J. Craig Thorpe (American, B. 1948) "North Dakota Locomotive" Signed lower left. Original acrylic painting on Paper. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This painting originally appeared on the Fleetwood Legendary Locomotives of the 50 States North Dakota Commemorative Cover postmarked February 12, 1995. On April 17, 1874, General George Custer extolled the virtues of North Dakota in a rebuttal printed in the Minneapolis Tribune. Custer's nine-page letter was aimed at North Dakota's critics, which included Northern Pacific (NP) director Joseph Dilworth, whose railroad had been granted 10 million acres of land in the Dakota Territory. The NP executive had commented that the government had "made a good deal when exchanging such worthless territory for a transcontinental railroad." An excerpt from Custer's letter disputes that remark by stating that one could see "an almost unbroken sea of green, luxuriant, wavering grass" from nearly every location in the territory. Despite these differences of opinion, the NP did run its transcontinental railroad through the region. And from 1879 to 1882, NP trains even overcame the challenge of crossing North Dakota's Missouri River without benefit of a bridge. This was necessary to make the connection between the towns of Bismarck and Mandan. Most of the year, the trip was made by ferrying the trains from bank to bank. During winter, however, NP trains made the crossing directly on temporary trackage laid over the Missouri River when it was frozen to a depth of several feet. The first train to take this treacherous journey did so on February 12, 1879. This artwork depicts a Missouri River winter crossing featuring NP's engine No. 51 steaming along oversized railroad ties. These were used to spread the weight of the train over a greater area of ice. Image Size: 14 x 12 in. Overall Size: 18 x 15 in. Unframed. (B14935)