That is almost two people per square mile. The 1890 census declared America's frontier closed because it was no longer possible to trace a continuous line defining where population ranged from two to six people per square mile. The 2000 census, continuing a trend that began in the 1930s, showed that the closing had been vastly exaggerated. Nationwide, there are about 400 such counties, Lang said, nearly all of which are on the Great Plains. The majestically rolling plains average 15 to 20 inches of precipitation.
Real cities are scarce.
A very few towns have attracted a meatpacking plant or other industry that brought newcomers and county growth. For nearly all the rest, population continues to dwindle. North Dakota's population grew just 0.5 percent, slowest in the nation, to 642,000, mostly around the cities of Fargo, Grand Forks and Bismarck, the capital. More than 23,000 North Dakotans left the state during the 1990s, according to the state's Job Service North Dakota, mostly the young and educated. Lure of jobs, small-town living Newly inaugurated Republican Gov. John Hoeven said his top priority was economic development, getting jobs to keep people from leaving, to in turn foster more jobs through population growth.