Facts about North Dakota

Colonel Clement A. Lounsberry, a Bismarck journalist, won fame for his reporting of the route of General George A. Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
 

International Peace Garden, which lies partly in North Dakota and partly in Manitoba, Canada, honors the long friendship between the two nations.
 

The restored boyhood home of band leader Lawrence Welk stands in Strasburg.

The Maah Daah Hey Trail, crossing about 100 miles of badlands in western North Dakota, is informally known as the Moab of the North, gaining national prominence as a mountain bike trail. Also a hiking and horseback riding trail.

Lewis and Clark spent more consecutive days in North Dakota than in any other state.

The third largest man-made lake in the United States, Lake Sakakawea was created out of the Missouri River by the Garrison Dam, the fifth largest in the United States.  The 609-square-mile lake has 1,500 miles of shoreline.

North Dakota has more wildlife refuges (64) than any other state.  California is second with 38 refuges; Florida follows with 29 refuges.

A flowering monument to peace is the International Peace Garden, straddling the border between the United States and Canada. Near Dunseith, this 2,300-acre garden plants 100,000 flowers annually and features a Peace Chapel as well as an 18-foot floral clock.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is carved out of the North Dakota badlands, a 70,000-acre monument to the forces of nature. Its rugged topography is credited with molding Theodore Roosevelt, who arrived in 1883 to hunt and later established the Maltese Cross and Elkhorn cattle ranches.  Later, as 26th president, Roosevelt would say, "I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota."