NORTH DAKOTA: THE ENCHANTED HIGHWAY

September 14, 2019

As we were driving along, making our way to North Dakota's Enchanted Highway (more on that later), we passed through the tiny town of New Salem, pop. <1,000. 

Off in the distance we could see what looked like a gigantic cow standing on the ridge of a small hill. What??

As we got a bit closer, we could see that yes, indeed, it was a cow, a Holstein, no less.

Bob veered quickly onto the dirt road that appeared to lead in the appropriate direction, and we discovered that the object of our detour was "Salem Sue."

Yeah, that's my husband. I can't take him anywhere.

The hill Salem Sue stands atop is the highest spot for miles around. She has quite a kingdom.

We stopped at a gas station not far from the dirt road that led to Salem Sue and noted that someone had the sense to capitalize on Sue's kitschy appeal. I mean, who doesn't want a Salem Sue sweatshirt? (Besides us, of course.)

We drove through miles of farmland, the primary crops appearing to be hay . . .

. . . and sunflowers, miles and miles of sunflowers with heavy, drooping heads. How do they keep the birds away?

Almost 90 miles west of Bismarck we came to the town of Gladstone, named for the British Prime Minister William Gladstone. Or at least I think we did. I don't remember seeing this metropolis with a population of 240.

Between Gladstone and another urban city, Regent (population 160), is a road called "The Enchanted Highway." On this 32-mile two-lane highway, which passes through scenic farmland, former North Dakota school-principal-turned-artist Gary Greff has erected a series of fanciful metal sculptures as a way to draw tourists to the area, thereby helping to preserve the small towns at both ends--or at least that is his dream. He started the project in 1989 with a master plan to build ten sculptures. He has completed seven so far.

Greff had a Field of Dreams vision--"If you build it, they will come."  (In this case, however, maybe it should be "If you weld it, they will come.) He was not deterred by the fact that he had no experience with welding and no slush fund to cover his projects. He has created his art with contributions of land, materials, and cash. The cash has largely come from the tourists who make a detour to see his work--people like us. In 2019, the state legislature finally allocated some money for the maintenance of the sculptures.

Each of the sculptures references an environmental,  cultural, or historical aspect of North Dakota. The first sculpture marks the entrance to the Enchanted Highway. Geese in Flight, built in 2001, won the 2002 Guinness World Record for being the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world. According to Guiness, it is 110 feet tall, 154 feet wide, and weighs 157,659 pounds!

Putting Bob in the picture gives some perspective on size:

Flying geese line the road between the highway and the sculpture.

The main sculpture is stabilized by bracing wires on both sides:

With only one sculpture down and six more to go, I was totally hooked on the weird charm of the subject matter and the creative vision of the sculptor.

The second stop was Deer Crossing, erected in 2002. I can imagine Gary Greff has seen plenty of deer leaping over the farm fences in the evenings.

At the same turn-out there is a maze made from sections of fencing.

Each of the installations requires about an acre of land (enough to include a parking lot and a picnic area), which has been donated by various farmers in the area. The art works have been met by varying degrees of acceptance by the local farmers.  

I look tiny standing next to the 50-foot-tall and 50-foot-long doe. The leaping buck is 70 feet tall and 60 feet long.  Again, note the anchor wires.

Back on the road, driving south on The Enchanted Highway, we were charged with anticipation. What would be next?

An "Enchanted Highway" brings to mind fairy tales and princesses, knights and sprites. I hadn't thought of associating enchantment with grasshoppers invading a wheat field, but that is what is next. This one is called Grasshopper's Delight.

The largest grasshopper is 40 feet tall and 50 feet long.

There's an awful lot of wheat out there.  I wonder how many grasshoppers are crawling among the stalks?

This stop has a playground that includes a grasshopper riding toy.

Wheat stalks form a fence.

Next is the most complex of the existing eight installations, Fisherman's Dream, which shows an enormous fish leaping 70 feet out of the water to snag the bait on the end of a fisherman's line. Beneath the line of water and off to the side are several other fish.

One of the fish had fallen over--perhaps blown over in the recent storm. Maintenance of the Enchanted Highway must be a lot of work.

Pheasants on the Prairie is the next attraction and includes Papa Pheasant, Mama Pheasant, and three Baby Pheasants.

Papa Pheasant is 40 tall and 70 feet long and weighs 13,000 pounds! The detail in the painted feathers is amazing.

A welded metal frame wrapped in mesh creates the structure of each bird, and the transparency allows visitors to "look inside" to see how each bird is formed. 

Although I really liked the enormous feet . . . 

. . . the very best part was this sign posted in front of the field next to the pheasants. Did the farmer intend it to be funny? I thought it was hilarious!

Next up is one of the earlier sculptures. Theodore Roosevelt Rides Again, which includes a horse-drawn stage coach in the foreground, was built in 1993. The design was chosen by the Enchanted Highway Committee (comprising the artist and ?) and the North Dakota University Art Department. The stagecoach was donated by a resident of the town of Regent.

Teddy and his horse are 51 feet tall.

There is a nice picnic table there (built by the high school shop class) for those who want to stop to eat their sandwiches and contemplate one of our most boisterous presidents. North Dakota was Teddy's favorite place to hunt.

The World's Largest Tin Family, the first of Gary Greff's creations, was erected in 1991.  Like the other sculptures, it is huge. Mr. Farmer stands 45 feet tall. (Just his cap is 6 feet across and 5 feet tall.)  Mrs. Farmer is 44 feet tall, and Junior is 23 feet tall. Of the seven sculptures, I think this is my favorite. It is wonderfully whimsical, right down to the cheesy expressions on their faces. The trio looks like something straight out of Toy Story. Their bodies are made from empty oil drums. The wife's hair is a mess of barbed wire, and her dangling earrings are augers. The farmer's shoes are made of horse water troughs.  The white picket fence is a nice touch, as is the big red lollipop that Junior is licking.

About 6,000 cars find their way down the Enchanted Highway each year and end up in the ghost town bustling metropolis of Regent. That's more than 37.5 times the town's total population of 160.

Gary Greff's active imagination and energetic creativity is evident even in Regent, which is dotted with more of his metallic art. That's Bob, not metallic art, standing behind the buffalo diorama:

My favorite adornment is this metal evergreen:

Thousands of thin strips of metal form the needles.

  

We'd been meandering down the highway for hours and were hungry, so we drove to the far end of town to the Enchanted Castle, an old school repurposed to become a hotel with 19 rooms, a banquet hall for tour groups, and a nice restaurant, where we planned to have dinner.

We crossed the moat and made our way to the Excalibur Steakhouse . . .

. . . which was closed. Darn. But we did get a kick out of the decor.

That meant that the only place we could eat was the small sandwich shop that was part of the gift shop.

Besides sandwiches, which were actually quite good, the shop sold all kinds of Enchanted Highway memorabilia, including shirts, hats, figurines, magnets, and postcards.

After a large group that had come in ahead of us left the shop, the friendly proprietor came over to chat. He had lots of good information about the highway and the town, and it finally dawned on us that this was Gary Greff, THE Gary Greff, scrap metal sculptor extraordinaire. It was a perfect ending to a delightful, truly enchanted journey.