Lunds Valley is a beautiful near-ghost town nestled in a valley in Mountrail County, about fifty-four miles northeast of Williston. It is one of those towns where we showed up a little too late, because there aren’t many of the original buildings still standing. It is a mere shadow of its former self.
Lunds Valley was considered a rural post office and the population of the town never exceeded 100.
Terry’s photo of this elevator is featured on the cover of our first book, Ghosts of North Dakota, Volume 1 Special Edition.
This is the remains of the former Lunds Valley school, destroyed by fire. Wylora Christianson sent a photo of the school before it burned.
Sidewalks remain, long after the buildings are gone.
We’ve seen references online where the name of this place is sometimes spelled as one word, Lundsvalley.
See also: Lunds Valley School before it burned
See also: More Lunds Valley
Photos by Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp, copyright © Sonic Tremor Media
Ghosts of North Dakota 
Very nice pictures. Looks like you guys had a good trip! I really like the pictures of Lunds Valley, they’re beautiful but the place makes me feel hauntingly lonely for some reason. Though you say you got there too late, you definitely still managed to capture the feel of the town. There may not be many buildings remaining but the ones that are are at least quite photogenic!! Great job once again!
PS the only thing I’ve been wondering while looking through all your new galleries is this: are you not getting just covered in ticks going through these areas?? I don’t know how it is anywhere else but the ticks are so bad here (Bismarck) that I managed to have one crawling on my pants while on a bike trail IN TOWN! Not fun.
LikeLike
Yes, we are getting covered in ticks! The price of admission I guess. – troy
LikeLike
Wow. I am also of Danish descent. I know that my Grandfather family came over in the early 1900s and they settled in North Dakota. I was even born there.
LikeLike
I have a perfect picture of the school in Lunds Valley as it once stood. If you would like to see the picture I could email it to you.
LikeLike
We’d love to see it.
LikeLike
the foundation is where the school was in Lunds Valley
LikeLike
Could you please send me a picture(s) of the school to d2perman@comcast.net. My two older sisters went to that school and my Aunts and Uncles went to that school.
LikeLike
http://www.ghostsofnorthdakota.com/2010/05/29/lunds-valley-school/
LikeLike
I would love to see any other pictures of Lund’s Valley. My dad, Arthur, talked about it when we were kids, but we never visited it. It is significant to my family, since he was there as a child.
LikeLike
If I am right, my father Otto Hoel attended that school. I would appreciate it if you would send me a copy as well.
Thank You
LikeLike
My Great Granpa was a Lutheran Minister in Lunds Valley and is buried in the cemetery there along with my Great Granma and Great Aunt. Very cool to see this. I remember my Granma taking me there YEARS ago when I was little during Memorial Weekend – but I cannot remember much about it.
LikeLike
Guess what?? I live there right now I can see the old LundsValley building right by my house,so people still do live there just to tell you!! I enjoyed the pictures!
LikeLike
Laney, My husbands parents and family grew up in Lund’s Valley. They migrated to the west coast about 60 years ago, give or take. How long have you lived there. Do you have many of the old pictures? We have a few in an old album. Would love to communicate with you concerning the exchange of information. Oh, by the way, the family name is of course, Lund.
LOL… please reply to the address if you are interested.
LikeLike
Wendy
I have lived in Lund’s Valley my whole life. (So has my Dad) We would love to see any old photos you may have. My family & I love old Lund’s Valley history!
LikeLike
Can you share any Lunds valley history. My mother was a Lund from that area
LikeLike
Hello! My name is Mitch Lund. My mother, Wendy, commented above. As she stated, my paternal grandfather, Clarence (Kelly) Lund and all but one of his siblings, were born and raised there. Our Lund family immigrated from Denmark.
As it turns out, my wife’s sister and family are moving to Bismark in December of this year. We plan to visit them next summer. I am planning to make a trip to Lunds Valley in an attempt to locate the actual farm land where Grandpa was born and raised. Please feel free to reach out to me. I’d love to share with any information back and forth. My number is (360) 522-2780.
I look forward to hearing from you!
Mitch
LikeLike
Wow. I am also of Danish descent. I know that my Grandfather family came over in the early 1900s and they settled in North Dakota. I was even born there
LikeLike
My Mothers name was also Lund. Are you Danish?
LikeLike
The pictures were great…The Lunds Valley School was really a beautiful old structure….with a library! We had Christmas programs performing on the stage…we really worked hard to make those productions memorable…they were to the kids anyway! Thanks for the memories! Looking forward to seeing pix of the old school building. I hauled grain to the elevator! Nothing better than a cold coke in a green glass bottle coming out of a bright red coke machine!!! MEMORIES
LikeLike
I remember that coke machine, my father managed the elevator in the 70’s
LikeLike
My grandfather, Clarence Swedlund, also managed Lunds Valley elevator, in the 50’s and early 60’s, the coke machine everyone remembers had the door on the top and you slid the bottles over and pulled them up and out. My mom attended that beautiful 2-story school. I believe Clemen Christianson was the Lunds Valley postmaster and they lived next door to my grandparents. I spent some summers in Lunds Valley during the 50’s, I remember it as a small version of Mayberry.
LikeLike
When she was quite young, my Mother, LaVonne Nelson, taught at the Lund’s Valley School. She has talked about it recently.
LikeLike
My father Willard Olsen managed the elevator in Lunds Valley for several years in the 70’s-lots of fond memories of Lunds Valley
LikeLike
Enjoyed your site. Our family is originally from this town. I am looking forward to a visit
to see the old homestead.
LikeLike
I love the pics of my old town the school pics are great the basen sitting by the burned out school building
LikeLike
love the site and thge town I went to school there
LikeLike
My grandfather lived there before coming to Washington state. I have a calendar plate from there dated 1929. My maiden name was Lund.
LikeLike
My grandpa’s parents homesteaded in Lunds Valley. My grandma and grandpa (Warren and Dolores Paulson) bought the farm from them and raised their family there. In the 1990’s they retired to Minot. I believe their pasture is just adjacent to the townsite.
I am excited to show this site to my mom and grandma. They will love the pictures.
LikeLike
I believe that my grandma took me into the building that says “Lunds Valley” on it most likely in the mid 1980’s when I was about 6. If my memory is correct, she was helping with an election and that was the local polling place. It had to have been a county election, because Stan Wright (from Stanley) was on the ballot.
Also, my grandpa told me that he once owned land on both sides of the tracks that are shown with someone else owning a chunk of land in between his parcels. They agreed to swap land, so that all of his was together. Their land borders the tracks on the south (on the east side of the townsite).
LikeLike
I lived in Lunds Valley for a short time when my father, Maurice Jensen and my mother Clarice, ran the general store. I attended the Lunds Valley School for four and a half years in the mid 1940,s. In about 1947 my father moved the store to Stanley and I started fifth grade there. I have many fond memories of Lunds Valley and the surrounding area. Before moving to Lunds Valley we lived on my grandfather’s homestead southeast of town. I have many fond memories of the area and would like to go back there and drive through this summer. I now live in Bismarck and spend winters in Mesa, AZ.
LikeLike
I remember going to Lunds Valley and my Dad would get me a Coke out of the old machine in the Elevator. I also remember Maurice Jensen but not from when he was in Lunds Valley. Ha. Very nice people. My Grandma used to work at his store in Stanley.
LikeLike
I remember your grandmother working in dad’s store. It must be 35 or so years ago. My dad had the best selection of candy in town and even now I run into people who bought candy from him or received a free bag when they paid their bills. Those were the “good old days.” Lowell L Jensen
LikeLike
I lived in Williston for several years and launched my boat at Lunds Landing. It was about 25 east of Williston and was just a cove with a dirt ramp. I always wondered who Lund was?
LikeLike
My Dad, Willard Olsen managed the elevator in Lunds Valley in the 70s. We thought it was a great place, a few family’s living there then, now only 1 family.
LikeLike
I’m a little late in the game on this but I just found out my great uncle, Elmer Ellefson, had a general store of some sort in Lund’s Valley at one point, probably in the early 1910’s. He was born and raised in Grafton before moving to Lund’s Valley. He ended up moving on to Hanks, ND (also a ghost town now- see chapter in this book) and opened up a general store there. He married, had a daughter and built a house in Hanks before passing away there in 1919.
LikeLike