Abandoned Towns
An abandoned wooden house with a mossy, broken roof in dry grass beside power poles, with a stop sign, a road and small white homes beyond

Railroad and road town

Buford

A railroad hamlet on the Great Northern line near the old army post of Fort Buford. It had a post office from 1897 to 1975 and 20 people in 1940. Abandoned wooden houses stand among a few farms.

47°59′55″N 103°59′29″W · ≈1,960 ft

Photo: afiler, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

Few remains · residents

A reader who photographed Buford in May 2011 wrote in 2014 that little is left beyond a cemetery and scattered farms. A few people have lived in mobile homes inside the old village; we found no dated report since 2014. Treat the buildings and yards as private and look from the road.

Overview

A railroad stop beside an army post

Buford took its name from Fort Buford, the army post at the meeting of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, a few miles to the south. Civilians who worked for the fort lived nearby, and a Buford County existed until it was folded into Williams County in 1891. The town itself came with the railroad. When the Great Northern built from Williston toward Culbertson, Montana, its line ran through here, and a post office opened in 1897.

Buford never grew much. A family photo from about 1910 shows downtown Buford with a white two-story building, and Wikipedia counts 20 people in 1940. The railroad could not keep it going, many buildings disappeared, and the post office closed in 1975. Amtrak's Empire Builder still runs through on the BNSF tracks without stopping.

Our record is thin. We found no peak population, no list of businesses and no report newer than a 2014 account of May 2011 photos.

Then and now

Buford from the air, 1958 and 2023

Buford got its post office in 1897, when the Great Northern line from Williston to Culbertson, Montana, came through, and it had 20 people in 1940. On August 2, 1958, a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey plane photographed the town: houses and sheds along winding lanes just south of the tracks, with strip fields to the west. The second photograph comes from the federal farm survey of September 2023.

The post office closed in 1975. The railroad and the section roads are where they were, and a few homes and farm buildings stand on both sides of the tracks. A highway now curves across the old strip fields, and gravel well pads sit to the north and south.

Drag the line across the photo, or use the arrow keys.
2023 aerial photograph: the same railroad and section roads, a few homes and farm buildings, a highway curving in from the west and gravel well padsBNSF railroad, still in useND 1804Open ground and a few buildingsGravel well pad2023
1958 aerial photograph: houses and sheds along winding lanes south of the railroad, with strip fields to the west and a coulee to the northGreat Northern railroadStrip fieldsHouses and lanesField1958
1958 aerial photograph: houses and sheds along winding lanes south of the railroad, with strip fields to the west and a coulee to the northGreat Northern railroadStrip fieldsHouses and lanesField1958
1958. Houses and sheds along winding lanes south of the railroad, with strip fields to the west and a coulee to the north.
2023 aerial photograph: the same railroad and section roads, a few homes and farm buildings, a highway curving in from the west and gravel well padsBNSF railroad, still in useND 1804Open ground and a few buildingsGravel well pad2023
2023. The same railroad and section roads, a few homes and farm buildings, a highway curving in from the west and gravel well pads.

1958: U.S. Department of Agriculture; scan by the North Dakota Department of Water Resources, source, Public domain. 2023: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain. Both photographs cover the same 1.6 by 1.2 km and were lined up on 24 features, from stretches of section road, farm lane and drainage ditch to two junctions and a ditch bend, to within about 2.4 m on average and 5.6 m at worst, at the south edge. Labels: the railroad and ND 1804 from today's USGS topo and the 1968 Buford sheet, the Great Northern and BNSF names from the guide's sources, the well pad from the guide's description of the aerial view, the rest from what the photographs show.

Timeline

Fort, railroad and post office

  1. From June 1866 Fort Buford guards the meeting of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers, a few miles south of the later townsite. Civilians tied to the fort live nearby. The army leaves in 1895.
  2. Buford is also the name of a county here. On March 2, 1891, it and Flannery County are merged into the new Williams County.
  3. With the Great Northern line from Williston to Culbertson, Montana, running through the townsite, a post office opens.
  4. A family photo shows downtown Buford, with a white two-story building.
  5. Buford has 20 people.
  6. The post office closes.
  7. Photos show abandoned wooden houses in the grass near the highway and a cluster of farm buildings.
  8. A reader who photographed Buford in May 2011 writes in 2014 that little is left beyond a cemetery and scattered farms.

What's left

What you'll see

An abandoned house with its roof falling in, October 2008
An abandoned house with its roof falling in, October 2008 · Photo: afiler, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0

A reader who photographed Buford in May 2011 wrote for Ghosts of North Dakota in April 2014 that, other than a cemetery, a scattering of farms and the historic sites at Fort Buford and Fort Union nearby, little of the town remains. Photos taken in October 2008 show abandoned wooden houses in the grass by the highway, one with its roof falling in, and a cluster of farm buildings. An undated listing describes a number of abandoned farm and house buildings and a few people living in mobile homes inside the old village boundaries, with no post office or other services. Current USGS aerial imagery, undated, shows a few homes and farm buildings on both sides of the railroad and the highway, with gravel well pads to the north and south.

The 1968 Buford sheet below, which catches the town at the very corner of the map, shows a handful of buildings just south of the Burlington Northern line, with a benchmark of 1,954 feet.

  • Abandoned farm and house buildings
  • Cemetery
  • A few lived-in homes
  • The railroad, still in use
USGS topographic map of Buford on ND 1804 beside the railroad, with 40th Street NW to the south
USGS The National Map, topo. Buford where ND 1804 meets the railroad. A coulee runs to the north.
Aerial view of scattered homes and farm buildings on both sides of a railroad and highway, with fields and gravel well pads around
Aerial imagery, closer in. A few homes and farm buildings around the railroad and highway, among fields, with well pads north and south.

Historic maps

Buford on USGS maps, 1968

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Buford, 1968
Buford sheet, 1968, 1:24,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Williston is the closest city. The route leaves town on US 2 and turns south on ND 1804, the road toward Fort Buford State Historic Site, to reach Buford. From Minot, US 2 runs west the whole way to Williston.

USGS topographic map of the country between Williston and Buford with routes drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Williston22.9 miabout 31 min
  1. From East Broadway downtown, turn left onto 2nd Avenue West, then right onto 2nd Street West (US 2 Business).2.0 mi
  2. Turn left onto US 2 (Dakota Parkway), which becomes the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway.5.6 mi
  3. Turn left onto ND 1804 and follow it to Buford.15.4 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • Buford is on ND 1804, 15.4 miles southwest of its junction with US 2 west of Williston, on the way to Fort Buford State Historic Site. The road is rated 2WD.
  • No services in Buford. Williston has fuel, food and lodging.

Photos

Buford in photos

Visitor reports

Been to Buford?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Buford

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our North Dakota index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Buford": county, 2WD road, climate, best time, the abandoned buildings and mobile homes, no post office or services, the fort's civilian village.
  2. Wikipedia, "Buford, North Dakota", retrieved October 2026: coordinates, the name, 20 people in 1940, the Empire Builder on the BNSF line.
  3. Troy Larson, Ghosts of North Dakota, "Buford, North Dakota", April 21, 2014, with Kyle Stubbs's photos of May 2011: the Great Northern line, the 1897 and 1975 post office dates, the 1910 photo, little left of the town.
  4. Wikipedia, "Fort Buford", retrieved October 2026: the 1866 camp at the confluence, the October 1, 1895 decommissioning, the state historic site.
  5. Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries, North Dakota chronology: Buford County and its merger into Williams County on March 2, 1891.
  6. afiler (everydot.com), four photos titled "Buford, North Dakota" on Flickr, taken October 18, 2008, CC BY-SA 2.0: the abandoned houses and farm buildings.
  7. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits

  • Abandoned house with its roof falling in, October 2008: afiler, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Abandoned house by the power line near the highway, October 2008: afiler, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
  • A sign for the Scouts Outpost, offering collectibles, antiques, fishing and trapping supplies, licenses, pop and candy, October 2008: afiler, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Farm buildings across the grassland, October 2008: afiler, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0
  • 1958 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture; scan by the North Dakota Department of Water Resources, source, Public domain
  • 2023 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain
  • Topo map, area base map and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
  • Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Buford 1968, 1:24,000.

What we know and don't

  • Known: the 1897 post office and the railroad that brought it, the 1975 closing, 20 people in 1940, photos of October 2008 and May 2011, a reader's account of 2014.
  • Missing: the town's peak population and businesses, and any dated report since 2014.