Page 31 - USA ROAD TRIP SUMMER of 2000

Rather, it was marsh and near tropical swamps after the retreat of

the glaciers. There is resultant coal under most of North Dakota.
They have done strip mining here in the mid section, but a law

was passed by the state mandating that the pits be smoothed and

replanted so there are no scars upon the land. There are huge coal
powered electrical generating plants in the area of Washburn

attesting to the fact that coal is still plentiful in the area.

There are also a few of the oil pumps that look like the bird
dipping its head into water. There has been a small oil industry

here for most of the 1900’s.

The topography around Washburn is that of peculiar cone-shaped

mounded hills. Lois and I dubbed them the Dolly Parton Hills.
These make it difficult to farm much of that area. As we moved

west, the land flattened out again and rose to a plateau. The crops
there were all manner of wheat and hay. A wonderful

juxtaposition of green and yellow colors. There were fields of
sunflowers again – they harvest the seeds for oils and for eating.

Much like the Grand Canyon, the flat plateau suddenly opened
into a wide, sculptured, multihued landscape of deep canyons and

interspersed tableland. The Little Missouri River has been very
busy carving out this land for millennia. We had reached the Bad

Lands of North Dakota. This place is NOT on the way to anywhere
else. You really have to make an effort to get to the western

border of North Dakota.

We’re staying in the town of Medora. It’s a tourist town of modest

proportions and a serious lack of hokum. Most of the license
plates are from North and South Dakota, Montana, and

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