Every Lake
North Dakota
Flat lakebed on the east, badlands on the west, and the Missouri cutting between them.
North Dakota in relief
The land itself, cut in six steps of birch from the lowlands to the high ground — the cities starred, the summit and rise on the title block. No counties, no roads: just the shape of North Dakota.
About North Dakota
North Dakota is ruled by straight lines on three sides, with the Red River of the North winding the eastern border — and running north, toward Canada and Hudson Bay. That valley is the flattest land in America, the floor of glacial Lake Agassiz, some of the richest wheat ground anywhere. West of it the Missouri Coteau rises in a belt of rolling hills and potholes, and beyond the Missouri the country breaks apart into the Badlands along the Little Missouri, eroded into buttes and clay stripes. Fifty-three counties, most of them plain rectangles.
North Dakota entered on November 2, 1889 as the 39th state — President Harrison shuffled the papers and signed both Dakota bills without looking, so the order between the two has never officially been known. Bismarck, on the Missouri, was named for the German chancellor by railroad promoters hoping to attract German investment. The board carries Theodore Roosevelt National Park, where the future president ranched in the 1880s, and I-94 running the full width past the Missouri crossing.
- Six layers of birch — the land in elevation steps
- The summit and total rise on the title block
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A double rule engraved around the edge
- Every county line and the state border
- The interstates with their shields — 6 on this board
- The major cities, starred and named
- Title block with the admission date and capital
- A mile ruler engraved around the frame
