After decades as a territory, the northern half of Dakota entered the Union as a state in 1889, its admission so entwined with its southern twin that the order was deliberately obscured.

At Pembina in the north, the Métis people forged a distinct culture of the buffalo hunt and the trade trail, their squealing wooden carts once a familiar sight across the plains.

Far from a relic, the powwow endures as a vibrant celebration of song, dance and community among the plains nations, drawing dancers and drums from across the continent.

Across the plains stand the remnants of towns that time and the timetable passed by — a leaning elevator, an empty church, a main street returning quietly to grass.

The railroads that crossed the plains did not merely serve the towns — they created them, platting settlements at regular intervals and deciding which would thrive and which would vanish.

Scattered across the settled prairie, thousands of one-room schoolhouses taught the children of the homesteaders, a single teacher guiding all eight grades at once.