Fort Ransom Area - Day 232

  Fort Ransom was an actual historic fort, operational from 1867-1872. A series of forts was established to guard the construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad through the Dakota Territory. Once the railroad was built, the forts were considered unnecessary.

Fort Ransom is also the name of a small town about three miles from the site of the fort. It began to be settled after the fort closed, and was officially founded in 1880. This was the original mercantile, now the museum.

The Standing Rock Lutheran Church dates from the same era.

Fort Ransom also lends the name to the nearby state park. The NCT has been routed through this state park since early days of the trail, and they embrace the trail. Translation- they keep it well-maintained, have interpretive signs, literature, and a welcoming arch. (Not to mention cold drinks for sale.)

The park also has wonderful scenery. This is another of those side valleys that branch off the main Sheyenne Valley. The blue hill in the distance is on the other side of the river.

The trail does drop down into that cool valley,

and emerges at the Sheyenne River. I told you we follow it a long way!

But there are several fun myths/alternate histories of the area. This is known as Viking Hill. Many locals claim it is a pyramid built by ancient people, that in fact, it may be the oldest pyramid in the world. They say the top third of the hill was constructed of dirt that was brought to this site from a different location.

And what's on top? A statue of a Viking. One of the strongest legends of the area is that it was visited by Vikings. The statue was erected in 1972 to honor the local Norwegian population.

What makes people believe the Vikings were here? There are several rocks with holes through the middle that look like Viking mooring stones. There is a rock that some believed had runes carved on it. There is purported to be a drydock along a creek about two miles away that would have held a ship 100 feet long.

I saw one of the mooring stones in 2002. It's a squareish rock with a hole in the middle.

Of course, others say the rocks were drilled by early settlers to accept dynamite charges. Geologists pooh-pooh the pyramid theory, saying the hill eroded that way naturally (it does look a lot like the pointy hills in Ohio). The "runes" look pretty much like glacial striations on rock. I'd never even heard of the drydock before and haven't seen that site.

The other big mystery is a large flat stone with odd markings. It's called the Writing Rock. Sioux legend says that a spirit would arise from the water and write messages on the rock. Anyone who saw the spirit would receive special gifts. Then the spirit would erase the message until the next time it appeared.

You know the geologists say this is more glacial or erosional doing. But this one is harder to explain. I've never seen the rock itself, but it's big. About 5x7 feet. This is a drawing of the markings.

Some say the lines with small hash marks at each end, and dots, etc. along the length are very, very similar to numbering systems used by the ancient Mayas, and Sino-Tibetan people.

There's something to amuse everyone in the Fort Ransom area. If none of this catches your interest, there is a HUGE craft show at the end of September each year.

Today was easy- good surfaces, more moderate weather. And Fort Ransom SP also had a plant checklist! You know I'm a happy camper.

Miles today: 15.5. Total miles so far: 2805.9. (Look at that number- that means probably under 2000 to go! But I don't want to add it up yet and stir up any false hopes about finishing before Dec 1)

See Kathryn