Dakota Improvement Inc.

About Dakota Improvement Inc.

Wind is the thing to watch in Dickey County, and Dakota Improvement Inc. plans its plow routes around it more than around the snow itself, since a calm six inches clears easier than a windy two. Out on the gravel roads south and west of Oakes, drifts load into the road cuts and leave the open fields nearly bare, so a farmstead lane can need clearing twice while the yard beside it barely needs a pass. Dakota Improvement works those county approaches first, then turns back toward town for the sidewalks and lots nearer Main Street once the wind has had its say. A driveway scraped down to bare gravel, edges squared and the loose snow banked well clear of the mailbox, is the standard the crew works toward job after job. Midwinter can turn a straight quarter-mile of road into a run of uneven drifts overnight, and putting it back to a clean, passable line by midday is the ordinary business of the season. By afternoon the route shows for it: gravel roads, farm lanes, and in-town lots all open end to end.