There are two largest lakes in North Dakota, one being the largest natural and the other being the largest manmade. The largest natural lake, Devils Lake, has been slowly eating up the land around it as it has continued to grow for the past few decades. Roads that once went by it now go off into nothing but water, and some towns are beginning to shrink as the shoreline gets closer. But as of yet, no town has been completely engulfed.
The creation of North Dakota's largest manmade lake resulted in the loss of thousands of acres of land that is now deep under the lake's surface. This land wasn't empty, and there were multiple towns within the flooding zone that had to pack up and leave back then. One of these was a town called Van Hook.
The Garrison Dam was completed in 1953.
This dam was built on the Missouri River near Garrison, North Dakota. It is the fifth largest earthen dam in the world. One of the dam's spillways is shown above.
As a result of this dam, a massive reservoir that would become known as Lake Sakakawea formed.
Lake Sakakawea covers over 300,000 acres of land and is the third largest man made lake in the nation. A good chunk of this land was used for agriculture and there were towns that had to be emptied and all residents forced to relocate because of it. A total of 1,700 people had to move, almost 400 of whom were residents Van Hook.
Today, most of the original townsite is underwater.
A good majority of the former residents, along with those who lived in the other town, relocated to what is now New Town, North Dakota. Some of the buildings of Van Hook were moved, too, but a few, along with the original foundations of others, remained. The photo above is taken near where the original townsite was.
This sign near the original site has the history of what Van Hook used to be, before it was lost underwater.
Many feet of water now cover the town.
On occasion, glimpses of the town have been seen when the water levels of the lake are low enough, but for the most part, it is completely gone.
Before the 1950s, Van Hook was a completely normal town. To see what it may have been like back then during the 1930s and 40s in North Dakota, these rare photographs might give you a good idea.
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