1951 Map of Fried

About this map

The Jim River Valley and the winding course of the James River define this mid-century portrait of Stutsman County. Surveyed in the early 1950s for the Missouri River Basin development program, the landscape reveals a sparse, rural infrastructure centered on the small settlement of Fried. This period of North Dakota history is captured through the distribution of one-room schoolhouses, including School No 1, School No 2, and School No 3, which served the surrounding farming townships. The topography is characterized by the broad depressions of the Buchanan Valley and the upland plateau of Ashland. Water features are central to the geography here, with Blue Lake sitting prominently in the northeastern quadrant, providing a permanent landmark amidst the glacial till and coulees that drop toward the river bottomlands.