DRAKE, =89 m.= (1,634 alt., 644 pop.), named for an early settler, Herman Drake, is on the watershed between the Mouse and Sheyenne Rivers in a diversified farming and dairying area. A small railroad center, it has become a wholesale distribution point; a $20,000 cooperative creamery is operated here. Northwest of Drake the route traverses rolling tree-dotted hills that begin to slope toward the Mouse River valley. BALFOUR, =97 m.= (1,613 alt., 197 pop.), named by the town site company, and VOLTAIRE, =116 m.= (1,587 alt., 61 pop.), believed to have been named for an early settler, are both young villages incorporated in 1929. The road makes an abrupt descent into the flat, trough-like Mouse River valley at VELVA, =122 m.= (1,511 alt., 870 pop.), which is at the southwestern point of the loop of the river, near a camp site of the Sully expedition of 1865. The park-like little town is on the flood plain of the river which flows through it. First known as Mouse River Post Office, it was given its present name after organization of the town site in 1891-92. A park in the northern part of the town offers recreational facilities, and contains the FIRST DWELLING IN VELVA, a log hut built in 1885. 1. Right from Velva on a dirt road winding down the Mouse River valley is VERENDRYE, =11 m.= (1,554 alt., 100 pop.). First known as Falsen, the town was given its present name in honor of Pierre de la Verendrye, earliest known white explorer in the region. Right from the town pump =0.5 m.= to the globular masonry DAVID THOMPSON MEMORIAL, erected by the G. N. Ry. in 1925 on a high point overlooking the river valley. On the base of the monument is the inscription: "1770--David Thompson--1885, Geographer and Astronomer passed near here in 1797 and 1798 on a scientific and trading expedition. He made the first map of the country which is now North Dakota and achieved many noteworthy discoveries in the northwest." Thompson made his explorations while an employee of the North West Fur Co. 2. Left from Velva on a graded dirt road to a junction with another graded road at =4 m.=; R. here to another junction at =8 m.=; L. here to a STRIP MINE which is one of the larger lignite operating units in the United States, =10 m.= Here, in order to reach a vein of coal averaging 14 ft. in thickness, great shovels strip the 40-to 50-feet overburden and pile it into fantastic high mounds and ridges resembling the work of a giant mole. Nearby is a small community of some 40 homes of miners. Northwest of Velva the route follows the foot of the hills bordering the valley to SAWYER, =128.5 m.= (1,525 alt., 206 pop.), believed to have been named for a Soo Ry. official. MINOT, =144 m.= (1,557 alt., 16,099 pop.) (_see_ MINOT). _Points of Interest_: Minot State Teachers College, Roosevelt Park and Zoo.