Generally, places that have “dinosaur” in their name actually mean the prehistoric beings that used to roam the planet. This place in North Dakota, however, is unique. It’s called Dinosaurs on the Prairie and has an unusual yet interesting take on a museum of fossils (sort of), relics of the past, in an outdoor setting.
These relics are not made of bones, but of metal. They are actually antique threshing machines, long since retired, in a collection put together by John “Custer” Grenz to commemorate the farming technologies of the past.
Isern1952/Tripadvisor Like an elephant graveyard, these once powerful machines stand in their final resting places among what is now called Custer Ridge off of Highway 34 near Napoleon. The view from the top of the ridge is worth the walk, not only to be able to take a path right along the metal beasts and examine them all you’d like - no glass cases in this museum, you can touch them and look at them as close as you want - but also to see the expansive prairies around them.
IMLS Digital Collections & Content/Flickr In their prime, these threshing machines were a huge part of agricultural history, changing what used to be a hard manual job into a powerful and efficient form of technology. Today, these are replaced by your modern combines, leaving threshing machines to rot out in fields.
Jimmy Emerson/Flickr The Dinosaurs on the Prairie is one of the largest collections of threshing machines and remains as a unique monument to these testaments of time.
If you’re into geocaches, this is a great site for you! There is a geocache right there that you can discover while you are visiting.
Isern1952/Tripadvisor
Like an elephant graveyard, these once powerful machines stand in their final resting places among what is now called Custer Ridge off of Highway 34 near Napoleon. The view from the top of the ridge is worth the walk, not only to be able to take a path right along the metal beasts and examine them all you’d like - no glass cases in this museum, you can touch them and look at them as close as you want - but also to see the expansive prairies around them.
IMLS Digital Collections & Content/Flickr
In their prime, these threshing machines were a huge part of agricultural history, changing what used to be a hard manual job into a powerful and efficient form of technology. Today, these are replaced by your modern combines, leaving threshing machines to rot out in fields.
Jimmy Emerson/Flickr
The Dinosaurs on the Prairie is one of the largest collections of threshing machines and remains as a unique monument to these testaments of time.
This is a great stop to stretch out your legs while on a drive through Napoleon, and makes an awesome roadside attraction completely unique to North Dakota. Check out these other roadside sights in the state – some of them are pretty bizarre!
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