|  In Bismarck stands a heroic statuary group, Pioneer Family, by Avard Fairbanks; behind it, gleaming white against the sky, towers the famous skyscraper capitol. One symbolizes the North Dakota of wagon trains and General Custer. The other symbolizes the North Dakota that has emerged in recent yearsa land where a thousand oil wells have sprouted, dams have harnessed erratic rivers, vast lignite resources have been developed, and industry is absorbing surplus farm labor created by mechanization.
At various times, Spain, France, and England claimed what is now North Dakota as part of their empires. French Canadian fur trappers were the first Europeans to explore the land. With the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark crossed Dakota, establishing Fort Mandan. The earliest permanent European settlement was at Pembina with the establishment of Alexander Henry's trading post in 1801. Settlers from the Earl of S...
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