Finding/Analyzing the North Dakota Quarter

THERE GOES THE SUN



North Dakota's state quarter came out three years ago, but I only saw my first today, after getting my change for a mid-morning bagel in Brooklyn. Intrigued by the buffalo -- one eating, one seeming a little jolly -- I made an online search to see what quarter designs this one beat. And I found a curious pattern that NO OTHER STATE had shown: spearing prong-like 'rays' of a setting sun that resembles the Japanese Imperial Navy flag during WWII.





The link couldn't be intentional, right? North Dakota, for some sick reason, is tributing the imperial Japanese navy -- and army -- who took millions of lives during WWII? Why?

The original USS North Dakota never made it to Japan and stayed way out of harm's way during WWI -- mostly making care-package trips around the Caribbean. It was disassembled before WWII. A new submarine called the USS North Dakota is currently in construction. However, the USS South Dakota -- named for the north's mocking rival to the south -- was badly damaged by Japan's Imperial Navy in 1942. That seems bad taste.

A Phone Call
One difference between the designs was clear to see. The Japanese flag -- known as the Rising Sun Flag -- has 16 rays. North Dakota's versions have seven, eight and nine. But a bigger question is whether or not North Dakota's suns depict sunrises or sunsets? The farm shot shows no chimney smoke or stirring creatures, while goose fly at sunrise and sunset. No clues. Perhaps the clue is the buffalo -- alert and feasting as the sun dips or rises behind them.

So I phoned the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the southwestern corner of the state, a lovely area with two units of badlands and plenty of wildlife. The operator there immediately suggested 'Mike' could help and sent my call to him.

Mike seemed eager to help. 'There are no dumb questions.' I asked him if he knew when bison wake up. 'Bison are a daytime animal, unlike deer for example. Most of their activities go on during the day,' he said seriously. 'But that said, I'll drive by a group of 200 during the day -- maybe 100 are eating, another 100 laying around, some with eyes shut. They eat and sleep throughout the day.' So they eat all day then? Dawn to dusk? 'Yup' -- he really said 'yup' -- 'Remember that grass is a low quality food, and they have a big stomach to keep full.'

I mentioned the quarter, and here Mike got particularly interested. 'Let's see, if we had any defining features of the formation behind them, we could figure this out...' He paused. 'We'd probably need to talk with the artist though... Do you know the artist?' I said I didn't. 'You know, if I had to guess -- purely guess -- I'd say it's evening. Very few people out here get up that early.'

We'll go with Mike. It's not 'rising sun' but a falling one. And to be honest, when I visited the Roosevelt Park's North Unit in 2001, the two-lane load reaches it from the east. That's where most of the bison are. I had about 60 or 70 immediately surrounding my rental car. An artist heading up there would get the same vantage point of the badlands -- looking west.

--> Perhaps it would have been less confusing if North Dakota went with the Roger Maris quarter, tributing the homerun hero from Fargo.