On this date in 1929, Joseph Blanding was still living in the family farmhouse at the south end of Wahpeton. He gave a talk to the Wilkin County Historical Society that was later published in the local paper. Joseph came to the area in 1872 at age nine, before Wahpeton was settled.
“There was great fishing in the Bois de Sioux in those days,” Blanding said. “It was a beautiful river, much higher than at present, and filled with clear water fit for drinking. All the local rivers were teeming with fish. As a boy who used to catch little fish in Wisconsin brooks, I discovered a new kind of fishing when I began to catch the big fighting fellows here.” The rivers were full of catfish, pickerel, walleyes, sturgeon and other fish.
The outstanding fishing experience of his life came when he speared an 89-pound sturgeon. He was walking along the river when he saw something that looked like a log. It moved, and Joe immediately speared it. Three of the four tines broke, but he was able to hold the fish down in the mud while calling for help from Mr. Miksche and Mr. Kimball. The trio succeeded in landing the fish, which was five feet long.
Catfish were very numerous and were salted and dried for eating. Ice fishing was also a popular winter sport and remains so today, with ice houses clustered around the confluence between Wahpeton, North Dakota, and Breckenridge, Minnesota.
The sturgeon disappeared following construction of the Kidder Station hydroelectric power plant and dam on the Red River in 1927. Later, people from Iowa and other states began camping nearby every year, intent on catching big channel catfish. The “Red River Mud Trout” was somewhat disdained by locals, but the idea caught on. Wahpeton’s Visitors Committee envisioned a giant catfish sculpture as a way to market the town and its natural resources.
The Kidder plant was demolished in 1977, and the dam was eventually retrofitted, allowing lake sturgeon to resume their ancient migration up the Otter Tail River. The site is now a park with camper amenities, shelters, a cleaning station and a free orchard. The “Whapper” sculpture can be seen from the highway bypass. It was dedicated in August 1997 during a celebration at Kidder Park that included a catfish picnic for hundreds of guests.
Dakota Datebook by Lise Erdrich
Sources:
- BLANDING CAUGHT 75 POUND STURGEON AT WELLES PARK. Page 1 of The Richland
- County Farmer Globe, published in Wahpeton, North Dakota on Tuesday, May 21st, 1929
