Small ND Town Sees Silver Lining From Flood

JAMES MacPHERSON

LINTON, N.D. (AP) — Other than their newly crowned boys high school basketball champs, residents of Linton have had little to cheer about this year.

One of the town's largest employers closed. Shortly after that, the spring floods came. Two Missouri River tributaries jumped their banks, washing out bridges and roads and damaging more than 70 homes in the south central North Dakota town of about 1,300.

But residents believe Linton, about 60 miles south of Bismarck near the South Dakota border, is rebounding. The sandbags are gone and most of the once-flooded prairie is lush green pasture or tilled for crops. Outlying businesses damaged by high water have moved back to Main Street, filling all downtown buildings for the first time in about three decades.

Leah Burke, president of the chamber of commerce and co-publisher of the town's weekly newspaper, calls it "revitalization through devastation."

Gov. John Hoeven announced last week that Mohall-based Midwest Teleservices International Inc. plans a new call center in Linton that will employ about 50 people. The state is providing about $250,000 in loans to MTI to get the business started.