Fort Mandan

Washburn, North Dakota

 

 November 3, 1804: “We commence building our cabins.”

From: The Journal of William Clark

 

Led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark the Corps of Discovery traveled up the Missouri River from St. Louis for nearly six months. Realizing they needed a place to spend the approaching winter they stopped along the river near present day Washburn, North Dakota.

 

Groves of cottonwoods provided the wood needed for constructing the triangular fort. Bunk rooms, store rooms and work rooms face inward with 16-foot picket exterior. In just three weeks Corps members were moving into the primitive structure, hurrying to finish the roofs before the worst weather arrived. More than 40 men were to spend the harsh winter in tight quarters at Fort Mandan until early April.

 

 

November 20, 1804: “Capt Lewis & my Self move into our huts, a very hard wind from the W.”

From: the Journal of William Clark

 

 

During those months the men hunted bison, established relationships with native tribes, and prepared for the journey westward towards the Rocky Mountains. Trading goods for food with the Mandan Indians living nearby was essential to winter survival. In late February men were assigned the task of carving four dugout canoes; they finished in 22 days.

February 28, 1805: “Sent out 16 men to make four Perogus  those men returned in the evening and informed that they found trees they thought would answer.”

From: the Journal of William Clark

 

Lewis and Clark compiled their observations, notes and specimens to be sent back to President Jefferson in the spring. It was here that Lewis and Clark hired fur-trapper Toussaint Charbonneau. When the Corps of Discovery left Fort Mandan in April 1805 Charbonneau, his wife Sacagawea and infant son Jean Baptiste served as interpreters and guides.

 

November 4, 1804: “a french man by Name Chabonah, who Speaks the Big Belley language visit us, he wished to hire & informed us his 2 Squars were Snake Indians, we engau him to go on with us and take one of his wives to interpret the Snake language”

From: the Journal of William Clark

 

 

When the Corps returned on their homeward journey in 1806 they found that the fort had burnt to the ground.

 

The Missouri River has changed course over two centuries, it is believed the original site of the fort is now underwater. Nearby a replica fort has been constructed, furnished much as it would have been during the 1804-05 winter.

 

Interpreters give guided tours; during our visit our guide was very knowledgable, bringing time at the fort come to life with fascinating details. He noted that several of the doors are hung incorrectly – they swing outward which would have made it impossible to open after the heavy snowfalls. As today’s temperature hovered near 100 degrees it stretched our imagination to feel the -45 degrees the Corps suffered. Many of the men experienced frostbite but all survived.

April 7, 1805: “Sunday, at 4 oClock …we Sout out on our voyage up the river in 2 perigues and 6 canoes, and proceded on to the 1st villg. of Mandans & Camped on the S.”

From: the Journal of William Clark

 

 

 

A large hands-on activity area in the visitor center attracts youngsters to try on outfits, don hats and climb into a replica dugout canoe.

 

When You Go: Lewis & Clark Fort Mandan Foundation, Washburn, North Dakota (38 miles north of Bismarck), 877-462-8535, www.fortmandan.com.

Scandinavian Heritage Center

Minot, ND

 

The Scandinavian Heritage Center celebrates the heritage and culture of five Scandinavian countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Located in a peaceful park setting next to the Minot Visitor Center, the site honors immigrant ancestors who settled in the area. The centerpiece is a full-sized replica of the Gol Stave Church built in the early thirteenth century and now located at the Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site in Oslo, Norway. The intricate construction reflects rich symbolism traditional to Norwegian stave churches.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately the church was not open when we visited but we met a young local couple who were married in the church four years ago. They return each year on their anniversary for photographs.

 

Other structures in the park include a Danish windmill, a grass-roofed stabbur (storehouse), a colorful, 30-foot tall Swedish Dala horse, and a 230-year-old log house from Sigdal, Norway. Sculptures represent a famed ski jumper, a Norwegian skier, Leif Eirikssen and Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. A walkway winds through the neatly landscaped grounds, and pass a pond, waterfall, Plaza Scandinavia (granite map) and Eternal Flame.

 

When You Go: Scandinavian Heritage Center, 1020 S. Broadway, Minot ND, 701-852-9161, http://scandinavianheritage.org.

 

 

Cemetery – Fort Buford State Historic Site

 

North Dakota

 

We tramped through the old cemetery at Fort Buford State Historic Site (southwest of Williston, North Dakota) today for a look back in Western history. Fort Buford is probably best remember as the site where Sitting Bull surrendered in 1881, bringing an end to the Sioux Indian Wars.

An active military fort from 1866-1895, Buford had hospital facilities. However, it’s interesting to note that the majority of deaths were not due to enemy warfare but disease (brain “abcess”, Bright’s Disease, mumps, acute gastritis, pneumonia, typhoid fever, consumption) or mis-spent life style (murdered, drowned, killed by road agents, inebriation, shot by accident, poisoned, suicide).

Non-military “citizens” and Indians were also laid to rest. For instance, “HE THAT KILLS HIS ENEMIES SCOUT” died of wounds. Today only eight burials remain. The military burials were moved to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Cemetery, Montana, in 1896.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The markers we see today were restored in 1980 by the Fort Buford 6th Infantry Association. Through their efforts we have a better understanding of life – and death – on  the Western frontier.

 

When You Go: Fort Buford State Historic Site, Williston, ND, 701-572-9034, http://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/buford/bufordhistory2.html

 

Cheese Buttons

Dickinson, North Dakota

 

Last night after dinner we meandered around Dickinson to get a feel for the tidy town in the midst of the Bakken oil boom. Outside the Ukrainian Cultural Institute I noticed a sign offering fresh Cheese Buttons on Wednesdays. What are Cheese Buttons? We guessed, maybe something to do with cheese curds. Later while reading local brochures I saw another reference to Cheese Buttons. My curiosity clicked into gear.

 

This morning while at the Dickinson Visitors Center I inquired about Cheese buttons, only to find out they are what we know as pierogi. Still curious and since it was Wednesday, we made a stop at the UCI to purchase Cheese Buttonns before leaving town. After sampling, I chose those filled with sauerkraut over the potato or cottage cheese, $6/dozen.

 

 

 

We’re told:

The Czechs call them “vareniki”

The Germans call them “kase knoeph”

The Polish call them “pirogi”

The Ukrainians call them “Varenyky or pyrohy”

The Americans call them “Cheese Buttons or Dumplings”

 

Now we know, they have nothing to do with cheese curds and indeed sometimes no cheese at all is involved. We’ve been enlightened and have partaken of the local speciality – Cheese Buttons. If you’re ever in Dickinson on a Wednesday stop at the Ukrainian Cultural Institute and try them for yourself.

 

When You Go: Ukrainian Cultural Institute, 1221 W. Villard, Dickinson, North Dakota, 701-483-1486, http://ucitoday.org

Maltese Cross Cabin

Theodore Roosevelt Nt. Park – Medora, North Dakota

 

Appropriately Theodore Roosevelt’s first North Dakota cabin rests beneath cottonwoods  in the National Park bearing his name. Roosevelt first came to the region in 1883 to bag a bison; before returning to New York he acquired interests in the Maltese Cross Ranch on the banks of the Little Missouri River. Two ranch managers were hired and instructed to build a cabin. Our park guide relates that the cabin initially was a single room with a dirt floor. By the following summer three separate rooms were finished with wood floors, an additional 1/2 story provided a sleeping loft for the ranch hands, root cellar and shingled roof. Locals considered the enhanced construction as nearly a mansion.

 

Several of Roosevelt’s own belongings are included in the Maltese Cross Cabin period furnishings. In the bedroom a leather trunk marked with “TR” on the lid was the one he used when traveling to and from North Dakota, an elaborate hunting outfit costing $1,000. packed inside. A white hutch original to the cabin served as both bookcase and writing desk. Roosevelt spent much time recording impressions of his time in the hills at the writing desk from his second ranch, the Ellkhorn. His favorite piece of furniture was a rocking chair – believing, “What true American does not enjoy a rocking-chair?”

 

The cabin has quite a traveling history of it’s own. During Roosevelt’s presidency it was exhibited at the World’s Fair in St. Louis and at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon. The state fair grounds in Fargo and the state capitol grounds in Bismarck also hosted the Maltese Cross Cabin. In 1959 it was loaded onto a flatbed truck for a trip to Medora and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park just seven miles from its original location.

 

When You Go: The Maltese Cross Cabin is located near the Visitor’s Center of the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, North Dakota. Ranger guided tours of the cabin given daily during the summer. More information at http://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm.