Mountrail County

North Dakota’s coal mines were dangerous places a century ago, when blasts and equipment accidents could be fatal. The industry had swelled in North Dakota in the 1910s. In 1920, the state had 116 mines, most of them underground. They produced nearly 879,000 tons of coal, worth more than $2.1 million. That would be more than $33 million in today’s dollars.

Like other counties in North Dakota, Mountrail County has a rocky history. The 1873 Dakota Territorial Legislature created the county and named it after a…

North Dakota is full of stories, and today’s story is about plowing up a fortuitous fortune.In 1916, on a farm 6.5 miles north of Blaisdell, a hired man…