| Summary: | NORTH DAKOTA North Dakota has mementos of Lewis and Clark's expedition and various Indian fights but its favorite recollection of its past is of Theodore Roosevelt's sojourn in the southwestern part of the state — then still a territory — in the early '80's to recover his health. The early ranchers had some difficulty in translating his Harvardese into everyday language, but they soon discovered that he was no ordinary tenderfoot. In fact, he soon left them panting and proceeded to become a legendary figure in the magnificent Bad Lands country, where a play is given every summer to depict the exploits of "Old Four Eyes." Other unexpected sights turn up in the state, one of the most notable being the Turtle Mountains. This area spilling over into Canada, while not exactly Alpine, offers beautiful wooded hills to belie the state's reputation for being flat and treeless, and has a number of much-visited lakes as well as an International Peace Garden that commemorates the undefended frontier with Canada and is advertised on the state's license plates. Sportsmen are especially attracted by the waterfowl, as North Dakota is a major way station on the flyway from the Arctic to the Gulf. Residents have a crack at all the usual sports in season, including water sports on Garrison Lake, and the nearness to Canada is reflected in the number of hockey and curling adherents. Indoors, North Dakotans have a creditable, not to say formidable, schedule of civic and cultural activities to liven things up. The strong lacing of Germanic and Scandinavian blood is expressed in a strong musical bent, and local symphonies and choral goups put on performances that would be creditable to much larger communities. Theatrical groups are also active, especially in the colleges, and visiting artists are impressed with the discriminating audiences they attract. Look back to ID's issue of September 1959 to the map of the United States two days following an imaginary atomic attack. You will notice that apart from a thin path down wind from the Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota is the center of the largest unaffected area in the country. In these days of quickening international tension, this is no small advantage. There are, to be sure, possible targets in Canada — chiefly in Alberta — that might modify this picture somewhat, but the fact remains that North Dakota offers an excellent chance of survival from a holocaust. It has the added advantage of being all but completely inaccessible to attack from atomic submarines — an advantage not shared by otherwise well dispersed areas in the South. Labor: "Intelligent, Resourceful" Forty years ago the farmers, exercised over the large spread between what they received for their products and what the products ultimately sold for, set about to assert their independence of the grain and livestock markets in the Twin Cities and Chicago. Of the various state-owned and -operated enterprises set up at that time, only the Bank of North Dakota at Bismarck and the North Dakota Mill and Elevator at Grand Forks survive. The gradual modification of grading and other procedures in the grain trade and adjustments in freight rates, along with the growing recognition of interdependence and mutual interest between the agricultural areas and the metropolitan centers, has changed the picture very greatly. Meanwhile, the growth of industrial labor unions in other areas, but not in North Dakota, has produced a situation where the state now appears as one of the more conservative in the country, instead of the most radical. A case in point — work stoppages in three recent years amounted to 0.01, 0.02 and 0.04 per cent, respectively, of the estimated time worked, and even in the year with the highest figure — 1958 — only four states had a lower figure. State officials estimate less than 20 per cent of non-farm employment is organized. The only plant we visited which had a union was a refinery at Mandan. At Mandan we visited the refinery built some six years ago by Standard Oil of Indiana and now operated by American Oil Company. Dr. R. N. Giles, plant manager, readily answered our questions regarding experience with North Dakota workers. The plant normally employs 250-300 workers, including some two dozen chemists, engineers, and professionals. Giles finished his education at Ohio State and came here from Chicago. His assistant, Pat Larson, came from Kansas City. "We have found this to be an excellent source of intelligent and resourceful workers," Giles said, adding "we have had no difficulty in keeping personnel of all grades." Since the plant was built, there has been one work stoppage due to union activity. A strike in INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT SEPTEMBER, 1961
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