Flood Stage and Rising

Jane Varley

Description

What could be safer than Grand Forks, North Dakota, settled on the vast, flat plain of the Red River? There’d be no danger unless the whole town went under water. But in April 1997 that is precisely what happened. Flood Stage and Rising tells the story of that month-long disaster from the point of view of one who lived through it—fighting the flood shoulder-to-shoulder with her neighbors, watching in horror as the water breaks the dikes, fleeing the city only to see, via newscasts, her town burst into flames at the height of the flood—and finally working to put her own and Grand Fork’s life back together.

 

As she chronicles North Dakota’s disastrous winter and spring—and the tortuous recovery process that continues to this day—Jane Varley gives us a shocking, moving picture of the reality behind the headline news that riveted the nation. A gifted poet and essayist, Varley has crafted a first-rate adventure narrative that is also a love story about a particular place and time, infused with her passion for the natural world, a curiosity about rivers and remote landscapes, and a need for meaning. Her story culminates a life of travels that prepared her—and prepares us—for what we see in North Dakota as the lake bed of the Red River Valley refills with water like a ghost of its ancient past.

Sujets

• Lettres et linguistique
• Dakota del Norte
• Natural history
• North Dakota
• Dakota du Nord

Informations

• Publié par: Nebraska
• Date de parution: 01 avril 2005
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803205611
• Langue: English

Extrait

Rising Flood Stage and

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© 2005 by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America  Excerpts from “Ask Me,” copyright 1977, 1998, by the Estate of William Stafford, are reprinted fromThe Way It Is: New and Selected Poemswith the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota.

A portion of the poem “Traveling through Idaho on Opening Day” by Jim Heynen fromIdaho’s Poetry: A Centennial Anthology, edited by Ron- ald E. McFarland and William Stude- baker, Moscow: University of Idaho Press, 1988, is used with permission of the author.

Set in Quadraat and Quadraat Sans by Kim Essman. Designed by R. W. Boeche. Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Varley, Jane. Flood stage and rising / Jane Varley. p. cm.isbn0-8032-4678-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Grand Forks (N.D.)—History—20th century. 2. Floods—North Dakota— Grand Forks—History—20th century. 3. Fires—North Dakota—Grand Forks —History—20th century. 4. Varley, Jane. 5. Grand Forks (N.D.)—Biog- raphy. 6. Natural history—North Dakota —Grand Forks. I. Title. f644.g8v37 2005 978.4'16033—dc22 2004017237

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To the people of Grand Forks

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Contents

1. The Red River of the North

My Waters: The Mississippi

2. Winter

17

My Waters: Out West

3. The Flood Fight

33

My Waters: Virginia

4. Evacuation

49

29

43

1

13

My Waters: The Dubuque Flood

5. The Ghost of Lake Agassiz

My Waters: Union Park

6. The Flood

75

My Waters: Lake Itasca

7. Dreams

91

61

73

89

My Waters: Midwest Floods

8. Returns

103

My Waters: Devils Lake

9. Recovery

119

115

99

59

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Acknowledgments

This book, from its very first draft, has felt like a collaborative experience with the communities of the Red River valley in North Dakota and Minnesota. I am grateful to have learned about the passionate, determined, and hardy spirit of those places. Also, I am thankful for the friends who navigated the floodwaters with me, Melanie Crow, Jennifer Bottinelli, Brian White, Steve Almquist, Simon Buehrer, and Stephen Dilks, and the professors who taught me about hearing poetry and seeing nature, Jay Meek and Jim McKenzie. I owe a special debt to theGrand Forks Heraldfor its incredible coverage of the flood; I admire the staff ’s almost unbelievable feat, never missing a day’s news even as their offices burned down. My writing process is supported, year in and year out, by my ever-amazing and inspiring Free Range writers group—Kim, Buddy, Lisa, and Collin, you give me insight, confidence, and joy in my life and writing. Friends at Muskingum College have supported my process, and I’d like especially to thank Polly Farquhar, Meghan Fox, Vivian Wagner, Donna Edsall, and Rhoda Van Tassel for reading and commenting on portions of this project. Also, I am grateful to Ladette Randolph for her faith in my story and to the superb editing and publishing team at the University of Nebraska Press. I want to thank my family members for their crucial support. My parents, Bob and Barb, are not only great parents but also interesting people who inspire me to think about communities and landscapes. I admire and learn from my sister Chris’s resilience through multifaceted challenges. In a very direct sense, I learn from my brother Doug, an English teacher and coach, who read my manuscript with an eagle eye and has been a good friend to me from my earliest memories. My brother Charlie has been there for me through sun dogs, sea discoveries, and traveling on the solstice; we have been miles and miles together. To my extended family, too, I offer thanks: my aunts, Kay O’Brien and Clarice Flagel, and parents-in-law, Wanda and Earl Atkins. Finally, I want to thank my immediate family, Sam for his companionship, Iris for changing my focus, and last and most, thank you to Gary Atkins, my love and my partner, for helping me understand the floods of the past and making me look forward to finding new waters.

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