The early settlers of the region knew that Devils Lake had flooded in the past, before they chose their claims in 1882.
The Creel City “Inter Ocean” paper of April 21, 1883 stated, “After mature deliberation and careful study of all the various points on the lake, three years ago [the site of Creel City was chosen].” After facing the problems of the 25+ foot rise in the level of water in Devils Lake from 1993 to 2005, many wondered why the settlers and railroad men chose the site “after careful study.”
The settlers had discovered the signs of floods of the past. So then why did they not “pass on through” and choose higher ground?
For the railroad, the route that they needed to choose was determined by more than just local geography and topography. The St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad was to be the first to reach Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington from the northern Midwest. Such a route was bound to be profitable as it would bring the agricultural products of the east to the NW ports and on to the orient. [Eventually the M & M railroad would even own large ships that would go to Japan and China.] But the exact path of the track in the Lake Region was not restricted to only the one it would eventually choose. So why did James Hill want his line to go near Devils Lake?
To understand the why, one must first understand the how. Railroading required the largest capitalization that investors had ever contemplated. It was in the national interest to establish railroads, both for economic and military reasons. The government was convinced that it was necessary to give help to gain the benefits. This help was given first by grants of free land along a promised route. A “checkerboard” of land in six-mile squares on both sides of the track line was given to the railroad company, to either use or sell. The enormous value of this “free-booty” and the simple lack of industry regulation or oversight led to terrible abuses by the “Robber Baron” railroad executives, some of whom became the richest men in America [but also definitely the most unscrupulous]. Basically they made their fortunes building the railroads, not running them. Then they “cut loose” and left the railroads to totter on the brink of bankruptcy, or secured money from the Federal Government to “save” the national interest.
This led to financial disaster for the whole country in 1873, when banks failed and a deep depression followed. As a result, the people of the country demanded that the grants to new railroads be stopped and that the industry be regulated more closely. It was at this time that James J. Hill began to plan for the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad.
Hill had made his fortune in steam boating on the Red River of the North. He then began to buy up bankrupt railroads in the area and made the ambitious and risky plan to cross the country with it. The M & M Road would be the first line that was not given land grants by the Federal Government. Hill would have to raise the capital without government help and he would have to run the railroad at a profit, from the very beginning.
Such a challenge reshaped every aspect of the task ahead. The most efficient route would dictate the path chosen, as well as the most economical land prices. Of course, this would mean that Hill would be a fool to choose a path for the road that would be easily threatened by rising lake levels. So why did the M & M line follow the northern border of Devils Lake so closely?
There is a clue in the paragraph above that will answer that last question. James Hill was first a riverboat man. Hill was born in Winnipeg and realized that the eastern provinces of Canada were more remote for commerce to and from Manitoba than was St. Paul and Minneapolis. His steamboats on the Red linked up with the cart trains of the Metis, who made the connection with the Twin Cities. A railroad link would make that route even more profitable. [the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railroad was not finished until 1886.] With his riverboat experience, Hill knew how very valuable US Mail contracts would be. Fort Totten Military Reservation was on the south shore of Devils Lake and a contract to carry supplies as well as mail, would bring double profit and quick cash. The M & M road would therefore, have to “touch” the lake. But no railroad would bring profit if its track was washed away in a flood!
The record of the area newspapers tells the story of the “blind optimism” of both Hill, the settlers and the city fathers. On April 14, 1883, the Creel City Inter-Ocean paper printed the following: “Rock Island [Lakewood and Camp Grafton, now] and Graham Island are not in reality islands at all, although they were at one time entirely surrounded by water….A fine sheet of water called Stump lake lies eight miles south of Bartlett and six miles east of Devils Lake. It is 18 miles long and from one-half a mile to three miles wide. This and Devils Lake were long ago, one piece of water.” Obviously, they knew about “high water”!
The Grand Forks Daily News of May 16, 1883 writes: “It is generally admitted and believed that far back in the dead ages even the knolls and hills, the cliffs and crags, that abound along the northeast shore were covered by water…As the marks of floods can be seen high upon the trunks of trees along the Mississippi lowlands in the south, so may be observed the water lines on the high banks at Minnewaukan [Devils Lake], far up their grassy sides, twenty and thirty and even forty feet above the present surface of the lake…As the water has receded thousands of little valleys have been left, with a soil as rich as can be found any where [sic] in our own rich and fertile domain, the Red River Valley.”
… 237 million years ago the Devils Lake Region was again under the ocean, but was in the shallows of the super continent Pangea as it began breaking up. 195 million years ago the western mountains of North America formed and the Devils Lake Region was now above land with most of the rest of the continent. 94 million years ago the Devils Lake Region is getting close to its present location between the equator and the north pole, but it is now covered by a shallow sea which covers the middle of America from Canada to what would eventually be the Gulf of Mexico. The atmospheric oxygen level has dropped 10 percent.
… In 1883 science linked Devils Lake floods with Noah’s. I personally happen to believe that a “Biblical” flood took place, even as I know the flooding of Devils Lake was not involved in it. The “whole earth flood” of about 6,000 years ago was over the known world of the prophets and was recorded, not for a science lesson but for a spiritual one. The Devils Lake flood can be a great lesson as well.
Olivia Kingree, historian and author, wrote several regular columns about local history for the Devils Lake Journal.