Day 5 June 20th Summer Solstice - Forts and Indian Villages

 

Day Thursday, June 20^th    Summer Solstice

Woke up to a beautiful morning at the Cross Ranch.  Took a nice long walk along the river and just relaxed and enjoyed the day. 

Headed west from here and the first stop was Fort Clark.  This location was once right along the Missouri River, but since the river has changed course, it now sits almost a mile away from it.  This was an important trading fort for the Indians.  See the map showing how trade goods were shipped to Europe.

Map shows the extensive trade route  from Fort Clark to Europe

Next, we visited the Knife River Indian Village.  It got its name because of the flint/chert that was mined from this location and traded throughout a network around North America.  There is a large Earth Lodge here that shows how the Indians built and maintained their living quarters.  Large Cottonwood tree trunks were placed and then the dirt was mounded up around the trunks.  Last they put native plants and grassed on top to bind everything together.  The lodge had a large hole in the center that allowed the smoke to go out.  This lodge has a huge, heavy bison robe covering the doorway.  Inside the door was a coral area where the Indians would keep their horses.  Beyond that were cooking and sleeping areas with a common area in the center for meeting.

After passing through the town of Stanton we had to go under the railroad tracks and passed through this wooden bridge.   These are pretty typical in the west.  

On the way here we passed by several power plants.  This one had train cars of coal lined up out front.  

We headed back to Washburn for a brief stop at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, then another quick stop at Fort Mandan.   Lewis and Clark built this fort so that they could Winter close to the Mandan Indian Village.  Without the help of the Indians, they would probably not have survived. They have a huge statue of Seaman next to the river.  Of course, we had to stop for a photo of Buck with Seaman along with a selfie of me.

Buck and Seaman

Me and Seaman

Heading north we crossed the dam at Garrison that forms Lake Sacajawea.  It is the second largest man-made lake in the US.  Rivers that flow into it are Missouri, Yellowstone, Little Missouri and Milk Rivers.  Missouri River is the only river that flows out of it.  The lake is 178 miles long and sits entirely in North Dakota. 

Once we were over the dam we continued to head north and were only about 30 miles from Minot, the state capital of North Dakota.  After we turned west towards New town, we noticed lots of Petroleum activity.  This is where the Bakken Oil Reserve is located.  Named for the farmer that first discovered the oil/shale deposits.  This is a controversial area because to remove the oil they must use “fracking”.  This requires large amounts of water, chemicals and sand  to be blasted into the ground at pressures high enough to crack the rock.  This allows the trapped natural gas and oil to flow to the surface.  This Oil Boom brought good and bad to the communities of NW North Dakota.  When it first started it was like the Wild West, with some unsavory types of individuals taking advantage of fast money.  Now it has settled down and the money has brought prosperity to the area, with much need schools, housing and roads. 

There are lots of natural gas burn offs all along the roads.  Although this is illegal, the $10,000/day fine is easier to pay than the cost of capturing the natural gas and selling it.  You also see lots of signs saying “no oil field traffic”, so you know there are still unresolved issues in the area.

This is Crow-Flys-High, named for an Indian Chief of the area.  It has a commanding view of Lake Sacajawea.  Before this bridge was built there was not crossing over the Missouri River for a hundred miles in either direction.

 

We drove to what is almost the end of Lake Sacajawea and camped for the night at the Lewis and Clark State Park.  Like all of North Dakota’s State Parks, they are well laid out with plenty of shade trees and nice trails.

The full moon is hard to see, but look closely. 

We enjoyed walking along the lake as the sun was setting the Full Moon was rising.