23-Mar-2000 -- For my second confluence point I chose another one that appeared to be near a road in the North Dakota Atlas & Gazetteer. I headed south from Jamestown on US281 at noon under high overcast skies on a windy day. I turned west onto ND11 at Ellendale and followed it to Dickey County Road 9A; here I turned south and began to monitor my GPS more closely. The spot on the road where I crossed 46 degrees north was right near a farmhouse and I figured the point would be about a quarter of a mile into the hayfield. I had seen a farmer moving hay bales so I went back to where he was working to ask permission to cross what I assumed (correctly) was his land. T.J. owns and operates a beef cattle ranch/farm. At first he thought I was some kind of nut but I assured him I just wanted a few photos. When I told him I was from Alaska that finally broke the ice. He gave me permission to enter his field with one caveat, which was to take pictures of all the land they've lost to the flooding. The news we all see is of the rivers over-flowing. Not to diminish the loss of the people whose homes were flooded near the rivers but all over North Dakota you can see much longer term effect of the floods. The ground has become saturated and what once was a depression in the ground is now a pond. What once was a pond is a small lake. What once was a small lake is now a BIG lake. T.J.'s basement has been flooded since '97. The water is soaking up thru the floor. County Rd 9A has been raised twice since '97 (see photo). To make matters worse at the time I visited him in March they were experiencing a drought and he was worried that without some spring rain the surface soil would be too dry to grow crops. We spoke for about a half an hour then he was back to work and I was traipsing across the hay field with my GPS, camera, and tripod in hand. A light rain began to fall and I hoped it would bring T.J. prosperity and not more flooding. I easily found the spot and took my photos.