It was 58° and partly cloudy as we rolled through Minot, North Dakota. The view out the window remained the same kind of hauntingly beautiful I’d been seeing for miles: Wide open plains, with the occasional cluster of trees clinging to life near water. The land felt endless. Stark. Quiet. Hauntingly desolate. A place that keeps its stories to itself.
Minot sprang up almost overnight in 1886 when the Great Northern Railway pushed through. People called it the “Magic City” because of how fast it grew, a tent town one minute, over 5,000 people the next. It all started on land homesteaded by Erik Ramstad, who eventually helped lead the town after giving up his claim. The city itself was named after Henry Minot, a railroad investor and ornithologist who also happened to be pals with the railway's founder.
The climate here means business. Serious business. Summer storms roll in with attitude, while winters are long, snowy, and bitterly cold. Think weeks below freezing and wind that doesn’t quit. Tornadoes have touched down here too. Though not everyday occurrences, they’re not unheard of, and Minot has faced its share of destructive twisters over the years.
Minot is home to one of the largest Scandinavian heritage festivals in the U.S., the Norsk Høstfest.
