray outlines of the capitol at Bismarck and the blockhouses on the hill at Fort McKeen.

At =20 m.= is HUFF, a store and railroad station. At =20.5 m.= (L) is the HUFF INDIAN VILLAGE STATE PARK, site of a Mandan village. According to legend the Mandan people at one time lived underground, but under the leadership of four chiefs, headed by Good Furred Robe, they climbed a vine to enter this world through an opening in the ground to the surface. Good Furred Robe then laid out their first village, placing the houses in rows like corn. This legend is believed by some Indians to refer to the Huff Site, whose heavily sodded lodge rings suggest great age. The reason for the somewhat rectangular shape of some of the depressions has not yet been determined.

South of Huff to FORT RICE STATE PARK, =29 m.=, the site of a fort established by Gen. Alfred H. Sully on his Indian expedition in 1864. It served as a military post until 1877, when it was succeeded by Fort Yates down the river. In 1868 Fort Rice was the scene of a peace council with the Sioux. Sitting Bull and some five thousand followers, resentful of the appropriation of their lands by the white settlers, had refused to go on reservations and had moved to the Powder River in present Wyoming, where they lived the free, open life to which they were accustomed. They harbored a bitter hatred for the white people, but there was one white man whom Sitting Bull trusted. He was Father Pierre Jean De Smet, a Jesuit missionary who had spent years among the Indians of the western plains, and was sincerely interested in their welfare. He was known to the Sioux as "Black Robe." The War Department and the Indian Bureau, eager to negotiate with the Sioux, sent Father De Smet to lead a delegation to Sitting Bull's camp. Many of the hostile Indians had vowed to kill any white man on sight, but their leader learned that it was "Black Robe" who was approaching, and welcomed him heartily. During the council which followed Father De Smet gave Sitting Bull a brass and wood crucifix, which the Sioux leader, although he never professed Catholicism, prized highly all his life. At the instigation of the priest, Sitting Bull, while refusing to attend a peace council himself, sent two representatives, Chief Gall and Bull Owl, whom he instructed to say, "Move out the soldiers and stop the steamboats and we shall have peace." The peace council was held at Fort Rice, and led to the Laramie Treaty later that year, which unfortunately was violated in 1875 by the Indian Bureau and the War Department, precipitating the hostilities that ended in the disastrous Battle of the Little Big Horn in June 1876 (_see_ HISTORY).

West of Mandan US 10 enters that part of the Missouri Plateau known locally as the Missouri Slope, and proceeds over the rolling grasslands typical of this area. As the route progresses through the Slope region, buttes jutting up from the prairie become more numerous. Many are crowned with brick-red scoria (clay baked in the earth by the heat of burning lignite beds lying adjacent), and others have scoria formations protruding from their sides.

At =209.5 m.= is the junction with ND 25, a graveled highway (_see Side Tour 8D_).

At =231 m.= (L) is the WRONG SIDE UP MONUMENT, a four-foot natural boulder bearing a bronze plate, commemorating an incident to which the New Salem Holstein Breeders' Circuit, nationally known dairy organization, credits its success. As one of the early settlers was breaking land preparatory to seeding it for the first time, a Sioux Indian and his son approached. The father, turning a piece of the sod back into its natural position, remarked, "Wrong side up." His son explained that the father believed the soil should not be plowed. The farmer, heeding his advice, grazed cattle on his land instead. Neighbors followed his example, and today NEW SALEM, =232 m.= (2,163 alt., 804 pop.), is the center of an extensive dairying area. The town was named by members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church for the Biblical city of Salem.

GLEN ULLIN, =251.5 m.= (2,065 alt., 950 pop.), a Russo-German community, has a name suggested to a railroad official by the Scottish ballad _Lord Ullin's Daughter_. An intermediate lighted airport is maintained here by the Department of Commerce. Levon West, the etcher, once attended Glen Ullin high school.

HEBRON, =267 m.= (2,155 alt., 1,348 pop.), is in a small valley just W. of the divide between the Heart and Knife Rivers. Like New Salem, its name is of Biblical origin. The town has more brick-faced buildings in its business district than most towns of similar size because of the proximity of the $250,000 Hebron BRICK PLANT (_for directions inquire at post office_; _open weekdays 9-5_). Clay deposits suitable for brick manufacture, discovered here in 1904, led to the development of the field. The plant, on the eastern outskirts of the town, ships its products to all parts of the Northwest, the Pacific Coast States, and Canada.

Emil Krauth, son of one of Hebron's early settlers, is an authority on butterflies, and received recognition of his work in 1935 when entomologists named a small yellow butterfly, _Colias christina krauthii_, for him. At his residence he has a BUTTERFLY COLLECTION (_open; for directions inquire at post office_), 100 cases displaying specimens gathered from many parts of the world.

Just NW. of the town, where a cemetery now lies, FORT SAUERKRAUT was built at the time of a false Indian scare in 1892. There is no record of why it was given its odd name.

Right from Hebron on a country trail to CROWLEY FLINT QUARRY STATE PARK, =22 m.= Here the Indians obtained flint from which to make arrow and spear heads. The process of making an arrowhead or spear point was tedious, the only tool being a piece of bone or horn that had been buried two weeks in wood ashes to remove grease and temper the material. On the palm of one hand was placed a buckskin covering, and on this was laid the flint, held in place by the fingers of the same hand. Using the bone tool in the other hand, the worker began flaking chips from the flint, first up one side and then the other, until the stone assumed the shape wanted. Today unfinished or broken arrowheads and spear points are occasionally found in the quarry.

West of ANTELOPE (L), =275 m.= (2,410 alt., 20 pop.), the route follows closely the trail made by Custer's Seventh Cavalry in June 1876, on their way from Fort Abraham Lincoln to the Little Big Horn country in Montana, to meet death at the hands of the Sioux they pursued (_see_ HISTORY). The deep ruts cut in the prairie by the military wagons of the expedition, and later by those traveling over the same trail to Fort Keogh, Mont., are visible R. and parallel to the highway where it passes S. of YOUNG MEN'S BUTTE, =277.5 m.= According to legend, when the Arikara Indians were still living on the Grand River, in what is now South Dakota, a group separated from the tribe and set out toward the northwest to seek a new home. Two young men in the party, however, grew lonesome for the sweethearts they had left behind, and when they reached this butte they decided to return to their old home. The remainder of the party continued on the journey, and was never heard from again.

Left from Antelope an unimproved dirt road leads to the Heart River, =8 m.=, and the SITE OF GENERAL SULLY'S TEMPORARY BASE CAMP for the Battle of Killdeer Mountains. On his march to the Yellowstone River, in 1864, Sully corraled his wagon train at this camp, and, traveling light, moved quickly N. to the Killdeer Mountains to make a surprise attack on a camp of 5,000 Sioux (_see Side Tour 8D_).

RICHARDTON, =278 m.= (2,465 alt., 710 pop.), is the home of ASSUMPTION ABBEY of the Benedictine order. The buildings, of Gothic and Romanesque styles, give the impression of having been transplanted from ancient Europe to the North Dakota prairie. Twin red-roofed steeples raise burnished crosses above the buildings, which are constructed in a square around a garden court. The abbey, completed in 1910, includes St. Mary's Monastery, St. Mary's Church, and a high school and junior college for boys. The library contains 14,000 volumes, among which are several books dated 1720 and bound in pigskin. The town is named for C. B. Richardton, official of a steamship company that sought homes for German immigrants, and is predominantly Russo-German.

At =284 m.= is TAYLOR (2,487 alt., 263 pop.). South of here along the Heart River are large deposits of bentonite; a clay used for commercial manufacture of paints, cleaners, linoleum, cosmetics, and other products (_see_ INDUSTRY AND LABOR).

At =299.5 m.= is the junction with a graveled road.

Left on this road is LEHIGH, =2 m.= (2,347 alt., 203 pop.), named for Lehigh, Pa., because both are mining towns. Here is a BRIQUETTING PLANT (_open to large parties and school or college groups; guides_). This is the only plant in the United States producing lignite briquets with a B. t. u. (_British thermal unit: 778 foot-pounds energy_) rating of 15,000. Raw lignite has a B. t. u. rating of about 6,500. Eighteen thousand tons of briquets are produced annually by the million dollar plant. The work of the late E. J. Babcock of the State university has been of great importance in adapting the lignite briquetting process to North Dakota coal. The chief byproduct of the plant is creosote, of which about 70,000 gallons are shipped to eastern markets each year. Research conducted on activated carbon, a lignite product used in the manufacture of tires and for filtration purposes, points to commercial development of this byproduct (_see_ INDUSTRY AND LABOR).

DICKINSON, =302.5 m.= (2,305 alt., 5,025 pop.), principal stock and wheat shipping point in the central Missouri Slope area, and Stark County seat, is on the slope of a hill overlooking the Heart River, which cuts through the prairie S. of the city. The town is still young enough to retain much of the friendly atmosphere of the early West.

When the railroad reached this point in 1880, the site was known as Pleasant Valley Siding, but in 1883 the name was changed by H. L. Dickinson, the town's first merchant, to honor his cousin Wells S. Dickinson, a New York State senator.

The town defeated Gladstone and Belfield for county seat in 1884, and the same year saw its development as a forwarding point for freight to the booming Black Hills gold fields. On April 15 alone, more than 220,000 lbs. of freight destined for the Hills were received at Dickinson.

In 1886 the Dickinson _Press_ reported: "The first Fourth of July celebration attempted in Dickinson took place last Monday. It exceeded the anticipation of all and proved to be a grand success--a day that will long be remembered. The day dawned bright and cool. Early in the morning people began to arrive and by ten o'clock the largest crowd ever assembled in Stark County lined the principal streets. The train from the west brought a number of Medora people. Amongst them was Hon. Theodore Roosevelt, the orator of the day. The celebration consisted of: A Parade, Addresses by Hon. Theodore Roosevelt and Hon. John A. Rae, Races, Fire Works, and a dance in the evening."

Russo-German immigrants seeking homes in this country were early attracted to Dickinson by the Catholic mission established there by Bishop Martin Marty of St. Paul, and today the southern part of the city is a Russo-German settlement, almost a town within a town. Although the younger generation is Americanized, the older women still wear old-fashioned, long, dark dresses, and cover their heads with dark scarfs or _tuecher_. There are halls for social functions, and for the gala wedding dances which often last several days.

The $2,000,000 plant of the DICKINSON FIRE AND PRESSED BRICK CO. (_open_) adjoins the city on the S. The plant, which has a capacity of 20,000 bricks daily, utilizes the various clays found in the company's 200 acres along the Heart River. Fine pottery is also manufactured. Among the clays used is a rare plastic clay which is worked into sewer pipe and fire brick, and produces a fine buff shade for facing bricks. In addition there are clays, semi-shales, and red clays that are worked into old red sandstone, red, and terra cotta shades for facing.

In the northern part of the city are the DICKINSON COUNTRY CLUB (_golf_), WHITNEY SWIMMING POOL (_open June-Sept._; _nominal fee_), and ATHLETIC FIELD (_gridiron_, _baseball diamond_, _running track_, _and tennis courts_), and ROCKY BUTTE PARK (_picnicking_).

Atop a knoll on 10th Ave. W. is the campus of the DICKINSON STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. Its buildings, in English Tudor style, constructed of Hebron brick with white sandstone trim, were not occupied until 1924, although classes were held in the Dickinson Elks building as early as 1918. On the top floor of May Hall is a natural history museum.

Left (S) from Dickinson on ND 22 to a U. S. Department of Commerce intermediate AIRPORT, =6 m.=

At =303.5 m=, is a junction with a graveled road.

Right on this road to the DICKINSON SUBSTATION AND NORTH DAKOTA AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION, =2 m.= Here, under State and Federal supervision, experiments are conducted in fruit production, dry land farming, and the raising of forage and cereal crops.

At =320 m.= is the junction with a graveled spur.

Left on this spur is SOUTH HEART, =1 m.= (2,474 alt., 150 pop.) so named because of its position on the southern bank of the Heart River. One mile W. of the town the trail made in 1864 by Gen. Alfred Sully and his troops on their return from the Battle of Killdeer Mountain is plainly visible. South of the town on a country trail is CUSTER HILL, =7 m.=, where Custer made camp on his way to the Big Horn country in Montana in 1876. Breastworks thrown up as a protection are still visible.

BELFIELD, =322 m.= (2,578 alt., 653 pop.), is in a small valley along a tributary of the Heart River. The Dakota Colloidal Corp., which operates the only BENTONITE PLANT (_open weekdays 9-4_) in the State, procures the mineral from a clay found N. of town, and uses it in the manufacture of soaps and washing powders. Here is a junction with US 85 (_see Tour 4_).

At =330 m.= the route comes dramatically upon the BADLANDS, cut into the heart of the plateau. In every direction stretches a confusion of bare, grotesque, garish buttes, their tops level with the surrounding prairies. Down their sides broad earth strata--brown, ash gray, sulphur yellow, and salmon--deposited through geological ages, have been exposed by years of erosion. French explorers named this region _mauvaises terres a traverser_, or bad lands to travel through.

Right at =332 m.= is PAINTED CANYON with its jumble of gorges and superb buttes. Spread as far as one can see toward the northern horizon is a magnificent display of buttes, showing in varying light and shadow the great charm of this never-monotonous country. A drive lined with a wall of brick-red scoria (_see_ NATURAL SETTING), mottled with green, like weathered bronze, parallels the highway, providing a good point from which to take photographs.

As the highway descends into the Badlands, it twists through ravines and valleys. At =335 m.= is the eastern entrance to the SOUTH ROOSEVELT REGIONAL STATE PARK (_see_ ROOSEVELT REGIONAL STATE PARKS).

MEDORA, =341.5 m.= (2,265 alt., 200 pop.), seat of Billings County, lies along the eastern bank of the Little Missouri River, at the foot of a steep wall of yellow clay cliffs. Now a center for tourists attracted by its history and the scenic beauty of the surrounding area, it was formerly such a bustling cattle town that on one occasion a thousand Texas steers stampeded across the tracks and stopped a train. In the same era, it is said, the more or less adequately named son of the plains, Hell-Roaring Bill Jones, saw an old gentleman in a derby get off the train here. Derbies and plug hats were especially scorned by the cowboys, so with a grunt of disapproval Bill shot off the offending bit of haberdashery. The gentleman hastened to reenter the train, leaving his dismantled headgear to the West. But not so Bill Jones: "Come back!" he roared in tones that compelled obedience. "We don't want the blinkety-blank thing in Medora."

In 1879 a military camp named Little Missouri (_see below_) was established here on the opposite river bank to protect workers of the N. P. Ry. from Indian attacks. This typically rough frontier post saw the arrival in 1883 of two notable young men of almost the same age. Theodore Roosevelt, a young New York assemblyman of 25, traveling for his health and also to forget the recent loss of both his mother and wife, already displayed the rugged, direct personality which later characterized the wielder of the "big stick." Because of his eastern dress and his heavy glasses he became known as "the four-eyed dude from New York", or, more briefly, "Four-eyes"--until one evening with his naked fists he knocked out and disarmed a bully. Thereafter his nickname was subtly changed to "Old Four-eyes."

The other young man was the Marquis de Mores, a handsome, spirited Frenchman. Arriving in America about six months earlier with his bride, the rich and charming Medora Von Hoffman of New York, he had made a hunting trip to the West and, with characteristic dash, decided to build a packing plant in the cattle country to capitalize on the advantage of avoiding the cost of shipping live animals to eastern abattoirs. Wealthy in his own right and backed by his millionaire father-in-law, de Mores came to the wild Badlands to build the plant that was to be the center of operations for the Northern Pacific Refrigerator Car Co., incorporated to operate in five Territories and nine States, and to do a general transportation business.

Because of some disagreement over contemplated real estate purchases in Little Missouri, de Mores bought a huge tract of land on the east side of the river, where he built his packing plant and with it a town, named Medora for his wife.

In the middle eighties Medora, together with Mingusville (present Wibaux, Mont.), had become the center of a new, rich, cattle-grazing section. The round-up area extended to a radius of 75 m., and in some round-ups as many as 100 men were employed. Large outfits ran probably 100,000 head, and ranchers like Roosevelt, who grazed 2,000 to 3,000 head, were considered small cattlemen.

Many factors operated against the success of de Mores' packing plant, which opened in the fall of 1883. He himself was young, rash, inexperienced, and often ill-advised. His friends found him honest and confiding, and less open minds than his took advantage of him. There were costly mistakes, and many hundreds of thousands were spent before any meat was sold. Moreover, eastern packers undersold de Mores and forced ruinously low prices. Since he had to depend on grass for feed, he could supply his trade from his own stock only at certain seasons, and at the other times had to buy from outside parties, who took advantage of the situation to charge him high prices. A plan to feed cattle at Medora never materialized. De Mores ran sheep, but hundreds died. To cap it all, the public apparently did not like grass-fed meat.

Another ill-starred enterprise was the Medora-Deadwood stage line, begun in the fall of 1884 with the idea of securing a mail contract and some of the passenger and freight traffic going to the Black Hills gold fields by way of Dickinson. The route from Medora to Deadwood was shorter than that from Dickinson, but it was also rougher. De Mores' horses were wild, and often broke up equipment. In addition, the mail contract failed to materialize; the shift from placer to deep mining lessened the flow of transients into the Hills; and after one trip over the rough road, freight shippers usually chose the Dickinson route. The line was ordered discontinued in the spring of 1886, ending another of the marquis' dreams.

Many people of the Little Missouri Valley did not like de Mores. They doubted his claim to the peerage, or, if they believed it, regarded it as an affront to their almost belligerent democracy. Such things as his special car on the N. P. Ry. and his occasional trips East or abroad irked them. Worst of all, he began to fence his land--a glaring infraction of wide-open range etiquette. His fences were cut; he had them mended. They were cut open again. Things went from bad to worse. Stories were carried to de Mores of threats against his life. He appealed to the sheriff at Mandan for the arrest of the trouble makers. When the deputy sheriff arrived, they bluffed him out, and de Mores, thinking the deputy overpowered or perhaps killed, endeavored to make the arrest. There was shooting, and when the smoke cleared, one man was dead.

This was in June 1883. Twice dismissed by lower courts, the charge against de Mores was finally brought in district court in Bismarck in September 1885. He was acquitted. About a year after the trial, realizing that his packing plant was not to be a success, he closed its doors, and took his family to Europe. At the age of 38, while on an expedition to Africa, he was ambushed and killed by native guides.

Except for his neighbor Roosevelt, the Badlands have never known a more notable figure than this Frenchman with his dreams of their industrial development.

Theodore Roosevelt was a frequent visitor at the de Mores' chateau (_see below_) during the months he spent in Dakota Territory. On his first hunting trip here in 1883 he was so attracted by the wild country that he made arrangements to become a partner in a ranching enterprise, and for the next six years he spent part of each year here, first at the Maltese Cross, or Chimney Butte Ranch (_see_ BISMARCK), 7 m. up the Little Missouri, and later at the Elkhorn, 35 m. downstream (_see Tour 10_). Both ranch sites are difficult to reach, and little is to be seen at them other than the sites where the buildings stood.

Roosevelt's ranching ventures were not financially successful; he ran small herds, and was interested more in the condition of his health than that of his fortune. His keen delight in hunting and the rough cowboy life, however, won him many friends. In the spring of 1884 he acted as chairman of the local Stockmen's Association, and the same year he was the principal speaker at Dickinson's first Fourth of July celebration. One day a cowboy overheard someone say, "That fool Joe Ferris [a Medora storekeeper] says Roosevelt is going to be President." Seventeen years later the cowboy told this to Ferris; the death of McKinley had just made Roosevelt President.

In company with the other stockmen of the valley, Roosevelt lost heavily in the severe winter of 1886-87. It is said that scarcely a rancher did not lose at least half his stock--the Hash-Knife, a large outfit, lost 65,000 head.

Roosevelt's trips to the West thereafter were of shorter duration. One of the strongest links that bound him to this country was his famous Rough Riders, made up mainly of western men, who served under him in the Spanish-American War. Roosevelt visited Medora in 1900, on a campaign tour, and again in 1903, and was warmly received each time by his old neighbors and friends.

Medora was briefly the home of Tom Mix, screen actor, who was married here to Olive M. Stokes, Jan. 19, 1909. Mix, then a circus performer, and Miss Stokes had just completed contracts with the Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West Show.

Right at the entrance to Main St. is the little buff brick ATHENAIS CHAPEL, built for the marquise by her husband in 1884, and named for their daughter. It was presented to the village in 1920 by members of the de Mores family, and is still in use as the Roman Catholic church of the community.

Fronting Main St. is the ROUGH RIDERS HOTEL, erected by de Mores in 1884. It served as headquarters for cattlemen and cowpunchers of the day; and although it was built a year after Theodore Roosevelt came to Dakota, the story is told that his first night in Medora was spent here. Doubtless, however, he spent many nights in the hotel, which suggested to him the name of his Spanish-American War regiment.

One block down Main St. (L) is a bronze STATUE OF MARQUIS DE MORES, erected by the family in 1926. It stands in a small plot which is part of De Mores State Park, three tracts comprising about 77 acres, deeded to the State Historical Society of North Dakota in 1936 by Louis, Count de Vallombrosa, eldest son of the marquis. On a second unit of the park, in the northwestern part of town, is the SITE OF THE DE MORES PACKING PLANT. The abandoned buildings, with mammoth refrigerators and machinery and mysterious dark passages, long bore the legend, "Rent free to any responsible party who will make use of them." Fire destroyed them in 1907; all that remains today is a tall, gaunt, yellow brick chimney.

Left from Medora on a winding graded county dirt road to the CUSTER TRAIL RANCH, =5 m.=, named by its founders, Howard, Willis, and Alden Eaton, for its position on the trail of the fatal military expedition to the Little Big Horn in 1876. It is at the confluence of the Little Missouri River and Davis Creek, where a Custer camp erected parapets for protection from possible Indian attack. Deep ruts cut by the wagons of the expedition are still visible near the ranch buildings. This ranch was established in the late 1880's, and is the first of the "dude ranches" which have become so popular in the West. The owners were neighbors of Roosevelt, whose Chimney Butte Ranch was 2 m. upstream. In 1897 Ernest Thompson Seton, naturalist and author, while gathering material for his books _Lives of the Hunted_ and _Coyotito_, spent the month of September here with the Eatons. The ranch still has its quota of summer visitors, but in the early 1900's the Eatons transferred their activities to the vicinity of the Big Horn Mountains.

At =341.7 m.= the route crosses the bridge leading over the LITTLE MISSOURI RIVER. Except in times of flood the stream, which is narrow here, is shallow and sluggish.

At =341.8 m.= is the junction with an improved road.

Left on this road to the third unit (60 A.) of the De Mores State Park, the DE MORES CHATEAU, =0.5 m.=, commanding an excellent view of the river, the bluffs, and the village. The chateau is a 28-room, 2-story frame structure with a wide veranda, and windows guarded by old-fashioned shutters.

Deserted by its wealthy young owners and their retinue of servants, and subjected to the aging of half a century, it presents a vastly different picture from that of 1883, when the ambitious Frenchman built it for his red-haired bride.

Although the establishment of the packing plant was de Mores' chief reason for being in Dakota, he and the marquise led an active social life, entertaining settlers of the region and also many distinguished guests from the East and from Europe, who came to hunt. An item in the Bismarck _Tribune_ of Sept. 4, 1885, read:

"She Killed Three Bears

"The Marquise, wife of Marquis de Mores, has returned from her
hunt in the Rocky mountains, where she killed two cinnamon bears
and one large grizzly bear. The accomplished lady, who was a few
years ago one of New York City's popular society belles, is now the
queen of the Rocky mountains and the champion huntress of the great
northwest."

During their residence in America two children were born to the de
Mores, a son, Louis, and a daughter, Athenais. A third child, Paul,
was born in France soon after the family left Medora. The marquise
died in 1920 as the result of an injury received while serving as a
nurse in the World War. Although she returned to Medora only once
(1893), she removed nothing from the chateau to which she came as a
bride. It was left in the hands of a caretaker until its transfer
to the State historical society in 1936.

At =341.9 m.= (L) are the partly filled cellar holes that mark the SITE OF LITTLE MISSOURI, Medora's predecessor. The story is told that, during the heyday of the town, passengers on a train pausing opposite a hotel here heard the sound of shots. Presently, to their horror, the door opened and a group of cowboys carried out a limp body. Soon there were more shots, and another body was brought out. Before the train left the cowboys figured they had given the "dudes" an eyeful. The "bodies" all belonged to the same man, and the shots had been aimed so as to do no harm.

At =343 m.= is the junction with a graveled road.

Right on this road to the sandstone pillars marking the western entrance to the South Roosevelt Regional State Park, =0.1 m.= (_see_ ROOSEVELT REGIONAL STATE PARKS).

At =347.5 m.= is the first glimpse of FLAT TOP BUTTE (L), sometimes known as Square Butte, whose mesa-like top contains nearly a section of land. On a slope of this butte occurred a skirmish between Sully's punitive expedition of 1864 and a band of Hunkpapa and Sans Arc Sioux led by Sitting Bull. Harried by a sniping fire from the Sioux, the 2,200 soldiers, on quarter rations because of insufficient supplies, and burdened with an immigrant train of 600 people and 120 oxcarts, had sweltered through a hot August day. Just as darkness was closing over the Badlands they discovered a spring on the northeastern slope of Flat Top Butte, only to have Sitting Bull, who realized their need of the water, suddenly pour in a heavy fire from the nearby hills. The firing continued intermittently all night. In the morning, however, the Sioux withdrew and went hunting. Several Indians were killed during the encounter and many soldiers wounded.

At =355.5 m.= the highway reaches the level prairie after a gradual rise out of the Badlands. From here is visible (L) Sentinel Butte (3,350 alt.), second highest point in the State, a large flat-topped mesa in the distance. Right is the CAMEL'S HUMP, a peculiarly rounded, grass-covered hill.

At =358 m.= is the village of SENTINEL BUTTE (2,706 alt., 219 pop.), which was named for the nearby mesa to the S. The Sully expedition, following its encounter with the Sioux at Flat Top, passed over the present town site.

Left from the town on a graveled road to the junction with a county dirt road, =3 m.=; L. here to a gate (L) at =4.3 m.=; follow rutted trail to foot of southern slope of SENTINEL BUTTE, =5 m.= In a pass at the top of this slope are two supposed graves of sentinels killed while on guard. Conflicting stories are told of the sentinels' identity. One Indian legend says romance was involved in the slaying of the two; another, that they were Arikara scouts surprised by a Sioux war party. Nearly 80 acres of grassland are on the flat top of Sentinel Butte, and its precipitous sandstone cliff-sides rise 719 ft. above the surrounding prairies. From the eastern rim of the butte on a clear day is a panorama of the Badlands, with Flat Top Butte in the foreground, and the diggings of several private lignite coal mines visible in the slopes of the neighboring hills. To the S. and W. the plain stretches away into the distance: nicely squared patches of green in the spring and early summer, rippling areas of gold during harvest, and squares of plowed black earth etched against patches of grimy yellow stubble in the fall.

BEACH, =365.5 m.= (2,755 alt., 1,263 pop.), is named for Capt. Warren Beach of the Eleventh Infantry, who accompanied the Stanley railroad survey expedition in 1873. Beach is Golden Valley County seat, center of a large agricultural area in western North Dakota and eastern Montana, and a grain shipping point. John M. Baer, the political cartoonist, was postmaster in Beach from 1913 to 1915, and later became a North Dakota Congressman.

US 10 crosses the Montana Line, =368 m.=, 42 m. E. of Glendive Mont. (_see Mont. Tour 1_).

SIDE TOUR 8A

Valley City--Oakes--South Dakota Line. ND 1.

Valley City to South Dakota Line, 75 m.

N. P. Ry. branch line roughly parallels route between Verona and
Oakes, North Western Ry. branch between Oakes and South Dakota Line.

Gravelled roadbed throughout.

Accommodations in principal towns

ND 1 south of Valley City traverses the rolling plain--part of the Height of Land--that lies between the Sheyenne and the James Rivers. The northern end of the route runs near the Sheyenne, while its southern course roughly parallels the James. Near the southern border of the State the highway runs across the level bed of glacial Lake Dakota, a small part of which extended into present North Dakota. This lake existed before Lake Agassiz, in the valley of the James River, which was in existence before the second ice age. Along the entire route pheasants are plentiful.

ND 1 branches S. from US 10 at Valley City (_see Tour 8_).

At =19 m.= is the junction with a graveled road.

Left on this road to BIRCH CREEK HISTORIC SITE (_picnic and camp grounds adjoining_), =1 m.= In the late 1830's the Federal Government sent its first exploratory expedition into this area under Jean N. Nicollet and Lt. John C. Fremont. Their party camped in this coulee on Birch Creek in 1839. In August 1863 a detachment of the Sibley Indian expedition under Col. Samuel McPhail also camped here, naming the site Camp Johnson for one of the officers. Later, in 1867-72, the Fort Totten-Fort Ransom trail crossed the coulee.

HASTINGS, =19.5 m.= (1,453 alt., 125 pop.), was named by the N. P. Ry. for Hastings, Minn., which in turn was named for Gen. Henry Hastings Sibley (1811-1891), first Governor of Minnesota, and in 1863 commander of an expedition against the Sioux.

At =23.5 m.= is the junction with ND 46, a graveled highway.

Left on this highway to the junction with an unimproved country trail, =7 m.=; R. here =0.5 m.= to INYAN BOSDATA, or Standing Rock, one of two rocks within the boundaries of North Dakota sacred to the Sioux tribes (_see Side Tour 8C_). The Sioux are reticent concerning legends of the stone, saying only that it is _waukan_ (mysterious). About 4 ft. high, it is roughly shaped like an inverted cone, and stands atop a circular mound, from which long, narrow mounds extend both E. and W. The significance of the mound on which it stands is not definitely known, but it is believed to be of ceremonial origin. Positions of skeletons and types of artifacts found in the different strata of the few mounds excavated in this area lead archeologists to believe that the mounds were built for burial purposes. Discoveries in the oldest stratum indicate that after the retreat of the glacier the race which built the mounds was nomadic, living by the hunt and on edible tubers found in the region, while artifacts found in later strata reveal that the race had probably become agricultural and lived in permanent villages.

At =9 m.= on ND 46 is the junction with an unimproved dirt road; L. here =1 m.= to CAMP WEISER HISTORIC SITE, named for Dr. J. S. Weiser, surgeon with the First Minnesota Mounted Rangers, who was later killed in the Battle of Big Mound (_see Tour 8_). This was an encampment of the Sibley expedition the night of July 13-14, 1863.

At =30.5 m.= on ND 1 is the junction with a graveled road.

Left here is FORT RANSOM, =7 m.= (1,217 alt., 297 pop.), a quiet little village hidden in the trees at the foot of the hill on which are the RUINS OF OLD FORT RANSOM. Thousands of Civil War veterans, released from service, turned to the West for opportunity, crossing the plains to the gold fields in Montana and Idaho. To keep the hostile Sioux in check and to guard the immigrant wagon trains on their overland journeys, it was planned to establish a chain of forts across the prairies. Fort Ransom was the first of this chain, built in 1867 by Gen. Alfred Terry and named for Gen. Thomas Ransom, a Civil War officer. It was protected by sod and log breastworks 12 ft. high, surrounded by a ditch 8 ft. deep, a protection never greatly needed, for few Indians lived in the vicinity. In 1872 Fort Ransom was replaced by Fort Seward at Jamestown (_see Tour 8_). Remains of the breastworks of the fortification are visible.

Across the deep ravine running N. and W. of the fort a lookout post was situated on BEAR DEN HILLOCK which the Sioux know as Matoti. On the slope of this hill is a large glaciated _Writing Rock_, on the surface of which are four deep grooves. These the Indians believe to have been written by spirits. Two legends are told of the stone: one, that a water sprite traced the markings with his finger, the other that two young women spirits came daily to write messages to the tribes, until the invasion of the white man, when they refused to send further messages. Several tumuli of the mound builders are on this hill.

At =36.5 m.= on ND 1 is the junction with ND 27, a graveled highway.

Left here is LISBON, =18 m.= (1,187 alt., 1,650 pop.), Ransom County seat, named by two settlers for their home cities, Lisbon, N. Y. and Lisbon, Ill. The first settlers arrived in 1878, and two years later the town site was platted. Situated at the foot of the hills bordering the Sheyenne River, the town is scattered on both wooded banks of the stream. The red-brick buildings of the STATE SOLDIERS HOME, in landscaped grounds in the southern section of the town, accommodate 50 veterans. SANDAGER PARK in the northwestern part is a well-maintained recreational center (_short boat trips up river available in summer; reasonable fares_). W. D. Boyce (1860-1912), Lisbon newspaper publisher during the 1880's, who became publisher of the _Saturday Blade_ in Chicago, is credited with bringing the Boy Scout idea to the United States from England, and a fine BOY SCOUT BUILDING AND PARK on Main St. are a memorial to him. R. N. Stevens (1852-1925), a Lisbon attorney and member of the State constitutional convention in 1889, later associated with Alexander McKenzie in Alaska, is characterized as the crafty attorney in Rex Beach's novel _The Spoilers_.

Left from Lisbon =1 m.= on ND 9 to OAKWOOD CEMETERY, the land for which was a gift of William K. Thaw, a large landholder here in early days. It contains the graves of many soldiers. In the center of the area is a statue of a bugler in the pose of sounding taps, a memorial to the Civil War dead.

At =22 m.= on ND 27 is the junction with a graveled road; R. here =2 m.= to the junction with another graveled road; L. to another junction at =3 m.=; R. to the SITE OF CAMP HAYES, =4.8 m.= On the first bench above the level Sheyenne River flood plain Gen. H. H. Sibley and his Indian expedition camped a week in July 1863 while awaiting supplies and mail from Fort Abercrombie. At each of his camps Sibley erected breastworks of some type, and remains of the ravine trenches at this site are still visible. Like giant, round anthills, several tumuli of the mound builders project against the sky line on the hills bordering the river opposite Camp Hayes. The largest of the hills along the river here is OKIEDAN BUTTE, meaning _place where they all rushed together_, famed in Sioux legend. At the foot of the hill, near a spring still flowing, a Sisseton Sioux war party is said to have attacked and killed a band of 30 Arikara Indians. At this same place in the early 1880's Bvt. Gen. H. M. Creel of the U. S. Regulars reported having his command entirely surrounded by so large a herd of bison that it stretched beyond the vision of his field glasses, and took several hours in passing.