Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-05-07
H e RIVER

PHOTOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATIONS
IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY OF
MINNESOTA AND NORTH DA-
KOTA.
The Red River of the North and its
valley occupy a unique position among
the streams and valleys of the United
States. Collecting the waters from
between the two great northern arms
of the Mississippi system, this river
takes its course almost directly north,
uniting with numerous streams drain
ing the lake region Of central Canada,
and finally reaching Hudson Bay
through Lake Winnipeg and the Great
Nelson river system.
The Red River valley, besides bring
ing the arctic slope for a distance of
over two hundred miles within the
United States represents an equally
unique position among the agricultural
districts of the west. 1t is safe to
say that no equal area within the four
northern states, lying on the Great
Plins, Immediately west of the ninety
seventh meridian, possesses a more
productive soil or has such promise of
rapid future development. The Red
River valley, originating at Big Stone
Lake with a width of only a few miles,
spreads it's V shaped valley northward
in a broad level plain reaching a width
of no less than seventy IL eighty miles
at the international boundary. The
Red River of the North takes it's
]tortuous streams for it's length in Am
erica. The valley is not a valley of
erosion, but the bed of an ancient gla-
cial lake built up by a lacustrian de-
post to a thickness of from thirty to
seventy feet. The streams represent
the very youngest type of river devel-
opment. Indeed. on either side of the
main stream, large areas lie with such
gentle slope that definite channels
have been unable to develop; and the
heavy clay soil, with the impervious
clay beneath preventing underground
drainage, has given rise to extensive
areas where the water stands late into
the summer months, unless artificially
drained,
The Red River of the North has
eroded a channel varying from 100 to
300 feet i'm width, from 20 to 60 feet
deep, and which has an average fall
of Nn1v e inahoc tn fhn no11o I'M, q
capacity of the river, however, is suffi-
Gent to carry off the surplus water
from the summers rains and the
spring waters from the melting of an
average winter snowfall, but after sea-
sons of unusually heavy snowfall, or
when the snow melts suddenly with
the aid of rain. the river is incapable of
caring for the surplus water, and the
resulting flood has been known to ex-
tend over the middle of the valley in
places for a width of ten to fifteen
miles. When the early settlers came
into this region, the underlined surface
presented an aspect most f%orbidding;
but by perseverance in draining,
through bitches and road making, the
aspect has altogether changed.
The Red River Valley of the North
has been APPLY called the mile of Am
erica" True, it flows northward; it's
broad, fertile valley is formed of a
lacustrian Dr. alluvial deposit; and it
is in a sense still subjected to occa-
sdonal foundations. The total area
within the United States covers be-
tween eight and nine million acres, or
is considerably greater than the pro-
ductive area of the Nile valley. But
unlike the Nile, the Red River valley
is located in a region having cold win
ters which renders the land unproduc-
tive for n half the year. The Red
River valley lies on the border of the
sub-humid area, receiving an average
annual precipitation (about twenty
1nches) sufficient to produce the large
crops for which this valley is famous,
even though the moisture is very I'M
certain in its distribution. However.
depending upon variable cyclonic
storms for it's rainfall, which varies
from fifteen to thirty inches, it is sell
dom that conditions favor a maximum
crop yield of which this rich soil is
capable. a
AS the country develops and inten-
sive and diversified agriculture results,
the question is not alone that OF drain
age and getting rid of surplus water
in wet seasons, but also that of equal
Importance how to and util-
ize this water during dry o OF
dry periods of each season. The Nile
valley, with a productive area Of only
three-fourths the size of that of the
Red River valley within the United
States, and with crude methods of ir.
rigation and agriculture, was able il
1880 7 support a population OF over