Situated in the geographical center of North America, the North Dakota is one of the most rural states in the nation, with farms covering 90% of the land and almost half the population living in rural areas. Some of best fishing and hunting opportunities in the nation are waiting to be discovered in North Dakota.
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The first European known to have been in the area was the French-Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, who visited a Mandan village near what is now Bismark in 1738. In the ensuing period, fur traders from his posts in Canada dealt with the Native Americans on the Red River of the North as far south as Grand Forks. North Dakota became a United States possession as part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, but its boundary with Canada was not agreed on until 1818. White settlement began in 1812, when people from the Selkirk Settlement at Winnipeg founded a colony at Pembina.
The Dakota Territory, which included North and South Dakota, as well as Wyoming and Montana, was created in 1861. When warfare broke out between the Sioux and white settlers in neighboring Minnesota the following year, many Native Americans sought refuge in the Dakota Territory, but most were eventually confined to the area west of the Missouri River.
Wheat, barley, sunflowers, hay, and sugar beets are leading crops. Other crops include potatoes, rye, and flax. North Dakota leads the nation in the production of durum and other spring wheat, as well as barley, flax, and sunflowers. Livestock accounts for about 24 percent of the annual farm income. Beef cattle are most important and are raised primarily in the west; hogs, dairy cattle, and sheep are raised in the southeast.
Petroleum, which makes up about four-fifths of the annual mineral value, is found primarily in the west. Natural gas is produced in the southwest and the northwest, Lignite is strip-mined, primarily in the west central part of the state.
Measured by annual payroll, the leading industries in North Dakota are the manufacture of industrial machinery, and food processing, followed by printing and publishing. About one-sixth of the manufacturing labor force is employed in producing industrial machinery, particularly farm equipment. Among the principal food products are flour, cereals, butter, cheese, and sugar (processed from sugar beets).
The statewide sales tax is 5 percent with local options for additional increments. Cities may impose a Local Occupancy Tax of up to 2 percent and 1 percent on restaurants.
North Dakota's fishing and hunting opportunities are among the best in the nation; especially abundant are game birds such as duck, grouse, pheasant, and goose. In June and July rodeos are held in many towns. During the long winters, ice skating, skiing, ice hockey, curling, and snowmobile races are popular.
