1957 Map of Comstock

About this map

Lake Ibsen dominates the northern landscape of this North Dakota prairie in the late 1950s, where the Missouri River Basin development program documented a shifting agricultural and rail corridor. Two major rail lines, the Northern Pacific and the Minneapolis St Paul and Sault Ste Marie, intersect near the small settlement of Comstock, illustrating the importance of transport for this grain-growing region. The landscape is characterized by its pothole lakes and undulating terrain features like The Buttes, while local community life is anchored by rural institutions such as School No 4, Gallinger Sch No 1, and the Wilmerth Cem. These features, along with the drainage of Big Coulee, reveal the intersection of early twentieth-century rail expansion and mid-century land management.