Appendix H - Historical Archaeological and ... - CBP.gov

The first routes through the wilderness were Native American trails, then U.S military supply
routes. Railroads were the major infrastructure advance after 1870. James J. Hill played a major
role in developing North Dakota as he was the driving force behind extending rail routes west
into North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho in the 1880s. Hill’s Great Northern Railroad, the Soo
Line Railroad, and the Northern Pacific Railroad linked the region to manufacturers in
Minnesota and served to bring North Dakota’s wheat crop to markets in the East (Controneo,
1970; Hedges, 1926; Murray, 1957).
Agriculture
After the railroads reached the Red River, a period of rapid in-migration occurred as 100,000
settlers arrived into the territory between 1879 and 1886. Many of these settlers would establish
farmsteads under the 1862 Homestead Act. “Some settled on 160-acre homesteads, while some
created bonanza farms that were highly mechanized, well-funded and usually focused on largescale
wheat production” (ND Tourism, 2011). Many of these farms produced wheat, which was
shipped to Minnesota to be processed into flour (NPS Parknet, 2011). As Bonanza farms
prospered in the eastern part of the state, cattle ranches developed to the west after 1880,
centered in the Badlands area.
In the twentieth century, farms diversified their production from wheat to other crops like sugar
beets, sunflowers, and oats. Around the same time, farms consolidated, grew larger, and became
increasingly mechanized. North Dakota has 77,690 farms in 1920 and less than 30,000 in the
first decade of the twenty-first century. The average farm size at present is 1,280 acres (ND
Tourism, 2011).
Industry and Manufacturing
Local industries and light manufacturing are concentrated in the urban areas of the state, such as
Fargo and Bismarck. In the twentieth century, oil and natural gas exploration became important
industries. “North Dakota is a leading producer of coal, oil, gas, and wind energy” (ND Tourism
2011).
Commerce and Trade
Commerce and trade focused on agricultural products, notably wheat. As transportation
improved with the advent of better roads and railroads, trade with nearby territories became more
extended.
Government
Northeastern North Dakota was acquired by the United States through the Rush-Bagot
Agreement of 1817, while most of what is now North Dakota was purchased from France in
1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Dakota Territory was established in 1861
and included what is now North and South Dakota. The territory was divided in 1889, and both
North and South Dakota became states on November 2, 1889.
Domestic, Social and Cultural
The U.S. Army established numerous forts in this region beginning in the late 1850s. Settlers
and frontiersmen engaged in a great slaughter of northern bison after 1870, which undermined
the nomadic culture of the local native nations. During the 1870s and 1880, the U.S. Army
engaged in numerous battles with the native nations of the Northern Plains. By the end of the
Indian wars in the 1890s, mining, open and fee-simple ranching, and Bonanza and dairy-farm
Northern Border Activities H-105 July 2012