History of Bismarck, North Dakota History of Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck is the capital of the state of North Dakota, the county seat of Burleigh County, and the second most populous city in North Dakota after Fargo. The city was formed in 1872 as "Edwinton" after Edwin Ferry Johnson, a chief engineer for the Northern Pacific Railway company, when the railroad reached the eastern banks of the Missouri River. The name was changed less than one year later, honoring German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, in an effort to attract German immigrants. The discovery of gold in the nearby Black Hills in 1874 was the first
North Dakota Highway 9 North Dakota Highway 9 North Dakota Highway 9 (ND 9) is a state highway in eastern North Dakota. It follows a zigzag pattern from U.S. Route 52 (US 52) and US 281 at Melville to ND 1 outside of Rogers. ND 9 originally extended to Canada, and at its current eastern terminus, it followed the route of what is now ND 1 south, but when US 52 was extended into North Dakota, ND 9 was truncated to its current terminus. The route starts at an intersection with US 52/US 281 in Melville. It then goes about without any intersections, passing