Drift Prairie

The Drift Prairie is a geographic region of North and South Dakota. The gently rolling hills and shallow lakes were formed by glacial action, while the Badlands are characterized by the lack of this action, and the Red River Valley was a former lake bed. This distinction causes the area considered as Drift Prairie to overlap somewhat with the Missouri Plateau, another of North Dakota's distinct geographic regions, but the Drift Prairie also includes the Souris River basin. Prairie grasses and wheat grow there making it a perfect place for ranchers. The prairie is filled with drift. Drift is soil consisting of clay, sand, and gravel.

See also

• Geography of North Dakota
• Geography of South Dakota

v t e  State of North Dakota Bismarck (capital) Topics Bibliography Climate Colleges and universities Cuisine Delegations Geography Governors History Music People Visitor attractions Society Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics Regions Badlands Coteau du Missouri Drift Prairie Red River Valley Turtle Mountains Larger cities pop. over 5,000 Bismarck Devils Lake Dickinson Fargo Grand Forks Jamestown Mandan Minot Valley City Wahpeton West Fargo Williston Smaller cities pop. 1,000 - 5,000 Beach Beulah Bottineau Bowman Burlington Cando Carrington Casselton Cavalier Cooperstown Crosby Ellendale Garrison Grafton Hankinson Harvey Hazen Hettinger Hillsboro Horace Kenmare Langdon Larimore Lincoln Linton Lisbon Mayville New Rockford New Town Oakes Park River Rolla Rugby Stanley Thompson Tioga Velva Walhalla Washburn Watford City Wishek Counties Adams Barnes Benson Billings Bottineau Bowman Burke Burleigh Cass Cavalier Dickey Divide Dunn Eddy Emmons Foster Golden Valley Grand Forks Grant Griggs Hettinger Kidder LaMoure Logan McHenry McIntosh McKenzie McLean Mercer Morton Mountrail Nelson Oliver Pembina Pierce Ramsey Ransom Renville Richland Rolette Sargent Sheridan Sioux Slope Stark Steele Stutsman Towner Traill Walsh Ward Wells Williams

v t e  State of South Dakota Pierre (capital) Topics Delegations Famous South Dakotans Geography Government History Transportation Symbols Universities Visitor attractions Society Culture Crime Demographics Economy Education Politics Regions Badlands Black Hills Coteau des Prairies Coteau du Missouri Dissected Till Plains East River Pine Ridge Siouxland West River Larger cities pop. over 5,000 Aberdeen Belle Fourche Box Elder Brandon Brookings Huron Madison Mitchell Pierre Rapid City Sioux Falls Spearfish Sturgis Vermillion Watertown Yankton Smaller cities pop. 1,000 - 5,000 Baltic Beresford Britton Canton Chamberlain Clark Clear Lake Crooks Custer De Smet Deadwood Dell Rapids Eagle Butte Elk Point Flandreau Fort Pierre Freeman Garretson Gettysburg Gregory Groton Harrisburg Hartford Hot Springs Lead Lemmon Lennox Martin Milbank Miller Mission Mobridge North Sioux City Parker Parkston Platte Redfield Salem Sisseton Springfield Summerset Tea Tyndall Volga Wagner Webster Winner Largest CDPs pop. over 1,000 Blackhawk Colonial Pine Hills Dakota Dunes Fort Thompson North Eagle Butte North Spearfish Oglala Pine Ridge Porcupine Rapid Valley Rosebud Counties Aurora Beadle Bennett Bon Homme Brookings Brown Brule Buffalo Butte Campbell Charles Mix Clark Clay Codington Corson Custer Davison Day Deuel Dewey Douglas Edmunds Fall River Faulk Grant Gregory Haakon Hamlin Hand Hanson Harding Hughes Hutchinson Hyde Jackson Jerauld Jones Kingsbury Lake Lawrence Lincoln Lyman Marshall McCook McPherson Meade Mellette Miner Minnehaha Moody Pennington Perkins Potter Roberts Sanborn Shannon Spink Stanley Sully Todd Tripp Turner Union Walworth Yankton Ziebach