North Dakota was first settled by Native Americans several thousand years ago. The first Europeans explored the area in the 18th century establishing some limited trade with the natives.
Much of the area was first organized by the United States as part of the Minnesota Territory and then the Dakota Territory in the 19th century. North Dakota gained statehood in 1889.
The railroads became the engine of settlement growth in the state. North Dakota's economy, has since its early days, has been heavily based on the production of agricultural products such as wheat, flaxseed, and cattle. Through other emerging economic sectors within the state and a decline of the farming industry due to agricultural mechanization, the state has seen population declines in formerly heavy farming areas.
Early history of North Dakota
North Dakota was first settled by Native Americans several thousand years ago. The major tribes in the area by the time of settlement were the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Sioux, and Chippewa.
These tribes used at least 349 kinds of plants for food, medicine, dyes, and rope.North Dakota Ethnobotany Database By the time European trade goods were making their way through native trade routes, the Mandan had developed an agricultural and trading society.
La Vérendrye was the first European to explore the area. He visited the Mandan tribes around 1738 and was astounded by their level of development. Limited trade with European powers followed through the end of the century.Russell Reid, "Verendrye's Journey to North Dakota in 1738," North Dakota History, 1965, Vol. 32 Issue 2, pp 117-129
The Mandan villages played a key role in the native trade networks because of their location and permanency. 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. Additionally, valuable Knife River flint was produced not far from the villages.
During the 19th century, a number of Indians entered into treaties with the United States. Many of the treaties defined the territory of the different tribes in North Dakota.
Late 19th century
Settlers In 1861, the area that is now North Dakota was incorporated into the new Dakota Territory along with what is now South Dakota. Following 1862 Homestead Act, railroad expansion, and favorable environmental conditions, the Dakota Boom of the 1870s and '80s increased the Dakota Territory’s population from 11,766 in 1870 to over 328,000 by 1890, with the number farms growing from 1,700 to more than 50,000 and towns increasing from six to 310. The rapid population growth and development brought about by the Dakota Boom paved the way for North Dakota and South Dakota’s admission to the union as separate states on November 2, 1889.
Eager to attract settlers, state officials broadcast widely pamphlets and newspaper accounts celebrating the "Myth of North Dakota." This myth included: 1) the myth of the garden; 2) the "work and win" philosophy that promise to the realization of the American Dream of home ownership through hard work; and 3) an image of an empire in the making, settled by good and just people.Warren A. Henke, "Imagery, Immigration and the Myth of North Dakota, 1890-1933," North Dakota History, 1971, Vol. 38 Issue 4, pp 412-491 The settlers came by 1910, with the largest numbers comprising German Americans, Scandinavian Americans, and Americans from the East Coast colloquially known as Yankees; the Yankees concentrated in the towns and cities, while the others became wheat farmers.
Railroads The success of the Northern Pacific Railroad and the Great Northern Railroad was based on the abundant crops and rapidly increasing settlement in the Red River Valley along the Minnesota border between 1871 and 1890. The initial role of the railroads in opening this area was to commercial agriculture, the relation of James B. Power to "bonanza" farming, the tremendous immigration to this valley between 1878 and 1884, and the extensive efforts of Power and James J. Hill to promote agricultural diversification constitute an important chapter in railroad colonization history.Stanley N. Murray, "Railroads and the Agricultural Development of the Red River Valley of the North, 1870-1890," Agricultural History, Fall 1957, Vol. 31 Issue 4, pp 57-66 in JSTOR
The railroad was the engine of settlement for the state. Major development occurred in the 1870s and 1880s. The Northern Pacific Railroad was given land grants by the federal government so that it could borrow money to build its system.James B. Hedges, "The Colonization Work of the Northern Pacific Railroad," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Dec., 1926), pp. 311-342 in JSTOR The federal government kept every other section of land, and gave it away to homesteaders. 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. By 1905 the railroad company land policies changes when it realized it had been a costly mistake to have sold much of the land at wholesale prices. 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. By 1910 the railroad's holdings in North Dakota had been greatly reduced.Ross R. Controneo, "Northern Pacific Officials and the Disposition of the Railroad's Land Grant in North Dakota after 1888," North Dakota History, 1970, Vol. 37 Issue 2, pp 77-103 Meanwhile, the Great Northern Railroad energetically promoted settlement along its lines in the northern part of the state.Albro Martin, James J. Hill and the Opening of the Northwest (1976) The Great Northern bought its lands from the federal government—it received no land grants—and resold them to farmers one by one. It operated agencies in Germany and Scandinavia that promoted its lands, and brought families over at low cost.Robert F. Zeidel, "Peopling the Empire: The Great Northern Railroad and the Recruitment of Immigrant Settlers to North Dakota," North Dakota History, 1993, Vol. 60 Issue 2, pp 14-23 The battle between James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway and Edward Pennington's 'Soo Line Railroad' to control access across northern North Dakota resulted in nearly 500 miles of new track and more than 50 new town sites in one year. Many of the town sites were never settled, and were abandoned.John C. Hudson, "North Dakota's 1Railway War of 1905," North Dakota History, 1981, Vol. 48 Issue 1, pp 4-19
Germans from Russia
Germans from Russia were the most traditional of German-speaking arrivals. They were Germans who had lived for generations throughout the Russian Empire, but especially along the Volga River in Russia. Their ancestors had been invited to Russia in the 1760s to introduce more advanced German agriculture methods to rural Russia. They retained their religion, culture and language, but the Russian monarchy gradually eroded the relative autonomy they had been promised. Many found it necessary to emigrate to avoid conscription and preserve their culture. About 100,000 immigrated by 1900–1950, settling primarily in North and South Dakota, Kansas and Nebraska. The south-central part of North Dakota became known as "the German-Russian triangle".
These immigrants saw themselves a downtrodden ethnic group having an entirely different experience from the German Americans who had immigrated from Germany; they settled in tight-knit communities that retained their German language and culture. They raised large families, built German-style churches, buried their dead in distinctive cemeteries using cast iron grave markers, and created choir groups that sang German church hymns. Many farmers specialized in sugar beets — still a major crop in the upper Great Plains. During World War I their identity was challenged by anti-German sentiment. By the end of the World War II, the German language, which had always been used with English for public and official matters, was in serious decline. Today their descendants speak English and German persists mainly in singing groups. Despite the loss of their language, the ethnic group remains distinct and has left a lasting impression on the American West.Elwyn B. Robinson, History of North Dakota (1966) pp. 285-87, 557Gordon L. Iseminger, "Are We Germans, or Russians, or Americans? The McIntosh County German-Russians During World War I", North Dakota History 1992 59(2): 2-16.
Regional tensions Tensions between the northern and southern parts of the territory were present since the beginning. The more populated southern part regarded the northern as somewhat disreputable, "too much controlled by the wild folks, cattle ranchers, fur traders” and too frequently the site of conflict with the indigenous population. Also, the railroads connected the two parts to separate hubs, the northern part became connected to Minneapolis–Saint Paul, while the southern part became more connected to Sioux City, Iowa. In addition, while the southern part resented the territorial legislators appointed by the federal government, the northern part generally favored remaining a territory, arguing it was cheaper, with the federal government funding a wide range of state functions. The territorial capital's relocation from Yankton in the south at the Nebraska state line to Bismarck in the north in 1883 proved to be the last straw, and mainly the southern part began to call for division of the territory, some calling for southern part to be admitted as a state and the northern part to remain a territory. Eventually, at the 1887 territorial election, the voters agreed to split the territory.
20th century On May 14, 1889, the Constitutional Convention was held in Bismarck where the Dakota Territory was admitted into the Union as two states. Many entrepreneurs built stores, shops, and offices along Main Street. The most handsome ones used pre-formed, sheet iron facades, especially those manufactured by the Mesker Brothers of St. Louis. These neoclassical, stylized facades added sophistication to brick or wood-frame buildings throughout the state.Arthur A. Hart, "Sheet Iron Elegance: Mail Order Architecture in Montana," Montana Dec 1990, Vol. 40 Issue 4, pp 26-31
Retail stores 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. Prices were not marked on each item; instead the customer negotiated a price. Men did most of the shopping, since the main criterion was credit rather than quality of goods. Indeed, most customers shopped on credit, paying off the bill when crops or cattle were later sold; the owner's ability to judge credit worthiness was vital to his success.Lewis E. Atherton, The Frontier Merchant in Mid-America (University of Missouri Press, 1971)