Deer, antelope, prairie and timber wolves, foxes, mink, otter, beaver, ducks, and geese provided early settlers of the Minot area with food, furs, and sport. In the winter, when water holes were opened in the frozen river for stock, fish would come up to the openings in such numbers that they could easily be speared with pitchforks, and it was not uncommon at these watering places to see fish frozen and stacked up like cordwood. 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.