Sunday, August 12, 2007
Western Minnesota to Central North Dakota
This installment covers Saturday (August 4) through Sunday (August 12).
On Saturday we drove to Bemidji, Minnesota, which is a larger town than it sounds like. Saturday afternoon we caught up on some shopping, picked up mail at general delivery, and ran other errands. On Sunday, we drove to Lake Itasca State Park. This is the site of the headwaters of the Mississippi River, the largest white pine tree in Minnesota, and what was (until its top broke off earlier this year) one of the two largest red pine trees in the United States. Carol waded in the headwaters, while I took pictures. We returned to downtown Bemidji to get photos of the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues.
On Monday we left for a four night stay in Fargo, ND, the largest city in the state. En route we drove through rich farmland in the Red River valley along the Minnesota/North Dakota border – there are miles of wheat, corn, sugar beets and some sunflowers. On Monday afternoon we acquainted ourselves with the city, and visited Scheel’s, the largest all-sports store under one roof.
On Tuesday morning we spent about 2-1/2 hours at Bonanzaville, a collection of historic buildings and newer warehouses containing a large variety of artifacts. It was a surprisingly interesting museum. Each topical area was adopted by a relevant organization (e.g. the vintage barber shop was sponsored by a local barber’s professional association) and each had a resident caretaker. The exhibits included telephone equipment, vintage general stores, vintage medical offices, farm machinery, vintage automobiles, vintage carriages, an old railroad station, and the first house built in Fargo, among others. The museum is named after the bonanza farms of the 1800s, large scale wheat farming operations of 1000+ or 3000+ acres depending on whose cut-off point you use. In the afternoon we drove north about 40 miles to see the KLVY TV tower which, at 2063 feet, is the tallest structure in the world. Because the ground is flat for miles, and the tower is thin, you don’t get any real sort of feel for its height.
On Wednesday we visited a couple of antique stores and the small (and somewhat disappointing) Plains Art Museum in Fargo. We then went across the river to the sister city of Moorhead, MN and visited the Hjemkomst Interpretive Center. The center includes the Viking boat that was build in the late 1970s/early 1980s by a high school guidance counselor. After his death, his family and a crew of others in 1982 fulfilled his dream of sailing the boat from the U.S. to Norway. (The name “Hjemkomst” means “homecoming” in Norwegian). The center also had a “Stave Church” built out of white pine to reproduce a church from Norway. A stave church is supported by interior columns, or staves – the walls are non-load-bearing. The museum included exhibits on the Vikings, the area Indians, and the buffalo in America. There was also an art gallery (with better art than the Plains Museum) and a small museum by the local historical society. All-in-all it was an interesting center.
On Thursday we climbed into the CRV for a long sightseeing day. Our first stop was Ft. Abercrombie, located on the North Dakota side of the Red River. There is very little left of this 10-acre fort, which was active in the from the late 1850s until about 1870. The fort, which at the time was manned by volunteers while regular army units fought in the Civil War, was subject to a six week siege during the Indian uprising of 1862. Five men were killed and five wounded during this time before reinforcements arrived from Ft. Snelling (which we visited earlier in Minnesota). The palisades around the fort were not in place in 1862, but were added after the Indian attack. The fort had a nice museum consisting of a collection of period artifacts from about 1850 to about 1920. They included items brought from Norway by local settlers, items used in the area, and items purchased at auction from the fort when it closed in 1870.
Next we made a long side-trip through farming country to Ft. Sisseton in South Dakota. As we neared the fort, the landscape changed from flat farmland to hilly ranch and hay growing land, dotted with a number of small to medium sized lakes. The fort itself, which is built of stone, occupies high ground surrounded on three sides by lakes. This fort was built after the Indian uprising, and never saw any real action. In its early days it too was manned by volunteers. When the first company learned it was to be assigned here – the middle of nowhere in those days (and in these days) – they men voted unanimously not to go. They held another vote and decided to go after several hours of lectures by their captain and a colonel.
On the way back to Fargo, we stopped at Nicollet Tower, a 75-foot hilltop tower built in honor of an early surveyor. From the top of the tower you can see three states, North and South Dakota and Minnesota.
On Friday we drove the RV from Fargo to Bismarck. We did some sightseeing in between, but none of it was notable. We had a severe thunderstorm and some small hail about 2:00 a.m. on Friday morning.
On Saturday we visited the North Dakota Heritage Center near the Capitol complex in downtown Bismarck. This interesting museum concentrated on the history of North Dakota, from the prehistoric Indians through the Great Depression. The was also a small exhibit on the French gratitude train – a series of 48 boxcars (one for each state) given by the French people to the Americans after the end of the first world war. We then took a guided tour of the State Capitol. Our tour guide was a feisty 70-ish year old woman who made for an interesting tour. (The other couple on our tour has been on the road in an RV since January, and is planning to visit the 48 lower state capitols before returning to their home in California.) The North Dakota capitol has no dome, since a dome would imply a ceiling on the aspirations of the people. We got a good view from the top of the capitol, much like Tallahassee’s; saw the Senate and House chambers (the state has 47 senators and 97 representatives for a population of less than 700,000); and visited the smallish Supreme Court chamber.
We left the capitol and drove about 10 miles south of Mandan (the town just across the Missouri River) to the Fort Abraham Lincoln state park. There we took a tour of the house occupied around 1875 by General (actually Lt. Col.) and Mrs. George Custer. The fort was built in 1872 and occupied until 1892. There are two parts of the fort, the cavalry area and the infantry area. The infantry area occupies the high ground, and offers great views of the Missouri river, the flat farming area, and the distant hills. The state park also includes the On-a-Slant Indian Village, a Mandan village that was occupied from about 1575 until the smallpox epidemic of 1781 killed a majority of the tribe members. When Lewis and Clark wintered in Mandan in 1805, the village had been totally abandoned. At its height, the village had about 180 earthen lodges (owned by the women of the tribe) each occupied by an extended family that averaged about 12 members.
On Sunday we drove to Minot, ND, stopping en route at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Fort Mandan, a reconstruction of the small stockade that the expedition built as winter quarters in the winter of 1804-05. In Minot we visited the Scandinavian Heritage Center and saw our second stave church of the week.
On Saturday we drove to Bemidji, Minnesota, which is a larger town than it sounds like. Saturday afternoon we caught up on some shopping, picked up mail at general delivery, and ran other errands. On Sunday, we drove to Lake Itasca State Park. This is the site of the headwaters of the Mississippi River, the largest white pine tree in Minnesota, and what was (until its top broke off earlier this year) one of the two largest red pine trees in the United States. Carol waded in the headwaters, while I took pictures. We returned to downtown Bemidji to get photos of the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues.
On Monday we left for a four night stay in Fargo, ND, the largest city in the state. En route we drove through rich farmland in the Red River valley along the Minnesota/North Dakota border – there are miles of wheat, corn, sugar beets and some sunflowers. On Monday afternoon we acquainted ourselves with the city, and visited Scheel’s, the largest all-sports store under one roof.
On Tuesday morning we spent about 2-1/2 hours at Bonanzaville, a collection of historic buildings and newer warehouses containing a large variety of artifacts. It was a surprisingly interesting museum. Each topical area was adopted by a relevant organization (e.g. the vintage barber shop was sponsored by a local barber’s professional association) and each had a resident caretaker. The exhibits included telephone equipment, vintage general stores, vintage medical offices, farm machinery, vintage automobiles, vintage carriages, an old railroad station, and the first house built in Fargo, among others. The museum is named after the bonanza farms of the 1800s, large scale wheat farming operations of 1000+ or 3000+ acres depending on whose cut-off point you use. In the afternoon we drove north about 40 miles to see the KLVY TV tower which, at 2063 feet, is the tallest structure in the world. Because the ground is flat for miles, and the tower is thin, you don’t get any real sort of feel for its height.
On Wednesday we visited a couple of antique stores and the small (and somewhat disappointing) Plains Art Museum in Fargo. We then went across the river to the sister city of Moorhead, MN and visited the Hjemkomst Interpretive Center. The center includes the Viking boat that was build in the late 1970s/early 1980s by a high school guidance counselor. After his death, his family and a crew of others in 1982 fulfilled his dream of sailing the boat from the U.S. to Norway. (The name “Hjemkomst” means “homecoming” in Norwegian). The center also had a “Stave Church” built out of white pine to reproduce a church from Norway. A stave church is supported by interior columns, or staves – the walls are non-load-bearing. The museum included exhibits on the Vikings, the area Indians, and the buffalo in America. There was also an art gallery (with better art than the Plains Museum) and a small museum by the local historical society. All-in-all it was an interesting center.
On Thursday we climbed into the CRV for a long sightseeing day. Our first stop was Ft. Abercrombie, located on the North Dakota side of the Red River. There is very little left of this 10-acre fort, which was active in the from the late 1850s until about 1870. The fort, which at the time was manned by volunteers while regular army units fought in the Civil War, was subject to a six week siege during the Indian uprising of 1862. Five men were killed and five wounded during this time before reinforcements arrived from Ft. Snelling (which we visited earlier in Minnesota). The palisades around the fort were not in place in 1862, but were added after the Indian attack. The fort had a nice museum consisting of a collection of period artifacts from about 1850 to about 1920. They included items brought from Norway by local settlers, items used in the area, and items purchased at auction from the fort when it closed in 1870.
Next we made a long side-trip through farming country to Ft. Sisseton in South Dakota. As we neared the fort, the landscape changed from flat farmland to hilly ranch and hay growing land, dotted with a number of small to medium sized lakes. The fort itself, which is built of stone, occupies high ground surrounded on three sides by lakes. This fort was built after the Indian uprising, and never saw any real action. In its early days it too was manned by volunteers. When the first company learned it was to be assigned here – the middle of nowhere in those days (and in these days) – they men voted unanimously not to go. They held another vote and decided to go after several hours of lectures by their captain and a colonel.
On the way back to Fargo, we stopped at Nicollet Tower, a 75-foot hilltop tower built in honor of an early surveyor. From the top of the tower you can see three states, North and South Dakota and Minnesota.
On Friday we drove the RV from Fargo to Bismarck. We did some sightseeing in between, but none of it was notable. We had a severe thunderstorm and some small hail about 2:00 a.m. on Friday morning.
On Saturday we visited the North Dakota Heritage Center near the Capitol complex in downtown Bismarck. This interesting museum concentrated on the history of North Dakota, from the prehistoric Indians through the Great Depression. The was also a small exhibit on the French gratitude train – a series of 48 boxcars (one for each state) given by the French people to the Americans after the end of the first world war. We then took a guided tour of the State Capitol. Our tour guide was a feisty 70-ish year old woman who made for an interesting tour. (The other couple on our tour has been on the road in an RV since January, and is planning to visit the 48 lower state capitols before returning to their home in California.) The North Dakota capitol has no dome, since a dome would imply a ceiling on the aspirations of the people. We got a good view from the top of the capitol, much like Tallahassee’s; saw the Senate and House chambers (the state has 47 senators and 97 representatives for a population of less than 700,000); and visited the smallish Supreme Court chamber.
We left the capitol and drove about 10 miles south of Mandan (the town just across the Missouri River) to the Fort Abraham Lincoln state park. There we took a tour of the house occupied around 1875 by General (actually Lt. Col.) and Mrs. George Custer. The fort was built in 1872 and occupied until 1892. There are two parts of the fort, the cavalry area and the infantry area. The infantry area occupies the high ground, and offers great views of the Missouri river, the flat farming area, and the distant hills. The state park also includes the On-a-Slant Indian Village, a Mandan village that was occupied from about 1575 until the smallpox epidemic of 1781 killed a majority of the tribe members. When Lewis and Clark wintered in Mandan in 1805, the village had been totally abandoned. At its height, the village had about 180 earthen lodges (owned by the women of the tribe) each occupied by an extended family that averaged about 12 members.
On Sunday we drove to Minot, ND, stopping en route at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and Fort Mandan, a reconstruction of the small stockade that the expedition built as winter quarters in the winter of 1804-05. In Minot we visited the Scandinavian Heritage Center and saw our second stave church of the week.
