Any rock hounds ?

[Davey Crockett]

it's zoomed in quite a bit , roughly 3'' wide and 4'' tall.

 

[Davey Crockett]

 

[Davey Crockett]

This is a smaller one , We find a few granite wishing stones too with the a quartz ring.

 

[Davey Crockett]

I borrowed this picture off the internet . Folklore has it that when you find one to make a wish for good will to someone else and then give the rock away or throw it way out in the water.

 

[Trapper62]

I borrowed this picture off the internet . Folklore has it that when you find one to make a wish for good will to someone else and then give the rock away or throw it way out in the water.

Have you ever been to this location in the Turtle Mountains? Recorded as a Viking Cave, one of two that I know of, but is on private land.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Iv'e been in the one in Dahlen Township , that looks like the one. It was 40+ years ago or so and before the digital ages. I don't think we ever sent the film off . Do you know if anyone ever came up with a timeframe when it was built ? It would have been interesting to have heard Ed Milligan's response to it . Also , elevation wise , It's probably close to the mooring stones. There was supposedly a structure similar to it found near Deloraine a long time ago .

 

[guywhofishes]

Mooring stones:
https://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/56/v56i03p120-128.pdf

 

[Davey Crockett]

This one is interesting and has mention of Ed Milligan.

https://www.walkermn.com/news/chapt...cle_c176a909-2d1d-55da-bfcd-30a441380db7.html

 

[Rowdie]

I thought I did, but you could be right and I don't know. Maybe someone here can correct me if I am wrong. Below is the only piece I have picked up that I was told was chert. Isnt it usually grey like shale, but glossy and fractures like flint and obsidian? I have been told it's not plentiful in North Dakota. Some can be found along North Dakotas largest esker in Grand Forks county.

That's chert from what I've been told and It's fairly common on the shores of the Missouri river. And that piece looks worked to me, but I know nothing of artifacts.

 

[Davey Crockett]

I was surprised to see that John Moberg from NDSU-BB wrote a book about the Vikings. Both his and Ed Milligan's books are on my bucket list . I have a few pages from one of Milligan's book that a friend made copy of . The State library didn't have Milligan's book as of a couple years ago.

I'll post a pic or two of my "strangest" rocks . I had posted a pic of a carved rock of what I thought looked like a mastodon looking creature , Since then I have found two more like it.

 

[Allen]

Mooring stones:
https://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/56/v56i03p120-128.pdf

"Molberg’s findings and theories are by no means an open and shut case. One of the problems is the 500 foot differential in elevation between the Glacial Lake Souris level and the level of the spillway into the Sheyenne River. He had an explanation for this too. Based on Charles Hapgood’s theory of a shift in the earth’s crust, is it possible, that this had caused a change in the elevation of the Turtle Mountains in the last 600 years? We know that earth is not a solid mass, as was supposed a few hundred years ago. It’s a turbulent planet, full of life. The ocean floors are constantly shifting and earthquakes occurring."

Since a 500 foot rise in the elevation of north central ND would create untold chaos on the land and leave geologic evidence of such an upheaval, I think it's safe to say it never happened. The above snippet would suggest that for these to truly be Viking mooring stones, the Vikings would have had to be in the area roughly 6,000 BC. Does that sound reasonable?

 

[Allen]

One thing's for sure, rocks are much like clouds in that we can see whatever we really want to see in them.

 

[Davey Crockett]

One thing's for sure, rocks are much like clouds in that we can see whatever we really want to see in them.

That's for sure. Rocks can play mind games and that's a big part of the entertainment of hunting them. Wife and I are both happy to find a rock that " looks" like something even If we know if it's an act of nature . Then there are some that make a guy wonder.

 

[Trapper62]

Iv'e been in the one in Dahlen Township , that looks like the one. It was 40+ years ago or so and before the digital ages. I don't think we ever sent the film off . Do you know if anyone ever came up with a timeframe when it was built ? It would have been interesting to have heard Ed Milligan's response to it . Also , elevation wise , It's probably close to the mooring stones. There was supposedly a structure similar to it found near Deloraine a long time ago .

Yep this is the one, picture is from about 8 years ago.

 

[Davey Crockett]

"Molberg’s findings and theories are by no means an open and shut case. One of the problems is the 500 foot differential in elevation between the Glacial Lake Souris level and the level of the spillway into the Sheyenne River. He had an explanation for this too. Based on Charles Hapgood’s theory of a shift in the earth’s crust, is it possible, that this had caused a change in the elevation of the Turtle Mountains in the last 600 years? We know that earth is not a solid mass, as was supposed a few hundred years ago. It’s a turbulent planet, full of life. The ocean floors are constantly shifting and earthquakes occurring."

Since a 500 foot rise in the elevation of north central ND would create untold chaos on the land and leave geologic evidence of such an upheaval, I think it's safe to say it never happened. The above snippet would suggest that for these to truly be Viking mooring stones, the Vikings would have had to be in the area roughly 6,000 BC. Does that sound reasonable?

I wonder if a huge glacier could have been holding the water back then it melted ?

 

[Allen]

I wonder if a huge glacier could have been holding the water back then it melted ?

The thought of their being a glacier this far south a mere 600 years ago (100+ years) after Christopher Columbus landed on our shore is not realistic based on the geologic history of ND. The Turtle Mountain being an uplift from 600 yrs ago is also not supported by the geologic history. There were people here writing things down not long after that, they would have commented on the chaos.

 

[Davey Crockett]

I would have thought that by now the theory that these stones are mooring stones would either be confirmed or debunked but I guess lack of knowledge is what mysteries are made from. I found a copy of John Molberg's book "Vikings", there is a sketched map showing locations of 6 mooring stones in the Turtle mountains that are all between 2000' and 2033' in elevation and mention of another similar rock near Cormorant lake in MN. The book mentioned that there were two skilled rock men who homesteaded in the area of the cave.

 

[Allen]

I would have thought that by now the theory that these stones are mooring stones would either be confirmed or debunked but I guess lack of knowledge is what mysteries are made from. I found a copy of John Molberg's book "Vikings", there is a sketched map showing locations of 6 mooring stones in the Turtle mountains that are all between 2000' and 2033' in elevation and mention of another similar rock near Cormorant lake in MN. The book mentioned that there were two skilled rock men who homesteaded in the area of the cave.

The top of the emergency spillway at Garrison dam is only 1854 ft. For those to be actual mooring stones, only the Turtle Mountain and places west of the Missouri Coteau would have been out of the water. Sorry, but there's no way these are mooring stones in ND. Glacial Lake Souris reached up to between 1500 and 1600 ft above MSL on today's terrain, and Glacial Lake Agassiz probably never exceeded 1300 ft MSL. And again, most importantly, since lakes Agassiz and Souris drained roughly 8500-9000 years ago, we would be talking about mooring stones placed on the shoreline of either being greater than 6000 years before Christ was born. This is why Molberg really shouldn't be taken seriously when he refers to these rocks as "mooring stones", the physical setup he suggests as to why the rocks were found at the elevations they are located is several thousand years ahead of the great Viking explorers.

 

[Maddog]

Mostly Van Halen

 

[Davey Crockett]

The top of the emergency spillway at Garrison dam is only 1854 ft. For those to be actual mooring stones, only the Turtle Mountain and places west of the Missouri Coteau would have been out of the water. Sorry, but there's no way these are mooring stones in ND. Glacial Lake Souris reached up to between 1500 and 1600 ft above MSL on today's terrain, and Glacial Lake Agassiz probably never exceeded 1300 ft MSL. And again, most importantly, since lakes Agassiz and Souris drained roughly 8500-9000 years ago, we would be talking about mooring stones placed on the shoreline of either being greater than 6000 years before Christ was born. This is why Molberg really shouldn't be taken seriously when he refers to these rocks as "mooring stones", the physical setup he suggests as to why the rocks were found at the elevations they are located is several thousand years ahead of the great Viking explorers.

All I know for sure is that Molberg's claims threw me down a 2 day rabbit hole of history. Funny how local folklore can thrive from a theory , I suppose I was around 12 or so when It became talk of the town and as far as I know locals didn't really question the discovery, Probably since it was worked on and supported by a pretty well educated group of mostly local people. The only logical explanation for the man made holes that I have found was they were blasting holes to break the rock apart but that rock was never blasted. Seems odd in a way but I suppose drill the holes when time and weather was right and then blast them at a later date . One theory on that might be that a rock in -30 degree temps might split easier that at the same rock at 60 degrees. Or drill the holes and fill them with water and let it freeze from the outside towards the middle and create pressure. Something that might work on some rocks but not all of them.


https://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/56/v56i03p120-128.pdf