A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

14 September 2016

When the Garrison Dam flooded Elbowoods, North Dakota,
convicts and southern gravediggers had to move the cemetary

Garrison Dam flooded 155,000 acres of prime Missouri River bottomland running through the Fort Berthold Reservation. The inundation required massive relocations:

By the fall of 1954, relocation was complete. A new road system was constructed, school buildings were built, churches and cemeteries were moved, the agency was housed in its new quarters at New Town, the Four Bears bridge was removed from its original site, and installed as part of the new bridge west of New Town, North Dakota.



elbowoods
Aerial image of the impounded Missouri River approaching the ghost town of Elbowoods, ND, in the summer of 1953.

As described by the Center for Land Use Interpretation:

Two-hundred-mile-long Lake Sakakawea, the third largest reservoir in the country, flooded a quarter of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, forcing the relocation of 325 families, nearly 80 percent of the population on the reservation at that time. Many moved to a newly established community called New Town, where now 1,500 members of the Three Affiliated Tribes live a modern life with a large casino. [Link added.]

Those who were adults at the time of the relocation now are very old. The living memory of the event soon will disappear forever. Learning of an event from a survivor of it makes a much deeper impression on one’s memory than learning of it from a book. That’s why I was very pleased when one of my regular readers — a person I’ll call A.C. — sent me the following account of his friendship with a man from Elbowoods, ND, a town flooded by the dam. My thanks to A.C. for giving me permission to share it with you.

In the early 1980s, when I was farming in NE Montana, I had a Native American man in his 50s working for me who was from Elbowoods, ND.

He had been a bronc rider in his younger years and walked with a limp from those type injuries. He could make anything out of leather. But he could fix anything and was also up early to go to field. He never drank when working for me, but when my job was over he would feel useless if he couldn’t find work and would start drinking. He never complained about this situation.

He recalled the heart breaking removal from the Missouri river bottom by the Corp of Engineers. His family had a cattle ranch. He was most sad about the removal of native graves. He said no locals or natives would take this work as there is nothing more evil then disturbing a burial site. He recalled how they had to use convicts and black grave diggers from the south to do the work.

In 1984 the government returned the minerals under lake to tribe but not to individual Indian owners so these families who were forced out now do not enjoy Bakken wealth.

He was a tough cowboy but talking of this would bring him to tears. He though proudly served in military. However his family could not get their feet back on the ground ranching, and he became a alcoholic and drank himself to death.

When I heard he died I drove … to pay my respects. At the funeral home I asked to see him and was told rather rudely there were no funds to bury him. There would be a pauper’s funeral, and you know he was an alcoholic. This man was a very hard worker but broken by the system. I asked what would a nice casket and funeral cost which at time he said $3,500. I took out my check book wrote that amount and said even alcoholic Indians have friends. I didn’t do it as a protest but he was a friend. I’ll never forget the look on that funeral directors face.