Little is left standing today of what was once a booming economy in the Upper Midwest. Our little “least visited United State” was once bustling with families that flocked here in droves upon the establishment of the 1862 Homestead Act. Around the same time, our prairies were also met with the introduction of the Pacific Railway Acts.

Unfortunately, many small towns in North Dakota were established in the belief that the railroad would at some point cross their paths, bringing room for economic growth. This was a dream that many would never live to see. The economy crashed in the 1920’s. Businesses failed. People left.

Sometimes, I am lucky enough in my adventures to find what’s left of what I imagine to have been a great place of significance, at some point in time. I imagine the babies that were born in the homes I stand in. The cows that were milked in the barns (maybe a barn stood here, a long time ago).  The laughs and cries and freedoms and fears that were felt on that soil. 

With The Forgotten Project, I hope to preserve just a little bit of someone’s world. After all, there are people alive out there because these homes and towns were built.