Contact Information
Joseph Vandaele
Hc 1 Box 4
Amidon , ND 58620-9707
(701) 879-6236

The White Butte area is a very strange world.  Although Slope County is bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island, its entire population is only 846.  The closest town -- Amidon -- has less than 100 residents and is the smallest county seat in the country (although Loving County, Texas, population for the entire county of 106 also makes a similar claim for its only town and county seat Mentone).

This vast openess makes for some spectacular uninterrupted vistas that give you time to ponder.

It is an area where more T-Rex dinosaurs have been recovered than any place on the planet, an area where Sitting Bull was shot in the hip in an encounter with federals in 1864 long before Little Big Horn and where Theodore Roosevelt fled to recover from the near simultaneous death of his first wife and mother.

I drove up from Harney Peak, SD, passing geographic center of the United States (including Alaska) at Belle Fourche, SD, passing by the world capital for recovering T-Rex dinosaurs just south of the ND line

Had I continued on north, I would have visited Theodore Roosevelt's ranch in the North Dakota Badlands.

After passing through Amidon with its two stores -- one of which (Georgia's) is purported to sell one the best hamburgers in the country.

About a mile east of town was a sign pointing to White Butte, the highest point in North Dakota.  Some people mistake it for traffic directions  and if they do they will go to the wrong butte (the one with a tower). 

Two miles east of Amidon is the gravel road heading south for five miles before turning west on a road to the VanEasen farm.  They were not home, but I left a card and drove back a half mile to dirt road following a fence line to the summit  parking area (past an abandoned house with cottonwoods).  These directions are intuitive as White Butte is visible the entire time.

I followed the dirt road to the end. The ground was wet and mud puddles were chalky.  Everything is white here-- even the grasshoppers.

I was warned to make noise when getting out of the car because of rattlesnakes.  It was a cool day and I did not see any snakes on the entire trip (others report seeing substantial numbers of snakes and skins on this trip -- I did not bring my dog because of fear of the snakes.  Few locals have climbed the summit because of the fear of snakes.).

I crossed the fence and followed a cattle trail up the summit.  Although there were multiple routes, the approach is intuitive.
The view back to the white cliffs of the butte was spectacular and as I reached the summit, the grassy summit evoked images of Scottish mountains.

On the summit was a memorial to Leon Butzazky, whose property you used to cross to get the summit, as well as a registry in a green metal box.

For more information on Amidon click here.

The center of the nation with Alaska is just across the South Dakota at Belle Forche.  This park has been abandoned because of rattlesnakes.  The center of the nation is 44' 58"N/103'46"W.  The pile of rocks on the summit are known of as "rock johnnies" or "sheepherder's monuments" and according to legend were piled there by sheepherders as a way to pass the time while they tended their flocks.