Paul Broste Rock Museum

We finally got to the Paul Broste Rock Museum.  It was well worth the $5 charge for the tour.  Mr. Broste built the building himself -- its concrete block with natural stone from the area on the outside face.  He made his own equipment to make all the polished spheres that are housed here.  Some of the spheres are the largest of their kind in the world.  Perfect polished clear quartz, tiger eye, rose quartz and the list goes on and on.  He collected from all over North and South Dakota and then went on to acquire rocks from all over the world.  There are also stalagtites and stalagmites from caves which are now illegal to collect. 

There was this beautiful piece of wulfenite from the Red Cloud Mine near Yuma, AZ.  We had met the caretaker of the Red Cloud Mine and we displayed a piece of wulfenite at the refuge.  This rock is amazingly valuable because of how rare it is.  The reddish orange color wulfenite is only found in two places in the world.   The museum curator had no idea that the wulfenite they had on display was valuable.  She told us that several of the rock specimens they had were worth over a million dollars and the Smithsonian had tried to get a few of them.    We looked around at this old building and thought --- they need a better security system!

Birds & Blooms

There are an incredible amount of interesting birds here.  I've seen many new ones that I have never seen before.  This bird is either a brown thrasher or a wood thrush.  I have to see some other pictures in books before I can decide which it is.  Either bird is a treat to see since we've never seen either one before we got here. 

Every time we go to town it seems like something new is blooming in the fields.    The really bright lemon yellow in the background is a field of rapeseed.  It is the plant they use to make canola oil.  Miles of these bright yellow fields are quite beautiful.  Its hard to see in this picture but in front of the yellow is a sea of blue flowers.  The blue is flax.  The fields of blue waving in the wind makes them look like a lake from a distance -- so pretty. 

Thousands/Millions of Years Ago

The land here in North Dakota was once under water and there are fossils in the rocks in the area that show fossilized sea creatures.  There is an island called fossil island -- right now its just a few rocks sticking out of the water -- but as the water goes down we should see more of it.  You can land a boat there and see the fossils in the rocks.  The fossils in the rock in the picture are from outside the Paul Broste Rock Museum.  It was closed the day we went but outside they had this really cool -- big and heavy -- fossilized rock. 

Another era in geological history here had lots of trees growing and there is a lot of petrified wood around.  It isn't brilliant colors like the petrified wood in Arizona.  The colors depend on different minerals being in the soil that are absorbed into the wood over time.  Here there must not have been a lot of pretty minerals.  The wood is still kind of pretty.  This big piece was in front of the offices/visitor center for the Falkirk Coal Mine.  It must have been found as they dug for coal. 

Local Fisherman

We were out fishing and had this pelican hang out with us.  He was obviously used to getting a fish thrown his way once in awhile.  People catch a fish that is fowl hooked and too small to keep so the pelican is there ready to take advantage of the situation.  I actually caught a small bass that I thought I would throw to the pelican but I'm terrible at throwing anything so of course the fish slipped out of my grasp and went safely back in the water.  The pelican finally gave up waiting for a meal and left.

The shoreline along the lake is interesting.  Here it looks like caves were carved out of the shoreline cliffs.  It just the way the soil erodes out -- if you can call it soil -- its hard as rock.  Many times while we are fishing the cows grazing in the fields along the water come down to the waters edge for a drink.  Its kind of funny to be fishing with cows -- although in west Texas we were fishing with goats along the shore. 

We've been catching some walleye mostly small -- 14 inches but I caught a very nice 19 inch fish and Jim lost a really nice one so we keep trying.  Its strange to us that the good fishing is really just  starting this late in the season but that's normal in this part of Lake Sakakawea.  We are more in the middle of the lake so it takes the longest to warm up.     

Junior Duck Stamps

When we toured the Audubon National Wildlife Refuge they had a display of Junior Duck Stamp winners.  Its hard to believe that these were done by kids.  They were all so well done but of course they were only displaying the winners.  We worked on the Junior Duck Stamp competition when we were at the wildlife refuge in Yuma.  It makes a lot more sense to see duck paintings in North Dakota where the ducks are much more plentiful. 

The fishing has picked up here and most people are bringing in fish.  I caught a nice walleye last time we were out but all Jim was getting were missed bites.   The campground is full every weekend and all the condos and cabins are always booked up so its a busy place. 

We got confirmation on having a job this winter back in Yuma.  The resort is brand new -- opening in November.  Its called Carefree RV Village.  From the website it looks like its going to be nice.  They must have gotten the pictures of the amenities from other places because its not even built yet. 

Falkirk Coal Mine

Hard to believe that North Dakota has coal mining.  The coal found here is lignite coal.  Its got a low sulphur content so its good for burning in power plants that generate electricity.  The Falkirk Mine is fairly new although it is mining on some ground that was mined in the past.  Its pretty much flat open prairie in the area.   They dig down to the coal moving tons of earth.  You can see the big strip of black on the side of the hill -- that's the coal.  We took a tour through the mine -- you just ride in a van and the driver tells you what's going on around you.  Its just big open pits -- the original mining that took place was in underground mines.  The pits like to fill up with water so they are constantly pumping them out.

They load the big haulers with the coal and then haul it over to the power plant.  The haulers were huge and each one hold 200 tons of coal.  When they get to the power plant the belly of the hauler opens and the coal all dumps out in about 20 seconds  -amazing.   The power plant that's burning all this coal actually is generating electricity that goes to two thirds of rural Minnesota. 

Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery

We toured the fish hatchery by the Garrison Dam.  It is one of the largest in the country.  The hatchery supplies fish for stocking lakes throughout the Midwest.  One tank had Pallid Sturgeon in it that were at least 6 feet long.  They were big enough to put a saddle on and ride.  They are native to the Missouri River and are endangered.  The hatchery captures wild sturgeon in the fall and spring.  The fish in these tanks are held until June when its time for them to spawn.  The young they produce are held for a year and then stocked back into the wild.

There were a whole bunch of cement tanks that were filled with baby trout.  There are automatic feeders hanging over them -- as shown in the picture.  A small trout was caught on the wire that is part of the feeder and Jim is trying to unhook it and save it.  Jim was afraid of hurting the fish so he gave up trying.  Just then one of the US Fish and Wildlife employees came through and he was able to unhook the fish.  He said it happens every once in a while.  When the fish tap on the wire it releases the food into the water and sometimes the fish get too excited trying to get the food and get stuck on the wire.