The world’s largest hamburger, at 3,591 pounds, was made in Rutland, North Dakota in 1982. Obviously we’re dealing with a state that doesn’t deal in half measures. The geographical center of North America is Rugby, ND. The Peace Garden State, named for the International Peace Garden that was built on the boundary between North Dakota and the Canadian province of Manitoba. Dakota, incidentally, is the Sioux word for friend.
What is North Dakota road food? My beloved Roadfood book had no listings and www.roadfood.com had only two. The sole selection for Fargo was a candy shop so I was left to my own devices for dinner. Normally I eschew a chain restaurant but I opted to dine at the Green Mill near our hotel. What a pleasant surprise! This Minnesota chain has a few branches in Wisconsin, Kansas and, fortuitously for us, Fargo, North Dakota. Our dinner salads were good as were the wine & beer specials.
Pleasant temperatures enveloped us in August but even in November there are days that Fargo is colder than the North Pole, when prairie winds whip up the snow and dirt on the ground causing a blinding horizontal blizzard without a fresh flake of snow falling. If you saw the Coen brothers movie Fargo, you remember the flatness of horizon on the horizon. The city did benefit from the film even though was filmed in other locations. An Academy Awards gala held at the Art Deco Fargo Theatre, formerly a silent film venue, brought enough attention to the theater to raise funds for a renovation. Residents are reported to obey the Scandinavian concept of janteloven (don’t show off), but sometimes a little exhibitionism is what it takes. The FargoDome, adjacent to the NDSU campus, is where some do. It’s an entertainment venue where local. The Convention & Visitor Bureau’s slogan is “Our welcomes are always warm. And that’s cool!” It can’t be said that they don’t have a sense of humor. Some stats: Fargo has 4 tanning salons & 20 city snowplows for 90,000 residents. There were 3 murders between 1998 and 2003 of which 2 are solved. The lowest temperature was -39 degrees and average annual snowfall is 40 inches.
Fargo has garnered some interesting accolades. It’s ranked the Third Least Angry City by Men’s Health Magazine and the environment tops San Diego’s according to Earth Day Network.
A particularly nasty winter melted into a flood in 1997. Fargo was able to contain the swollen Red River of the North but Grand Forks bore the brunt with damages estimated at $2 billion. Red River Rising: The Anatomy of a Flood and the Survival of an American City by Ashley Shelby sounds like a riveting recounting of the disaster. A copy is winging it’s way to me as I type.
Lewis & Clark (oh, them again!) spent more time exploring this region than any other. They first saw grizzly bears in North Dakota. In their honor scenic byways ND 1804 and ND 1806 (note the names are the years they traversed the land) now trace paths up and down the Missouri River. I particularly like the “Lewis and Clark slept here – 146 times” ad. Fort Mandan and ND Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center are the two richest sources of Lewis and Clark history in the world. North Dakota even offers a Lewis & Clark Golf Trail. Someday I hope to follow their trail, sans golf, but I really have a yen to visit the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. “Make a left at the giant dairy cow, then turn right at the “World’s Largest Buffalo,” and if you pass a 32-foot-tall turtle driving a snowmobile, you’ve gone too far.” A menagerie of oversized animal is reportedly visible for miles across the plains. Salem Sue, a huge fiberglass Holstein who symbolized the dairy industry, can be spied off of I 94, near Salem, from miles away. I’m sorry to report that our brief foray into the state yielded no zoological sights. I would have loved to view Wee’l Turtle in Dunseith, or the Fishing Hall of Fame’s, Wally the Walleye in Garrison. Oh know, it sounds like another trip in the plans.
All 50 states have wineries, and I have yet to sample ND wines at Maple River Winery in Casselton www.mapleriverwinery.com
The Walking Trail named in honor of author Louis L’Amour is a highlight of his hometown, Jamestown. Other famous North Dakotans are Lawrence Welk, Peggy Lee, baseball great Roger Maris
In 1951 oil was discovered near Tioga. The Aug. 6, 2008 USA Today reported that “North Dakota’s budget surplus is expected to soar above $1.2 billion by June, according to new estimates of state tax collections. State Budget Director Pam Sharp said the new revenue estimates assume state oil prices will average almost $98 a barrel until July 1, and almost $85 a barrel through June 30, 2010.” Beulah, ND, nicknamed “the energy capital of America” is home to the nation’s first synfuels plant – fuel produced from coal is used as a substitue for natural gas or petroleum. The North Dakota Energy Trail features Antelope Valley Stateion, Freedom Mine, Great Plains Synfuels Plant and Knife River Coal Mining Co.
The present-day capital building, in Bismarck, is commonly known as the “Skyscraper on the Prairie”. It was constructed of white limestone on black granite in 1934 after a fire destroyed the original building and stands a towering 19 stories. The interior of the Art Deco tower features Belgian marble, Honduran mahogany, East Indian rosewood, English brown oak and Burmese teak.
I think of ND as a rural state with most residents involved in agriculture but in as of 1987 more of the state’s population of less than 650,000 lives in cities and towns than farms. Agriculture still is North Dakota’s #1 industry, over 39 million acres, nearly 90% of the state, is in farms and ranches. The majority of those acres are planted to wheat, soybeans, barley, sunflowers, canola and corn. The ND Ag Foundation published a terrific brochure “Major Crops & Livestock of North Dakota.” I wish I could pick up similar material for every state I visit, instead of just speculating what could be planted in those fields we’re zooming by at 75 mph.
My musical choice for the Rough Rider state is Lyle Lovett’s North Dakota It’s a great cowboy tale of guns and the boys of North Dakota who apparently "drink whisky for their fun" but at heart it’s just another sappy song of the lovelorn. Another pop culture reference I can’t forget is The Electric Company’s (early Sesame Street) Fargo North, Decoder—An Inspector Clouseau-type detective who attempts to decode scrambled word messages and phrases using his different machines (one made from an old fashioned washing machine).
A comprehensive list of North Dakota books is at http://www.plainsfolk.com/buffalocommons/100books.htm I read and loved the choice from 50 States of Literature: Leif Enger’s Peace Like a River It’s one of my favorite book that I’ve read in a long time and was a perfect selection for the state. I’m not going to say anymore about except that I highly recommend this book.
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