Today in History: Letter: Minnesota should sell everything west of Mississippi River to N.D.

On this date in 1981, a Forum reader wrote a letter to the editor suggesting that Minnesota sell half the state to North Dakota to ease budget woes.

Here's the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:

To the Editor:

It has been reported that a Twin Cities radio talk show host has come up with a solution for Minnesota’s financial crisis: Sell Moorhead to North Dakota for $600 million. The idea has immediate appeal. Mayor Lanning says (tongue in cheek, we presume) that it would be okay with him, but the price should be twice as much. If North Dakota will not come up with the entire 1.2 billion, the residents of Moorhead would be money ahead to raise the additional $600 million themselves.

The proposal is short-sighted, however. The folks in East Grand Forks and Breckenridge would be slighted if they were not included in the deal. Before long Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, and other cities similarly situated would want to go along. We should do it right from the outset. I propose that the state sell everything west of the Mississippi to North Dakota, and everything to the east to Wisconsin, leaving only the seven county Twin Cities metropolitan area behind as the state of Minnesota. (Counties in the southern part of the state could have a local option to go with South Dakota or Iowa.)

Figuring Moorhead at $600 million, selling off the entire state in this fashion should give the Legislature in the remaining seven county State of Minnesota about a trillion dollars, which should be enough to last them for a couple of years before they spend themselves into a new crisis.

Steven J. Cahill
Route 1, Moorhead