West of the Red River Valley trees are few except along the rivers. Yet, according to legend, this country was once heavily forested--until Paul Bunyan, the master woodsman, had his men log it off, just before his famous fight with his foreman, the Bull of the Woods, on top of the bottom of the Mountain That Stood on Its Head. As a matter of geologic fact, the area traversed by the route has been largely treeless since the gradual cooling of the climate, incident to the ice age, destroyed the tropical plant and animal life which once were profuse here. FARGO, =0.0 m.= (907 alt., 28,619 pop.) (_see_ FARGO). _Points of Interest_: North Dakota Agricultural College, Veterans' Hospital, Dovre Ski Slide. At Front and 13th Sts. is the junction with US 81 (_see Tour 1_). WEST FARGO (R) (907 alt., 127 pop.) and SOUTHWEST FARGO (L) (907 alt., 800 pop.), =5 m.=, suburbs of Fargo, are the center of North Dakota's meat-packing industry. An ARMOUR & CO. PLANT (_open_; _tours at 9:30 & 11 a.m., 1 & 3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 10:30 a.m. only on Sat._; _no children under 10_) and a large livestock market employ the majority of the residents of these two young villages, incorporated in 1931 and 1937 respectively. Armour's plant, housed in a four-story brick building, employs more than 400 people. Connected with it is the Union Stockyards where representatives of commission firms buy livestock from North Dakota farmers. Included in the yards is an exchange building which houses offices of the company, dealers, and commission firms, and State and Federal agencies supervising market operations. At =12 m.= is the junction with a graveled county highway. Right on this highway is MAPLETON, =1 m.= (904 alt., 195 pop.), one of the oldest towns in the State, organized about 1870. It is named for the MAPLE RIVER which flows through it, one of the many meandering tributaries of the Red. At =20 m.= is the junction with ND 18, a graveled highway. Right on this road is CASSELTON, =2 m.= (936 alt., 1,254 pop.), named for Maj. G. W. Cass (1810-1888) of Minneapolis, stockholder in the N. P. Ry. and proponent of the railroad nursery that propagated the poplar trees that today line the streets. It was the boyhood home of William Langer (1886-), Governor of the State (1933-1934; 1937-1939) and a storm center in Nonpartisan League politics (_see_ HISTORY).