Red River Land: Why is the Red River So Crooked?
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Red River Land is a series of programs about North Dakota developed for educational purposes in the 1960s by Erling Rolfsrud, educator, historian and writer, in conjunction with Prairie Public Television, as it was then known.
The Red River Valley was formed during the last ice age by a large glacier. After the glacier melted it formed Lake Agassiz, a huge body of water. The lake slowly drained away until all that was left was a river. That river is now the Red River of the North, the most crooked river in the flatest valley in the world. Its course is twice as long as the land distance it covers.
Source
Red River Land, Prairie Public & NCCST, Erling Rolfsrud.
Grade Level
1 - 12
Subject Matter
Social Studies, Science
Standards
Identify changes that can be steady or irregular (e.g., floods, earthquakes, erosion, tooth decay)
Explain how landforms are changed (e.g., crustal deformation, volcanic eruption, deposition, weathering, erosion)
Explain the changes Earth has undergone over geologic time (e.g., fossil record, plate tectonics, climate change, glaciation)
Describe ways (e.g., the development of transportation, communication, industry, and land use) geography has affected the development of the local community over time
Use map scales to locate physical features and estimate distance on a map
Identify the physical features and relative locations of the major land forms (i.e., Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi River, Grand Canyon) of the regions of the United States
Identify the location and characteristics of significant features of North Dakota (e.g., landforms, river systems, climate, regions, major cities)
Describe ways geography has affected the development (e.g., the development of transportation, communication, industry, and land use) of the state over time
Explain how physical processes (e.g., wind and water erosion, climatic changes, plate tectonics) create, maintain, and modify Earth’s physical features and environments
