Mouse River Flood 2011 Traditional Cache

This cache was placed during my trip to Minot to help with the flood relief. This cache is located only a few hundred feet from where I had my TCP. I thought it would be nice to leave a new cache in town while I was here. The worst of the flood is over now and recovery can begin.

The Souris River (French: rivière Souris) or Mouse River (as it is alternatively known in the U.S.) is a river in central North America. It is about 700 km (435 mi) in length and drains about 17,600 square miles (46,000 km²). It rises in the Yellow Grass Marshes north of Weyburn, Saskatchewan. It wanders south through North Dakota beyond Minot to its most southern point at the city of Velva, ND and then back north into Manitoba. The river passes through the communities of Melita, Hartney, Souris and Wawanesa and on to its confluence with the Assiniboine River at Treesbank, about 25 miles (40 km) south east of Brandon. The main tributaries which flow into the Souris in Manitoba are the Antler River, the Gainsborough and Plum Creeks. Much of its drainage basin is fertile silt and clay deposited by former glacial Lake Souris. The channel capacity of the river in Manitoba varies from about 150 cubic feet per second (4.2 m³/s) near the border, to about 1,400 cubic feet per second (40 m³/s) through Melita, to about 1,100 cubic feet per second (31 m³/s) near Lauder and 1,700 cubic feet per second (48 m³/s) near Hartney. North of Hartney the capacity increases to more than 3,000 cubic feet per second (85 m³/s). The drop between the border and Hartney is only about 6 inches per mile (9.5 cm/km). During the period from 1930 to 1941 severe drought conditions prevailed and PFRA constructed four stock watering dams. In 1937 the Snyder and Ross Dams were built near Melita. In 1938 the Napinka Dam was built and the Hartney Dam was built in 1941. These were all stop log dams with a total capacity of 2,400 acre feet (3,000,000 m³). The Souris Dam was originally built in 1911 and was rebuilt in 1935. The Wawanesa Dam was completed in 1951 storing about 320 acre feet (390,000 m³) of water. Most of the annual flow of the Souris River comes from snow melt and spring rains. The annual flow volume varies dramatically from 3,400 acre feet (4,200,000 m³) in 1937 to 2,100,000 acre feet (2.6×109 m³) in 1976. The average annual runoff is equivalent to 3 mm over the entire Souris River watershed. Two large dams in Saskatchewan, Rafferty Dam and Alameda Dam were built, in part, to reduce flood peaks on the Souris River.

The flooding in Minot has drawn national attention to the Souris River, although in North Dakota it's supposed to be called the Mouse River. Souris is the French word for Mouse. The river begins in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, and it's known as the Souris north of the border. The river dips into northwestern North Dakota before it turns north, back into Canada. A 1961 state law says the river is supposed to be called the Mouse River in North Dakota. At least two county commissions have passed resolutions favoring the English name.