Changes

==Population==

==Population==

The original native American tribes in what is now North Dakota were the [[Mandan]], [[Sioux]], Arikara, [[Chippewa]], [[Cheyenne]], Assiniboine, and Hidatsa. Today only the Sioux and Chippewa remain; they comprise about 4% of the population.  

The original Native American tribes in what is now North Dakota were the [[Mandan]], [[Sioux]], Arikara, [[Chippewa]], [[Cheyenne]], Assiniboine, and Hidatsa. Today only the Sioux and Chippewa remain; they comprise about 4% of the population.  

[[File:Fargo.jpg|thumb|310px|Fargo and other cities are growing steadily as they absorb the people leaving the declining rural areas.]]  Most settlers arrived from the 1880s to 1910, usually straight from Europe. Since then the population has held steady at about 650,000. Young people are moving out of rural areas to other states or to the few cities.  The four urban counties (containing Fargo, Grand Forks Bismark and Minot) grew from 134,000 people in 1930 to 338,000 in 2007, while the other 49 counties—heavily rural—declined from 546,000 in 1930 to only 301,000 in 2007, and the decline continues. Thanks to high prices for oil and wheat, the state is prosperous and the state budget has a surplus. Higher education is a priority; he state ranks first in spending per capita on state colleges and universities.

[[File:Fargo.jpg|thumb|310px|Fargo and other cities are growing steadily as they absorb the people leaving the declining rural areas.]]  Most settlers arrived from the 1880s to 1910, usually straight from Europe. Since then the population has held steady at about 650,000. Young people are moving out of rural areas to other states or to the few cities.  The four urban counties (containing Fargo, Grand Forks Bismark and Minot) grew from 134,000 people in 1930 to 338,000 in 2007, while the other 49 counties—heavily rural—declined from 546,000 in 1930 to only 301,000 in 2007, and the decline continues. Thanks to high prices for oil and wheat, the state is prosperous and the state budget has a surplus. Higher education is a priority; he state ranks first in spending per capita on state colleges and universities.

===Volga Germans===

===Volga Germans===

On the other hand the "Russian Germans" or "Volga Germans" were traditionalists. They were germans who had lived isolated lives for generations in the Volga River region of Russia. They settled mostly in the south-central part of the state, the so-called German-Russian triangle. They brought little money and so worked poorer land, and were not as well off as other groups. No educated Germans-speaking pastors, teachers, professional men, or tradesmen had joined the peasants who migrated to America.  The older generation was still speaking German (they never spoke Russian) in the 1940s, while the next generation was bilingual.  Negatively influenced by their miseries and isolation in Russia, they saw themselves a downtrodden class cheated by businessmen and railroads; they raised large families with harsh discipline; they wanted their children to be farmers so took them out of school around age 14; they treated their womenfolk as inferior, and were slow to diversify their farms.  Many grew sugar beets. In World War I (1917–18) their patriotism was ambiguous; distrusted by their neighbors they rejected prohibition and Americanization efforts and supported radical far-left political movements such as the NPL ("Non-Partisan League") in state elections and [[Robert LaFollette]] in 1924.<ref>Robinson (1966) pp. 285-87, 557; Gordon L. Iseminger, "The McIntosh County German-Russians: the First Fifty Years," ''North Dakota History'' 1984 51(3): 4-23; Iseminger, "Are We Germans, or Russians, or Americans? The McIntosh County German-Russians During World War I," ''North Dakota History'' 1992 59(2): 2-16.</ref>

On the other hand, the "Russian Germans" or "Volga Germans" were traditionalists. They were Germans who had lived isolated lives for generations in the Volga River region of Russia. They settled mostly in the south-central part of the state, the so-called German-Russian triangle. They brought little money and so worked poorer land, and were not as well off as other groups. No educated Germans-speaking pastors, teachers, professional men, or tradesmen had joined the peasants who migrated to America.  The older generation was still speaking German (they never spoke Russian) in the 1940s, while the next generation was bilingual.  Negatively influenced by their miseries and isolation in Russia, they saw themselves a downtrodden class cheated by businessmen and railroads; they raised large families with harsh discipline; they wanted their children to be farmers so took them out of school around age 14; they treated their womenfolk as inferior, and were slow to diversify their farms.  Many grew sugar beets. In World War I (1917–18) their patriotism was ambiguous; distrusted by their neighbors they rejected prohibition and Americanization efforts and supported radical far-left political movements such as the NPL ("Non-Partisan League") in state elections and [[Robert LaFollette]] in 1924.<ref>Robinson (1966) pp. 285-87, 557; Gordon L. Iseminger, "The McIntosh County German-Russians: the First Fifty Years," ''North Dakota History'' 1984 51(3): 4-23; Iseminger, "Are We Germans, or Russians, or Americans? The McIntosh County German-Russians During World War I," ''North Dakota History'' 1992 59(2): 2-16.</ref>

==Climate==

==Climate==

===Farmers Union===

===Farmers Union===

[[File:Nd-Farm-union.jpg|thumb|400px|State headquarters of Farmers Union in Jamestown]]

[[File:Nd-Farm-union.jpg|thumb|400px|State headquarters of Farmers Union in Jamestown]]

The Farmers Union, the state branch of the National Farmers [[Labor union|Union]] (NFU), was founded in 1927 and emerged out of the NPL in the 1920s. The Union grew rapidly in the 1930s when the [[New Deal]] (through the [[Farm Security Administration]] began funding rural cooperatives. The coops were businesses—grain elevators and retail stores—that are owned by the farmers collectively, and enjoy special tax privileges.  Norwegians in particular favored the coops and the Farmers Union. The Union has always leaned to the left, as opposed to the conservative farm Bureau Federation.  North Dakota is one of the  few states where the Union has a much larger membership than the Bureau, thanks to those coops. In 1956 there were 58,000 farmers in the state, of whom 44,000 belonged to the Union In the 1956 the Union took over the remnants of the NPL and merged it into the Democratic Party, which is officially the Democratic-NPL Party. The Farmers Union in 2009 still has 42,000 members, because it is signing up town folk to join the coops. It still lobbies on the left on major state and national issues.

The Farmers Union, the state branch of the National Farmers [[Labor union|Union]] (NFU), was founded in 1927 and emerged from the NPL in the 1920s. The Union grew rapidly in the 1930s when the [[New Deal]] (through the [[Farm Security Administration]]) began funding rural cooperatives. The coops were businesses—grain elevators and retail stores—that are owned by the farmers collectively, and enjoy special tax privileges.  Norwegians in particular favored the coops and the Farmers Union. The Union has always leaned to the left, as opposed to the conservative farm Bureau Federation.  North Dakota is one of the  few states where the Union has a much larger membership than the Bureau, thanks to those coops. In 1956 there were 58,000 farmers in the state, of whom 44,000 belonged to the Union In the 1956 the Union took over the remnants of the NPL and merged it into the Democratic Party, which is officially the Democratic-NPL Party. The Farmers Union in 2009 still has 42,000 members, because it is signing up town folk to join the coops. It still lobbies on the left on major state and national issues.

==Transportation==

==Transportation==