538 - Lake Sakakawea
State Park

Welcome to Lake Sakakawea State Park! Did you know that the lake was originally named Lake Garrison, after the nearby Garrison community? In 1965 the lake and the related state park were renamed in honor of Sakakawea. Through the United States in the 1930s and 1940s, the Federal government undertook massive hydroelectric infrastructure projects. Examples are the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Locally, along the upper Missouri River, the Federal Pick-Sloan Act initiated construction of a system of dams from Fort Peck to the Bowman-Haley Dam, the Cold Brook Dam, and the Pipestem Dam. of the mighty Missouri, the federal government started an ambitious dam building project in 1939. After World War II ended, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shifted its focus back to constructing dams. It included the building of Garrison Dam in the 1950’s, and eventually the creation of Lake Sakakawea. The purpose of this structure was to prevent flooding of the Missouri and to produce electricity, provide irrigation, and allow for barge traffic on the lower sections of the Missouri River, as well as to create recreational opportunities. Lake Sakakawea is the third largest man-made lake in the United States. The lake is 178 miles long, has over 1,500 miles of shoreline, and reaches depths of 175 feet.

People from almost a dozen communities along the Missouri River were forced from their homes in the early 1950’s after the construction of the Dam. One of the communities wiped out by the rising water of the Garrison Dam was the town named for Fred Van Hook, an early surveyor and local homesteader. Van Hook was plotted in 1912 as a branch railroad line to the Missouri River. In its heyday, the town had a Soo Line depot, two banks, two lumberyards, an opera house, two newspapers, and two hotels. Today, you will find the Van Hook Arm on Lake Sakakawea--one of the largest bays and home to the Van Hook Recreation Area.