No one has mentioned it much for the past 50 years. But back in 1970, there was a move afloat to drop the North from North Dakota and have this state known as Dakota.
I suspect is was a notion blanketed in hopes for some publicity. And it didn’t seem like a bad idea. But it died a natural death. A whole file on the pros and cons of Dakota was left to me by the late Don Lindgren who operated the “fabulous” Westward Ho here in Grand Forks.
In the files he left with me, there is a letter written in 1970 from the late Harold Schafer of the Gold Seal Company in Bismarck. He said it was very discouraging for him when he traveled and talked of the Badlands to find South Dakota had identified its Badlands at least 100 times better than had North Dakota. And he said he would support a project to change the name in North Dakota to the Good Lands.
Friends, allies
“Dakota is a fine name, in our judgement,” said an editorial in the McLean County Independent. “If we recall correctly, the Indian name means friends or allies. But the word North does little for Dakota – except to tell the uninformed that it’s north of South Dakota.’’
A former Burleigh County lawmaker introduced the bill to change the state name to Dakota. And he said North Dakota had a bad image. People always talked about cold weather in North Dakota but never talked about South Dakota. Although the bill failed, he said later it could be done without too much expense.
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There were remarks in the Fargo Forum asking what would be gained from eliminating North from North Dakota when it could do a lot of good attracting tourists in the summertime.
“Certainly,” the editorial said, ‘’the tourists in summertime are looking for a little bit of cool north breeze when traveling across the nation. Maybe there are more benefits in the name than there are deficits. At least everybody talks about us.”
And the editorial concluded, “We have done pretty well under the flag of North Dakota, and to admit defeat at this point is not necessarily attractive.”
‘Don’t do it’
Among those comments 50 years ago was an editorial in the Long Beach Press-Telegram describing views of a former North Dakotan living in California. It said, “If North Dakota would like a little advice from Long Beach, here it is: Don’t change your name.
“There is a move afoot in Grand Forks, Williston and maybe even Rugby and Wahpeton to change the state name to plain Dakota. Change the name of the state and divisiveness will set in. No one speaks of Northern North Dakota or Southern North Dakota."
When all was said and done, the movement to drop North from North Dakota died a natural death. It lives on in yellowed newspaper clippings of editorials long forgotten.
Reach Marilyn Hagerty at mhagerty@gra.midco.com or by telephone at 701-772-1055.
