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the Degree Confluence Project
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United States : North Dakota

1.4 miles (2.3 km) N of Fort Totten, Benson, ND, USA
Approx. altitude: 435 m (1427 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap topo aerial ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 48°S 81°E

Accuracy: 500 m (546 yd)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: Francis Goodtrack #3: Old abandoned wagon #4: An unusual sight #5: GPS Display

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  48°N 99°W (visit #1) (incomplete) 

#1: A view towards the confluence

(visited by Danny Strickland)

27-May-2002 --

Note: Since the time I attempted and failed to reach this confluence, there has been a successful attempt. They posted it before I got a chance to post my attempt. I thought about not posting this since I was unsuccessful, but decided to go ahead and do it since it’s part of my 23-visit trip.

I departed 48°N 100°W and headed east towards this confluence. There was still plenty of daylight left and I wanted to do this one and one more. However, I didn’t think I had a chance of making it to this confluence because it appeared to be located in the water.

I was less than 10 miles from the confluence when I drove by something you don’t see every day. Mounted on a pole were two little 4-wheelers for kids. Behind the wheel of one of them was what appeared to be a small racing suit, which was stuffed with something to fill it out. Atop the suit was a helmet and inside the helmet was a pair of binoculars peering out. Somebody went to a lot of trouble to make this thing, although I’m not sure what it’s all about.

I continued towards the confluence and, sure enough, it was located in the water. I drove around trying to find the closest land to it. Along the way I met some people who were fishing. They were visiting relatives who lived nearby. We talked for a while and I asked them if they had caught anything. One of them, Francis Goodtrack, showed me a nice Northern Pike he had caught. It had a mean set of teeth.

I drove to a peninsula northeast of the point and walked out to the water’s edge. At that point I was 0.4 miles from the confluence. There was an old wagon nearby that looked as if it had gotten stuck many years ago and was abandoned. I decided to approach the confluence from the south, so I drove around and hiked across a field through some woods to the water’s edge. At that point I was 0.33 miles from the point.

After snapping a photo, I noticed there was lots of beautiful driftwood along the bank. I started walking along looking for a nice piece to use as a walking stick. I should have been watching where I was going because - WAM! - something struck me hard right between the eyes and then scraped across my left eye and then down my nose and upper lip. It knocked me stupid for a few seconds. I didn’t know what had happened. I was hurting pretty bad and there was blood running down my nose. I thought for a second I had lost my left eye, but thank goodness I didn’t. I looked to see what I had run into and it was the broken off limb of a tree that had washed ashore. I had walked headlong into it. Duh. Out of all the dangerous spots I had been in the last week and a half, I did something stupid like that.

I made my way back to the truck and looked in the mirror. It didn’t look nearly as bad as I thought it would. There was just a small cut on the bridge of my nose and scratches down one side of my nose and a cut on my upper lip. No big deal, but I looked like someone had just beat the crap out of me. I washed out the cut with some water and headed on towards the next confluence, 47°N 99°W.

(I’m writing this almost a month later. I’m all healed up now and I have a nasty little scar between my eyes to remind me of this trip. Talk about getting hit with an ugly stick....)

Danny Strickland
www.artgaga.com


 All pictures
#1: A view towards the confluence
#2: Francis Goodtrack
#3: Old abandoned wagon
#4: An unusual sight
#5: GPS Display
ALL: All pictures on one page
  Notes
In Devils Lake, about 0.3 mi from the shore.