Abandoned Towns
Aerial view of the Van Hook townsite: a dense grid of cabins and homes along the Lake Sakakawea shore, boat ramps and docks at left, fields to the north and east

Railroad and road town · Farm and ranch town

Van Hook

A railroad village of about 400 people that Garrison Dam would have left on a small peninsula. It was dissolved in 1953 and its people moved to New Town. Two decades later the empty townsite became a county park, and today it is a busy lakeside resort.

47°56′52″N 102°21′27″W · ≈1,870 ft

Aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain). See the photographs in the gallery below.

Resort on the old townsite

Old Van Hook was dissolved in 1953, and nothing of the village is known to stand. Its site is now Van Hook Resort and Traynor Park, a campground and cabin community on the Van Hook Arm. In August 2026 the North Dakota Monitor reported the resort operating, its campground busy, run by Dawn and Justin Ritts in partnership with the Mountrail County parks department, and down one of its double-lane boat ramps because of low water. The resort's own site says its day-use facilities are open to the public. It gives no season or hours; call 701-627-3377 before a long drive.

Overview

A village bought out for the dam

The Corps of Engineers' map of Garrison project lands on Fort Berthold, with the Van Hook recreation area and wildlife management area on the Van Hook Arm
The Corps of Engineers' map of Garrison project lands on Fort Berthold, with the Van Hook recreation area and wildlife management area on the Van Hook Arm · Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain

Van Hook began in 1914 as a station on the Soo Line and took the name of Fred van Hook, who had surveyed the area three years before. It incorporated in 1915 and grew quickly enough to be called the City of Speed. The census found 372 people in 1930 and 380 in 1950. It lay inside the boundary of the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Most accounts agree that Garrison Dam's reservoir would not cover most of the town. By the account excerpted on New Town's chamber of commerce site, from James McMaster's 1976 history, the flood line took the south side of Van Hook, with the railroad, the grain elevators and several major businesses. Prairie Public adds that most of its businesses would have been untouched, but the lake would leave the town on a small peninsula and drown most of the farmland south of it. Van Hook sent a delegation to Washington to ask the government to buy all of it, and a bill from Senator Young let Garrison project money buy property in the village. Its people joined the people of Sanish at the new townsite of New Town. Both villages were dissolved as of April 30, 1953, and residents had until July 1 to leave. "Thus, Van Hook was abandoned," Prairie Public put it.

The Corps of Engineers owned the empty townsite and turned it into a wildlife refuge, and the old streets grew over. Frank Traynor, a founding member of the Mountrail County Park Board, worked to get the land returned for a park. A bill returning it was signed in 1974, and Traynor Park was dedicated on the former townsite in 1976. Cabins went up, then year-round homes, and Van Hook is now one of the busiest places on the lake: in 2026 a Game and Fish supervisor called it "probably the No. 1 used access point on the entire Lake Sakakawea."

Then and now

The streets outlived the village

We have no ground-level photograph of old Van Hook to show, but the site was photographed from the air. A U.S. Department of Agriculture survey plane crossed the townsite on July 18, 1958, five years after the village was dissolved, while the land was still dry. The second photograph comes from the federal farm survey of August 1, 2023.

In 1958 the street grid is all there, with scattered buildings and the trees of old yards still standing, and the railroad runs along the south edge of town. New Town's history put that south side, with the railroad and the grain elevators, in the flood zone. In 2023 the lake covers most of the old rail line and the fields south of it, and the cabins and homes of the resort fill the blocks on the same streets.

Drag the line across the photo, or use the arrow keys.
2023 aerial photograph: cabins and homes fill the same street grid, and Lake Sakakawea covers most of the old rail line and the land to the south and westSame streets, now cabins and homesOld rail line, now under the lakeLake Sakakawea over the fields2023
1958 aerial photograph: the village street grid with scattered buildings and groves of trees, the railroad along the south edge of town, and fields and pasture all aroundVillage streets, most buildings goneSoo Line right-of-wayFields and pasture south of town1958
1958 aerial photograph: the village street grid with scattered buildings and groves of trees, the railroad along the south edge of town, and fields and pasture all aroundVillage streets, most buildings goneSoo Line right-of-wayFields and pasture south of town1958
1958. The village street grid with scattered buildings and groves of trees, the railroad along the south edge of town, and fields and pasture all around.
2023 aerial photograph: cabins and homes fill the same street grid, and Lake Sakakawea covers most of the old rail line and the land to the south and westSame streets, now cabins and homesOld rail line, now under the lakeLake Sakakawea over the fields2023
2023. Cabins and homes fill the same street grid, and Lake Sakakawea covers most of the old rail line and the land to the south and west.

1958: U.S. Department of Agriculture; scan by the North Dakota Department of Water Resources, source, Public domain. 2023: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain. Both photographs cover the same 1.6 by 1.2 km and were lined up on 15 street corners and road crossings, to about 3 m on average in and around the town; the 1958 photograph is not orthorectified, so the lake end of the frame may be off by more. Labels: the rail line from the 1958 photograph and New Town's history of the flood zone, the streets from Prairie Public's account of cabins on the old gravel streets, the rest from what the photographs show. The idea comes from Ghosts of North Dakota's "Watch Lincoln Valley Become a Ghost Town" (2017).

Timeline

Station, village, refuge, resort

The Van Hook Arm from the Mir space station, July 1996. North is to the right; the bridge at right carries ND 23
The Van Hook Arm from the Mir space station, July 1996. North is to the right; the bridge at right carries ND 23 · Photo: NASA, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  1. Fred van Hook surveys the area. The town will carry his name.
  2. Van Hook is founded as a station on the Soo Line.
  3. The village incorporates. It grows fast enough to earn the nickname the City of Speed.
  4. The census counts 372 people.
  5. Residents learn how large the Garrison Dam reservoir will be. The south side of town, with the railroad, the grain elevators and several businesses, is in the flood zone.
  6. About the same time, a delegation asks Washington to buy the whole village. Senator Young's appropriation bill, H.R. 3734, lets Garrison project money buy property in Van Hook and Legion Park.
  7. Sanish property holders propose a new townsite for the people of Sanish and Van Hook.
  8. The census counts 380. Ground is broken for New Town on September 10, and lots go on sale on October 27.
  9. New Town's post office opens. Its first postmaster, Hulbert Olson, is from Van Hook.
  10. Van Hook and Sanish are dissolved. Residents have until July 1 to move out.
  11. The Corps of Engineers owns the townsite and makes it a wildlife refuge. Grass and weeds take the old streets.
  12. Frank Traynor helps found the Mountrail County Park Board and sets out to build a park at Van Hook.
  13. President Nixon signs the bill that returns the land to public use.
  14. Traynor Park is dedicated on the old townsite. Cabins follow, and later year-round homes.
  15. Van Hook Resort is open and busy, and down one boat ramp because of low water.

What's there now

Cabins on the old streets

Sources disagree about how much of Van Hook went under. Wikipedia and the Atlas of Drowned Towns say the lake spared most of the townsite, Prairie Public says it was partly flooded, and New Town's history puts only the south side in the flood zone. An undated listing places the town under the Van Hook Arm and passes on unconfirmed reports of foundations exposed in the droughts of the 1970s. We found no source that describes any building or foundation of the old village standing today.

What stands is the resort. Prairie Public's 2007 Dakota Datebook described summer cabins lining small gravel streets where Van Hook's businesses and homes once stood. The USGS aerial shows a tight grid of roofs along the shore, with boat ramps and docks at its western end and a newer street layout to the north. The resort's own site lists three boat ramps, swimming beaches, playgrounds, picnic pavilions, a bait shop, a gas station and a campground.

The 1982 USGS sheet below shows the street grid on the shore with the Soo Line passing to the north, Shell Creek Bay and Parshall Bay to the east, and the Van Hook State Wildlife Management Area labeled to the northeast. The Watford City sheet dated 1953 is its 1967 limited revision, so it already draws the lake, with the Soo Line swinging around it between New Town and the East Fork of Shell Creek. Neither sheet names the town itself.

  • No known remains of the 1914 village
  • Traynor Park, dedicated 1976
  • Van Hook Resort: ramps, beaches, campground, store
  • Cabins and year-round homes on the old townsite
USGS topographic map of the Van Hook townsite: a grid of streets on the north shore of the lake, with points and islands to the south
USGS The National Map, topo. The townsite's street grid lines the north shore of the Van Hook Arm. Points of land and islands reach into the lake to the south.
Aerial view of Van Hook: rows of cabins and homes among trees along the lakeshore
Aerial imagery, same area. Cabins and homes fill the blocks behind the beach, with a sandy shore below them.

Historic maps

Van Hook on USGS maps, 1953–1982

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the townsite. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Van Hook, 1953
Watford City sheet, 1953, 1:250,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

New Town is eight miles west by ND 23. The routes below were computed from OpenStreetMap and end in the townsite; the last stretch is on local roads we haven't checked. The resort's own directions put Van Hook seven miles east of New Town and two miles south of the junction of ND 23 and ND 8. That junction is the roundabout on the Minot route, and the road south from it leads to the townsite; the New Town route turns south a mile earlier.

USGS topographic map between New Town and the Van Hook Arm with the route from New Town drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL), computed October 2026. Times assume dry roads.

From downtown New Town8.3 miabout 16 min
  1. From downtown New Town, take Main Street (ND 23) east.0.4 mi
  2. Follow ND 23 east.5.5 mi
  3. Turn right onto the unnamed local road south toward the lake.2.0 mi
  4. Turn left, right and left into the townsite.0.3 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Road and safety notes

  • The routes are computed from OpenStreetMap and haven't been driven by us. We have no dated source on the surface of the local roads at the end.
  • Van Hook is a resort community with private cabins and homes. Stay on public roads and in the park's public areas.
  • Low water has closed one of the resort's double-lane ramps in 2026, and Game and Fish expects to need Van Hook's low-water ramps in 2027. Check with the resort before bringing a boat.

Photos

Van Hook in maps and photos

Visitor reports

Been to Van Hook?

Been there lately? Tell the next visitor what you found: whether you could get in, the state of the road and what's still standing. Photos are welcome. We read every report before it appears here.

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Nearby

Other sites near Van Hook

Straight-line distance from the townsite to other mapped sites in our North Dakota index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. ghosttowns.com, "Van Hook": fact sheet fields (location under the Van Hook Arm, unconfirmed foundations in the 1970s).
  2. Wikipedia, "Van Hook, North Dakota", retrieved October 2026: rounded coordinates, elevation, the 1914 founding and Fred van Hook, 1915 incorporation, 1953 disincorporation, the 1930 and 1950 census counts, the nickname, the resort and year-round homes.
  3. Prairie Public, "Build it and They will Come", Tessa Sandstrom, Dakota Datebook of 2007 republished May 18, 2022, citing the Mountrail County Historical Society: partial flooding, the peninsula and the lost farmland, the move to New Town, the Corps refuge, Frank Traynor, the April 1962 park board, the 1974 bill, the 1976 dedication, cabins on the old streets.
  4. New Town Area Chamber of Commerce, "About", history excerpted from James McMaster's New Town 1951–1976, read October 2026: about 400 people, the flood zone, the Washington delegation, H.R. 3734, Hulbert Olson, New Town's founding dates, dissolution as of April 30, 1953 and the July 1 deadline.
  5. Prairie Public, "The Two Sanishes", May 18, 2022: the joint December 1949 townsite proposal.
  6. Atlas of Drowned Towns, "Van Hook, North Dakota", read October 2026: the lake would not inundate most of the town.
  7. State Historical Society of North Dakota, North Dakota Studies, "Fort Berthold Reservation": New Town built to replace Elbowoods, Sanish and Van Hook.
  8. North Dakota Monitor, "Shrinking lake, shrinking access", Jeff Beach, August 3, 2026: the resort's operators and county partnership, the lost ramp, the busy campground, low-water ramps for 2027, and Game and Fish on Van Hook as the most used access point.
  9. Van Hook Resort, "About", read October 20, 2026: address, phone, public day-use facilities, ramps and amenities, its own directions. No season or hours are posted.
  10. Then-and-now aerials: U.S. Department of Agriculture photograph BAL-2V-75, July 18, 1958, from the North Dakota Department of Water Resources aerial archive (frame date from its Mountrail County 1958 index), and USDA NAIP imagery of August 1, 2023, from USGS The National Map; both public domain, aligned by us in October 2026.
  11. Road junction: OpenStreetMap, October 2026 (the roundabout of ND 23 and ND 8). Maps and photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited below each one. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026. Not field-checked.

Photo and map credits

  • Corps of Engineers map of Garrison project lands on Fort Berthold, with the Van Hook recreation area, 2005: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  • The Van Hook Arm from the Mir space station, July 1996; north is to the right: NASA, Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
  • 1958 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture; scan by the North Dakota Department of Water Resources, source, Public domain
  • 2023 aerial photograph: U.S. Department of Agriculture NAIP, via USGS The National Map, source, Public domain
  • Area base map, topo and aerial imagery: USGS The National Map (public domain).
  • Historic maps: USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain): Watford City 1953, 1:250,000; Parshall 1982, 1:100,000.
Record6 of 9
  • Coordinates
  • Founding and census counts
  • Dissolution, 1953
  • Park and resort history
  • Current operator, August 2026
  • Historic maps, 1953 and 1982
  • Post office dates
  • Photos of the old village
  • What, if anything, survives of it
Missing items are what we'll ask readers and local sources to fill.