1950 Map of Bowbells

About this map

Upper Des Lacs Lake carves a deep, serpentine path through the North Dakota prairie, serving as the center of the Upper Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge along the international border. In the late 1940s, the town of Bowbells functioned as a vital railway junction where the Great Northern and the Minneapolis St Paul and Sault Ste Marie railroads intersected. The surrounding landscape is defined by its township-and-range grid, dotted with numerous rural schoolhouses such as Lakeside Sch, Masek Sch, and North Star Sch No 4. This period reflects the post-war development of the Missouri River Basin, evidenced by infrastructure like the CCC Dam on Stony Creek, which managed water resources for the burgeoning agricultural region. The map also records early twentieth-century rural meeting points such as Nine Mile Corner near the Burke and Ward County line.