North Dakota is off the beaten path; it holds more wildlife than tourists! The National Park’s are great spots to view native species such as mule deer, buffalo, bighorn sheep and coyotes. North Dakota also offers an abundance of historic sites and museums that give the tourist an understanding of state’s role in westward expansion. A large Native American population plays a part in this state’s past and present culture.

North Dakota Heritage Center
In the capital city of Bismarck stands the North Dakota Heritage Center on the Capitol Grounds. Visitors can discover dinosaurs, Plains Indian life, the Old West, and Bonanza wheat farms. The Center features remarkable exhibits on the traditional craft of quillwork decoration and an outstanding collection of Plains Indian artifacts. The main gallery follows the chronological history of the state. The Center houses the State Archives and Historical Research Library, an auditorium, and facilities for historic preservation.

Fort Union Trading Post
This was the principal fur trading post on the Upper Missouri River, 1828-1867. This American Fur Company post was the longest lasting fur trading post in the continental United States. Fort Union was the center of a vast trade empire that exchanged goods for hides with the Assiniboin, Crow, Blackfeet, Cree, Ojibwa (Chippewa), Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes.

The primary visitor center exhibits are in the Bourgeois House, located within the post walls. Other exhibits are located outside on the approach to the fort from the parking lot and within the courtyard of the trading post. It offers programs during the summer, including an interpreter in the trade house selling replicas of trade items used in the nineteenth century, interpreters in period dress located at various stations within the walls of the post, black powder firearms demonstrations and blacksmith demonstrations.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Theodore Roosevelt first came to the Dakota Territory in September 1883 to hunt bison. Before returning home to New York, he became interested in the cattle business and established the Maltese Cross Ranch partnership. The next year he returned to the Badlands and started a second open-range ranch, the Elkhorn. Roosevelt witnessed the decline in wildlife and saw the grasslands destroyed due to overgrazing. Today, the colorful North Dakota badlands provide the scenic backdrop to the park that memorializes the 26th president for his enduring contributions to the conservation of the nation's resources.

Visitors should start at the visitor centers, which have museums and orientation films. Next on your list should be the Maltese Cross Cabin near the Medora Visitor Center. Roosevelt thrived on the vigorous outdoor lifestyle, and at the Maltese Cross, he actively participated in the life of a working cowboy.

Visitors can also join a guided talk or walk, drive through beautiful scenic park roads or simply enjoy the magnificent wildlife viewing. The park is noted for opportunities to see bison, elk, mule, white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, coyote and other small mammals, as well as a variety of birds, including golden eagles. Wild (feral) horses can be seen in the South Unit and longhorn steers in the North Unit.

Fargo
Settled mainly by Scandinavian and European immigrants, the city of Fargo was named for William G. Fargo, a partner in the Wells-Fargo Express Company, and is now North Dakota’s largest and most metropolitan city. Fargo is home to Bonanzaville, a 45-building restored pioneer village set on 15 acres. Visitors can enjoy browsing through a sod house, airplane museum, car museums, doll house, town hall, newspaper office, schoolhouse, hotel, church and drug store. The village is the site of Pioneer Days in late August and Merry Prairie Christmas in late November.

Fargo is also home to the Plains Art Museum, which is the largest art museum between Minneapolis and Seattle, with three galleries. The Museum houses regional, national and international temporary exhibits in addition to it's permanent 2,400-piece collection of regional Native American, Folk and African art.

Bismarck-The Capital
Bismarck was founded in 1872. It was originally named Edwinton by the Honorable Thomas H. Canfield, in honor of his friend, Edwin L. Johnson, who urged the building of the transcontinental railroad. On July 17, 1873, Edwinton was renamed Bismarck by Henry Villard, the Secretary of the Northern Pacific Railroad, to honor the "Iron Chancellor" Prince Baron Otto Von Bismarck of Germany.

Bismarck is filled with great recreational opportunities; there are five local golf courses, over thirty local parks, and a zoo. A large casino is located fifty miles south of town and the city is within reach of numerous prize-hunting and fishing locales.

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park
The 75-acre park holds reconstructed versions of General George Custer's home, the infantry blockhouses, and On-A-Slant Indian Village. The village itself was originally inhabited by the peaceful, agricultural Mandan Indians between 1650 and 1750. In the early 1870s, an infantry and cavalry post was established to protect frontier settlements and the railroad surveyors. It was from Fort Abraham Lincoln, on May 17, 1876, that General George Custer and the 7th Cavalry rode out on the ill-fated campaign against the Plains Indians at the Little Big Horn.

The blockhouses of Fort McKeen and the infantry post offer a panoramic view of the Missouri River bottomlands, and Custer’s home is an impressive prairie mansion. Reconstruction of the commissary, granary and barracks is also complete. The reconstructed Fort Lincoln commissary storehouse on Cavalry Square houses the souvenir and gift shop. A 20-minute slide show at the Visitors Center Museum provides a helpful background on the Missouri River's place in history. Take a ride on an authentic wagon to the commissary and the Custer House and conclude your visit to Fort Lincoln with a ride on the paddlewheeler, the Lewis and Clark, back to the Port of Bismarck.

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site
Ancestors of the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians were established in villages between the Knife and Heart Rivers by the 13th century. European-American explorers discovered Hidatsa, Mandan and Arikara Indians living in villages along the Missouri River, sowing gardens and hunting game much as their ancestors had done. In October 1804, the Lewis and Clark expedition stopped at the Knife River Indian Villages and wintered at Fort Mandan nearby. It was here that their guide, Sakakawea, joined the expedition.

Population: 638,000.

State Capital: Bismarck.

Entered the Union: November 2, 1889 as the 39th state.

State Motto: Liberty and union, now and forever: one and inseparable.

State Bird: Western meadowlark.

State Flower: Wild prairie rose.

State Nickname: Sioux State, Flickertail State, Peace Garden State.

State Song: North Dakota Hymn.

Origin of Name: From the Sioux tribe, meaning allies.