Around the State: July 24, 2023

The counties and cities within the state of North Dakota hold many interesting news stories.

Here are just a few of the feature stories that others are reading in communities around the state.

Law Enforcement plays waiting game

Local law enforcement officials continue to wait for evidence to be processed in relation to the shooting death of Brianne Anderson.

The 32-year-old was shot at a residence in Watford City just before midnight on March 22, and died the next morning at a Minot hospital.

At press time, no charges had been filed.

The investigation, prosecutors say, hinges on findings that are expected to come back from two external facilities.

Watford City Police told the Farmer in early May that the investigation centers on a single person of interest who lives in Watford City, and at that time, there were no other potential suspects.

Police have said the shooting was not random, that Anderson and the person of interest were involved in a romantic relationship, that they are not able to discuss a possible motive, and that the person of interest has declined to be interviewed about the incident.

Anderson resided in Dickinson, but had family in Watford City and worked for the McKenzie County Farmer. She was a mother to three children.

(Story by Steve Hallstrom, the McKenzie County Farmer)

Two people found deceased

On July 5, 2023, the McKenzie County Sheriff’s office responded to a report of two individuals that had been found dead around 7:53 p.m. The officers responded to the single-family residence located south of Watford City.

Upon arrival, deputies located a juvenile female and an adult male, both deceased from apparent gunshot wounds.

Given the information received and the evidence gathered at the scene, investigators are confident this was an isolated incident and there is no threat to the public.

The incident is currently under investigation by the McKenzie County Sheriff’s office investigation division.

(Story taken from the McKenzie County Farmer)

From the depths of the Goose

The floods of spring 2022 caused millions of dollars in damage along the Goose River in Traill county, including the failure of one of Mayville’s dams. For the past year city officials, residents and engineers have dealt with the aftermath. But this isn’t a story about what was lost, but about what was found. This story is about now 12-year-old Zupan and what he found as the Goose waters receded, uncovering a wealth of buffalo bones, including an intact bison skull, dating back perhaps 500 years.

“Toward the end of summer last year, I was out fishing on the banks below our house on Brunsdale Drive,” Jamie said about his summer adventure about eight months after settling in Mayville with parents Katherine and Colby Zupan and his siblings. “There was still water, about waist-deep.”

“Enough water,” Jamie said, “to do a little fishing, but to mostly explore.”

In the past, the Zupan children had found mostly old bones and some bottles dating back to the 1870s. Sometimes they found remnants of old traps and other rusted treasures, but no discovery was better than the one that Jamie found as he moved from one place on the bank to another on the lookout for a better fishing spot.

“I thought it was just a horn,” Jamie said, of the bone that stuck out of the muddy river bed. “I started digging in the mud, then realized there was more of it.”

“I belong to a few Facebook groups with guys who do this said Colby Zupan. The skull, they believe, dates back about 500 years,” he said.

The Zupans kayak on the river, watching the banks for interesting finds, and hope to continue to reap what works itself to the top of the Goose.

(Story by Janell Marmon, the Traill County Tribune)

A new zone of critical minerals discovered

Three months after announcing their first critical mineral discovery, Lynn Helms, Director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources, and Ed Murphy, North Dakota State Geologist, announce the North Dakota Geological Survey has discovered a second interval of rocks in western North Dakota that contains elevated concentrations of critical minerals, some of which are significantly enriched.

The North Dakota Geological Survey has identified significant rare earth and germanium enrichment in lignites beneath a thirty-foot-thick, brightly colored interval of rocks called the Rhame bed which is situated approximately 1,000 feet stratigraphically below the previous discovery, a similar interval of rocks called the Bear Den Member of the Golden Valley Formation.

Both the Rhame Bed and Bear Den Member are ancient soil horizons that formed 61 and 56 million years ago, respectively, when the climate in North Dakota was both warmer and wetter. The intense weathering of these rocks generally transformed the dull gray and brown colors to bright white, leaching trace amounts of critical minerals from the weathering sediment and concentrating them in the underlying lignites.

The Rhame bed outcrops across southwestern North Dakota, from southern Golden Valley County through Slope, Bowman, Adams, Grant and Morton counties. It is exposed at the surface of just below ground over an area of 1.3 million acres with the most extensive outcrops found in Bowman and Slope counties.

(Story taken from The Herald-Press, Harvey)

Saving the reservoir

Final drafts in the storied history behind the Harvey dam and reservoir are still being written.

Stakeholders in the 250-acre body of water bordering Harvey met recently hoping they can extend the life of the reservoir and leave the final chapters of the 100-year-old recreation complex for another generation to write.

Surfacing issues every year have been compounded by generational use of landowners, farmers and ranchers in the Upper Sheyenne Watershed, from the headwaters in Sheridan County to the end users at the Harvey reservoir.

The original Harvey dam, constructed in the late 1900s by the Soo Line Railroad, sat approximately 100 feet upstream from the present dam and served as a source of water for steam engine locomotives.

In 1926 and 1927, additional pumping capacity was added to meet the needs of Central Light and Power in Harvey.

By the 1960s, local organizations in Harvey wanted to raise the water level to improve water quality and recreation opportunities. In 1967, work began on the present dam.

(Story by Anne Ehni, The Herald-Press, Harvey)