People collected buffalo bones from the surrounding area and brought them to the railroad track downtown. The bones were used for fertilizer and in the process of refining sugar. Piles of bones were stacked along the railway. In 1888, the pile along the railroad tracks extending east from Main Street was so large that the railroad built a spur track to load cars.Gavett, Joseph L. "Minot: The Magic City". Chicago: Watchmaker Publishing, Ltd, 2006. Lignite mining was another earlier industry that was established around Minot.USGS "Bulletin, Issue 906." U.S. Government Printing Office, 1941.
