The river that nurtured Awatixa Village is erasing evidence of its existence. In 1798, explorer-trader David Thompson estimated fifty-two earthlodges here. As of 1990, only thirty-one earthlodge depressions remained. Cutbank erosion and channel . . . — — Map (db m162270) HM
Circles in the Earth
You are at the edge of a large village of earthlodges. When the dwellings collapsed, they left circular mounds of earth around hardened saucer-like floors. From that pattern you can picture the extent of this village . . . — — Map (db m162212) HM
In front of you are situated what archaeologist believe may have been corrals constructed by the Arikaras. Because views of the fort painted by George Catlin and Karl Bodmer between 1832 and 1834 do not show the corrals, they were likely built after . . . — — Map (db m162381) HM
Anatomy of a Village
Viewed at prairie level, the village site shows few details of the Hidatsa people's lives. Most evidence lies below the surface. Here along the bank, repeated floods have exposed a slice of village life and given it . . . — — Map (db m162272) HM
The earthlodge was a type of home used by many tribes on the Great Plains. Around you are the remains of earthlodges found in the village of Mih-tutta-hang-kush. There were more than eighty of these homes found on this site. Today, circular . . . — — Map (db m162528) HM
From archeological evidence, we know how the Hidatsa fished. The villagers used bone fishhooks at first, but metal hooks began to appear after the 1790s - a result of trade with Europeans. From catfish spines and fish scales found in middens, we . . . — — Map (db m162273) HM
This location contains the remains of Fort Clark, named in honor of former explorer William Clark, who was Superintendent of Indian Affairs at the time. It was built by James Kipp for trade with the Mitutanka Mandan Indians living in the earthlodge . . . — — Map (db m162387) HM
Fort Clark was a small but important post in the American Fur Co. (AMF) empire but only a minute element within an immense international fur and hide trade. Its cycle of trade incorporated Native Americans of the northern plains, American traders . . . — — Map (db m162379) HM
Eighteen years before the establishment of the Mandan Village of Mih-tutta-hang-kush, a settlement of a different kind was being built a few miles northwest of this point. In November 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition began construction of their . . . — — Map (db m162530) HM
Geophysics is the application of the methods of physics to the study of object or materials beneath the surface of the earth. Archeo-geophysics applies geophysical principles to the study of near-surface archaeological deposits. The goal is to . . . — — Map (db m162461) HM
With simple tools, Hidatsa women grew corn, beans, squash, and sunflowers in the fertile soil along the Missouri and Knife Rivers.
Buffalo Bird Woman, known in Hidatsa as Maxidiwiac, was born born about 1839, in an earth lodge along the . . . — — Map (db m162210) HM
Fortified Ground
A thriving earthlodge village stood here. Though surface clues appear minimal, there is a pattern to the ground's subtle dips and wrinkles, a way to reconstruct the life and death of the village. Read the terrain like . . . — — Map (db m162274) HM
With 168 days and 1,600 miles behind them, the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived near the Knife River Villages. Captain William Clark wrote:
October 27, 1804
"came too at the Village on the L.S. this village is situated on an eminance . . . — — Map (db m33610) HM
Mato-Tope (the Four Bears)
The second chief of the Mandans, Mato-Tope, was respected and revered for his leadership, honor, and bravery. George Catlin referred to his in an 1832 letter:
This extraordinary man, though second in . . . — — Map (db m162529) HM
To imagine these people's daily lives, consider their trash. Molehill-like mounds two to four feet high near the village edge are middens or garbage heaps packed with broken pottery, bone tools, and flaked stone. Shattered buffalo bones are the most . . . — — Map (db m162214) HM
You are approaching the site of a former Mandan Indian village called Mih-tutta-hang-kush. This name means "east village" or "first village." Mih-tutta-hanf-kush was established in 1822 and was occupied by the Mandans until 1837 when the smallpox . . . — — Map (db m162276) HM
Fort Clark and its opposition post Primeau's Post, as well as that of the nearby Mandan and later Arikara village, were for defense and also served to tap the bountiful natural resources of this stretch of the Missouri River valley. Between 1832 and . . . — — Map (db m162383) HM
You are now looking at a portion of the former palisade wall and the ditch that surrounded the Mandan village of Mih-tutta-hang-kush. A palisade is a row of closely spaced vertical posts set together to form a protective wall. Archaeologists belief . . . — — Map (db m162534) HM
This earthlodge was the home of Pierre Garreau. Garreau, the son of a French father and an Arikara mother, was employed by the American Fur Company as an interpreter. He was well known for his strength and bravery. Interpreters, such as Garreau, . . . — — Map (db m162391) HM
Built so close to the river, Awatixa Village and other nearby sites suggest a pattern - a vital link between Hidatsa culture and the riverine environment. The Missouri River and its tributaries provided fish, fertile soil for crops, and a green . . . — — Map (db m162271) HM
In the summer of 1837, the steamboat St. Peters arrived at the Mandan village and Fort Clark, carrying passengers, supplies, and trade goods. Tragically, some of the people on the St. Peters were also infected with smallpox. In a . . . — — Map (db m162532) HM
The stone shelter you are standing in was constructed in the 1930s as one of the many projects completed throughout the state by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The CCC and the WPA were programs . . . — — Map (db m162476) HM
Fort Clark's most prominent structural features, the enclosure or "palisade" and projecting blockhouses, were built to defend its occupants from attack and the Company's trade goods from theft. Curiously, historic documents and archaeological . . . — — Map (db m162471) HM
Fort Clark's citizens were small in number but extremely diverse in cultural origin. This ethnic diversity is reflected in one Company trader's remarks that trading posts were a "Babylonian confusion of languages...Assiniboin, Crow, Herantsa, . . . — — Map (db m162389) HM
"Tobacco was cultivated in my tribe only by old men." - Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden
"Our young men did not smoke much; a few did, but most of them used little tobacco, or almost none. They were taught that smoking would injure their . . . — — Map (db m178101) HM
Shortly after Fort Clark's construction (circa 1830), Prince Maximilian of Wied (Germany) described the post in his journal as "built on the same plan as the other trading posts of the Company. The front and back of the square are forty-four paces . . . — — Map (db m162459) HM
James Kipp
In the twilight of his years, a "Canadian of German descent," James Kipp, (1788-1880_ was to be remembered for both his AMF fort-building experiences and his vast knowledge of the Upper Missouri country and its . . . — — Map (db m162456) HM
Winter villages of the Mandans and the neighboring Hidatsas were located in the forested river bottoms of the Missouri River and Knife River valleys. These temporary village locations were chosen based on availability, suitable protection form harsh . . . — — Map (db m162473) HM
