Cross Ranch SP

July 22, 2009

Today was our first day of work at Cross Ranch and we spent the entire time with orientation. By entire time we are talking three to three and a half hours a day for five days a week. We get Tuesdays and Wednesdays off.

“Chip” Cartwright is our immediate supervisor and he has been here five years as a seasonal “paid” worker and he has been in every position during that time, even acting director of the park between real directors. Chip is in his 60’s and is a retired 30-year employee of the U.S. Forest Service. A graduate of Virginia Tech in 1960, Chip’s vocabulary, knowledge and interpersonal skills are very impressive. Both Lois and I know we will enjoy working with him. He lives in a fifth wheel and winters on South Padre Island, TX.

Our duties are to patrol around and be the eyes and ears. On Friday and Saturday nights we make popcorn and show a slide program. We police the camp areas for litter and make sure the place is neat for campers. This morning we helped dismantle two teepees which belong to the National Park Service.

Lois said after our first work day, “I think this is going to be a very nice gig.”

Cross Ranch is a 589 acre grove of towering cottonwood trees along a seven-mile stretch of the Missouri River. It was a gift to the people of North Dakota in 1989 -- the centennial year. The rest of the land gifted to the state is now a nature conservancy of some 6,000 acres to restore the high prairieland, described by Meriwether Lewis in 1804, to its original state. Today we observed a herd of about 50 buffalo grazing there.

Lewis and Clark actually camped across the river from here. The river current here is about seven to 10 knots -- a far cry from the free flowing river of 200 years ago before the Army Corps of Engineers created the dams that form Lake Sakakawea and Lake Oahe. Garrison Dam, for example, was finished in 1954 and the lake took several years to fill up. The location is 20 or so miles upstream from here.

Hensler ND is six miles up the gravel road next to Hwy 200. This town has seen better days -- not one commercial establishment.

Washburn ND is where we will do laundry, shop and get on the internet -- three hot spots are available for wifi. We have had lunch at the Lewis & Clark Cafe. There’s a drug store, hardware and a Super Valu for groceries. That’s Washburn, named after a wealthy Minneapolis miller who promoted a railroad through here in 1899. His primary goal was to link up with a lignite bed he owned near Wilton ND to the south along Hwy. 83. In 1900, that lignite bed was producing 100 tons of coal per day. [Source: History of North Dakota by Elwyn B. Robinson] The homes in Washburn are pristine; we haven’t seen one that needs a paint job. Almost from any point in Washburn, you can see the mighty Missouri River. And the people are so friendly here.