“Come and Get It”
“Come and Get It” By Mary Patricia Martell Jones Published in the Cowboy Chronicle Publication of the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame Induction Issue May 2018 There she stands welcoming all who enter the…
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Tales of the Ranch
The Wild Horses of Roosevelt’s Badlands
This updated article was published in the Spring 2018 edition of North Dakota Horizons magazine The Wild Horses of Roosevelt’s Badlands By Mary Patricia Martell Jones He was an old man, arthritic and…
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The Wild Horses of Roosevelt’s Badlands
by Mary Patricia Martell Jones Published in The Cowboy Chronicle Publication of The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame Fall 2017 He’s an old man now – arthritic and without a family band, but Singlefoot, the oldest stallion…
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The True Facts
The True Facts by Mary Patricia Martell Jones Published in: North Dakota Horizons magazine Summer 2017 There is a certain beauty in the harshness of western North Dakota winters. Winds howl across…
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National Day of the Cowboy: Preserving Pioneer Heritage and Cowboy Culture
“We celebrate the Cowboy as a symbol of the grand history of the American West. The Cowboy’s love of the land and love of the country are examples for all Americans” President George W. Bush The thirteenth annual National Day…
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Lydia Langer: The Unexpected Candidate Amid 1930’s Political Scandal and Intrigue
SCANDAL ! Back room deals and a little back stabbing to maintain positions of power. Ah, the stuff of politics. In October 1934 some involved in this kind of political dance held a forum in Watford City to woo the…
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The Legacy of the Horse in the Lives of the Great Plains People
The Great Plains spread in a boundless swath of land across ten states running from Texas through North Dakota and into Canada. The Northern Plains, including North Dakota, have vast open expanses dominated by short and tall grasses. The climate…
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The Goose and Laddie
On this particular early summer day we were all very excited. We were waiting for the “Goose”, a wonderful little train…..
So there we were waiting on the old turn of the century wood railroad platform in Charbonneau. This time, we were not waiting for my sister and the Goose. Not today! Today our family’s new ranch dog was to arrive from some real big eastern city that bred collies.
The Railroad and Settlement in Early North Dakota
As you drive around the prairies and badlands of North Dakota you will find countless ghost towns; old structures abandoned and falling victim to the weather and lack of use and upkeep. The majority of these ghost towns were once thriving railroad towns along a giant web of railroad tracks that spread across North Dakota. At the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century there was a huge wave of immigration and settlement in North Dakota. This influx of pioneers and settlers was largely due to the development of railroad lines.