A major milestone for the portion of U.S. 10 (US 10) in North Dakota took place when the segment of that east-west route between the cities of Fargo and Mapleton in Cass County was fully paved.
This paving project brought about the Flickertail State’s first hard-surfaced, all-weather section of US 10, which had been one of the original routes approved by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) in 1926 and formally announced by the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads early the following year.
A momentum of sorts for that project was set by a January 1931 letter that George F. Shafter (1888-1948), governor of North Dakota from 1929 to 1932, wrote to prominent Fargo merchant George M. Black (1881-1972). In this letter, Shafer expressed the possibility that the Fargo-Mapleton stretch of US 10 might be paved at some point during the year.
Just a little over four months later, this possibility became much more of a reality. “Paving Begins on Highway 10,” proclaimed a large headline splashed across the front page of the May 5 edition of the Fargo Forum.”
The article accompanying this headline reported, “Actual paving of U.S. No. 10 from Fargo was begun today . . . A crew of nearly 100 men were working on the paving, each with a definite task to perform. Within an hour after the work was begun, the organization was operating like clockwork.”
The Fargo Forum also noted, “Trucks containing approximately four cubic yards [3.1 cubic meters] of cement and gravel mixed were being unloaded at the rate of one every three minutes. Each of these truck loads makes about10 square yards [8.4 square meters] of paving.”
While this project was carried out under the aegis of the North Dakota Highway Department (predecessor to the present-day North Dakota Department of Transportation), the person directly supervising the work was Fargo contractor John L. McCormick (1887-1966).
The paving of that 11.5-mile (18.5-kilometer) section of US 10 between Fargo and Mapleton was completed on July 20. Those involved in this project ended up working a total of 51 days. “Rain held up activities for several days at a time on numerous occasions,” confirmed the Fargo Forum. “An average of slightly more than 1,200 feet [365.8 meters] of paving or 2,637 square yards [2,204.9 square meters] of paving was laid daily during the time the crews were at work.”
On New Year’s Day of the following year, this project was cited in the Fargo Forum as one of the “high spots” for the city in 1931. A photo included in this article featured workers gathered at the construction site; the caption below the image stated: “First concrete laid on Highway 10.” The newspaper’s chronology of all the milestone events throughout the previous year included references to Shafer’s letter to Black and both the start and end dates for the project.
Angus D. McKinnon (1880-1962), the state’s chief highway commissioner, likewise underscored this achievement and its overall significance. “This was the first paving project that was handled entirely under department supervision,” he noted in an annual report that he submitted to Shafer.
Until a major truncation of its total length in 1986, US 10 in North Dakota spanned about 352 miles (566.5 kilometers) across the entire width of the state. North Dakota’s part of US 10 now consists of approximately eight miles (12.9 kilometers) between the vicinity of Fargo and the Minnesota state line. This segment marks the western terminus of US 10, which covers 713.8 miles (1,147.8 kilometers). The highway’s eastern terminus is the area near Bay City, Michigan.
Image Credit: Public Domain
Additional information on U.S. Route 10 (US 10) in North Dakota is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_10_in_North_Dakota
Transportation History 
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