The “City” of Leal, North Dakota

July 18, 2017Troy Larson 83 Comments

Leal is a small town in Barnes county, an hour northeast of Jamestown, or 73 miles northwest of Fargo. It was founded in 1892, and incorporated as a village in 1917, but in 1967, North Dakota eliminated the “village” and “town” incorporations in the state, making all incorporated places “cities.” So, today, Leal is a “city” with a population density of 142 residents per square mile. Sounds like a hoppin’ place, right? Not really. The population density figure is a mathematical quirk of a city with an area of .14 square miles and a population of 20 in the 2010 census.

Our stop in Leal was quick and we found just a little to photograph… a few select buildings and an abandoned farmstead outside of town.

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Historic Bridges of the Sheyenne Valley, part one

November 3, 2015Troy Larson 12 Comments

If you’ve followed this site for any length of time, you know we occasionally like to photograph bridges, for a number of reasons. Sometimes it’s for their historic significance (like Caledonia and Romness Township bridges), and other times it’s because the bridge is huge and awe-inspiring, as is the case with the High Line, Karnak, and Gassman Coulee railroad trestles.

In this case, we’ve decided to photograph most of the historic automobile bridges of the Sheyenne River Valley, some abandoned but many still in use, while they still exist. Just like the structures of prairie ghost towns, these bridges are endangered by time and natural events. Floods, weather cycles, and normal wear and tear take a toll on these bridges, and without restoration, they will be gone someday. Also, it’s hard to resist the urge to go out and shoot photos when it’s sixty-some degrees in November.

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Defining what exactly constitutes a “ghost town” can sometimes be tricky. In our years of exploring North Dakota’s abandoned places, we’ve often encountered former towns where the townsite itself is empty, but there’s a farm about half a mile down the road. Sometimes a former town like Sims, North Dakota has an active church, but nobody actually lives on the town site. And still other times, we will hear objections from people who feel as though we’ve misrepresented their town, or somehow labeled it a ghost town because it appears on this website, in which case we clarify that this site is about ghost towns and abandoned places, like the former First National Bank and Barber Auditorium in Marmarth, North Dakota, a town with a population numbering more than a hundred.

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20 True Ghost Towns: Population Zero

October 30, 2015November 29, 2021Troy Larson 74 Comments

This is an abandoned farmstead right along the Sheyenne River Valley Scenic Byway, just a few minutes south of Valley City, North Dakota.

People have occasionally asked us, “What’s the fascination with abandoned places like this?” and it’s a hard question to answer, but there’s a hint in places like this. When you see it for the first time, you’re struck by the contradiction of a beautiful setting in a rolling river valley marked by an abandoned home like this. Your mind conjures the questions soon after… “What was life like when a family called this home? Why did they leave?” Before you know it, you’ve spent an hour pondering it in your mind’s eye.

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Abandoned in the Sheyenne River Valley

October 21, 2014Troy Larson 12 Comments

This is Nome, North Dakota, in Barnes County, about 20 miles southeast of Valley City. I was delivering books earlier this week and stopped to shoot Sheldon, North Dakota since I was in the area, and the highway took me right through Nome as I was on the way home, so I pulled-in and grabbed a few shots.

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Nome, North Dakota

September 10, 2014Troy Larson 28 Comments

High Line Bridge in Valley City is the longest railroad bridge in the state and like the Gassman-Coulee Trestle in Minot and the Sheyenne River Bridge near Karnak, we chose to photograph it and feature it here due to the railroads’ pivotal role in settling North Dakota. All three of these bridges are still used daily.

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Northern Pacific High Line Bridge #64

May 9, 2014September 1, 2022Troy Larson 4 Comments

Abandoned Barnes County School

May 3, 2014Troy Larson 8 Comments

This abandoned school was not a planned stop, but we happened to drive right by it and decided we should stop to shoot it. This abandoned country school is in northern Barnes County, about five miles southwest of Sibley, North Dakota. If anyone knows the official name of this school, please leave a comment below.

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Ten More Lost North Dakota Places

November 3, 2013Troy Larson 16 Comments

Sometimes we photograph a place and find out years later that it’s gone, sometimes the place is gone by the time we get there. But the one constant is that the list of places is growing all the time.

Here’s another list of ten more significant North Dakota places that have unfortunately lost their battle with time. When you’re done with this one, check out 10 Lost North Dakota Places, and 8 More Lost North Dakota Places.

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Nome School in Barnes County — 1919 and 2005.

Animation by Troy
Original content copyright Sonic Tremor Media

Nome School: Then and Now

January 13, 2013Troy Larson 12 Comments

We found a couple of vintage Nome postcards at an antique store not too long ago, including a postcard of the now-abandoned Nome School in Barnes County which we snapped on a whim while passing through Nome in 2005.

We had to make some guesses on this card due to the handwriting — This postcard was sent on September 24th, 1919 from Laura Sigurdson to Miss Signe Bratt (who was a teacher herself in Northfield) in Lawton, North Dakota. It reads as follows:

Dear Signe,
Did you think I had forgotten you entirely? Oh no. Am teaching here at Nome, 1st grade, and like it fine. How are you anyway? Do you hear from [name illegible]? Where is she? Send me her address will you? Please write me [illegible] soon and tell me all about yourself. Yours forever, Laura Sigurdson.