Backstage Pass to North Dakota History

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This week 109 years ago, a variety of forces joined together for what promised to be the “greatest publicity ever secured by any commonwealth since Noah built the ark.” In a proclamation, Gov. Louis Hanna declared Nov. 14-20, 1915, “North Dakota Appreciation Week.” Dreamed up by the North Dakota Press Association, the booster effort was aimed at encouraging migration to a state the Bismarck Daily Tribune breathlessly dubbed “an empire in the making.”

Newspaper clipping that reads the following. North Dakota This Week is Appreciating Itself. North Dakota is spending this week in an effort to appreciate itself—to appreciate its resources and its opportunities. Appreciation Week, as it is styled under a proclamation by Gov. L. B. Hanna, is the creature of the North Dakota Press Association, and Edgar Richter, president of that organization, is state manager of the week's program. North Dakota has exceptional business prospects; it has produced one of its most wonderful crops, again leading all states in the production of spring wheat, with over 142,000,000 bushels of that grain conceded by the most recent crop report of the government, says Mr. Richter. North Dakota has 17,000,000 acres of land open to homestead entry, or which is for sale by private owners to prospective home makers. The populating of these lands is the greatest problem confronting the state, and once this is accomplished, the state will assume a more important industrial position. That any immigration movement, to be successful, must have the wholehearted support of all the people of the state, is the theory recognized in the appreciation week scheme. It has for its object the acquainting of all Dakotans with what their state has to offer. Once this is accomplished, and all the people are boosting for their state, results will come. Appreciation Week is being observed by commercial clubs, schools, churches and, in fact, every sort of interest in the state.

The colorful Edgar Richter, head of the North Dakota Press Association, was a tireless advocate for the state. Bismarck Daily Tribune, Nov. 18, 1915, p. 1

Every “loyal North Dakotan” was to do their part. Residents were urged to write letters to friends elsewhere praising the advantages of life here. Farmers were to pen testimonials on the state’s agricultural yield. Schools were to impress upon students the benefits that awaited “industrious, thrifty, and upright citizens” of North Dakota, with gold prizes offered to those who submitted the best essays extolling its appeal.

Newspaper clipping that reads the following. NORTH DAKOTA BOOSTER CAMPAIGN. Week of Nov. 14 to 20 pill be Booster Week for North Dakota. Every county in the state will co-operate in the plan of making known abroad the resources and opportunities to be found in North Dakota for new comers to the state. STUTSMAN COUNTY. Stutsman County will make a showing of its splendid opportunities. Full particulars of the plan are printed elsewhere in this issue under the caption North Dakota Appreciation Week. The Jamestown Alert will Issue a special edition containing facts about Stutsman County and North Dakota, prepared from the records of the present year's prosperity. WANTED. Farmers to send in names of acquaintances and relatives in other states, who might be interested in learning about N. Dak. and Stutsman County Copies of the special issue will be mailed to suck addresses. It will help increase the value of your land. By helping others find a home in North Dakota you will be helping yourself. Send in your facts about crop yields and other Booster information, and we will arrange them for publication free of all cost. Address. JAMESTOWN ALERT. JAMESTOWN, NORTH DAKOTA

Jamestown Weekly Alert, Nov. 4, 1915, p. 1

Amid dispatches from the Great War raging in Europe and ads for upcoming Thanksgiving sales, North Dakotans expressed gratitude for their good fortune. That week, “the gospel of North Dakota” was preached during appreciation church services. (Sample grab: “Lord, thou hast dealt favorable unto the Land.”) Newspapers published booster editions bursting with eye-popping stats on North Dakota’s abundant resources and featuring laudatory poetry. Commercial clubs held meetings and dinners enumerating the state’s opportunities.

First newspaper clipping reads the following. BOOSTERISM NEW RELIGION IN THIS STATE. First Exploitation of Faith Will Inaugurate Appreciation Week. SCHOOLS TO TAKE AN ACTIVE PART. Essays Being Prepared and Programs Planned-Services for Churches. Second newspaper clipping reads the following. Appreciation Week In North Dakota. Reasons for Living in This State Will Be Advertised Far and Wide. MORE FARMERS NEEDED. Send Your Copy of the Leader to a Friend in the East Who May Come Here. We expected to print more letters from farmers this week but the busy season for them is not over and they have not time to give their opinions of the state, but because they are staying and prospering, we know they intend to stick. Read the letters in this issue, and the statistics about the state and then send your copy to a friend in the east. He may become interested and come here to make this his home.

Left: Grand Forks Daily Herald, Nov. 8, 1915, p. 6
Right: Washburn Leader, Nov. 19, 1915, p. 1

I first learned about ND Appreciation Week while doing research for an upcoming State Museum exhibition to mark the nation’s 250th birthday. Among the planned exhibit themes is the many ways over the years that North Dakota has been promoted to outsiders and the wider world. It came as no surprise to read that the booster week was backed by major railroad presidents, who presumably saw an opening to increase customer numbers and land sales along their lines under the guise of fostering “state patriotism.” As the Devils Lake World and Inter-Ocean noted in an editorial, “Convince yourself of her greatness, then tell others. Each of us is a factor in the upbuilding of North Dakota, therefore each must do his or her part.” Or to put it more bluntly, as Valley City’s Weekly-Times Record admonished, “The proper thing for every North Dakotan to do is buck up and boost.”

Fresh off their success at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco (otherwise known as the 1915 World’s Fair), where a display in the North Dakota building showcased an impressive corn tower, Flickertail State leaders were eager to seize the momentum in the push for more settlers and economic development. The impresario directing this stunt was Edgar L. Richter, editor of the Larimore Pioneer and president of the press association, not to mention the brains behind Baked Potato Day at the exposition that year (where Larimore tubers were served to thousands of hungry fairgoers). Richter, an indefatigable champion of the state, had grand plans for North Dakota, including turning Larimore into a “winter resort” for “Fifth Avenue millionaires.”

A man wearing a full suit stands in front of a corn display that says NORTH DAKOTA ENLIGHTNING THE WORLD. STATE OF OPPORTUNITY. Two men and three women stand in the balcony above..

Boasting an elaborate corn tower adorned with slogans such as “North Dakota Enlightening the World” and “State of Opportunity,” the North Dakota building at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco evoked the over-the-top promotional stunts of the era. SHSND SA E0409-00001

Richter’s work paid off, with the appreciation week heralded a universal success. In its aftermath, the Christian Science Monitor asserted that “the commonwealth now feels happier, goes about its business with more confidence, and has more assets in its social treasury.”

But the state’s demand for more people was hardly unproblematic nor without its contradictions.

Five years before, Hanna, then a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, had introduced a bill that became law opening up the sale of “surplus” Fort Berthold Indian Reservation land to non-Indians, a violation of 19th century treaties. Strikingly, as papers in fall 1915 pushed for “more settlers,” their pages frequently highlighted opportunities for potential homesteaders to acquire Fort Berthold and Standing Rock Indian reservation lands, further breaking up Native American holdings in favor of European settlement.

The first newspaper clipping reads as follows. SIOUX COUNTY Offers exceptional opportunities for the homeseeker looking for good, cheap, fertile land in a new country. NEEDS Over 400 tracts from 160 to 640 acres will be offered for sale at Ft. Yates, next spring on easy terms. MORE Many choice homesteads 160 or 320 acres are subject to entry at $3.50 per acre, one-fifth to be paid at time of filing, and one-fifth annually until final proof is made. Make homestead filings at Ft. Yates. SETTLERS After November 19th the price of homestead land is reduced to $2.50 per acre. If you are interested in this new country keep posted through the SIOUX COUNTY PIONEER. The subscription price is $1.50. The second newspaper clipping reads as follows. THE MUTUAL LAND CO. (INCORPORATED) CLIFFORD BUILDING, GRAND FORKS, N. DAK. Exclusive Dealers in Farm Lands. Improved Farms at Lowest Prices and on Easy Terms in the WONDERFUL RED RIVER VALLEY Where Farmers Grow Rich. We have a farm home for you---write for particulars.

During the booster week, newspapers ran enticing ads meant to lure settlers to North Dakota. Sioux County Pioneer, Nov. 19, 1915, p. 1, Grand Forks Daily Herald, Nov. 18, 1915, p. 3

Though much has changed since those days, North Dakota’s need for people has remained constant, with only 30 available workers for every 100 open jobs. Like historical public relations efforts to proclaim the state’s desirability, current outreach campaigns, such as “Find the Good Life in North Dakota,” focus on the happiness and opportunities to be had here, albeit in more measured tones. Meanwhile, an Office of Legal Immigration was recently created to recruit foreign labor and address workforce challenges, some 90 years after the demise of the first state immigration department. As current boosters seek to enhance North Dakota’s standing on the global stage, they’d do well to steal a page from the playbook of the Grand Forks Daily Herald, which on Nov. 18, 1915, assured readers: “There is no more healthy or desirable dwelling place under the skies.”