Slant Indian Village

Slant Indian Village. . Slant Village was occupied by the Mandan, an agricultural Indian tribe, and received its name because of the sloping ground upon which it was situated. The village embraced about seven or eight acres of ground and the most recent survey of the site, made in 1937, revealed the ruins of seventy-five earth lodges. The readily visible circular depressions on this site mark the ruins of the lodges. A study of the tree rings and timbers found at this site indicates that Slant Village was occupied during the period of 1650-1750. In the fall of 1804, when the Lewis and Clark Expedition moves up the Missouri River, this village was in ruins. At the time the Mandan tribe was living in the vicinity of the Knife River, some 60 miles up the Missouri River.

The Mandan tribe moved into North Dakota from the south and the ruins of their abandoned villages were present in this state from the South Dakota state line north to the Berthold Reservation.

The ditch or dry moat was restored on this site in 1935 at the location of the original. The five earth lodges restored during the same year are typical of the dwellings inhabited by the Mandan before they were confined to a reservation.

The plat at the left shows the principal topographical features and the location of the earth lodge ruins on the Slant Village site. The plat at the right indicates the major known Indian village sites along the Missouri River in the vicinity of Slant Village.