The lumpy stone building sits quietly, devoid of life, ignored by the crisp breezes of the Northern Plains. One of North Dakota's most eclectic attractions, the Paul Broste Rock Museum, was closed the entire summer of 1997. The caretaker is gone, the town of Parshall has no money to repair the dilapidated building, and remapped Native American land boundaries threaten the Parshall Way of Life.

North Dakota is a state unblessed with a major tourism artery, and a depopulation crisis is fast emptying town after town. North Dakotans, the last true American Pioneers, rise to these kind of challenges every day, but the fate of the Broste Rock Museum is uncertain. We reported on the state of the museum from several years ago, and the situation has deteriorated.

One of Broste's cryptic rock sphere displays.

In the face of current woes, town officials kept the museum closed this season. The building was willed to Parshall over 20 years ago, when Paul Broste died. According to a story by Patricia Stockdill for the Bismarck Tribune , Broste was "an artist, writer, philosopher, lapidarist, and homesteader." The museum contains 280 rock spheres, odd displays of minerals and unexplained rock and metal sculptures.

Repairs for the building will cost up to $20,000. A knowledgeable caretaker must be found, to replace the traditional caretaker who acted as museum guide in exchange for free rent at a nearby trailer home. Townspeople have volunteered to help in the restoration, but the harvest and other agricultural duties take up most of their time.

The effort to raise funds is hampered by a recent ruling that Parshall is within land owned by Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. The tribes plan to levy taxes, and have nullified efforts to get new businesses to relocate in Parshall, according to the Bismarck Tribune.

The town is looking at a variety of funding options, including grants, opening an antique shop or sending some of the artifacts on tour. And nobody's talking Indian Gambling Casino yet, but stranger things have been built in Parshall. [10/18/1997]

November 26, 2009