Statewide Archives — North Dakota Genealogy

Commercial Businesses in Fargo in 1909

In 1909, Fargo’s commercial landscape was bustling with diverse businesses contributing to the city’s economic vitality. Walker Bros. & Hardy, specializing in high-quality printing and bookbinding, had rebuilt after a 1906 fire. Hubert Harrington’s hardware store, established in 1881, offered a wide range of goods. Luger Furniture Company, founded by Ferdinand Luger Sr. in 1878, had grown significantly. The Fargo Bridge and Iron Company, led by F. E. Dibley, focused on bridge construction and structural work. The Fargo Cornice and Ornament Company, established in 1886, specialized in copper cornices and roofing. O. J. de Lendrecie’s department store, the largest in … Read more

Topography of the Red River Valley

By E. J. Babcock Dean, College of Mining Engineering, State University, North Dakota The topography of the Red River valley cannot be fully considered apart from that of the state as a whole, since the topography of the eastern part of the state blends into and forms a part of that of the central and western portion of the state. In common with most of the great prairie districts west of the Mississippi river, the Red River valley, and, indeed, North Dakota as a whole, presents no great extremes of altitude and no very marked feature of topography. Like a … Read more

Geological History of the Red River Valley

By Warren Upham Secretary of the Minnesota Historical Society, Formerly Assistant on the Geological Surveys of New Hampshire, Minnesota, the United States, and Canada. Topographic Features The Red River of the North, so named to distinguish it from the Red river of Louisiana, flows through an exceedingly flat plain, which descends imperceptibly northward, as also from each side to its central line. Along the axial depression the river has cut a channel twenty to sixty feet deep. It is bordered by only few and narrow areas of bottomland, instead of which its banks usually rise steeply on one side, and … Read more