Garrison Dam and Lewis and Clark

Monday June 24 (cont'd)

I need to back up a little as we continue on this day, because we left Devil's Lake and traveled toward Minot with a few things in between.

The first this we saw when we left our campground this morning was this mother duck and her babies nonchalantly crossing the road.  She  came from a small swale  with high sides just beside the road, so she must have layed her eggs on high ground and her babies survived the high water. 

 

This railroad bed is new.  The BNSF Railway had suspended freight service for 19 miles along here due to rising water.  They had offered the line to Amtrak, who declined.  Recently the two rail lines agreed to share the cost of rebuilding and raising the bed.  Each paid 1/3 with the government paying the other third.

More houses underwater.  It is heartbreaking.

This seems to be quite a prosperous area in spite of the current weather conditions.  I've seen several new grain elevators like this one.

This truck passed us and John remarked that it was carrying house moving equipment.

Three  more trucks passed us and then turned onto a road.  It was obvious that another farmer was trying to save his house.

I know--more cows.  But these black angus are really healthy and I hope the farmers have enough grazing land to keep their herds together.

As we turned off to Garrison Dam, another road was being raised.  When I think about infrastructure, I just haven't thought of the thousands of jobs being created just to try to save places like this.

We have been seeing more signs indicating that we are on the same path as Lewis and Clark.  Our campsite has a trail leading to the river and a few boards telling about the expeditions trip through here.   We are at the Missouri River.

I had never heard of a sauger fish.  It's a relative of the walleye, a great sport fish and is relatively common in a huge portion of the upper midwest and Canada.

Here's a Missouri River, downstream of the Garrison Dam. 

The dam is over two miles across , earthen filled, and is the fifth largest such dam in the world.  The Lake behind the dam is Lake Sakakawea.  It covers 382,000 acres.

This is downstream.   The government purchased 152,000 acres from the Fort Berthold Reservation, for $5 million in 1947 and 1700 people had to be relocated.  I can only imagine how many sacred places were inundated.

Just had to show you this bird picture.  I had no idea what kind it was when I took the picture, and then found out it was a red winged blackbird.

Here it is - sitting on that branch hanging out from the dead tree.  Love this camera! :)

I don't know why we pick these campgrounds which are downstream, but this one was pretty nice.  It was not as crowded as the ones up on the lake. 

The fish hatchery here is the world's largest walleye and northern pike hatchery, and is also working to restore endangered species, like the sturgeon.

All in all a pretty impressive place.  I got this photo off the internet to show the magnitude of the dam.  Hope the Indians got something in addition to some money for this land.