Mountrail County is a county in North Dakota, United States, on the western shore of Lake Sakakawea in the Bakken oil region. It had a population of 9,809 at the 2020 census and covers 1,941 square miles (5,028 km2) centred near 48°13′N 102°22′W.
Stanley is the county seat; its postal code is 58784. The county has seven incorporated cities and a number of small unincorporated communities, and observes Central time.
Towns & Villages in Mountrail County
Mountrail County has seven incorporated cities and roughly a dozen unincorporated communities, several of them former rail sidings or Bakken-era boomtowns now reduced to a handful of buildings. “Unincorp.” below means the place has no city government of its own.
| Place | Type | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stanley | City · seat | — | 58784 |
| New Town | City | — | 58763 |
| Parshall | City | — | 58770 |
| Plaza | City | — | 58771 |
| Palermo | City | — | 58769 |
| Ross | City | — | 58776 |
| White Earth | City | — | 58794 |
| Sanish | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Belden | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Blaisdell | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Coulee | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Epworth | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lostwood | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Lunds Valley | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Manitou | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Prairie Junction | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Tagus | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Wabek | Unincorp. | — | — |
| Wassaic | Unincorp. | — | — |
Sanish has a distinct history worth a note: the original townsite sat on the Missouri River bottomlands and was flooded out in the 1950s when the Garrison Dam impounded Lake Sakakawea. Most of its residents and businesses relocated a few miles north to New Town, and the Sanish name survives today only as a small unincorporated place and a bay on the lake.
ZIP Codes
- 58784 — Stanley
- 58763 — New Town
- 58770 — Parshall
- 58771 — Plaza
- 58769 — Palermo
- 58776 — Ross
- 58794 — White Earth
The unincorporated communities use the ZIP code of their nearest post office town rather than a code of their own.
Geography
Mountrail County sits on the western shore of Lake Sakakawea, the reservoir formed by the Garrison Dam on the Missouri River, which forms the county’s southwestern edge. The Laurentian Divide, separating drainage toward Hudson Bay from drainage toward the Gulf of Mexico, runs east–west through the central part of the county, and terrain climbs to about 2,480 feet near the western boundary. The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, home to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, covers much of the southern part of the county around New Town.
Mountrail County borders Burke County to the north, McLean County to the southeast, and Williams, McKenzie, Dunn and Ward counties along its other sides. Its neighbors are covered on Burke County and McLean County.
Demographics
The 2020 census counted 9,809 people in Mountrail County. New Town is the largest community, followed by the county seat, Stanley. Reservation communities on the Fort Berthold lands, oil-field workforce housing and the county’s rural farm population account for the rest. Mountrail County’s own median household income is not separately verified here, but it is compared against the North Dakota median of $76,525; oil-sector wages during Bakken production years pushed local incomes above that median in several nearby counties. Population density works out to roughly 5 people per square mile of land, reflecting the county’s large area and small, dispersed population.
Economy & Local Life
Agriculture, chiefly wheat, canola and cattle ranching, has long been the base of the county’s economy. Oil production from the Bakken and Three Forks shale formations, centered on the county’s share of the Bakken play, brought a wave of drilling activity, new jobs and population growth beginning in the mid-2000s, reversing decades of decline. New Town also serves as the tribal headquarters of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and is the commercial and administrative hub for the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
History
Mountrail County takes its name from Joseph Mountraille, a Métis fur trader and mail carrier who worked out of Pembina in the mid-1800s. The county was first organized in 1873 but was absorbed into Ward County in 1892; it was re-established as a separate county on January 29, 1909. The building of the Garrison Dam in the 1950s was the county’s most disruptive event of the 20th century, flooding the Missouri River bottomlands, submerging the original townsite of Sanish and forcing the relocation of Sanish and several other communities to higher ground near New Town.
Getting There
U.S. Route 2 crosses the northern part of the county through Palermo and Stanley, while North Dakota Highways 8, 23, 37 and 1804 provide the main north–south and lakeside routes.
- Minot — about 35 miles east
- Williston — about 45 miles west
- Watford City — about 40 miles southwest
- Bismarck — about 110 miles southeast
Minot International Airport, roughly 35 miles east of Stanley, is the nearest commercial airport.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Mountrail County, North Dakota?
It is in the northwestern part of the state, on the western shore of Lake Sakakawea, north of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
What is the population of Mountrail County?
9,809 people, per the 2020 census.
How big is Mountrail County?
1,941 square miles (5,028 km2), including about 116 square miles of Lake Sakakawea’s water.
What is the county seat of Mountrail County?
Stanley is the county seat.
How many towns are in Mountrail County?
Seven incorporated cities — Stanley, New Town, Parshall, Plaza, Palermo, Ross and White Earth — plus a number of small unincorporated communities.
What ZIP codes are in Mountrail County?
Seven, one per incorporated city: 58784 (Stanley), 58763 (New Town), 58770 (Parshall), 58771 (Plaza), 58769 (Palermo), 58776 (Ross) and 58794 (White Earth).
Why was Sanish relocated?
The original townsite flooded in the 1950s when the Garrison Dam formed Lake Sakakawea, so most of its residents moved to New Town.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in North Dakota.