North Dakota
At issue in a Billings County bridge dispute: When is a written promise not a promise?
MEDORA, N.D. — Dave Short stood on a high bluff and pointed down below to a stake driven into the ground on his family’s ranch along the Little Missouri River — a guidepost for bulldozers.
The stake on the valley floor marks the path of a proposed road that would lead to a bridge Billings County wants to build over the river deep in the heart of the Badlands.
Next, he pointed to a knob jutting from the top of the butte, a landmark that also lies along the path of the bridge a project backer once said would carry a thousand oil trucks a day on a road less than a mile from his family’s ranch headquarters.
Patrick Springer / The Forum
“That whole butte would be torn off,” Short said. Dust from traffic over the gravel road would force the Shorts to move their cattle feedlot to a new location. The road for the bridge would sever the ranch headquarters from the rest of the family’s sprawling land.
“We don’t want that road,” he said. “We don’t want that road for anything, and all that traffic across the flat, and all the dust covering everything. In the dry years, it’ll look apocalyptic.”
The Short family’s fight to save its land could depend on a legal question of whether a county commission’s agreement to surrender its eminent domain authority can bind a future commission — or, put another way, when is a written promise not a binding promise?
The ranch has been in the Short family for more than a century, when the family started ranching in 1904, during homesteading and the end of the open range ranching era.
Horse herds used to graze the plateau, where breezes helped keep away the flies. Trails created by the horses still etch the pasture with a trail leading to the craggy butte sculpted from the high plain.
The remote Short ranch, a few miles south of Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch, now a unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, is quiet, with the rugged beauty of the Badlands left mostly undisturbed.
“That is why we’re trying to protect the ranch,” Short said. “The Short family has always been no-build. Leave this country the way it is.”
‘Least damaging’ location
For decades, Billings County has wanted a crossing over the Little Missouri River between the Long X Bridge, south of Watford City in McKenzie County, and the Interstate 94 bridge at Medora.
The gap between bridges means motorists can have to drive more than 70 miles to cross the river or take their chances during low river levels.
Billings County officials contend a bridge is needed for public safety, to allow faster emergency response, as well as for the convenience of ranchers, commercial traffic and tourists.
Patrick Springer / The Forum
The Short family counters, however, that there is no need for a costly bridge to serve sparsely populated Billings County, which has 1,043 residents, according to census figures. The vast majority of those reside south of Medora, Short said.
“There is no one out there to connect or benefit from it,” he said. “There’s less than 25 people north of Medora.”
The county’s quest for a bridge gained impetus after the oil boom in the early 2000s. At first, the county proposed a crossing near the historic Elkhorn Ranch in 2006 but abandoned that location after a public outcry.
An environmental review by the Federal Highway Administration examined multiple possible bridge locations and in 2019 chose the site on the Short ranch, which federal officials concluded was the “least damaging practicable alternative.”
“It’s not Billings County that’s choosing where this bridge goes,” said Tami Norgard, a lawyer for the county. “It’s the Federal Highway Administration.”
In April 2020, the Billings County Commission, acting on an agenda item described only as “eminent domain,” passed a resolution approving the use of eminent domain for the bridge project.
But the county’s plans to use eminent domain to take land for the bridge from the Shorts was derailed in the 2020 election, when Jim Arthaud, a leading bridge proponent on the Billings County Commission, was defeated.
In his place, voters elected Dean Rodne, an opponent of using eminent domain to take private land. Commissioner Mike Kasian, who earlier supported using eminent domain for the bridge, changed his mind and joined Rodne in opposing eminent domain.
With two of its three commissioners opposed to taking private land for the bridge, the Short family and Billings County signed a settlement agreement, with the Shorts signing in late July and the commissioners in August 2021. The county would look elsewhere for a river crossing.
In exchange for the county’s promise not to use eminent domain on Short family land for the bridge, the Shorts agreed to dismiss two lawsuits challenging placement of the bridge on their land.
Then, a new pro-eminent domain commission resulted when Steven Klym defeated Kasian in 2022.
After concluding there wasn’t a viable alternative, the new commission majority decided to ignore the agreement signed the year before by the former commission — meaning the Short ranch was once again in the crosshairs of the long-sought bridge.
The county offered the Shorts $20,000 per acre for permanent easements, an offer the family rejected, saying it had no interest in selling any land.
Billings County then exercised an eminent domain provision under North Dakota law called “quick take” that allows it to deposit money for land it has deemed necessary for a public project.
In August 2023, Billings County deposited three checks totaling $52,371 with the clerk of courts, allowing it to take possession of a strip of the Short Ranch.
And, once again, the Shorts were back in court. Because an appeal couldn’t stop the county from proceeding with construction on land it owned, the Shorts filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Bismarck arguing that their constitutional rights were violated.
“The County has gone back on its word, torn up a contract it had agreed to, and taken concrete steps toward condemning the Short Ranch,” the lawsuit said.
In rebuttal, the county argued its lawyers made clear before the agreement was signed that the commission that signed the agreement couldn’t bind a future county commission.
Arguing that bulldozing the buttes to create a road path leading to the bridge would cause “irreparable harm,” the Shorts asked a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction blocking construction until the legal dispute is decided.
“The County’s attempt to take the Shorts’ property will irreparably harm this beauty, forever changing the largely untouched landscape of the Shorts’ property,” the lawsuit said.
The Shorts’ lawyers took the case to federal court because, under North Dakota’s quick-take eminent domain law, a legal challenge in state court cannot block construction even if the dispute hasn’t been decided.
The ability of the state and its subdivisions to take land even before a court has heard challenges gives the state immense power over private landowners, Short said.
“I think most North Dakotans don’t realize the government has that sort of authority,” he said.
Derrick Braaten, a lawyer who represents the Shorts, said governments are increasingly using their power to acquire land through quick take.
“There’s no limit on when they can use it,” he said.
Tim Purdon, another lawyer for the Shorts, added, “It short circuits due process procedures,” with an expedited process that diminishes a landowner’s right to be heard.
‘A contract says what it says’
The crux of the Shorts’ federal court challenge is a claim that the Billings County Commission’s decision to ignore the settlement agreement signed by a previous commission constitutes a breach of contract.
Patrick Springer / The Forum
But the county argues that under case law one commission cannot “surrender” its “sovereign eminent domain authority through agreement with a landowner.”
Norgard explained her assertion of the inability of one commission to bind a future commission by giving up its eminent domain authority in the commission’s regular meeting on July 6, 2021, several weeks before the Shorts and commissioners signed the agreement, according to minutes for the meeting.
Sandra Short, the family matriarch, and her daughter, Sarah Sarbacker, were present at the meeting, according to the minutes.
Precedents upholding the inability of one commission to bind a future commission are a matter of “black letter law,” a position the county argues is well supported, adding it is “the consensus among jurisdictions that the right of eminent domain cannot be contracted away or restricted.”
But lawyers for the Shorts argue the signed settlement agreement is a contract that must be upheld.
“In the law, a contract says what it says” and cannot be modified by “oral side deals,” Purdon said.
“Contracts dealing with real estate have to be in writing,” he said, adding the signed agreement does not include a provision for the county to reconsider. “It doesn’t say the county can change its mind later.”
U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor issued a preliminary injunction to bar construction before the dispute is decided.
“The record establishes a probability of success on the merits of the Shorts’ breach of contract claim,” Traynor wrote in his decision. “The Shorts entered into a settlement agreement with the then-Billings County Board of Commissioners.”
The judge added that the commission’s rescission of the agreement after the election is “contrary to the plain language of the Settlement Agreement.”
Billings County is appealing Traynor’s order to the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
‘We just want to be left alone’
The Short ranch has been in the family since 1904. Hugh Connorran Short was a land salesman for the Northern Pacific Railway, whose work took him to Billings County.
He liked the area and bought out a horse ranch. The Shorts continued raising horses but later switched to cattle.
During hard times, the Shorts were forced to sell some land but managed to rebuild the ranch, which now sprawls over 3,000 acres. Another branch of the Short family owns an adjacent 3,500-acre ranch.
Donald Levingston Short, who represented North Dakota in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1959 to 1965, lived on the ranch his entire 78 years. He was Dave Short’s grandfather and Sandra Short’s father-in-law.
Contributed / Short family
The family is trying to have the ranch, which occupies a scenic valley of the Little Missouri River for 12 miles, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The ranch has a dozen buildings, including three original log cabins.
When Hugh Short started ranching, he qualified as a big rancher as of the end of the open range era, with herds of 500 horses, which he sold to buy 1,000 head of cattle. During the heyday of the open range, in the 1880s, a big ranch had between 10,000 and 25,000 head of cattle.
During a severe drought in the late 1970s, the Shorts sold their cattle. Dave Short, whose father was afflicted with disabling arthritis, sought opportunities off the ranch after graduating from high school and found a career in heavy equipment sales.
For more than 30 years, the ranch has been run by tenant ranchers, but the family is preparing to resume operations, likely in partnership with another rancher, Dave Short said.
Although absentee owners, the Shorts have allowed hunting on their land and take their stewardship role seriously.
“The spectacular land is what I’m fighting for,” Dave Short said, pointing to majestic buttes, banded by varicolored layers of sediment, that dominate the austere landscape. “It’s personal. We just want to be left alone.”
North Dakota
The Democratic Spirit: Reflections on North Dakota History and the Declaration of Independence at 250 – America250
A state and national public forum comprising a lecture, and then a question-answer session. Kwame Anthony Appiah’s lecture commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and explore its enduring significance in American life. Appiah’s scholarship on ethics, identity, and cosmopolitanism offers a unique lens for examining democratic ideals in a diverse society. By connecting these themes to North Dakota’s historical narrative, the forum fosters civic engagement, intellectual discourse, and cultural understanding within our community.
FARGO — Drivers can expect to see a slight uptick in gas prices as a result of the Iran conflict.
As of Monday, March 2, the average for North Dakota is $2.65 a gallon. While that is a $0.13 increase from a month ago, it is significantly lower than prices a year ago.
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GRAND FORKS – The Study ND, formerly Humanities North Dakota, has received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for a statewide theater and humanities initiative in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
This commemorative investment is meant to bring historical events and figures – such as the framers of the U.S. Constitution – to life through virtual and live performances that celebrate the nation’s history.
The grant, along with funding from private sources, has made it possible for The Study ND to host “America 250” activities after the organization sustained a considerable cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year, according to Brenna Gerhardt, The Study ND executive director.
“We absorbed a 50% budget cut, resulting in a loss of $467,645 in funding,” Gerhardt said. “As a result, we had to significantly scale back our American 250 initiatives focused on American history and civics education.”
Funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be used to present public readings, theatrical portrayals and guided discussions to encourage audience members to reflect on the nation’s founding in 1776 and on its democratic ideals, while engaging in contemporary conversations about civic life.
All of the programming in the series organized by The Study ND, titled “American Heroes,” will be livestreamed statewide.
In the grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, “we framed the project around a simple idea: democracy requires more than information, it requires citizens who can think historically, listen well, and argue in good faith,” Gerhardt said.
“This series uses living history performances to bring consequential figures into the room, then turns the room into a civic space through moderated dialogue and related public events. We define ‘heroism’ as civic courage under pressure, the willingness to contend with hard truths, and the capacity to enlarge a community’s moral imagination,” she said.
“The project does not ask audiences to agree on a single interpretation of a figure. It invites them to grapple with complexity together, and to connect the past to the responsibilities of the present.”
When Gerhardt and her colleagues received the application for grant proposals from the National Endowment for the Arts, “we were already planning a line-up of America 250 events and it fit perfectly with what we were already planning, so then we just wrote the grant,” she said.
Private funds, including matching funds from the Bismarck-based Tom and Frances Leach Foundation, have also been provided for this project.
Details about all the events will probably be posted on the website
www.TheStudyND.org
in March, Gerhardt said.
The America 250 events, which are planned to take place at Bismarck State College, are 5-6 p.m. July 8, “Reading of the Declaration of Independence, with John Adams,” and 6-7:30 p.m. July 9, “Alexander Hamilton Speaks,” both performed by William Chrystal.
The Living History programs are planned for 7-8:15 p.m. Sept. 17, “Thomas Paine,” performed by Doug Mishler, and Oct. 6, 7-8:15 p.m, “Frederick Douglass,” performed by Nathan Richardson. Both will be moderated by Susan Frontczak.
The performers Chrystal and Richardson live in Virginia, Frontczak in Colorado,and Mishler in Nevada.
Another program, “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” is set for Sept. 16-18 at Bismarck State College, Gerhardt said. “It is part of our broader Chautauqua/living history programming connected to America 250 … (and) will feature performances and discussion centered on Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, using their lives and writing as a way to explore major questions about American identity, war reporting, public memory, and the stories we tell about freedom, conflict and responsibility.
“What I am excited about with this event is that it gives us a way to approach America 250 beyond founding-era material. In other words, it helps us show the American story is not just about 1776, but also about the generations that followed and how Americans wrestled with democracy, power, truth and moral courage.”
This program “expands the initiative beyond commemoration into reflection, dialogue and interpretation, which is where the humanities are especially valuable,” she said. “It helps us reach audiences who may be drawn in through literature, journalism and performance, not only traditional history events.”
The Hemingway and Gellhorn program fits in with America 250 in that “it broadens the frame and adds depth to the larger effort.”
Gerhardt is hoping that these activities will give participants “a better understanding of all the debates and issues going on when our country was founded, and how those debates are continuing today,” she said, “and just to be more thoughtful and informed citizens.”
College students and members of the general public will also be invited to participate in a workshop aimed at teaching participants how to build a living history performance from primary sources and historical research.
Last year, The Study ND lost a substantial amount of funding – nearly $468,000, about half of its annual budget – from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its fiscal 2025 year.
The loss of that much funding was discouraging, Gerhardt said. “Very much so, because we had a lot of activities planned for America 250 and we had to cancel a lot of them, or – like in this case – seek other funding, which we were lucky to get.”
The Study ND currently has four full-time employees, she said. “We eliminated a part-time marketing position after the cuts.”
A nonprofit organization, The Study ND provides civics, arts and cultural education programming. The organization’s programs – which include online classes, book talks, lectures and more – reached about 24,000 people in 2024, Gerhardt told the North Dakota Monitor in April 2025.
During the summer, the organization hosts a civics education program for high school and middle school social studies teachers, she said.
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