North Dakota Forts and Villages

Saturday, July 1, 2017   Visiting Forts and Villages

  We started the day going to the Bismarck visitor center to pick up info.  Then we went downtown and visited the Capital Gallery, after all Bismarck is the capital of ND.  It was a wonderful art gallery with exhibits of copper items made by and artist in Minnesota and some beautiful glass vases made to reflect the beauty of the prairie along with jewelry and paintings.  As we talked to the curator, David, we learned how the community had helped build the Interpretive Center we were going to visit and supported the arts in Bismarck, ND.

From here we headed north and our first stop was Double Ditch Indian Village.  This village was built on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River.  It is obvious why the Indians had built there village here.  It had a commanding view of the River.  We walked around the grounds and saw our first prairie dog, to elusive to get a picture of.  Bo enjoyed sniffing at all the holes in the ground though.  You could still see all the impressions where their earth lodges once occupied. 

The next stop was the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.  Besides giving the history of their expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase in 1804-1806 it displayed artwork of local artists and had one of the nicest gift shops I have visited.

Lewis(in the center) and Clark (on the right) meeting the Mandan Village Chief

Replica of Fort Mandan(on the left) showing Mandan Indian Village (on right

Fort Mandan was  the next stop on our journey.  This is where Lewis & Clark spent the Winter of 1805 before crossing the mountains to the west.  It was surprising to see the small quarters that 50 plus people lived in all winter. They built their fort here because it was close to the Mandan Indian Village that had a population of over 5000 Indians.  The Indians helped them hunt for meat and traded for squash, corn and other crops that sustained them for the temperatures dipping to -40* (one of the coldest winters in this area). 

Buffalo Robe presented to Lewis & Clark by the Mandan Indians depicting a history of the Indians

Lewis & Clark's room (much larger than the soldiers)

Us at Fort Mandan

There was a large statue of Seaman, the Newfoundland dog that accompanied the expedition.

We proceeded north coming to Garrison Dam that damned up the Missouri River forming Lake Sakakwea.  This reservoir goes upstream for 178 miles and forms one of the largest reservoirs in the US. 

Crossing over the dam we headed down the west side of the Missouri River, stopping this time at Knife River Indian Village.  Walking back from the village area we heard a loud clicking noise.  We finally identified it as a Pheasant.  

Earthen Indian Lodge

view of Knife River Indian Village -remnants where their lodges sat

Traveling through the North Dakota countryside we viewed the beautiful rolling hills.  We came across a lovely scent and identified it as canola.  Getting out to take some pictures and get a close up of the plants I could hear the bees buzzing everywhere.  This explained all the bee hives we noticed in the hills. 

Once back in Bismarck we ate dinner at the only Cracker Barrel in North Dakota.  It was delicious as usual.