| Summary: | This land which is North Dakota has a rich and colorful history that goes back to those centuries when the red men fought among themselves for territory. The ebb and flow of the American Indian in the years before the first white men came is an epic in itself. Five distinct flows of humanity have populated what is now North Dakota. The Indians were first and came over the top of the world across the Bering Strait. Centuries later, the first white men made their way into the continent's heartland by using the Great Lakes as a means of transportation. These were the adventurous French, whose intermarriage with the Indians created a whole new identifiable population known as the Metis. The English, who were out to make money, entered the territory from the north down Hudson's Bay and the Red River. They were followed by the third wave of people who came up the Mississippi River, intent on building a new empire with their homesteads which first crept into the Red River Valley in the mid-1850's. The last distinct movement of people were those adventurers, trappers and explorers who used the Missouri River to gain entrance to what is now North Dakota. These first ripples of settlement became great waves of immigration from the Scandinavian countries, Germany, and other northern European countries. The settlement of North Dakota and the sacrifice and privation of those early pioneers was a part of a heritage that was taking firm root in those days. Americans are a mixture of many races, colors, and nationalities, and from this mixture we have drawn great strength. North Dakota is no different. We still take pride in the nationalities of our ancestors. But there is value in North Dakotans knowing of this state's past in order to understand their own identity. It would be very valuable if we developed a Heritage Center which could explain, through interpretation, the events and people and technology that went into the making of our land's natural history and the history of our people. North Dakota is mature enough to build a Heritage Center that would be a credit to the memory of all those who have gone before and would be an inspiration to all those who must face the future. The Heritage Center has been under study for nearly ten years. The brochure that was distributed to all members of the Legislature explains in a colorful manner the historical, educational, cultural, and tourist development advantages that would go with -43-
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