Powers Lake is a city in Burke County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 385 at the 2020 census.
History
Sometime in the early 1890s, John J. Power and his family moved up the White Earth Valley and set up sheepfolds and a homestead on the South shore of a large lake. He maintained his ranch here for several years. In 1892 their daughter Margaret was born. Shortly thereafter, the Power family left the area, while Powers Lake remained.
The original town was founded in September 1909 and platted in October 1909 on the North shore of Powers Lake in southeastern Colville Township. The City of Powers Lake began because a Great Northern Railway (GN) branch line was being extended past the site and further into Burke County toward the border with Canada, one of a number of GN branch lines meant to cross the border with Canada. Powers Lake was originally part of "Imperial" Ward County as Burke County did not come into existence until 15 July 1910.
Before 1914, an additional five dozen lots and a potential school green were platted north of 4th Avenue by Mr. Peterson from his land on each side of Ward Road (now Peterson Road) in Colville Township.
The railroad purchased large swaths of land directly from the federal government, then sold acres of land to individual farmers, mainly immmigrants from Scandinavia and Germany, with the expectation that GN would be their low-cost route to transport their output to major markets. The grain elevator at Powers Lake remains beside the old right-of-way to this day.
North Dakota Highway 50, located on the northeast side of the city, provides the main transport connection for most merchants and residents.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.