I took this photo ten years ago, and I bet many of you recognize the location.  It’s on the south side of 1804, northwest of Bismarck near Hawktree.  The house at this time was in pretty rough shape, sagging to one side, but the other little building was standing firm.

A few years later I ventured out to the house with a friend who was visiting from Alaska.  The house was still mostly upright, but starting to collapse a bit more.

It was sagging most in the middle here, and it’s no wonder why it was beginning to lean to the east.  By the way, this land is posted now, so there’s no hiking out to investigate any more.

This is what it looks like from the road.  Sadly, the house has fallen in completely and the little garage-like building is doing its own leaning.  Before long there won’t be any evidence of this local landmark remaining, at least nothing visible from the highway.

I didn’t actually see any signs posting the land, but I assumed they were there the other night – so, in order to satisfy my insatiable curiosity, I flew over the land (airspace being public and all that) to appraise the situation.  Sadly, the house is even more deteriorated than I thought.  It won’t be long before it’s just a nondescript pile of old wood rotting in the sun.

On a recent photo road trip with a friend I noted that many of the cool “Fallen Farms” I have photographed over the years have begun to deteriorate, with many either a pile of old sticks or gone completely.  Sadly, this looks like it will soon be one of them.

I had to photograph this from a distance, as the land upon which it sits is posted.  That’s no biggie; usually if I find a place that I want to photograph and discover that it’s posted, I look up the name on the NO TRESPASSING sign and call them to ask permission.  Aside one drunk so-and-so northeast of Bismarck, all have been quite accommodating.

Many times they simply want to know who’s on their land; they post it so people don’t run around indiscriminately, but they grant permission if asked.  That’s how I’d be if I owned a large chunk of photogenic land in rural ND.