The Dam

 This is a piece I wrote in 2020. I found it in 'memories' and am posting it here again.

A recent program we attended featured the retired national park superintendent Gerard Baker who left me with an unsettled feeling after hearing one of his statements. The Mandaree Indian born and raised on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota said this night, “My generation never got to see the river bottom.” He was speaking of the consequences of the land being flooded by the Garrison Dam that formed Lake Sakakawea. I wrote the following section three years ago after visiting one of the affected ranchers.

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The Garrison Dam straddles the Missouri River about seventy miles above North Dakota’s capital city Bismarck. Construction of the huge structure occurred from 1947 through 1953. A mammoth undertaking, the Corps of Engineers deemed it necessary for flood control and hydroelectric generation with the added potential for irrigation and recreation. Over 152,000 acres of land were purchased from the Three Affiliated Tribes for the formation of Lake Sakakawea. Under threat of having land taken from them by eminent domain, the tribal members acquiesced to the demand to sell. This action displaced over 1700 tribal members from the rich bottomland they had lived on for hundreds of years. Three little trading towns - Elbowoods, Sanish, and Van Hook - passed from sight under the rising water, taking with them the social structure, unwritten laws, and conventions that had evolved over many generations.

Some white ranchers also lived on the land and worked harmoniously beside the Indians only to suffer the same fate. So it was that the Voigt family went looking for new land and found a ranch, the Anchor Ranch established by William V. Wade, for their operation south of Raleigh, North Dakota. Their herd of 150 cattle needed to be moved to that new ground, and the decision was made to drive them overland.

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Neighbors came in the morning and helped the Voigts round up the herd on a fall day in 1951 and came back early the next morning to help start the drive south to their new home. The crew didn’t look forward to crossing the Four Bear Bridge with them. The span was long and narrow and a steep riverbank dropped to the water on either side of the bridge. If a cow broke from the herd at its entrance, she could slip and slide twenty feet down the bank causing a big problem for the cowboys getting her back up.

We sat and listened to Duaine Voigt reminisce in his dining room where a glass-windowed wall opened to a southern exposure of the place he had become a part of on the Cannonball River. Memories of the cattle drive flowed easily like the river in a spring thaw. “We found this place after being told we’d have to move. Realtors came out of the woodwork when the news was out they were going to start flooding the dam. Every real estate guy in the country came to Elbowoods.”

“Once we got started, we were four riders plus Dad who drove a truck where we’d covered the box and rigged it to hold our sleeping cots and supplies.” Once the herd entered the long bridge, it didn’t take long for a problem to present itself. “When we were about a quarter of the way across, a car entered the opposite end and rattled toward us. A dog could trot across the bridge and it would rattle and shake. That spooked the herd and some turned and tried to come back. I was riding my best horse Sitting Bull that day, nobody else could ride him. You could ride him longer than any three of the other horses. We had some turmoil for awhile with cattle bunching up, those in the back still going forward, some in front trying to go back from where they came. Anyway, I was back and forth and got them stopped from going backwards. We got them across, tut then they stampeded and came off the other end like they were shot out of a cannon and took off for the badlands. If they had gotten into those badlands, we would never have found them.” With the neighbors help, they rounded them up again and were able to leave on their planned drive the next morning. “We had 128 cows, each one had a calf, and we had five bulls. I know because I counted them every morning.” He told us they averaged about 17 miles a day and laughed when he told about the time when riding night herd he took a 2-4 a.m. shift. “It got foggy and when the 4-6 a.m. spelled me, I told him it’s pretty dark. When the fog lifted the next morning, here he was going around and around a bunch of rocks with cows scattered all over. On this trip we rode from daylight to dark, so we were really hardened in by the time we got the cows down here. We felt good about it because the cows came through it beautiful.”

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After 10 1/2 days on the trail, the herd arrived at their new home on the Cannonball River. One of the sons, Duaine, eventually became the owner of the sprawling acreage. Since retired, he leases the property to his daughter and her husband who combine it with their own adjacent ranch where they maintain a large herd of buffalo. Life seems to have gone well for them after the relocation.

Many, maybe most, of their Indian friends and neighbors did not fare so well. A picture taken at the signing ceremony when the federal government took possession depicts the chairman of the tribal government, George Gillette, standing sorrowfully and distraught amid a group of outwardly untouched men. His people gave more than the monetary value of their compensation.

RANDOM THOUGHTS - February 24, 2026

Alysa Liu! Wow! Fun!… President Theodore Roosevelt believed the greatest thing a president can do is display character … George Bush, Sr’s mother taught him to not talk about himself or his achievements cuz “Nobody likes a braggadocio” … Abe Lincoln surrounded himself with rivals … Secretary Burgum: I’m not in favor of private investment on public land. Pres. Teddy Roosevelt set aside 230 million acres of it for public use … Bill Mazeroski of the Pittsburgh Pirates demonstrated a “walk-off.” In the 1960 World Series 7th game his bottom of the 9th homer against the Yankees won the game, and all the Yankees could do was walk off the field … This day in 1803 the decision of Marbury vs Marbury asserted that the Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the Constitution … I want to see lots of green, grass and leaves (and money) , that is …

The picture exhibits a chuck wagon I built one time in 1/12 scale ...

Happy Valentine's Day - 2026

 

I went in to buy a dozen roses

but came out with just this one

the price was astronomical

and since I’m economical

I thought that had no merit

the clerk said this one word: tariff.

The Road Patrol

 When we visited an agriculture museum in Georgia a few years back, I came upon this piece of machinery called a "Road Patrol" which was simply a road grader. In the spring washboard roads developed on the township roads and the best way to smooth them out was to do it yourself. Greene Township in Ransom County had one and sometimes Dad would search it out from somebody's trees where it had been parked. I would drive the tractor pulling it and he stood on the rear platform operating the depth controls of the blade. Memories.

It Must Be Repeated

 

This was a post I'd placed on Facebook 9 years ago. It must be repeated, again and again.

RANDOM THOUGHTS - February 6, 2026

“It ain’t over until we say it’s over” a quote by an Epstein survivor after efforts to quiet the matter … A note in the Sheldon Enterprise, 1885: Our side tracks are full of freight cars, some of which contain large stocks of goods for Sheldon’s enterprising merchants … When did the word “weaponize” become a word? … 25 years ago the hottest movie was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, followed closely by The Fellowship of the Ring … Babe Ruth was born on this day in 1895 … I pick the Seahawks to win the Super Bowl by a touchdown … I’m ready to hear meadowlarks in the sandhills again … Everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts … There was a time I did a lot of carving … 

My Take on Football

 Teams in this year’s Super Bowl have been selected, the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. NDSU speaks with pride over two of its recent players who have found a place on the Seahawks roster. It promises to be a good game along with all the hoopla that accompanies it, such as the half time entertainment and the advertising. Bad Bunny will entertain. I’d not heard of him before. As for commercials, my all-time favorite was the “Cat Herders” in 2000.

Some features of football are taken for granted, like the fact that each team consists of an offense and a defense. But that hasn’t always been so. In the early days of football, strict substitution rules meant team members played both offense and defense for the entire game. If taken out of the game a player could not return. Not until 1950 did free substitution become legal to open the way to specialty squads. Some other historical facts are fun to look at. The forward pass became legal in 1906; a field goal dropped from 4 points to 3 in 1909; a touchdown increased from 5 points to 5 in 1913; and in 1950, the 2 point option after a touchdown became approved.

Like baseball, we can dig up statistics and regulation minutiae all day long if we want. It’s the people, though, that interests me the most. Football players can be very entertaining. For instance, take one named John Riggins who joined the Washington Redskins as a free agent and achieved legendary status when named MVP of Super Bowl XVII.

Riggins apparently overindulged occasionally, like the time during a Washington Press Club dinner in 1985. Seated at the same table as Sandra Day O’Connor, the first lady Supreme Court Justice, he fell asleep during George H. W. Bush’s speech. Ending up falling from his chair he rolled under the table. Upon waking, he blurted out in his drunken haze, “Loosen up, Sandy, baby. You’re too tight.” They escorted him from the room. A few years later Justice O’Connor demonstrated that she held nothing against Riggins by presenting him with a dozen roses.

In 1969, a brash young quarterback named Joe Namath predicted his underdog team, the New York Jets, would beat the Baltimore Colts. Be darned if they didn’t, by a score of 16-7, marking one of the big upsets in sports history. The win was the first in the Super Bowl for the AFL, which merged with the NFL for the 1970 season. Namath suffered alcoholism, struggled after his football career, embarrassed himself, and sought treatment.

The Manning family produced some impressive football athletes. The father of the clan, Archie, came out of Ole Miss where he was an All-American quarterback and jointed the New Orleans Saints in 1971. His success earned him an invitation for two years to the pro bowl along with numerous other awards. We’re just getting started with the Mannings.

Archie and his wife had three sons, and two of them went on to football fame. Cooper, the oldest, had a physical disability called spinal stenosis for which doctors advised him not to play for fear of paralysis. Peyton played 18 seasons and led two different teams, Colts and Broncos, to Super Bowl wins. The other brother, Eli, led the New York Giants to two Super Bowl victories.

Big things are expected from a third generation Manning, Arch, son of Cooper, who plays quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. He had two fine examples to follow with his uncles’ careers. Only time will tell if he matches up. 

Kurt Warner started his career as an undrafted free agent and became the only undrafted player named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP and the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. Now that is quite a story, and it might not be finished since he has two sons that play.

A pair of running backs caught my attention in their heyday. Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka played on the Miami Dolphins undefeated 17 win team in 1972. A sportswriter for the Miami Herald learned of their wild, fun-loving ways together and nicknamed them “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” The name stuck. Add in one more name of Mercury Morris that rounded off that superb Dolphin backfield.

Statistically and by consensus, Tom Brady tops the list of best quarterback ever where he leads in key categories of passing yards, touchdowns, and wins, plus holding records for Super Bowl wins and MVPs. His statistics might stand for a long time. At present he is trying to make a broadcaster out of himself. He’s stumbled a bit, but given his competitiveness, he will likely overcome any deficits.

Brady’s coach, Bill Belichick, the eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach, is not a first-ballot Football Hall of Famer. In voting earlier this month, Belichick fell short of the 40 out of 50 votes needed for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility. Of course, some have called for the identity of the no voters. We can guess why.

We will conclude this article by mentioning  the story of what is called the biggest comeback game in history. On December 17, 2022, The New York Times posted this headline: Minnesota Vikings Beat Colts for Biggest Comeback in NFL history. The Vikings were down by 33 points, but scored five touchdowns in the second half to force overtime. One of the players reported that coach Kevin O’Connell told the team at halftime, “All we need is five touchdowns.” Somehow they found them and went on to win 39-36 in overtime.