“Real evidence of the third Dakota boom came…at the Grand Sky business and technology park—a development that would be unthinkable without the community’s focus on aviation.” We always appreciate the views of Mike Jacobs, retired editor and publisher of the Grand Forks Herald. His Opinion piece in today’s edition offers a larger explanation of Grand Sky and the continually growing UAS industry in North Dakota and beyond.
As he says:
“Historians call the rapid spread of agriculture, especially wheat growing, the ‘Great Dakota Boom.’ This occurred in the 1880s and 1890s.
Oil development brought the second boom in three waves, each about 30 years apart. The first wave followed the initial discovery of oil at Tioga, N.D., in 1951. The second wave took place in the early 1980s, and the third wave began just half a decade ago, in late 2008.
The third Dakota boom is happening now—in aviation.”
Mike explains some of the history of aviation in North Dakota and Grand Forks in particular, including UND’s School of Aerospace Sciences and its founder, the Grand Forks Air Force Base, and Grand Sky’s first tenant, Northrop Grumman.
Read the full article. Thanks for your perspective, Mike!
