Van Hook is a thriving resort community built on the shores of Lake Sakakawea. The town was disbanded in the 1950s with the flooding of Lake Sakakawea and for a very short period of time was classified as a ghost town in the north central United States, located in Van Hook Township in Mountrail County, North Dakota. The original town site was mostly left not flooded when Lake Sakakawea was formed in the 1950s behind Garrison Dam.

Mountrail County is a county in the northwestern part of North Dakota, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,809. Its county seat is Stanley. The county was originally created in 1873, then removed in 1892, annexed by Ward County. It was re-created and organized in 1909.