When settlers first came to the Dakotas, they brought with them their favorite seeds and plantings for raising fruit, vegetables, grains and trees. It didn’t take long to realize the climate wasn’t going to cooperate. Business leaders understood the success of farmers and ranchers was crucial, and they lobbied the U.S. Congress for a research lab to develop improved plant strains.

Meanwhile, Mandan wanted some type of federal facility added to their community, and, in 1908, they introduced a bill in the US Congress for an Indian school. The legislation passed, but Bismarck businessmen maneuvered a way to get it built on their side of the Missouri; since there was no bridge connecting the two cities at that time, Mandan promoters were not happy! They lobbied Congress again the following year, this time to establish an agricultural experiment station for plant, shrub and tree research. The bill failed, as it did again in 1911. Finally, on this date in 1912, a bill passed to establish the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in or near Mandan – west of the Missouri river!

Mandan businesses pooled their resources purchased the land at about $32 per acre. Among them were a bank, several mercantile companies, a drugstore, an insurance company, a newspaper, a clothing store and a tailor. Major Hanley, a prominent Mandan politician, got ND to reimburse them, and the land became property of the State – which leased it to the federal government for 99-years.

Mandan scientists broke sod in 1913 and planted several blocks of trees in 1914. But there was a problem; the facility was paid for, but nothing had been appropriated for research. J. C. Brinsmeade, the first agronomist, had to buy equipment and hire people out of his own pocket.

Robert Wilson took out newspaper ads offering landowners saplings and growing plans through the Windbreak Tree Program, and more than 4,000 landowners applied. Wilson and five forestry students inspect each site, traveling by horse and buggy, train, and automobile, and the following spring, more than 1,300 farms in ND, SD, WY and MT planted windbreaks.

In the years that followed, fruit breeding led to hardier strains of apples, plums and apricots. Improved varieties of vegetables led to the formation of local seed companies like the Oscar Will Company. Research on grains and other crops led to better drought and disease resistance.

Dairy herds, too, improved because of the lab’s research into feeding, breeding and management practices. Although the dairy program ended in 1955, participating farms in Morton and Emmons County still lead the state in diary production today.

In 1935, during the Great Depression, Congress withdrew funding for agricultural research, but Mandan businessmen weren’t interested in letting go; they got more than 4,000 windbreak tree recipients to contact Congress, and appropriations for the lab were restored. Sixty years later, in 1996 and ‘97, funding was again deleted from the federal budget. And, once more, farmers and ranchers mobilized to save the lab, and funding was restored.

The needs of farmers and ranchers have significantly changed since Ag research began in 1914. And, so has the focus of the Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory. Research scientists are now focusing on carbon sequestration; improving the nutritional value of beef; using fewer steps, yet increasing crop yields; creating new forage cultivars; and developing switch grass for biofuels… all because of the tenacity of early Mandan business people.

Source: Thorson, Cal. Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory, 2005.

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