| Summary: | northeast corner of the county is Lake Metigoshe, which is widely known for its private recreational facilities. The water in both of the rivers is reduced in flow during the summer months because of the small amount of runoff from the area. The small coulees which are tributaries of these rivers are generally intermittent streams and flow only during the spring or during the time of heavy rainfall. Ground water is that portion of the precipitation absorbed and retained by the ground, especially in sufficient quantities so it can be recovered by means of a well. The glacial drift has supplied most of the water for the shallow wells. In recent years the water supplies have diminished and in some localities have become exhausted. Throughout this area and also in the entire state, there has been a continual lowering of the ground water level, and this fact has been accompanied by a reduction in well yields. Water conservation is practiced in this area at all times. Bottineau County and the areas drained by the Souris River are in the central drift prairie region. The Souris River is part of the Hudson Bay drainage system. The Souris empties into the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, and that in turn empties into the Red River in Winnipeg. Bottineau County is the only county besides Renville County that lies entirely within the Souris River drainage system. Bottineau County has a total area of 1,693 square miles. The Turtle Mountains occupy part of Bottineau and Rolette counties and extend into Canada. Their elevation is from four to six hundred feet above the plain below, and comprise about eight hundred square miles. A heavy growth of small timber and dense growth of underbrush afford an excellent hiding place for small game, for an animal only a few feet away may be easily hidden from view. It has been estimated that there are several hundred lakes in this area varying in size from Metigoshe to many small ponds between the hills. Until recent years, traces of early times could be seen everywhere. There were places where the Indians held their dances and councils; Indian burial grounds; Red River cart trails, which the Indians and half-breeds traveled; well marked buffalo wallows and trails leading from lake to lake or down to the prairie; and along the southern side were many deep holes on the high points, where the Indian guards used to lie, watching over the prairie for signs of approaching enemy. In Indian times the conflict between the Sioux from the south and the Cree of the north was very bitter as the mountains were claimed by the Chippewa. In contrast to the bleak, windswept plains, it is easy to imagine the strife between the several Indian tribes for possession of an area so well supplied with food, shelter, and natural protection. Survey maps drawn during 1883 to 1889 show well defined trails while the land was in its virgin state. THE TURTLE MOUNTAINS IN 1867 On October 8, 1867, M.K. Armstrong, a land surveyor for the territorial government, wrote the following description of the Turtle Mountains: Away up here in this northern clime we already feel the approach of winter. Great black frosts fall nightly from the blue cold skies, and the high autumn winds are driving the prairie fires all over the plains. The woods are casting their yellow leaves thick upon the ground and the constant moan of the forest sounds wintry indeed. This portion of Dakota is in reality a timbered region. During the last week I ran a line 17 miles long through heavy forests of oak, ash, birch and whitewood, extending along the base of the mountains from south to the north. These woods abound with bears, moose and wolves in the way of game; and as for fruit, strawberries, cherries and cranberries, they . A5SINI80IA frrrrtor, ■,>■>■",.: I lo *s-j Stltirt by /»■ Hudson* I Bay 0>.ibV>) ISH grow in profusion. Birds of the forest are here also different from those in southern Dakota; the blue jay, the pigeon and mocking bird being seen daily in the woods. As for the people, there are a great many here, and they live on pounded meat or 'pemmican'. They call themselves 'Plain Hunters', and make their annual summer visits to the plains, with horses, oxen, carts and families, to procure meat and robes, and return late in the fall to live in their thatched- roof log houses. Some of them have small gardens and barley fields which yield abundantly when well attended, and is sometimes done by members of the family who are too old, too feeble or too young to go to the plains. This pemmican trade is like our fisheries, and is carried on almost as extensively, 300 carts sometimes going out from this place in one train. As for the means of transportation, large wooden wheeled carts, tireless, and with unbanded hubs, harnessed with rawhide to an ox or horse, constitutes a team, so much so that the roads are all three-tracked cart trails, making them very tiresome for horses . It would make a white man look wild to see these two-wheeled things go through the woods, smashing through brush, tumbling over logs and fallen trees, and plunging down steep river banks, sometimes both ox and driver under the cart, and the next moment coming up all straight on the other side. As for myself, I stopped riding in these northern sulkies after my first effort in crossing a creek where I was thrown, compass and all, high and dry, into a neighboring bramble bush. I believe these people are among the happiest in the world. If they only have enough to eat, storm, sunshine and- shardships are all the same to them, and after their days labor is done and supper is over, they build a blazing camp- fire and with the iron kettle for a drum they perform their dance and sing songs for hours. (6) Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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