Thomas Jefferson imagined the land explored by the Corps of Discovery as a blank canvas which would take many generations to fill. When Fort Stevenson was established in 1867 less than three generations had passed and Jefferson's blank canvas was . . . — — Map (db m283551) HM
When Fort Stevenson was being built in 1867, 30 million or more buffalo roamed the Great Plains. By the time the fort was decommissioned sixteen years later, it is estimated that only 2,000 were left.
The Native American Indians used . . . — — Map (db m283116) HM
Evidence of Euro-American occupation began to appear near the "big bend" of the Missouri River not long after the Corps of Discovery passed through. Competing trading posts to serve the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, as well as other tribal groups . . . — — Map (db m284826) HM
Custer Mine, owned and operated by the Truax Traer Coal Company, was a
working surface mine from 1947-1964. The surface or strip mining method of coal
mining is used when the coal seam is near the surface of the ground. The
lignite coal was mined . . . — — Map (db m164410) HM
In August of 1867 General Philippe Regis Denis de Keredern de Trobriand took command of Fort Stevenson, headquarters for the Middle District of Dakota Territory. He served at the fort through April of 1869 and is the best known commander of Fort . . . — — Map (db m286143) HM
The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara used various kinds of dwelling before and after coming together as a single group in the Nineteenth Century. Earthlodges were the largest of the dwellings. These were round structures based upon four large posts 12 . . . — — Map (db m284820) HM
Wednesday, August 13, 1806
With "the assistance of the wind, the current and our oars," the expedition covered 86 miles of its homeward journey on the cool and blustery day. At the mouth of the Little Missouri, the party stopped to . . . — — Map (db m283566) HM
In 1928 the Fort Berthold Reservation Civic Organization (FBRCO) was organized to promote the building of a Missouri River bridge at Elbowoods. The river split the reservation into two parts that could only be crossed by ferry boats. Work began in . . . — — Map (db m284818) HM
Dam Type ... Belled Earth
Height ... 202 feet
Length ... 11,3000 feet
Width At Top Of Dam ,,, 60 feet
Width At Bottom of Dam ... 3,400 feet
Volume of Earth Fill ... 66,500,000 cubic yard
Volume Of Concrete ... 1,500,000 cubic . . . — — Map (db m283554) HM
The Missouri River winds through the fertile and alluvial floodplains within the river trench.
Overlooking the valley is the drift prairie, covered by glacial till, which is equally fertile. Within the river are found bars of sand , silt, and . . . — — Map (db m284979) HM
With the flooding of the reservoir, the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold sought to have a Native American honored in naming the lake, particularly after having given up much of their prime agricultural land to the reservoir. Finally, on July . . . — — Map (db m284838) HM
In March 1805, Lewis and Clark hired a French-Canadian fur trader living with the Hidastsa Indians. This man, Toussaint Charbonneau, along with his wife, a teenage Indian girl named Sakakawea, would serve as interpreters.
Sakakawea proved her . . . — — Map (db m283555) HM
People have lived in the area now called North Dakota for over 12,000 years. The people of prehistoric
times were nomadic hunters and gatherers. More recent Native American tribes of this area include the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa. These . . . — — Map (db m164407) HM
The Corps of Discovery, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, passed through the part of the Missouri River Valley, now encompassed by Lake Sakakawea, in April 1805. The camp for the latter day being approximately at the south end of the Lewis . . . — — Map (db m284833) HM
Uncovering the Past
Nightwalker's Village was extensively excavated by archaeologists from the Smithsonian Institute in the 1950s, as part of the Missouri River Basin Surveys. Low circular mounds and depressions in the grass hinted at . . . — — Map (db m284977) HM
On the flat-topped butte across the valley, once stood and Hidatsa village of 28 small earthlodges, enclosed within a high, defensive fence, or palisade of posts that followed the bluff edge. The village was named after Nightwalker, a Hidatsa leader . . . — — Map (db m284978) HM
Sakakawea was probably born among the Shoshone Indians around 1787 in the Three-Forks-Shoshone Cove region of what is now southwestern Montana. She was captured at about age eleven by Hidatsa raiders from the Knife River villages in present-day . . . — — Map (db m283108) HM
The transition from a working coal mine to today's
Custer Mine Wildlife Management Area took place over
many years. While the coal mine was still in operation,
local residents started planting trees on the mine spoil
banks. The trees were . . . — — Map (db m164412) HM
