Letter Re: North Dakota as a Retreat Locale

Hello Jim,
My deepest sympathy and prayers for you and your family after the recent passing of your wife. I have read for quite awhile of these folks that write with their questions and concerns for a survival retreat and where to locate and many have substantial resources to do so and yet many others (like myself ) didn’t/don’t have those resources. This is why I choose North Dakota which is notably in your top 18 states for retreat areas and I want to tell you why.

I have traveled extensively over the years to every state in the US and lived in several. I spent many years in the North Georgia mountains until it got to crowded like most areas there such as Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Not to mention that they expensive as well.

I spent a summer in Alaska, and loved it there but that state as beautiful and less populated and with the bounty it offers, still lacks many staples needed and which as you have noted, has to be trucked,shipped or flown in and is very expensive.

Idaho, Montana,and Wyoming are beautiful and also less populated but through my travels over the years, I’ve found property far too expensive for the average working “Joe” with limited funds.

I could go on in reference to other states,but those I have listed were always what I thought to be a safe bet,but there came the money issue again.
I didn’t want a loan or mortgage on a “survival retreat” that might possibly end up in foreclosure if and after TSHTF, so I kept looking.

And through those travels I started taking a closer look at North Dakota.Yes, I know there are over 150 Minuteman III ICBM tubes spread out over central and western North Dakota and that I agree was disturbing to me, but then I was right back at that Money issue. Always seems to come back to that. [JWR Adds: For maps of the missile fields of North Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, and Colorado see the leftist Nukewatch web site. As described in my book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”, you’ll find safety in selecting a retreat that is at least 50 miles upwind of the western-most of these regions.

So, what I did was to buy a very small home in a very small rural area of north central North Dakota, kinda up wind of the “sites” for the most part yet very, very affordable.
I bought this place to “try out” North Dakota and see if it offered what my bank account could stand.
Could I live here for limited funds and use the balance to “stock up” for the future?
Could I pay cash for the place so I would never have to worry about losing it if and when TSHTF and money would become scarce,if there even was any money anywhere?.
Could this piece of property sustain me and my wife in the interim through a garden,chickens etc?.
And was there a possibility of making an income in the area or a population source near enough to get to that I could?.

What I found was nearly an acre with a small well kept home on the edge of a very,very small town for just $11,000 with all the amenities of the big city like Internet, cable, satellite television, water, sewer, garbage, phone and electric and my very own cistern for a backup. And my annual property taxes are less than most people spend for a night out– under $75 per year.

That small place was a great starting place and allowed us to venture and learn about North Dakota and all it offers.
I will add as well that North Dakota is a major Beef producing state and I have never had trouble finding hamburger for far less than grocery store prices and farm raised,not to mention unlimited hunting and fishing.

What few realize is that most of North Dakotas small rural towns are experiencing a decline at about 10% over the past 10 years due to the older folks passing on and the younger ones moving on and the small farms giving way to huge 3,000 to 5,000 acre spreads and the cold winters all add up to smaller towns.

But we found it perfect and the cold is usually the worst the end of January through the first two weeks of February and then it gets down right cold-d-d. The beautiful spring,summer and fall make up for it though, in our opinion.

But we still wanted to be a little farther out,a little more “upwind” and a little more acreage and fewer people.
After nearly two years we found a seven-acre farmstead. It is far enough from Minot and Grand Forks and northerly enough to give us a very fair survival rate [in the event of a nuclear exchange].

This place has a nice home with basement walls from stone that are 24 inches think.Two garages and a granary make up the buildings.
With this prized piece we can grow more food,have more chickens and raise some beef and pork.
Our closest neighbor is 1-1/2 miles away and the closest larger town is 28 miles with smaller towns in the 17 to 18 mile range.
We did lose a few things by moving here: No unlimited long distance, no cable television (only satellite) and we had to get a new cellular provider. No town water or sewer. We have our own here with a well and septic and we lost our garbage pickup so we burn and recycle and/or haul to the landfill.

We can see anyone coming a mile before they get here yet we are still on a main road for winter snow plows.
And all of this was under $20K, that’s right, under $20,000 so that was again, well within our means to pay for and use that money we would have spent on a mortgage or loan to invest in our future,so it is possible and we are living proof of this and we have seen many deals such as this in North Dakota.

So we offer that North Dakota is a beautiful place and affordable for those that (like us) don’t have unlimited funds,or don’t want to spend all they do have for a survival retreat. A place that is peaceful ,quiet and far enough from everyone, yet close enough for a day trip to any big city and still only has 650,000 people in the entire state.
A state where there is presently a budget surplus and the lowest unemployment rate in the USA.

We thought our own experience here might interest you and your readers Jim.
Thanks for your great job with SurvivalBlog and your time and have a wonderful week. – Fred