Tracing the Missouri River up through the heartland, it suddenly turns left (west) in the middle of North Dakota. The turn is also the spot for a huge Corps of Engineers Dam that forms Lake Sakakawea--the playground for folks from North Dakota.
The Missouri River Valley the traditional homeland for the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes. All the tribes were well adapted to the conditions on the Upper Missouri River Valley. They built summer villages (up to a 120 earthlodges in a village) on natural river terraces and winter villages down by the river's edge. The women farmed corn, squash, and beans; the men hunted bison. They traded surplus crops with other tribes.
Lewis and Clark spent the winter on the east side of the Missouri with the Mandan tribe at Fort Manden. They hired Toussaint Charbonneau (who had been living with the Hidatsu) to join their expedition. His Shoshone wife (Sakakawea) was critical to the Lewis & Clark expedition.
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Double Ditch Indian Village Site along the Missouri
Settlement had been continuously occupied for several hundred years....until smallpox in 1830s. |
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| Pottery shards and bone fragments |
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| A lovely snake -- and -- I'm out of here! |
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| Rebuilt Ft Mandan; winter home for Lewis & Clarke expedition |
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| Nice room -- for 20 men who slept in the attic |
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| Knife River Village -- home of Sakakawea -- on the bluff above the Knife River |
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