Sunday, June 23, (cont'd)
As we got into our campground, John asked the guy at the office, "Is it always like this?"
"Yes," was the reply. "It's because Montana blows and Minnesota sucks."
I picked up a copy of the Grand Forks Herald, and saw this headline. The caption reads, "Most of the home farms around here are gone now, especially in this area, either bought out of falling down ... I'm kind of a die-hard, trying to keep it up. But I don't know how much longer I can go."
Devil's Lake is the largest natural body of water in North Dakota. It is surpassed only by the lake behind Garrison Dam, which is man-made. The lake is landlocked, with no egress. (For those of you who are wordsmiths, the name for this type of lake is Endoheic. The Great Salt Lake is another example.)
Since 1993, it has been unusually rainy here, and the lake has quadrupled in size, risen 35 feet and reached an elevation of 1,454.30 feet. It can reach 1458.00 before it flows into the Sheyenne River. The lake is stocked with Walleye, Northern Pike and White Bass. It is known as the "Perch Capitol of the World," and is ranked one of the top five fishing lakes in the US.
The name comes from a poor translation of a Lakota name meaning Spirit Lake. The Lakota have no
equivalent of the Protestant devil, so they dislike the name a lot.
According to weather forecasting, the rain is part of a 20 year cycle. The conditions are also due to filling in wetlands and above ground irrigation, which creates water with nowhere to go. So it goes into this lake, which is now 202,000 acres, compared to a previous 44,000. It has swallowed up lots of farmland and smaller lakes.
Last year, there were drought conditions, and 30,000 to 35,000 acres of farm land was reclaimed. However, it started to rain again this year, and when we got there, they had just had 7.5 inches rain in a few days. So the reclaimed farmland is once again under water.
A few years ago, the US Government offered to pay for a drainage system that would take filtered water into the Sheyenne River. They would pay $100 million if North Dakota would pay $88 million. The state declined because they didn't like the water quality restrictions. However, they have now built their own system, which only filters out big stuff, like fish, and not microorganisms that tend to grow in stagnant water. And now they are going to have to build a second system.
In the meantime, the water continues to rise, and they are desperately building dikes to try to save towns. Two towns are already gone.
Those with remaining acreage can't get into the fields to plant, so the hope of recovering some of the losses is already gone for the year.
This is a large hunting area as well, and the ducks, wild turkeys and pheasants aren't hatching any babies due to the wet ground (or areas underwater) where they would normally built their nests. They have lost the eggs, or babies. Sportscasters claim they will lay new eggs later, and the wildlife will prosper. They also claim that the high water and less salinity produced better fish, ergo better fishing. The sports pages are filled with fishing and hunting, instead of baseball, basketball and football.
Some people have rebuilt their homes, only to have them go under again. Despite the prediction that this type of weather pattern will last another 10 years, they hang on year by year.
After the downpour, these beautiful clouds appeared in the sky.
They have so many different configurations and patterns.
I spotted these guys cleaning their fish in a wonderful facility at the campground. The Vietnamese are attracted to this fishing lake by the Perch, and Hmong in particular drive for hundreds of miles to fish here. There was a large family in the campsite next to ours who appeared to be Vietnamese.
After the storm, the lake is deceptively beautiful.
And there was a rainbow in the sky.
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