North Dakota’s future takes center stage through higher education degree changes, rural housing and STEM access and the enduring traditions of cowboy poetry.

In 1883, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West went on tour. The show combined theater, circus, and rodeo. It was inspired by Cody’s experiences as a Pony Express rider and Army scout, and it romanticized an American West that was already disappearing. Spectators flocked to the show, which included a buffalo herd, sharpshooter Annie Oakley, and reenactments of stagecoach robberies. It also featured a band of Native Americans, including Chief Sitting Bull. The Native performers welcomed the chance to leave the reservation and return to riding, and they were paid as well as the white performers.