5th Grade

Andrew Voigt
Flooding of his home with the building of the Garrison Dam--Photo Page




 
 
Click on photos below to view larger images!


 



George Gillette, Council chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes -- Hidatsa (called Gros Ventre by whites), Arikara, Mandan -- of Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota, weeps as the US Secretary of the Interior signs the 1948 papers confirming the forced sale of 155,000 acres of the North Dakota reservation to flood them by the Garrison Dam and Reservoir.   Gillette said, "The members of the tribal council sign this contract with heavy hearts. Right now, the future does not look so good to us. Our Treaty of Fort Laramie made in 1851, our tribal constitution, are being torn to shreds." And the land -- all the good, liveable, farmable land of the reservation -- was to be drowned.


Following the construction of the Garrison Dam which created Lake Thompson, Andrew Voigt's ranch is now under water--along with tribal battlegrounds, hunting areas, trading posts and river forts.



Elbowoods gradually floods




Elbowoods, North Dakota is evacuated, abandoned and waiting for the rising water that will soon cover it. 
The Voigts have torn down many of their buildings and relocated them to higher ground.
Documentary Photo of Elbowoods after evacuation N.D. Heritage Center



Elbowoods with floodwaters lapping on the outskirts.
Photo courtesy of the
State Historical Society of North Dakota





Aerial view of Garrison Dam 
and surrounding flooded land.



Garrison Dam building



Andrew Voigt's home (Elbowoods) and 
Ft. Berthold Reservation 1950



Andrew Voigt's home (Elbowoods) and
Ft. Berthold Reservation 1960






 
 
 
 
Back to Page 1 of Andrew Voigt Photos...with links to his parents, siblings, homes, descendants, and the flooding of his ranch.

 
Andrew Voigt--Main page
Golden West--1966 Magazine article--True Stories of the Old West
North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame--wonderful article
Article 1--from National Cowboy Hall of Fame
Article 2--from National Cowboy Hall of Fame
Photos--Andrew Voigt Main Photo Page
Inductees List from National Cowboy Hall of Fame
National Cowboy Hall of Fame web site