North Dakota (http://www.ndtourism.com/) is a state in the Great Plains of the United States. It is bordered on the west by Montana, on the east by Minnesota, on the south by South Dakota, and on the north by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. North Dakota, the 39th state, was admitted to the Union in 1889. The year 2005 marked the bicentennial celebration of the Lewis and Clark expedition which began in Illinois and passed through North Dakota on the way to the Pacific Northwest, with help from a Shoshone Indian girl, Sakakawea, as their guide. North Dakota's 53 counties cover approximately 70,655 square miles 183,000 sq km and has a population of 672,591 in 2010 census.