Donald P. Schwert letter: For at least 800 years, basin closed
The Forum - 03/31/2003
In bold faced font in its editorial of Feb. 28, The Forum editors
again attempt to declare Devils Lake as being a sub-basin of the
Red River and that Devils Lake “naturally empties into the
Sheyenne River and thus into the Red River.” The Forum
editors simultaneously criticize the Associated Press and other
news outlets for writing that Devils Lake is a closed basin.
Based on detailed analyses by the North Dakota Geological Survey,
the last time that Devils Lake was (perhaps) high enough to
temporarily drain into the Sheyenne-Red River basin was sometime
between 1200 and 1300 A.D. To put this into perspective, at about
the last time that Devils Lake might have drained into the Red
River basin: E King John was signing the Magna Carta (1215).
E The last of the Crusades was just being completed (1291).
E Marco Polo was visiting China (1275-1292).
E The Black Death (plague) was beginning to devastate Europe (mid
1300s).
The Forum again damages its own advocacy of a Devils Lake outlet
through the presentation of distorted data and interpretations.
Yes, Devils Lake might someday drain again (temporarily) into the
Sheyenne and Red rivers, but for the past 800 or so years this
lake has effectively occupied a closed basin.
Donald P. Schwert
Fargo