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BOTTINEAU More than 10 years since its designation as a scenic byway, Highway 43 through Rolette and Bottineau counties continues to take shape as a tourism route.

"There's been quite a bit of improvements since we started but it's slow going and it's costly. We have big plans. We just need to get the funding," said Mae Streich of Bottineau, co-chairwoman for the Turtle Mountains Scenic Byway project.

Bottineau and Rolette counties have applied for national recognition for the byway, which would enable the counties to apply for federal funds for future improvements. The recognition also would help with advertising nationally.

"That would be a big plus for the byway, and more than anything, it would bring attention to the International Peace Garden," Streich said.

The byway is a 53-mile stretch of county and state highway passing through the Turtle Mountains and prairie farmlands. Points of interest include the International Peace Garden, Wakopa Wildlife Management Area, Lake Upsilon, Lake Metigoshe State Park and Butte St. Paul Historic Site.

The project area includes the entire byway corridor, incorporating communities such as Bottineau, Rolla, Dunseith and Rugby.

An addition to the byway this year was the installation of a second sculpture by Turtle Mountains artist Bennett Brien. Located near the west entrance to the byway, the monument features a turtle and white-taied deer. Another monument by Brien, featuring a buffalo and a turtle, stands at the other end of the byway between St. John and Rolla. It was installed last year.

Streich said the group was fortunate to work with Brien, whose works are featured on the State Capitol grounds in Bismarck and at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks as well as other locations. A grant from the North Dakota Parks and Recreation and the Department of Transportation provided $40,000 toward the monuments.

The monuments were the idea of North Dakota State University students tasked with traveling the state's 10 byways and recommending improvements. The students suggested monuments to bring more attention to the entrances to Turtle Mountain byway.

Next year, an interpretative center will be built at Mystical Horizons in Bottineau County. Streich explained that it will be an open structure consisting of pillars with a roof and panels inscribed with the history behind Mystical Horizons. A concrete area will allow for future picnic tables.

A grant from Center of North America Capital Fund and a contribution from Bottineau County are providing funding.

Mystical Horizons, the "Stonehenge" of the prairie, was designed by Jack Olson using stone and cement structures to show the summer and winter solstices and equinox. The site includes the North Star Polaris Sighting Tube and sundial.

Working with the Save Coghlan Castle Inc., the byway project looks to preserve the historic castle near St. John. Bids will be opened Oct. 15 on construction to stabilize Coghlan Castle. Built in 1904, the castle was named to the National Registry of Historic Places last year.

The building has deteriorated too far to be fully restored or opened to the public. An intrepretative sign will be placed along the highway at a spot where people can view the castle, which is located on private land.

The committee has put in place a number of interpretative signs to mark sights along the byway in Rolette County. Similar signage is in the works for sights in Bottineau County. In addition to the established tourist areas, Streich said, there's interest in signing additional, lesser known historic areas throughout the corridor.

"Once we get interpretative signs up that tell about the area and our history and our culture, I think we will find more people stopping," Streich said. "Attendance has been growing and from all areas of the country."

In Rolette County, federal stimulus money through the Department of Transportation will be funding paving of a hiking, biking and equestrian trail between a museum and an arena in St. John next year. Rebecca Leonard of Rolla, co-chairwoman for the byway project, said the paving is part of a long-range goal to eventually run a trail from Rolla to the Peace Garden, with branches extending to St. Claude's Park, north of St. John, and Lake Upsilon.

Wold Engineering in Bottineau has been working with the counties on the various byway improvements.

"There's a whole plan of things that can be done," Leonard said. "A lot of these projects get done because of their association with the byway. It does give these projects a priority."