North Dakota, the 39th state, was admitted to the Union in 1889. The year 2005 marked the bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark expedition which began in Illinois and passed through North Dakota on the way to the Pacific Northwest, with help from a Shoshone Indian girl, Sakakawea, as their guide. North Dakota's 53 counties cover approximately 70,655 square miles (183,000 square kilometers) and has a population of approximately 639,000. Read more from Wikitravel »