FLASHER, =108.5 m.= (1,905 alt., 346 pop.), its residence district scattered over the south slope of a hill and its business street at the foot, is a Russo-German community named for Mabel Flasher, niece and secretary of William H. Brown, head of the land company that owned many of the town sites along the N. P. Ry. branch. At =126.5 m.= is the junction with ND 6 (_see Side Tour 8C_), 26 m. S. of Mandan (_see Tour 8_). TOUR 5 Junction US 81--Cavalier--Rolla--Belcourt--Dunseith--Bottineau-- Mohall--Crosby--(Scobey, Mont.). ND 5. Junction with US 81 to Montana Line, 329 m. Soo Ry. branch roughly parallels route from Flaxton to Montana Line; G. N. Ry. branches touch route at intervals between junction US 81 and Lignite, and branch parallels route between Lignite and Crosby. Graveled roadbed entire route. Usual tourist accommodations in principal towns. This route, paralleling the international boundary 10 to 15 miles to the north, passes through some of the oldest and some of the newest towns in the State. In the eastern section, where the country is more productive and settlement first began, are towns established in the 1870's, while in the western area, where occupation was slower, are a number of towns founded in the twentieth century. The route begins in the low, level wheatlands of the Red River Valley, at one time the bed of glacial Lake Agassiz, and soon doubles its altitude by rising 800 feet upon the broad, rough, less thickly settled Drift Prairie, which stretches away approximately two-thirds of the distance across the State. This wide section, which includes the wooded Turtle Mountains and the level bottom of another glacial lake, Lake Souris, was once a hunters' paradise--a prize which involved the Chippewa Indians, who long held it, in frequent conflict with their enemies the Sioux. With the coming of the whites the region saw new rivals, as the XY, North West, and Hudson's Bay Companies struggled savagely and often bloodily for domination of the fur trade. Most of the Chippewa in the State now live on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, through which the route passes. Over the bed of ancient Lake Souris, west of the hills, once roamed hordes of buffalo; later, during early white settlement, this region was the feeding ground of great numbers of horses and cattle. After crossing the Souris (Mouse) River twice and the long, narrow Upper Des Lacs Lake, the route ascends 300 to 400 feet to cross the Missouri Plateau, an open, rugged country, marked here and there with the homes of ranchers and farmers, and pitted by the strip mines extracting the huge lignite coal deposits that underlie the plateau. HAMILTON, =0.0 m.= (_see Tour 1_), is R. of ND 5 where it branches W. from US 81 (_see Tour 1_). At =5 m.= is the junction with ND 18, a graveled highway.