TRANSFORMATION OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY OF THE NORTH

335 Pages·2016·4.76 MB·English

TRANSFORMATION OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY OF THE NORTH:

AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

A Dissertation
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of the
North Dakota State University
of Agriculture and Applied Science

By
Kathleen Ruth Gilmore Brokke

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Major Department:
History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies

December 2015
Fargo, North Dakota
North Dakota State University

Graduate School

Title

TRANSFORMATIONS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY OF THE
NORTH: AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

By

Kathleen Ruth Gilmore Brokke

The Supervisory Committee certifies that this disquisition complies with North
Dakota State University’s regulations and meets the accepted standards for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE:

Dr. Mark Harvey
Chair

Dr. Thomas Isern

Dr. Gary K. Clambey

Dr. Jim Mochoruk

Approved:

April 14, 2016 Dr. John K. Cox
Date Department Chair
ABSTRACT
This environmental history of the Red River Valley from the mid 1850s – 2000
encompasses those who lived in this tallgrass prairie region and asks how did they live within
this environment? In addition, it seeks to understand how they utilized their surrounding natural
world. Beyond this, with less than 1 percent of the tallgrass prairie remaining, this work
showcases an important aspect of our region few know. Why is this important? The tallgrass
helped create the fertile soil, which is the major reason for the high yields of wheat and other
crops, and agriculture is the major industry in this region. Also, many of the native plants that
once grew abundantly were eaten as food or used as medicine. A ‘cornucopia’ of food existed in
this region. There is a loss in our Red River Valley that few know. This region was actually a
complex environment, which looked remarkably simple to most who viewed the ‘sea of waving
grass.’
This environmental history researches the changes to the surrounding tallgrasses,
wetlands, and rivers, as transitions occurred from Native American to Euro-American settlers
who adjusted to this new prairie environment, changing the natural world in the process as well.
Geology and geography help us to understand the issues of floods in this very young river valley.
This research also addresses how changes since the early 1900s have dramatically altered our
rivers and wetlands, which were a major part of this landscape, and how this has impacted our
lives today. My original quest was to discover how this region appeared with its differing grasses
and forbs, riparian forests along the rivers, and the thriving wildlife – bison, deer, elk, bears,
wolves, and coyotes. In addition, I sought to understand how others had lived here before Euro-
Americans settled in this Red River Valley.
iii
All of this is important for us to better understand our environment and ourselves and to
learn from our past for our present lives as well. This is a very unique environment and we are
wealthy beyond measure in our residence upon it.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to express her sincere appreciation to Dr. Mark Harvey for his
guidance, patience, insights, and constructive criticism for this entire research in addition to
sharing this amazing environmental history with me. A huge thank you, also, to my committee,
Dr. Tom Isern, Dr. Jim Mochoruk, and Dr. Gary Clambey, who have honored me with sharing
their valuable time, expertise, and knowledge in perusing this dissertation. A special thanks to
our libraries and archives that store amazing gems for us to discover in our research. The
librarians in them all, particularly the St. Paul, Minnesota, Historical Library, the Livingston
Lord Library at Moorhead University, the Chester Fritz Library at the University of North
Dakota, the State Historical Library in Bismarck, and the Institute for Regional Research
Archives in Fargo, where I found a major part of my research, are all to be commended for their
work, their help, and their wonderful resources. I wish also to thank Dr. Angela Smith for her
immeasurable help and expertise in the electronic format for this dissertation. A giant thank you
to you all for helping me reach this goal of my Red River Valley Environmental history.
A special thanks to strong support from my friends, especially Elaine Speare, and family,
particularly my sister, Barbara, and my husband, Jerry. My daughters and son-in-law as well,
Emily, Sarah, and James, kept me on track with their questions, interest, and empathy. Two
excited grandchildren who want to see my chapter book, Isaac and Freya, helped me focus, laugh
a lot, and remember why this is all so important when we enjoyed many outdoor adventures
together. Thank you all – colleagues, family, and friends – for your encouragement and belief in
positive endings. This has been an amazing journey.

v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ v
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ vii
LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES .................................................................................................. viii
LIST OF APPENDIX FIGURES................................................................................................... ix
CHAPTER 1: AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF A YOUNG RIVER VALLEY .............. 1
CHAPTER 2: ABUNDANT LIFE IN THE DIVERSE, TALLGRASS RED RIVER
VALLEY....................................................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER 3: BURGEONING EURO-AMERICAN INTEREST IN THE RED RIVER
VALLEY....................................................................................................................................... 52
CHAPTER 4: EURO-AMERICAN SETTLERS ......................................................................... 74
CHAPTER 5: BONANZA FARMS ........................................................................................... 116
CHAPTER 6: SCIENCE ENTERS THE RED RIVER VALLEY ............................................. 150
CHAPTER 7: A DIFFICULT DECADE – DUST, DROUGHT, AND DEPRESSION ............ 193
CHAPTER 8: THE TROUBLE WITH TOO MUCH OR TOO LITTLE WATER ................... 224
CHAPTER 9: THE WINDS OF CHANGE................................................................................ 258
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 278
APPENDIX A: MAPS ................................................................................................................ 298
APPENDIX B: LIST OF MEDICINAL WILD PLANTS OF THE PRAIRIE .......................... 314
APPENDIX C: ANIMAL PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM THE RED RIVER VALLEY ...... 318
APPENDIX D: NORTHWEST TERRITORY SALES EARNINGS ........................................ 320
APPENDIX E: BIRD INVENTORY OF NORTHERN RRV, 1902-1928 ................................ 321
APPENDIX F: FANNIE MAHOOD HEATH’S LIST OF HARDY FLOWERS OF THE
PRAIRIELAND” ........................................................................................................................ 322
APPENDIX G: RED RIVER VALLEY WATER SUPPLY ...................................................... 323
vi
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1: Animal Furs, Grease, And Meat Volumes Recorded At The Park River Fur Trading
Post Between 1800 And 1801. .............................................................................................. 48
2: Government Dollars Spent To Control Grasshoppers Between 1936 And 1948. ............... 205
3: The Number Of Belts Planted And A Distribution Of Belts By Rating Of Classes In
Various North Dakota Counties. .......................................................................................... 212

vii
LIST OF APPENDIX TABLES
Table Page
C 1: Animal Products Derived From The Red River Valley .................................................... 318
D 1: Sales Statistics In St. Paul Press, 29 August 1863, Of Burgeoning Northwest
Territory Trade. ................................................................................................................. 320
E 1: Birds Reported To The Bureau Of Biological Survey, Washington, D.C., 1902-
1928. .................................................................................................................................. 321
F 1: Fannie Mahood Heath’s List Of Hardy Flowers Of The Prairieland. ............................... 322
G 1: Water Supply Needs And Options. ................................................................................... 323

viii
LIST OF APPENDIX FIGURES
Figures Page
A 1: Tributaries Of The Red River Of The North .................................................................. 298
A 2: Red River Of The North Drainage Basin ........................................................................ 299
A 3: Cultural Affiliations Of Native American Groups .......................................................... 300
A 4: Red River Oxcarts, 1820-1870 ....................................................................................... 301
A 5: Wagon Trails Of The 1860s ............................................................................................ 302
A 6: Climate Zone Map .......................................................................................................... 303
A 7: Spread Of English Sparrow In United States .................................................................. 304
A 8: Wind Erosion Susceptibility Map ................................................................................... 305
A 9: Major Planting Areas ...................................................................................................... 306
A 10: Shelterbelts ...................................................................................................................... 307
A 11: North Dakota Shelterbelts ............................................................................................... 308
A 12: Railroad Building In The Red River Valley ................................................................... 309
A 13: Flood Control Structures ................................................................................................. 310
A 14: Wetlands ......................................................................................................................... 311
A 15: 2012 Climate Zone Map ................................................................................................. 312
A 16: Water: Too Much Or Too Little? .................................................................................... 313
ix
CHAPTER 1: AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF A YOUNG RIVER VALLEY
“The Red River Valley is a flat plain resulting from sedimentation on the
floor of Lake Agassiz; more than 95 percent of the area is gently sloping
with local relief less than twenty-five feet in most places.”1
On the eastern edge of the Northern Great Plains along the expanse of the Red River
Valley basin, a hawk flies and circles overhead as it scans the landscape below for food. Over
many centuries hawks continue to search in their timeless pattern of predator searching for prey,
but much has changed in this tallgrass prairie region in the last 150 years. Before 1870,
stretching along the Red River and its tributaries, the tall grass prairie landscape contained a
myriad of forbs and grasses, some over six feet tall with roots seven feet deep into an even
deeper dark loam topsoil. This was the region where a rider on a horse sometimes had to stand
on the horse’s back to look into the distant horizon. Multiple stands of hard and soft wood
deciduous trees and fruit bearing shrubs grew along the river banks. Wildlife – bears – grizzly
and black, bison, deer, elk, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, beavers, and gray wolves, just to
name a few, - thrived in the region as well.2 Various Native American peoples, some who existed
as far back as the Woodland culture of 1400 b.c., lived along the banks of the rivers. They
subsisted on the fish, clams, crayfish, and turtles in the river, the wildlife on the grass-lands, the
birds who nested in the grasses and marshlands, the differing native plants, and the fruit from
trees and shrubs. Later, some Native American tribes, like the Cheyenne in the 1700s, cultivated
gardens to supplement their diets, while others, like the Dakota, hunted the bison and added to

1 John P. Bluemle, The Face of North Dakota, 3rd Edition (North Dakota Geological Survey:
Educational Series 26, 2000), 4.
2 Elwyn B. Robinson, A History of North Dakota, An Outline for a College Course (Grand
Forks: University of North Dakota, 1952), 3.
1