Because of the time change to the Central Time Zone, Steven and I hadn't arrived in North Dakota's state capital of Bismarck the previous night until 7:30 after spending the day at Theodore Roosevelt National Park and driving along The Enchanted Highway. The first thing the next day we made our way to the state capitol but, thanks to Google maps, it directed us what turned out to the rear of the building! Fortunately, a state employee kindly allowed us in and then directed us to security - I guess we didn't look like the so-called bad guys!
After being directed to the ground floor to begin our self-guided tour of the capitol, we looked at the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Awards which celebrated those current or former North Dakotans who had been "influenced by the state in achieving national recognition in their fields of endeavor, thereby reflecting credit and honor upon North Dakota and its citizens." The recipients are chosen by the Governor, the Secretary of State, and the Director of the State Historical Society. The photo below shows just half of the Rough Rider awards!
If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you'll know by now that Steven and I have made a point of visiting as many state capitals that have been 'convenient' on our road trips since the Covid-19 pandemic started. I use the word 'convenient' very loosely because in our minds every place we might like to see is on the way to some eventual destination and we don't generally drive in a straight line from Point A to Point B. I certainly don't recall any other statehouse we've been to honoring some of the most famous citizens as North Dakota did here with the Rough Rider Awards. What a shame that other states haven't followed in North Dakota's steps.
Looking through the photos and brief biographies of each honoree, I was surprised at how many of them I recognized, bearing in mind that I grew up in Canada and 'only' came to the US when Steven and I married in 1982. I imagine you'll also recognize those I've highlighted here.
Lawrence Welk was North Dakota's most famous 'favorite son' who became one of the greatest entertainers in the world through his weekly TV show featuring his distinctive 'champagne music.' Welk was the first recipient of the Rough Rider Award in 1961.
If you're even a bit of a baseball fan, you've likely heard of Roger Maris, the sport's single-season home run king from 1961-1998. He hit 61 home runs with the NY Yankees during the 1961 season, a record that he held until 1998 when it was broken by Mark McGuire of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Louis L'Amour was a prolific author who wrote mostly Western-themed books. At one time, he was the fastest-selling novelist in the country with 50 million books purchased. He was the recipient in 1972.
After Angie Dickinson was 'discovered by a talent agent at a beauty contest, she got her big break starring with John Wayne in Rio Bravo. She later played in over 50 movie and TV productions and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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While Warren Christopher was Deputy Secretary of State in the Carter administration, he led negotiations for the release of the 52 American hostages held captive in Iran and spearheaded the normalization of relations with China. Christopher also helped to win ratification of the Panama Canal treaties and headed the first interagency group on human rights. For all this, President Clinton awarded Christopher the country's highest civilian medal in 1981.
Indigenous American and internationally-acclaimed author Louise Erdich was also described as a "prominent literary figure."
Ebony black-colored marble from Belgium of all places decorated the stairwell leading to the first floor.
The chandeliers in Memorial Hall caught my attention as they represented sheaves of wheat. Each light weighed 1,000 pounds and contained 109 light bulbs. Conversely, the Yellowstone travertine walls seemed rather ho-hum to me.
Between two marble pillars was the state's Great Seal.
Raised sculptures above the revolving doors represented agriculture and mining, two industries critical to the state.
I don't remember seeing so many flags in a statehouse before. After just checking online to learn what the state flag looked like, I found out it was the one on the right. The five in the middle were tribal flags from these Indigenous groups in the state from left to right: Standing Rock Sioux, Mandan Hidatsa Arikara (three affiliated tribes), Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, and Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.
No place seemed to be spared to accentuate details of North Dakota, even the tower elevators. The bronze doors had raised sculptures that depicted 'the pioneer experience.' What a great way to add to one's enjoyment of the capitol instead of just plain old elevators with no adornment.
Neither of us had recalled seeing a touchpad like this outside an elevator before!
There were panoramic views up to 35 miles away from the Observation Deck on the 18th floor.
Once back downstairs again, we looked at the East Wing with the Supreme Court Atrium and its plants above.
The west end of Memorial Hall was home to the 40-ft.-high Legislative Hall and the House of Representatives.
Both sides of the Legislative Hall contained these pretty recessed seating areas made with curly maple and East Indian rosewood.
We appreciated the symbolism of the House's overhead lighting that represented the 'Stars and Moon at Night' but, wow, was it garish in our opinion!
I joked that if I were a politician in North Dakota, I would prefer being a senator as the lighting in the Senate was far more soothing! Its lighting was called 'Sunrise or Sunset.' In no other statehouse did we recall names being attributed to the type of lighting.
Only then did we then found out where the statehouse's front door was and walked out to the sizeable grounds for a view of the capitol. When the current capitol was built from 1932 to 1934 to replace the former one that had been destroyed by fire in 1932, designers, due to a limited budget, opted for a style that would be efficient in both space and operation. The result was this 19-story skyscraper in an Art Deco style that wasn't in our minds a 'study in elegance' as described in the single-page handout. For some reason, the leaflet hadn't been updated in about 40 years judging from the profound difference in landscaping and the older cars pictured in the handout. Too bad a little money hadn't been spent to provide a current handout for visitors to the capitol.
As uninspiring as much of the interior was, the 132-acre complex was the opposite. The oldest surviving feature on the capitol grounds was the statue of Sakakawea, the Shoshone Indigenous 'Bird Woman' who guided the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the Missouri River to the Yellowstone River in 1805. When Lewis and Clark met her, Sakakawea, aka Sacajawea, was about 16 and married to Toussaint Charbonneau, a fur trader. She carried her infant son on her back as she provided translation and contacts with the Shoshone.
Behind the statue was the very stately Liberty Memorial Building. It was at this point that Steven and I began searching the grounds for a large buffalo statue.
Across from that building and facing the statehouse on the capitol grounds mall was The Pioneer Family statue that honored the "memory of the pioneers of the great Northwest."
Back again across the street was a huge grove of specially marked trees that reminded me of similar groves around the statehouses in Carson City, Nevada, and Sacramento, California. These trees, like those others, all had plaques listing their varieties and history.
Among the trees was Pioneers of the Future that signified young people "will be the pioneers carrying with them the heritage of North Dakota into the next 100 years." When the sculpture was dedicated in 1989, America was at the threshold of the new space age. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you might be able to spot the young people standing on an outline of the state map.
Also on the impressive statehouse grounds was the All Veterans Centennial Memorial that had been dedicated in 1989 to all North Dakotans who had served in the armed forces in the first 100 years of statehood. Though my first impression was that the memorial looked rather stark, I learned that the memorial was "sheltered by a dome and covered by a cube, symbols of purity, unity, and stability." The memorial's supporting columns defined the interior and exterior and linked it to the "wooded land in all directions."
The interior contained bronze tablets on which had been inscribed the names of the 4,050 men and women whose lives had been lost in service to their country.
On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month (i.e Veterans' Day), the sun shines through a hole in the lower south side of the dome onto a raised image of North Dakota on the globe to honor the state's veterans.
As the words on a plaque so eloquently said:
May they rest,
Wherever they lie,
In serene glory.
Near the memorial was the French Gratitude Boxcar that arrived in 1949 in the US as a gift from France. It contained 49 boxcars, one for each of the 48 states and one to be shared by Hawaii and the District of Columbia. Each boxcar was filled with gifts to the American people from the French people. I wonder if the 50th state, possibly Alaska, never received one because it wasn't part of the contiguous states?
The Gratitude Train was organized in response to a 1947 American Friendship Train that carried $40 million in relief supplies, including 700 carloads of food, fuel, and clothing, to beleaguered France and Italy.
When North Dakota's boxcar arrived in Bismarck on February 15th, 1949, it was welcomed by state and local officials and members of veterans groups. Each of the boxcars displayed shields representing France's 40 provinces.
The boxcars used in the French Gratitude Train were a particularly appropriate choice as in both world wars, Americans were transported to the front lines in these railroad cars. The boxcars, built between 1872 and 1885, measured 20 feet long and 9 feet wide. They were known as "40 et 8s" as they could transport 40 men or 8 horses.
My plan is still to write about our road trip this past Christmas to the American Southwest. I mention that here because when Steven and I were in Phoenix, Arizona, in January, we also happened to see that state's French Gratitude Boxcar but it was near a children's playground and not anywhere close to the capitol. That was the first time we'd ever hear of the boxcar train.
We continued in a circular tour of the statehouse grounds, still on the lookout for a huge statue of a buffalo! After climbing this big hill, we reached the North Dakota Heritage Center which had a stellar rating in the AAA tour book. However, we didn't have the time to explore it.
I was beyond thrilled, however, to find on the plaza out front were many cannonball concretions that we had hoped to find in situ in Theodore Roosevelt National Park the day before! They were only available in the park's North Unit which we didn't have a chance to see as it was too far from the South Unit.
Also on the plaza were lots of examples of petrified wood again only located in the park's North Unit! I felt like we'd hit the mother lode viewing both in the same spot.
This was a side view of the Heritage Center. Even though we were disappointed not to have viewed the buffalo statue, we sure had managed to see other fascinating and compelling sights on and near the statehouse grounds. In addition, we finally saw the national park's two geological features and gotten many steps in.
We could hardly believe it, then, when just up ahead what did we see but the damn buffalo at long last. I felt like an idiot as IF I had only looked to the left of the Sakakawea statue, it would have been just a few feet away! Steven had not come as close to the statue as I so it was my 'fault!' The statue of Buffalo was a gift to the people of North Dakota on the state's centennial from the Dayton-Hudson Corporation, i.e. Target stores.
Since we'd literally gone in a full circle around the grounds from this statue, I decided it deserved a close-up of mother and son.
A few blocks from the capitol was the former Governor's Mansion. I was amused to spot a Little Free Library out front!
Next post: Bismarck's Camp Hancock and Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park.
Posted on June 26th, 2021, from Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, as we continue our road trip eastward toward our eventual destination of the Gulf beaches in Alabama and Florida. Please stay safe and well.
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