History of North Dakota
Their location at the northernmost reaches of the Missouri River placed them near the closest portages to the Hudson Bay basin and thus the fastest access to European traders.
Eager to attract immigrants, state officials broadcast widely pamphlets and newspaper accounts celebrating the "Myth of North Dakota."
At first the railroad sold much of its holdings at low prices to land speculators in order to realize quick cash profits, and also to eliminate sizable annual tax bills.
With better railroad service and improved methods of farming the Northern Pacific easily sold what had been heretofore "worthless" land directly to farmers at very good prices.
They retained their religion, culture and language, but the Russian monarchy gradually eroded the relative autonomy they had been promised.
[17] In the rural areas farmers and ranchers depended on small local general stores that had a limited stock and slow turnover; they could make enough profit to stay in operation only by selling at high prices.
They had a much wider selection of goods than in the country general stores, and provided tags that gave the actual selling price.
The keys to success were a large variety of high-quality brand-name merchandise, high turnover, reasonable prices, and frequent special sales.
The larger stores sent their buyers to Denver, Minneapolis, and Chicago once or twice a year to evaluate the newest trends in merchandising and stock up on the latest fashions.
By the 1920s and 1930s, large mail-order houses such as Sears, Roebuck & Co. and Montgomery Ward provided serious competition, so the department stores relied even more on salesmanship, and close integration with the community.
A Republican, he entered politics and was elected as the state's first governor, serving two years, after which he devoted his time to farm management.
He blamed munition makers for the preparedness movement and World War I and was part of the "little group of willful men," so labeled by President Woodrow Wilson.
Formed in 1915 with its roots in agrarian populism, it was strongest in the north-central and northwestern areas of the state, where Norwegian Americans predominated.
Conservatives, based in the towns and cities, fought back, and Republican primaries were the scene of intense political battles.
Campaigning as Republicans against Democrats supported by intellectuals and liberal reformers espousing collectivist and corporate farming, the NPL gained a large share of the rural and agrarian vote.
[25][26] William Langer (1886–1959) in 1916 was elected state attorney general on the NPL ticket, one of the few urban men in the farm group.
Langer closed brothels in Minot, became a federal marshal to raid a Minnesota brewery, and enforced school attendance laws.
He also solicited 5% of each state employee's salary for an NPL newspaper, which led to federal conspiracy charges, an initial criminal conviction, and his removal from office in 1934.
Despite his overt political opportunism and rumors about his taking bribes, Langer's interventions during the depression overshadowed any charges of corruption in the minds of voters.
In foreign policy they formed an isolationist bloc that opposed American involvement in the Cold War, and opposed the United Nations, the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Korean War, the Southeast Asian Treaty Organization, the Formosa Resolution, and the Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957.
[28] Burdick's isolationism reflected his deep fears of communism and world government and, in turn, the threat they could pose to the sovereignty of the United States.
Burdick is remembered best for his independent voting behavior, his advocacy for the downtrodden, and his leadership in building a rhetoric of opposition to the UN in the United States.
[30] Since 2000, the state has experienced rapid growth, largely due to the oil boom in western North Dakota's oil-rich Bakken shale.
These residents represent a productive cohort of people who were needed to augment population strata that were severely depleted by the out-migration of the 1980s.
By this Robinson meant that North Dakota had too many farms, railroad miles, roads, towns, banks, schools, government institutions, churches, and people for suitable living in a subhumid grassland.
Either the state will revert to a natural grassland, have a future similar to its past, or come to grips with the "too-much-mistake" and rationally control government and the advantages of new technology.
Some politicians, including Joe Satrom, blame the book for (un)inspiring a generation of leaders to lower their expectations for the state's future.
In fiction, poetry, autobiography, drama, history, travel publications and websites, recurring theme regarding North Dakota's land include: its beauty, unforgivingness, solace, starkness, uniformity, and the hard work it demands to survive and thrive.
