I’m not too old to learn and appreciate doing it. Yesterday’s outing took us to the Fort Ransom area and primarily the State Park for the prime reason of getting into a quiet rural area. Driving along Hiway 46 we passed through that little area called Little Yellowstone Park. Now, I’ve always thought that was a knockoff name from the “real” Yellowstone Park because it’s such a scenic area. We came to find out it’s justified. At an observation point in the state park we read this: “The Niobrara Formation created by sediment being deposited on the sea floor yields many fossils of marine animals. This shale yellows to a gold color when exposed to the elements - hence the name Little Yellowstone.”
While in the park we checked out the yurts. I walked up to one and peaked through the glass in the doorway, and then better yet, a young park ranger lady came driving up on a Gator to clean it after the recent guests had departed. She unlocked it and invited us to come in. It is better furnished than I thought, complete with running water and electricity. At $125 per night stay, it would be a good getaway.
How many years had it been since we walked through the museum in town? I’d read where a young student from NDSU was interning there this summer and worked at cataloging their collection. It was good to see an attempt at organizing the artifacts is being made. The volunteer working there showed me a map that caught my eye. In a large frame about 3 feet by 2 feet it was hand-lettered and drawn and identified by the following legend - “Copy of original U. S. Army map taken from Fort Ransom, N. D. 1865-1872”. Drawn to scale, Snorri Thorfinson must drawn and labeled it since his name is printed on the lower right corner.
As I said at the beginning, I’m not too old to still be learning. Museums are something I like to support. I left several of my latest book with the museum for them to sell as a fund raiser.
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