Day 9

Thursday, September 18

Based out of Bismarck today.   Camp remained in place.

Drove US 83 up to Washburn, ND, this morning to visit the L&C Interpretive Center and the reconstruction of Fort Mandan.   This is where the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1804-1805.

The Mandan villages were located semi-permanently at the location on the Missouri where the Knife River joins it.    More about this and the Mandans below.   Lewis and Clark wanted to winter there because the Mandans were more peaceful than several of the other tribes on the northern plains.

The Mandan villages were last known location on the Missouri on most maps that had been made by Europeans.   French traders had been visiting there for about 50-80 years.   Several French traders lived there, some with tribal wives.

Driving north, we saw the edge of one of the huge North Dakota wind power fields.  North Dakota is the number one producer of wind power electricity in the USA.  5.53 billion kilowatt-hours in 2013.   Capacity is presently limited by transmission lines.  There are some new ones under construction.

 

 

The Washburn Interpretive Center is right by Federal Highway 83.   It is one of the best L&C museum we have seen.   Lots of hands on items and good presentation of facts and artifacts.   Of course, much emphasis on interaction with Plains tribes.

It was at the Mandan villages that Lewis & Clark met Sacagawea and contracted with her French trader husband to be an interpreter.



Linda dressed as soldier.

Stan in buffalo/bison robe. Would like to have one!   About $900 these days!

 

Excellent large statues of Lewis and Clark meeting a Mandan chief and negotiating their winter stay.

A few miles from the Interpretive Center, Fort Mandan has been reconstructed on the banks of the Missouri.  Knowledgeable guides are present.



The Expedition included a good blacksmith.  He with several assistants made many irongoods that winter that were traded to the Mandans and Hidatsa for corn/maize and other food.    Lewis had brought lengths of raw iron stock for such purposes.

2 Wonder Dogs:  Seaman and Stella!!   This nice statue is near the entrance to the reconstructed fort and is on the banks of the Missouri.    Not too far from here the river bends west and then southwest to the Rockies.

Dakota horses.  It is very common to see horses grazing, sometimes miles from a ranch.

We drove back south to the Bismarck area, and then southwest to former Fort Abraham Lincoln.  Fort Lincoln had nothing to do with Lewis and Clark and was built in 1872.    The 7th Cavalry was based here and left from here on their fateful mission against the tribal nations.

Flagpole and blockhouse at Fort Lincoln.   Bismarck in the background.   The state capitol building is just behind the blockhouse.

Back to Bismarck (Yep, it was named for Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of the new United Germany.)    Germans are the most common ethnic group in North Dakota.    We went to a park by the river to visit the last keelboat replica we'll see this trip.  (Yes, Verne, that is a total of 6!)   Lewis and Clark loaded the keelboat with many biological specimens, including a number of live birds and animals.   They sent it back down river in April 1805 under the command of their Corporal.   Many of these specimens are now in the Smithsonian, a few are on display.

The last keelboat replica.

The Thunderbirds.   A huge art piece created recently by young tribal artists.   It is surrounded by plaques that list the legends concerning Thunderbirds from many American tribes.

Linda Adds:          It was enjoyable to see how the Mandans lived and to look at artifacts found in an archeological dig on the site of the old village.  Lodges would number up to eighty in a village with a center lodge shaped more like a letter D.  This was like a community center where chiefs would meet.  The first ring of round lodges would be occupied by the important members of the society with outer streets of lodging for the lesser important.  Many of these communities would then have a deep ditch dug around as defense...similar to a castle moat.  When someone died, their body was placed on a raised platform.  When the body deteriorated and bones fell to the ground, the skull was saved and placed in a ring of other skulls, facing inward.  Family would then maintain this like we would a grave marker.

 

 

This is where Lewis and Clark meet Charbonneau and his two young wives, Sacajawea and Otter Woman.  The Frenchman is hired as an interpreter and wishes to included his more favored wife, Otter Woman, but Lewis and Clark prefer Sacajawea as she is a Shoshoni and

therefore more of an asset to their travels.  This would prove to be a good decision later.

Tomorrow, on to Montana!