The Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation looked quite different in the 1970s. This was a time before the bright lights of Skydancer Hotel and Casino, before the construction of the tribal college. There was no radio station, no Turtle Mountain Bank, and no mall. In fact, there were very few of the facilities now considered commonplace on the reservation.

While many of the now mainstays of Belcourt had yet to be built, there were many businesses in the 1960s and 1970s that were essential to the community. Main street was lined with storefronts, including Albert’s Bar, J&A Service Station, the laundromat, American Legion Club, and Bucks Electric. You could top off your tank at Davis Gas Station and fill your belly at the Tastee Freeze. Belcourt Well Drillers and Niewoehner Funeral Home were operating in the late 1960s as well.

At the time, very few Indians earned higher education degrees or owned or operated private businesses. This was slowly changing for the people of Belcourt. By the late 1970s, more Indians began to earn degrees and embrace professional careers. Numerous tribal citizens started to establish their own businesses in the years following. And while unemployment rates are consistently high on the reservation, economic growth through education and new businesses, both public and private, was invigorating for the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.