History

"Years and years ago there was this land and the sky and the wind drifting endlessly with the James and Sheyenne River winding through these prairie stretches. Before man came to this area, great herds of buffalo grazed at will over these plains. Then came the Indians first the Hidatsa (Gros Ventre) and then the Cheyenne who were finally driven out by the Sioux; as the Sioux themselves were being pushed even further westward from their forested homes in what is now the Minnesota area by the Chippewas.

Then to this primitive virgin soil came the first white men. The explorer came and the scout; the trapper and the cavalry soldier each passed along the rivers and through the tall prairie grass, but left things unchanged by their coming.

It was the frontier of the Jamestown and Northern Railroad Co. , an affiliate of the Northern Pacific, followed by the frontier of the immigrant farmer seeking to find a new home, which changed the face of the land. They cleared the fields, built homes, and pastured their herds in this newfound area we now know as The Sheyenne Community.

One can only marvel at the fortitude of those brave pioneers as they faced the unknown in the hope that they could build a better life for their families. The way they were able to adapt to whatever need presented itself was a tribute to the unusual kind of people who settled this land of ours."

*History of the Sheyenne Area 1883-1976, published in June 1976 under auspices of the Sheyenne Bicentennial Commission