Have you driven North Dakota
Seen the churches long abandoned
Standing unpainted off the highways
Still standing tall as when erected by Homesteaders
Just off ships from Norway, Sweden, Germany?
Families hauled here by the railroads
The Great Northern and the Soo Line
In their immigrant cars filled with
Man, wife, children, team, cow, shoat, ewe and goose
(The last two soon food for coyotes)
The churches lonely wooden structures
With a single spire in front
Still sturdy and majestic
Reminders of those hardy settlers
Long cold winters did not scare
Cold dark winters were the norm
Where they came from
And a free 160 acres
If they built a house and cultivated 10
For five years — irresistible
Hardy souls not fearing work
No matter how cold or windy
Settled North Dakota — built first houses of sod
Built those churches of wood that never rots
For there is no moisture in the air there
Why are the churches vacant?
Because one man with a tractor
Could do the work of ten with teams