Since the Souris winds through Minot for a distance of eight miles, its overflow can cause great damage, and several times there have been severe floods. The worst occurred in 1882, 1904, 1916, 1923, and 1927. The 1904 flood took the town by surprise, as there were no telephones in the territory upstream from Minot by which the alarm could be given, and small houses were torn from their foundations as the crest of the flood hit the city. Railroad tracks were under water and traffic on the Great Northern and Soo was at a standstill. The flood continued for about three weeks, and children rejoiced as school was discontinued. People went about their business in boats, using their front porches for piers. Many north side residents moved in with friends living on the higher south side.
In recent years dikes have been built to keep the Souris within bounds, and Federal works on the river above the city, the subsistence homestead project at Burlington, and the Upper Souris migratory waterfowl project (see Tour 7) have constructed dams which enable engineers to control the flow of water.
While the Great Northern was responsible for Minot's origin and early growth, several factors have shared in the city's later development. Extension of the railroad westward added to the trade territory, all of which is agricultural, and the city became the logical wholesale distribution point for northwest North Dakota. The arrival of the Soo in 1893 tapped untouched areas southeast and northwest, again enlarging the trade region. The first bus line in the State began operation between Minot and Bismarck in 1922. Truck and bus lines now radiate from Minot to serve the many outlying communities not on the transcontinental railroads. The city is a center for an area of 22,500 square miles, extending north to the Canadian line and west into Montana. In 1930 Minot had the second largest volume of wholesale business in the State, with transactions totaling $18,500,000.
Its location in an extensive agricultural area has established Minot as a farm market. During both pre-war and post-war periods of heavy crop yields and high prices, Minot boomed as a grain shipping point. Two flour mills have been a factor in maintaining cash grain prices at higher levels than in other communities. Processing of dairy and poultry products has become an important industry, and a cash livestock market has brought additional returns and marketing facilities in the past few years. A plant of the poultry cooperative maintained by the North Dakota Farmers Union is situated in Minot. The recent droughts lessened grain marketing, but pushed forward in another direction the production and stability of diversified farm products, as indicated by the expansion of one and the erection of another creamery and processing plant.
Like other cities, Minot has felt the depression period, but outwardly there remains only one prominent scar—"Sparrow Hotel," the steel skeleton of a 10-story hotel building. Begun in 1929, construction was halted by the market crash of that year, and the framework now houses only a multitude of twittering, chirping sparrows.
Its rail facilities have helped to make Minot a natural shipping point for the great quantities of lignite mined in this vicinity. The Truax-Traer Company, with headquarters here, is one of the largest lignite strip mining companies in the United States, and operates the three largest strip mines in the State.
Out of the Rustler-Tribune, which reported Minot's earliest events, there grew the Minot Optic Reporter, which is now the Minot Daily News. The Democrat, a political publication, has grown into the Dakota State Journal, and the weekly Ward County Independent is also published in Minot. A radio station, KLPM, maintains studios in the Fair Block on South Main Street.
With improved transportation facilities and good roads, Minot has become a medical center for the northwest section of the State. Two large hospitals, two smaller private hospitals, and medical and dental clinics are maintained.