North Dakota, ND

North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern and Western regions of the United States of America.

The 19th largest state by area in the U.S., it is the 48th most populous, with just over 640,000 residents as of 2006. North Dakota was carved out of the northern half of the Dakota Territory and admitted to the Union as the 39th state on November 2, 1889.

The Missouri River flows through the western part of the state and forms Lake Sakakawea behind the Garrison Dam. The western half of the state is hilly and contains lignite coal and oil. In the east, the Red River forms the Red River Valley, holding fertile farmland. Agriculture has long dominated the economy and culture of North Dakota.

The state capital is Bismarck and the largest city in the state is Fargo.

The primary public universities are located in Grand Forks and Fargo. The United States Air Force operates bases at both Minot and Grand Forks.

Geography

North Dakota is considered to be in the U.S. regions known as the Upper Midwest and the Great Plains.

The state shares the Red River of the North with Minnesota on the east; South Dakota is to the south, Montana is to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are north. With 70,762 square miles (183,273 km²),

North Dakota is the 19th largest state. The western half of the state consists of the hilly Great Plains, and the northern part of the Badlands to the west of the Missouri River.

The state's high point, White Butte at 3,506 feet (1,069 m), and Theodore Roosevelt National Park are located in the Badlands. The region is abundant in fossil fuels including crude oil and lignite coal. The Missouri River forms Lake Sakakawea, the third largest man-made lake in the United States, behind the Garrison Dam.

The central region of the state is divided into the Drift Prairie and the Missouri Plateau. This area is covered in lakes, slough, and rolling hills.

The Turtle Mountains are located along the Manitoba border. The geographic center of the North American continent is located near the city of Rugby.

The eastern part of the state consists of the flat Red River Valley, the bottom of glacial Lake Agassiz. Its fertile soil, drained by the meandering Red River flowing northward into Lake Winnipeg, supports a large agriculture industry.

Devil's Lake, the largest natural lake in the state, is also found in the east.

Climate

North Dakota endures temperature extremes characteristic of its continental climate; with cold winters and hot summers, the record high and low span 181 °F (83 °C).

Meteorological events include rain, snow, hail, blizzards, polar fronts, tornadoes, thunderstorms, and high-velocity straight-line winds. Depending on location, average annual precipitation ranges from 14 in (35.6 cm) to 22 in (55.9 cm).

Springtime flooding is a relatively common event in the Red River Valley, due to the river flowing north into Canada. The spring melt and the eventual runoff typically begins earlier in the southern part of the valley than in the northern part.

The most destructive flooding in eastern North Dakota occurred in 1997, which caused extensive damage to Grand Forks.

History

Prior to European contact, Native Americans inhabited North Dakota for thousands of years.

The first European to reach the area was the French-Canadian trader La Vérendrye, who led an exploration party to Mandan villages in 1738.

The trading arrangement between tribes was such that North Dakota tribes rarely dealt directly with Europeans. However, the native tribes were in sufficient contact that by the time that Lewis and Clark entered North Dakota in 1804, they were aware of the French and then Spanish claims to their territory.

Much of present-day North Dakota was included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Much of acquired land was organized into Minnesota and Nebraska Territories. Dakota Territory, making up present-day North and South Dakota, along with parts of present-day Wyoming and Montana, was organized on March 2, 1861.

Dakota Territory was settled sparsely until the late 1800s, when the railroads entered the region and aggressively marketed the land. A bill for statehood for North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington titled the Enabling Act of 1889 was passed on February 22, 1889 during the administration of Grover Cleveland. After Cleveland left office, it was left to his successor, Benjamin Harrison, to sign proclamations formally admitting North and South Dakota to the Union on November 2, 1889.

The rivalry between the two new states presented a dilemma of which was to be admitted first. Harrison directed Secretary of State James G. Blaine to shuffle the papers and obscure from him which he was signing first and the actual order went unrecorded.

However, since North Dakota alphabetically appears before South Dakota, its proclamation was published first in the Statutes At Large. Since that day, it has become common to list the Dakotas alphabetically and thus North Dakota is usually listed as the 39th state. However, no one will actually know which of the Dakotas was admitted first.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "North Dakota".