North Dakota - Day 8 - buffalo, bridges, Louis L'Amour and history

Fort Ransom State Park, Fort Ransom

Thursday, 8 July 2021

today's route

On our way out of the campground this morning, a deer crossed the road in front of us and seemed to be completely oblivious to us.  They've sure gotten used to vehicles around here.

I drove back through Napoleon and discovered that the Napoleon Livestock auction was really packing them in - the parking lot was filling up before 8 AM.

I heard on the radio that the North Dakota legislature has come up with a tactic that I'm sure will be copied by others: they don't bother confirming nominees for state agency commissioner jobs but instead let them remain as acting commissioners.  Then when the acting commissioners do something they don't like, they suddenly hold a confirmation hearing, knowing full well they intend to reject the nominee/acting commissioner, who is then out of a job.  Interesting trick, isn't it?  That gives the legislature firing authority where none actually exists.

I passed several very large lakes (not the pothole variety), with cormorants, some drying their wings, and maybe a Canvasback and some kind of geese.  Also horses, lots of cows and vast fields of crops: grain, corn, and soybeans (or whatever they are).  The farther east I drove, the flatter the land got.

Jamestown

I came to town for several reasons, among them The World's Largest Buffalo.

Created in 1959, it's 26' high, 46' long,
14' wide, and weighs 60 tons.

Seen from a distance, it's still impressive.
Note the fence (see below).

I saw this sign near the National Buffalo Museum,
where I parked, and thought it was a joke.

But as I walked further, I got a view of this small herd of buffalo,
complete with calves (the tan-colored critters here).
That sign is definitely not a joke.  And that's the reason for the fence.

To get to the statue, the dogs and I had to walk through a small pioneer town, created especially for tourists, as far as I could see.  One of the little shops was a sort of museum to famed western writer and Jamestown native Louis L'Amour.  The woman there not only gave me a brochure for the Louis L'Amour Walking Tour in town, but also offered me a free L. L'Amour book - she said they had a surplus and were offering them to anyone who wanted one.  I used to read them on the fishing boat and enjoyed them, though they tended to be a lot alike, so I was happy to take one now.  And I was glad to learn from the brochure that he was born with the last name LaMoore - I always figured something was up with that last name of his.  He was born in 1908, when Jamestown was even smaller than it is now.  Though I shouldn't take that tone, because more than 15,000 people live here, making it ND's 9th largest town.

I didn't take the walking tour but did see several historic buildings in town.

Historic Stutsman
County Courthouse

Built in 1883, this is ND's oldest surviving courthouse, though the county tried hard to tear it down in the 1980s and turn it into a parking lot.  It took local citizens battling the county for 15 years before finally getting ownership transferred to the State Historical Society for preservation.  (Proving you can fight city hall.)

And the county must have had holes in its head, because there were several reasons why it should have been saved: (1) it is, after all, the oldest surviving courthouse in the state; (2) it's one of only 2 built in the Gothic Revival style; (3) the interior walls are coated with pressed metal, making it the most complete collection of pressed tin in ND and maybe in the Midwest; (4) it is the only remaining building directly related to the 1880s statehood activities.  Delegates to the state's constitutional convention were elected here, and in 1885 meetings were held to discuss the division of the Dakota Territory.

Masonic Temple, built 1916,
now replaced by a more sensible
but much plainer building.

Basilica of St. James, built 1914 in Gothic
Revival style, became a minor basilica in
1988; crosses are 23 carat gold leaf.

I passed the University of Jamestown, Collins Aerospace, a new school and the new courthouse (to replace the historic one).  All in all, this town looks like it's thriving.

As I was driving out of town, I saw a mail carrier walking his route and asked him to take a letter I've been carrying around for days, looking unsuccessfully for a post office.  Glad to finally get that worry off my mind.

Back on the road

I found the Red River Farm Report on the radio, and was interested to hear them give Canadian market prices for crops as well as American markets.  I've been getting used to North Dakota's very close ties to Minnesota - the 2 states are separated only by the Red River of the North, which isn't particularly wide, and there are bridges all up and down the river.  So I see Minnesota license plates everywhere and hear news reports from the Twin Cities routinely - in fact, I was picking up the Twin Cities Public Radio station for a while.  But I'd forgotten we're just as close to Canada, though crossing the border is a little more complicated in these days of COVID.

I heard on the radio that the State is warning folks of algae bloom in many water bodies, an apparent result of unusually hot weather.  Another result, I heard, is that western North Dakota is battling wildfires.  Of course, so is much of the western US, but the ones here seem to have no relation to those.  The North Dakotans I've talked to have no hesitation in believing climate change is real, making it hard for me to understand their strong support for Republican politicians who keep saying it's a hoax.  I guess they care about other things more than the environment their living depends on.

I passed a sign for the Sanborn County Waterfowl Production Area (WPA) and was curious.  What I learned is that this particular area isn't part of the national system of WPAs, which are managed by the US Fish & Wildlife Service, though this county one seems to function like the federal ones.  Those are parcels of land 40 to 3,000 acres, that have been bought using funds from sales of Federal Duck Stamps.  The aim is to preserve wetland habitats, increase waterfowl populations, and support other wildlife, all to benefit the public.  Among those benefits (besides the obvious ones of more duckies in the world) is that these wetlands and surrounding grasslands act as natural sponges to reduce runoff and help with flood control.  Thank goodness mankind has learned something in the last 100 years about the natural world around us.

I passed another large-ish facility for Hefty Seed Co. (the ones who apply additives and polymers to seeds).

Valley City

I came to town entirely to see the Hi-Line Bridge, a railroad bridge that crosses the Sheyenne River.

These photos are enlarged below ...
This is only part ...

... but I wanted to try to show the size.
... of the whole bridge.

I decided to keep in both photos, to give some kind of idea of how long this bridge is.  On the right side of the photo above right you can just see where the bridge and the land meet.  The photo above left shows it crossing the Sheyenne River.  I couldn't see the other end from where I was.

The reason this bridge is special is that it's one of the longest (3,860') and highest (162') single track railroad bridges in the US.  It was built in 1908 and is still being used.  Although it's on the very edge of town, the bridge is obviously important here, because the Valley City Jr-Sr High School's mascot is the Hi-liners.  A number of businesses also use the name.

At a population of 6,600, Valley City is less than half the size of Jamestown, but the gasoline was 10¢/gallon cheaper here.

Sheyenne River Valley National Scenic Byway

This byway starts north of town, but I picked it up here and drove on to tonight's campground, farther down the Sheyenne - the byway follows the river.  By the way, at 581 miles, the Sheyenne River is the longest river contained within the state boundaries.

Well, the byway followed the river until I suddenly got routed onto a detour, consisting of a narrow, unpaved, winding road.  And after a while, I saw a sign saying, "Road Narrows 15'."  That sign did not give me a feeling of confidence.  The detour only lasted about 3 miles, but because of the road conditions it seemed much longer.  On the other hand, at one point there were trees arching over the road, which was very picturesque.  Just as well, because part of the drive was a washboard road, which we all hate.

I ended up in the tiny town of Kathryn (pop. 52), where I saw a beautiful new black Corvette convertible with the license plate WHY2KAY.

There was an informational display on the one street I found in town, and I thought these signs explained a lot about the history of North Dakota - and the US, for that matter.

I've been seeing grain elevators everywhere I drive in ND.

I don't remember hearing about the North Country
National Scenic Trail before coming to ND,
though the map (below) shows I should have, 
considering where I've been.

This is an enlargement of part of one of those signs (above)
and shows this trail begins in far eastern NY and ends
not far from here at Lake Sakakawea, ND.

Thanks to that detour, the Scenic Byway I was on goes around Kathryn instead of right through town.  So from Kathryn, I had a little trouble picking it back up again, but did manage to find it in the end.

I passed fields of cows munching on tall grass, with calves nearly hidden because they were lying down in the grass.

The road was so narrow with no shoulders, 3 times I came to a dead stop to let large vehicles coming my way have more of the road to maneuver in.

North Dakota has what it calls Points of Interest along the roadsides.  On this scenic byway, 2 of those Points were old cabins and 2 were old Lutheran churches.  The Lutheran church, by the way, is hands down the predominant denomination in North Dakota - 35% of them, per a survey done in 2001.  That same survey found that North Dakota has the most churches per capita of any US state.  I guess that accounts for most folks I've met being real nice.

Campground

We got here at 1:45, and official check-in time is 4 PM.  So I took up the park ranger's time with asking a lot of questions about the Sheyenne River Valley I'd been driving through and local natural history, and she finally checked me in to get me off her back I think.  But I agreed to wait a bit before going to the campsite and took a look at the displays in their lobby.

text enlarged below

text enlarged below

text enlarged below right

The Homestead Act is one of the reasons the local Indian tribes
got ousted from their land.

Still waiting to go to our campsite, I walked the dogs around a little and found this.

That's the entrance to another piece of the North Country Trail.
The trail goes right through the campground, and I think it's expected
that many hikers will stop here for the night.
I think that grass is beautiful,
but I spent a lot of time in its vicinity worrying about ticks.

And I have 2 more photos of the day.

This is a cabin that can be rented by the night.  ND's state parks are pretty nice.
If you want to play "where's Waldo?" you can try to spot the chipmunks hidden in the grass.
I found 2, but I was using a larger version of this photo.
In real life, Dexter found at least 1 and instantly tried to catch it, ignoring entirely that I was attached to his leash.  He not only pulled me over and dragged me through the grass, but even when my sea-anchor act stopped him, he kept on pulling.  I would likely still be there but for the good-samaritanism of another camper passing nearby who stopped to help.

That helpful person said, "You're bleeding."  And sure enough, blood was dripping from my little finger and from this scrape.  I had a hard time stopping the bleeding.  Fortunately, I carry an assortment of bandages of various sizes, so I could cover these wounds.  The camera's in the photo because the angle meant I had to take a photo of the mirror view.

These wounds were a real nuisance because they kept wanting to bleed and because they were in the way - do you have any idea how many times the middle knuckle of your little finger hits things?  But the real damage turned out to be in my muscles, tendons, and whatever else is in my arm.  I'm lucky Dext didn't actually dislocate my shoulder.  Instead, my arm was just stretched as if I'd been subjected to the Rack.  Hard to move, hard to stay still, impossible to lie down without pain - it was a mess.

And that campground turned out to be Chipmunk Heaven.  I saw 3 at one time outside my rear window.  Even when we couldn't see them, we could hear them.  Dext knows exactly what they sound like, and he knows to look for them in the holes in the ground, and he's very persistent.  I had no choice but to take the dogs out for one more walk before bedtime, but I spent the whole time being terrified.

You just never know what a day will bring when it begins.