North to Grand Forks

Yesterday we drove through Brookings, 40 miles from De Smets, where Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of ‘Little House on the Prairie’ was raised. The Ingalls Homestead is a living history farms today, showing their pioneer beginning of their ¼ section, 160 acres and pioneer life in the 1880s.

We’re going N on I 29 and fueled in Fargo at noon. Founded in 1872, this town was named for William George Fargo of the Wells Fargo Co. It is in the fertile Red River Valley, the bed of the prehistoric glacial Lake Agassiz. Agriculture is North Dakota’s # 1 industry. There are 30,000 farm families, 24% of the population is involved, 39 million acres, nearly 90% of the state is farms and ranches with a $4.1 billion production. Wheat, sugar beet, potatoes, corn, flax, cattle, pulse crops, safflower, barley, beans, canola and soybeans are predominant. Sunflowers are all along the roadsides as well as in crops.

This state celebrates it history everywhere. President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Lewis and Clark to find a transportation route to the Pacific Ocean. The expedition of 45 men followed the Missouri River from 1803 – 1805. One bitter winter was spent at Ft. Manden where they met many natives and hired a Frenchman as interpreter. He brought his wife, the Indian woman Sakakewea with their 8 week old boy.

You drive for miles of green crops. There was highway construction and the signs said ‘slow in cone zones’, as in red cones in the construction area. Then you had to cross over to the other side to avoid the work. It was an interesting process to see them clear away the concrete, disc the earth, water, flatten, pack, survey, lay rebar strips, then concrete finally. Here's the pile of sand and concrete laying machine. We passed into N. Dakota with a fair bit of gusting wind for the last hour and were glad to pull in to Wal-Mart in Grand Forks.