US and North Dakota Flags on Our Flagpole

North Dakota – The Peace Garden State

The first European to reach the area was the French-Canadian trader Pierre Gaultier, Sieur de La Vérendrye, who led an exploration and trading party to the Mandan villages in 1738 guided by Assiniboine Indians.

From 1762 to 1802 the region formed part of Spanish Louisiana.

Spanish Louisiana
Spanish Louisiana

European Americans settled in Dakota Territory only sparsely until the late 19th century, when railroads opened up the region.  With the advantage of grants of land, they vigorously marketed their properties, extolling the region as ideal for agriculture.  Congress passed an omnibus bill for statehood for North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington, titled the Enabling Act of 1889, on February 22, 1889 during the administration of President Grover Cleveland.  His successor, Benjamin Harrison, signed the proclamations formally admitting North Dakota and South Dakota to the Union on November 2, 1889.

Dakota Territory
Dakota Territory

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.  The actual order went unrecorded, thus no one knows which of the Dakotas was admitted first.  However, since North Dakota alphabetically appears before South Dakota, its proclamation was published first in the Statutes At Large.

Unrest among wheat farmers, especially among Norwegian immigrants, led to a populist political movement centered in the Non Partisan League (“NPL”) around the time of World War I.  The NPL ran candidates on the Republican ticket, but merged into the Democratic Party after World War II.  It tried to insulate North Dakota from the power of out-of-state banks and corporations.  In addition to founding the state-owned Bank of North Dakota and North Dakota Mill and Elevator, both still in existence, the NPL established a state-owned railroad line.

North Dakota Mill and Elevator 1922
North Dakota Mill and Elevator 1922

Anti-corporate laws virtually prohibited a corporation or bank from owning title to land zoned as farmland.  These laws, still in force today, after having been upheld by state and federal courts, make it almost impossible to foreclose on farmland, as even after foreclosure, the property title cannot be held by a bank or mortgage company.  Furthermore, the Bank of North Dakota, having powers similar to a Federal Reserve branch bank, exercised its power to limit the issuance of subprime mortgages and their collateralization in the form of derivative instruments, and so prevented a collapse of housing prices within the state in the wake of 2008’s financial crisis.

Bank of North Dakota
Bank of North Dakota

Western North Dakota saw a boom in oil exploration in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as rising petroleum prices made development profitable.  This boom came to an end after petroleum prices declined.

In recent years the state has had lower rates of unemployment than the national average, and increased job and population growth.  Much of the growth has been based on development of the Bakken oil fields in the western part of the state.  Estimates as to the remaining amount of oil vary, with some estimating over 100 years’ worth of oil remaining in the area.

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