Historical Note:

Dakota toughens Teddy . . .

Theodore Roosevelt was married only four years, when his wife died on Valentine's Day in 1884, only 11 hours after his mother had died. Losing two of the most important people in his life, TR abandoned New York City and his political career and headed West to North Dakota. He cloaked himself in a buckskin jacket, picked up a pearl-handled six shooter, and a silver plated belt and become a Dakota rancher. "Roughing it" in a log cabin, TR's Dakota days prepared him for his heroic Rough Rider campaigns in the Spanish-American War. A Harvard educated, high-society man from New York City, Teddy Roosevelt once wrote, "I never would have become president if not for my experiences in North Dakota."

Name Origin: Indian. ("Allies")

Capital: Bismarck

Population: 638,000

Area: 70,702 square miles

Statehood: November 2, 1889 (39th)

Nickname: The Souix State or The Flickertail State

Motto: "Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable"

Famous For: Roosevelt National Memorial Park, Red River Valley, Badlands, International Peace Garden, Turtle Mountains, Prairies, Sunflowers, Wheat, (Cream of Wheat invented here)