NORTH DAKOTA 



4274 



NORTHERN LIGHTS 



and a period of rapid development followed 

 the opening of the Northern Pacific railway 

 into this region in 1872. The territory was 

 divided into two sections, north and south, and 

 in October, 1899, North Dakota submitted a 

 constitution which was ratified by the people. 

 On November 2, 1899, it was admitted as the 

 twenty-sixth state of the Union. 



Statehood. The railroads have been an im- 

 portant factor in the development of North 

 Dakota, bringing thousands of immigrants into 

 the state by annual excursions, and estab- 

 lishing towns on branch roads. In 1907 laws 

 were passed by the legislature restricting the 

 privileges of the railroads and regulating pas- 

 senger rates. The state has generally favored 

 Republican policies and has had only two 

 Democratic governors, those elected in 1892 and 

 1908. In the Presidential elections of 1912 and 

 1916 Woodrow Wilson, Democrat, received a 

 small plurality of votes. The legislature of 

 1913 passed the absent-voters act and other 

 measures relative to elections. In 1920 the 

 women of the state will cast their first vote for 

 electors of the President and Vice-President of 

 the United States. E.B.P. 



Other Items of Interest. North Dakota is 

 sometimes called the "Home of the Blizzards," 

 for many of those violent storms have their 

 origin there. 



In the Bad Lands big game is still to be 

 found, the lynx, mountain lion, wolf and sev- 

 eral species of bear making their homes there. 



The summers in the northern region are short, 

 and satisfactory growth of many crops would 

 be impossible were it not for the length of the 

 midsummer days. 



Some of North Dakota's small lakes are 

 surrounded by natural walls of stone, which 

 are built up higher than the surrounding land. 

 Scientists believe that in the winter the expan- 

 sive power of the ice in these lakes forces the 

 stones to the shore and piles them up into a 

 wall. 



Devils Lake has no outlet, and its waters are 

 consequently salty. 



Since the air in this state is very dry, plants 

 cannot draw much of their moisture from that 

 source, but must receive it all from the ground. 

 Nature provides them, therefore, with very large 

 roots or tubers, which are well able to look 

 after this work of extracting water from the 

 soil. 



Consult Gilbreath's North Dakota and Her 

 Magnificent Resources; Willard's Story of the 

 Prairies. 



Related Subjects. The following articles In 

 these volumes will be of interest in connection 

 with a study of North Dakota: 



Bismarck 

 Devils Lake 

 Fargo 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



Grand Forks 

 Minot 

 Valley City 



HISTORY 



Hudson's Bay Company Louisiana Purchase 

 Lewis and Clark Expe- Sioux 

 dition 



Barley 

 Cattle 

 Flax 

 Flour 



LEADING PRODUCTS 



Hay 

 Horse 

 Oats 

 Wheat 



PHYSICAL FEATURES 



Bad Lands Red River of the North 



Missouri River Yellowstone River 



NORTH DAKOTA, UNIVERSITY OF, the most 

 northerly state university in the United States, 

 was created in 1883 by act of the terri- 

 torial assembly, and located at Grand Forks. 

 It is maintained principally by income from a 

 state tax and revenues from its holdings of 

 land grants made by the Federal government. 

 The university is organized into colleges of law, 

 liberal arts, mechanical and electrical engineer- 

 ing and mining engineering, a college of edu- 

 cation, school of commerce and school of medi- 

 cine. A mining substation at Hebron and a 

 biological station at Devils Lake are also 

 maintained. At the university are operated a 

 public-health laboratory, the United States 

 Weather Bureau and the Geological Survey. 

 The movement to affiliate church colleges and 

 state universities was begun at the University 

 of North Dakota in 1904. There are nearly one 

 hundred faculty members, and about 1,225 stu- 

 dents. The library contains about 54,000 vol- 

 umes. 



NORTH 'ER, a cold north wind which usu- 

 ally blows over Texas and other regions border- 

 ing on the western part of the Gulf of Mexico, 

 occurring most frequently from September till 

 March. It is often destructive to vegetation 

 and dangerous to shipping. These winds some- 

 times start as far north as Canada and blowing 

 southward extend over the entire Mississippi 

 Valley. As they are predicted from twenty- 

 four to thirty-six hours in advance, the Weather 

 Bureau usually sends out warnings of their ap- 

 proach, for the temperature may drop from 

 30 to 50 in a few hours. 



NORTHERN LIGHTS, the popular term ap- 

 plied to the aurora borealis (which see). 



