North Dakota Highway 5
|  Video
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| Cliff Naylor |
| 8/7/2009 |
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| Drivers can journey back in time just by traveling down Highway 5 in northwestern North Dakota. The road is lined with rock art that illustrates the state`s history. The speed limit on Highway 5 is 65 miles an hour, but many folks slow down or even stop so they can appreciate the granite gallery that lines the north side of the road. "There have been a lot of photographs taken," says Ambrose resident Milton Olson. Milton Olson commissioned the road side paintings that colorfully recreate frontier life. The largest mural celebrates the Chisholm Trail that once transported thousands of head of cattle to prairie grass lands that surround Highway 5. "It started in Texas in the 1800s and run clear to Canada," Olson says. "They trailed them up here to graze." In addition to the tribute to the great cattle drives of the Old West, the rocks also represent Native American culture and history. "It`s something to look at besides the crops, makes you think a little bit as you drive down the road, how things were, how things started and how things have ended," says resident Shannon Gjvig. Thane Lund of Crosby and Bob Bergeron of Williston are the artists who painted the six rocks that make up the historical works of art and they may be hired to expand the gallery. "I`d like to do three or four more, providing I can find suitable rocks," Olson says. He says there is plenty of North Dakota history that has yet to be etched in stone. The rock gallery starts at the junction of Highway 5 and 85 five miles west of Crosby, and runs 10 miles west along the north side of the road. |
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