North Dakota

NORTH DAKOTA

NORTH DAKOTA, a state with an area of 70,665 square miles, is bounded by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan to the north, Montana to the west, and South Dakota to the south. The meandering Red River of the North forms the state's eastern border with Minnesota. The state's topography is as varied as it is beautiful. Pembina, the lowest point at 792 feet above sea-level, is situated in North Dakota's northeast corner. To the west, the fertile farms give way to prairies teeming with migratory waterfowl and rolling hills along the Sheyenne, Missouri, and Knife Rivers. In western North Dakota, vast grasslands, plateaus, and multicolored Badlands

dot the landscape, and the state's highest point, White Butte, rises 3,506 feet above sea-level.

Colonial Origins

When Europeans first arrived on the northern Plains during the eighteenth century, they encountered the agricultural Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, who lived in earth lodge villages near the Missouri River. The Chippewa or Ojibway resided to the east in the Turtle and Pembina Mountains. The seminomadic Assiniboine, Cree, Cheyenne, and Dakota or Lakota (called "Sioux" by their enemies) depended upon the bison for their survival. Although the acquisition of the horse transformed these groups into seminomadic buffalo hunters by 1750, they also established commercial ties with traders.

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye, the first known European to reach present-day North Dakota, visited the region in 1738 during his futile search for a Northwest Passage. The race for colonies, which sparked several armed conflicts, ultimately delayed European settlement of the Northern Plains. In fact, Great Britain, France, and Spain each claimed the Dakotas at some point during the eighteenth century. In 1763, following Britain's victory in the French and Indian War, England acquired France's North American holdings, including the Red River valley, which England later surrendered to the United States in 1818.

From 1762 until 1800, Spain controlled all lands drained by the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Napoleon Bonaparte regained this territory for France in 1800, only to sell it to the United States on 2 May 1803. Following Senate approval of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, President Thomas Jefferson dispatched Meriwether Louis and William Clark to explore the region. The Corps of Discovery's subsequent two-year expedition, much of which was spent in North Dakota at Fort Mandan, revealed a land teaming with abundant game and peaceful natives. Trappers eager to accumulate wealth rushed in. By 1827, the Upper Missouri Outfit monopolized the business. Sadly, the fur trade unleashed a series of devastating epidemics that decimated the region's Natives beginning in 1837.

Dakota Territory and Statehood

Violence erupted across the northern Plains when white settlement increased after the creation on 2 March 1861 of the Dakota Territory, an area initially encompassing the two Dakotas and parts of Montana and Wyoming. The subsequent Homestead Act of 1862, a law offering pioneers 160 acres of free or inexpensive land, accelerated settlement. That same year, Dakota warriors attacked Fort Abercrombie, the first military fort established in present-day North Dakota. General Alfred Sully's subsequent victories at the battles of Whitestone Hill and Killdeer Mountain created conditions fostering white settlement by 1868.

Construction of the westbound Northern Pacific Railway and gold-hungry miners sparked more bloody conflicts during the 1870s. Weakened by disease and hunger, many tribal groups accepted the government's offer of permanent reservations. Lakota warriors, led by Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, and Crazy Horse, remained defiant. Only the destruction of the bison herds forced Sitting Bull, the last holdout, to surrender at Fort Buford in northwestern Dakota Territory in 1881. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, many of the state's 35,228 American Indians lived on one of five reservations: Spirit Lake, Fort Berthold, Standing Rock, Turtle Mountain, and Lake Traverse.

Political Trends

Alexander McKenzie, the Northern Pacific's political agent in northern Dakota, demonstrated the power of outside corporate interests when he conspired with Nehemiah Ordway, the corrupt Republican governor of the Dakota Territory, in 1883 to transfer the territorial capital from Yankton to Bismarck, a town located on the railroad's main line. Hard feelings regarding the relocation motivated residents of southern Dakota Territory to push for the creation of two separate states. On 2 November 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed legislation admitting both North Dakota and South Dakota into the Union.

Populists, who dominated state politics during the depression years of the early 1890s, fought government corruption. Seeking to strengthen their position, they joined forces with Democrats in 1892 to elect Governor Eli Shortridge. Although defeated by McKenzie's powerful Republican machine in 1894, the reformers had forced the railroads to reduce their rates. When political bosses continued to ignore calls for reform, George Win-ship, the editor of the Grand Forks Herald, founded the Good Government League in 1905. The following year, angry voters elected "Honest" John Burke, the state's first Democratic governor. New movements, particularly the American Society of Equity and the North Dakota Socialist Party, continued to fight outside predatory interests. The progressives' direct appeals to voters tired of corruption produced several changes, including cooperative rural grain elevators, direct primaries, the initiative and referendum, workers' compensation laws, and laws regulating monopolies.

The revolt against out-of-state banks, railroads, and grain interests culminated in Arthur C. Townley's establishment of the Nonpartisan League in 1915. Progressives eager to improve services and to eliminate corruption from government elected Lynn J. Frazier governor in 1918. Frightened conservatives responded by establishing the Independent Voters Association to fight the Non-partisan League, its candidates, and its proposals. The economic downturn of the 1920s ultimately ended the Nonpartisan League's political power but not its legacy. Despite fierce opposition, reformers created the Bank of North Dakota and the State Mill and Elevator. Remarkably, both state-owned businesses survived into the twenty-first century.

The economic catastrophe of the 1920s and 1930s united citizens in a campaign to eliminate the crooked practices that drove them into bankruptcy. The North Dakota Farmers' Union, established in 1927, became more militant as the depression worsened. William Langer became governor in 1933, and that year he reacted to the farmers' plight by imposing a moratorium on mortgage foreclosure sales. Hoping to drive up commodity prices, Langer also issued an embargo on the shipment of grain and beef from North Dakota. A federal investigation, however, threatened to derail the political maverick's career. The sham trial that followed resulted in the governor's conviction and removal from office in 1934. Langer, whose conviction was overturned following a lengthy legal battle, was reelected governor in 1936 as an independent.

The explosive politics of the Great Depression evolved into a modern political tug-of-war between two parties. The Republicans, led by Fred G. Aandahl and Milton R. Young, dominated the state's post–World War II politics. Liberals, responding to the Republican dominance of the 1940s and 1950s, joined forces. The tactic produced positive results when, in 1958, Quentin N. Burdick became North Dakota's first Democratic congressman. Two years later, a Democrat, William L. Guy, was elected governor, a post Democrats occupied until 1981.

During the 1980s, Republicans reasserted their political clout. After 1986, when Democrats gained control of the state senate for the first time, Republicans piled up impressive electoral victories. By 2000, Republicans once again dominated both branches of the state legislature. Despite the popularity of Republicans, however, North Dakotans, leery of entrusting too much power to one party, subsequently elected an all-Democratic congressional delegation.

Economic and Population Trends

Pacification of the region's Indians, coupled with the completion of new railways, attracted 100,000 new settlers to Dakota Territory between 1879 and 1886. By 1890, North Dakota's population had reached 190,983. Bonanza farms, extensive operations exceeding 3,000 acres, helped popularize North Dakota's bounty. A series of harsh winters, floods, and drought later drove many pioneers away. A second wave of settlers from 1898 to 1915, mostly Scandinavians and Germans, increased the state's resident population to 646,872 by 1920.

A twenty-year depression, compounded by prolonged drought, began in 1921. Hardship and out-migration followed as 40,000 residents fled the state, dubbed "the Too Much Mistake, " during the 1930s. Favorable weather conditions and wartime demand for commodities triggered an economic recovery. By 1974 increased global demands produced record-breaking commodity prices. Within two years, however, slumping grain sales and plummeting wheat prices drove many farmers into bankruptcy. Agricultural price supports became a necessary means of survival for many farmers. During the 1990s, weak international demand for American commodities produced even lower prices. The Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, which replaced price supports with a fixed and slowly declining subsidy, aggravated the situation. Not surprisingly, the decline of the state's family farms continued.

While North Dakota's reliance on agriculture declined, the state remained a major producer of wheat, sugar beets, barley, sunflower seeds, canola, and flaxseed. The success of producer-owned cooperatives, particularly the Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative and the Dakota Pasta Growers Association, became encouraging. In addition, the growth of the state's food processing and agricultural equipment manufacturing industries helped revive North Dakota's slumping agricultural economy.

The energy sector, notably coal and oil, has played a critical role in the state's economy. The discovery of high-grade oil near Tioga on 4 April 1951 initiated the state's petroleum industry. The energy crisis of the 1970s revitalized western North Dakota's crude oil operations. A decade later, the oil boom peaked with 52.7 million barrels of crude oil production in 1984. By 1992, production had dropped to 32.9 million barrels. However, international trends, particularly rising energy costs and the uncertain production policies of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), rekindled interest in the nation's ninth largest oil-producing state.

The state's bountiful lignite coal deposits also attracted investors. Following the Arab oil boycott of 1973, corporations built several generating facilities and launched huge strip-mining operations in the state. Exporting two thirds of its power production, North Dakota became a major supplier of electrical power. The quest for alternative sources of energy also produced the country's first coal-to-synthetic natural gas conversion facility near Beulah in 1983.

North Dakota's industrial structure differs from other states. North Dakota relies heavily upon government employment, with 21 percent of all workers classified as government employees versus just 15 percent nationwide. Unlike other states, North Dakota's manufacturing sector employs a mere 7 percent of the state's workers, half the national average. In addition, agriculture's role in the state economy is five times as large as the national average, with farm production accounting for 7.6 percent of the state's total economic output. When farm-related industries, such as food processing and transportation and distribution of food products, are factored in, this figure rises to 13 percent.

Recognizing the danger of relying too heavily on the boom-and-bust cycles of the state's leading industries, North Dakotans have implemented measures to diversify the state's economy. As a result, the percentage of residents in private nonfarm employment increased 26.8 percent between 1990 and 1998, nearly doubling the national average of 15.7 percent during the same period. Motivated by the success of Fargo's Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions, politicians also lured information technology businesses to the state by touting North Dakota's affordable utilities, high quality of life, educated workforce, low taxes, and right-to-work laws. The economy also benefited from a booming service sector industry consisting of bank service centers, travel agencies, computer technical support facilities, and health care management companies.

Tourism also became a fast-growing industry. History buffs enjoy the state's abundance of museums, historic trading posts, and military forts. The International Peace Garden and the rugged Badlands also attract visitors. The legalization of casino gambling on the state's American Indian reservations in 1992 and 1993 fueled tremendous growth in amusement and recreation services across the state, and the booming gaming industry brought economic development to the reservation communities. Outdoor enthusiasts, eager to take advantage of the state's unpolluted environment, arrived in growing numbers.

While economic diversification remained central to North Dakota's development, legislators recognized the need to attract new residents. Following a massive influx of Europeans during the 1920s, the state's population peaked at 680,845 in 1930. By 1950, the resident population had dipped to 619,636. In 1970, the state's population reached a modern low of 617,792. The 1980 census counted 652,717 residents, marking the state's first population gain since 1930. The 1990 census, however, enumerated only 638,800 residents, and by 2000 that number had increased to only 642,200 people. North Dakota's Hispanic and American Indian populations increased during the 1990s.

Census numbers also point to the continuing decline of rural North Dakota. While the 1990 census revealed that the state's urban population had eclipsed the rural population, the 2000 census revealed that only six of the state's fifty-three counties gained population during the 1990s. Amazingly half of the counties lost 10 percent of their residents during the decade, a fact attributed to the slumping agricultural economy and out-migration to Fargo, Bismarck, Grand Forks, and Minot.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the residents of North Dakota continued to reap the benefits of their reform-minded predecessors, who established a system of government that limited corruption in politics by empowering the people with a direct share in the decision-making process. Although they frequently disagreed, North Dakotans wanted to solve the thorny issues that most threatened their state, including halting the out-migration of young people, promoting rural economic development, and diversifying an economy historically tied to the volatile agriculture and energy sectors.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bochert, John R. America's Northern Heartland. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1987.

Danbom, David B. Born in the Country: A History of Rural America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.

———. "North Dakota: The Most Midwestern State." In Heart Land: Comparative Histories of the Midwestern States. Edited by James H. Madison. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.

Howard, Thomas W., ed. The North Dakota Political Tradition. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1981.

Kraenzel, Carl Frederick. The Great Plains in Transition. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1955.

Lamar, Howard Roberts. Dakota Territory, 1861–1889: A Study of Frontier Politics. Rev. ed. Fargo: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1997. The definitive history of Dakota Territory politics.

Lindgren, H. Elaine. Land in Her Own Name: Women as Homesteaders in North Dakota. Fargo: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1991.

Newgard, Thomas P., William C. Sherman, and John Guerrero. African-Americans in North Dakota: Sources and Assessments. Bismarck, N.Dak.: University of Mary Press, 1994.

Robinson, Elwyn B. History of North Dakota. Fargo: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1995.

Schneider, Mary Jane. North Dakota Indians: An Introduction. 2d ed. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing, 1994.

Tweton, D. Jerome, and Theodore B. Jellif. North Dakota: The Heritage of a People. Fargo: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1976.

Wilkins, Robert P., and Wynona H. Wilkins. North Dakota: A Bicentennial History. New York: Norton, 1977.

Jon Brudvig

See also Dakota Territory ; Great Plains ; Populism ; South Dakota ; Tribes: Great Plains .