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I’ve been thinking some more about a piece I recorded
a couple weeks ago, recounting the experiences of Bill Hurlburt as a newcomer
to North Dakota, specifically Enderlin. There is more to say about this,
in general, and more to say, too, in specific.
In general, as we consider the demographic challenges of the northern
plains, it’s a good idea to consider the longue durée, which
is a term French historians came up with to emphasize the necessity of
taking the long view, examining enduring circumstances and structures,
rather than getting distracted by short-term events.
Twenty years ago we were in the depths of out-migration from the plains,
and social scientists tried to figure out why it was happening. The results
of their surveys were surprising. When they asked young people, why are
you leaving, the young people replied, because our parents told us to.
They told us to leave the farm, get degrees in pharmacy or accounting,
and go somewhere else.
Now, that was a striking finding, but not a particularly useful one. It
was a snapshot from the point of view of nineteen-year-olds. The longer-term
question was, how did we come to the point where people had no faith in
the future of the country?
Indeed, considering the longue durée, the answer to the question
of why young people were leaving was more basic yet. The answer was, “Because
we can.” Young people leave home. It’s a free country. The problem
never was that people were leaving. The problem was that nobody was coming
in.
This began to change in the mid-1990s. It was in 1995, 1996, that I began
writing and talking about it publicly, saying that we had entered the
third era of Euro-American civilization on the Great Plains. First was
settlement; second was consolidation; and third was, well, I didn’t
know what to call it, but I hoped it was renewal.
I’m still not sure what to call it, because I don’t want to
be misled by short-term developments. Certainly, in the short to intermediate
term, we are in for boom times on the prairies. The coupling of agricultural
commodities to the energy market, and the unlikelihood of peace in our
time, and thus the likelihood of a sustained energy boom, all add up to
profits on the prairies.
In the longer term, though, something more quiet and perhaps more significant
is happening, as people like Bill Hurlburt decide to throw in their lots
with the country towns of the plains. Why are they doing this? The answer,
once again, is because they can. Technologies of communication and transport
allow people more choice in where they wish to live. At the same time,
technologies of human comfort make the northern plains a more livable
option.
Still, I sense there is more to know about this than the broad generalities.
Every newcomer to North Dakota has a story to tell, a useful story. I’m
heading up a project called “Newcomer Narratives” to gather
those stories and study them, see what they tell us about our country
and its communities. If you’re a relative newcomer to small-town
North Dakota—if you arrived, say, within the past five years or so—I’d
love to hear from you about your experiences.
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prior permission from Plains Folk.
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