North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State

by Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota

SIDE TOUR 3A

Junction US 83—Garrison—Nishu—Elbowoods—Shell Creek—Van Hook—Stanley. ND 37 & 8, county and reservation roads.

Junction with US 83 to US 2, 117 m.

Dry-weather, dirt, reservation roads most of route. Gravel 28 m. W. of junction with US 83, and 28 m. between Van Hook and Stanley.

Limited accommodations on reservation.

ND 37, which runs through the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, branches W. from US 83 (see Tour 3) midway between Max and Coleharbor.

GARRISON, 7 m. (1,920 alt., 1,024 pop.), named for nearby Garrison Creek, was formerly the center of a large wheat area, and is now a primary turkey market. Lignite is mined in the surrounding country.

At 20 m. is the junction with ND 28 and a county graveled highway. Straight ahead on the county highway to a small store and filling station, where is the junction with an unimproved dirt road, 29 m.; L. to enter the FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION at 33 m. Established in 1870 with an area of more than 2,000,000 acres, it has now been reduced to 625,000. The region is principally rugged and broken—typical Badlands, best suited for grazing, although the eastern portion of the reservation contains some good farming land. The population figures for 1936 list 600 Arikara, 711 Hidatsa, and 337 Mandans (although few of the latter are of pure blood), remnants of the three agricultural Indian tribes that once occupied the Missouri River Valley.

At 38 m. is the junction with a dirt road, not suitable for trailers.

Left on this road to the junction with another dirt road, 3 m.; R. on this road to another junction at 4 m.; L. to another junction at 5 m.; R. to a fence gate, 5.8 m.; R. through the gate, pass a small farmhouse to the SITE OF FORT BERTHOLD, 6 m. Above the river bottoms, overlooking a bend in the Missouri's course, are the ruins of a trading post built in 1845 by Bartholomew Berthold, a Tyrolese. He had traded in the river country for many years, and his success at this new fort named for him made it one of the most important Missouri River posts. Harassed by the warlike Sioux, the Hidatsa Indians left their village at the mouth of the Knife River and came to live at Fort Berthold, where, because of the bend in the river, they named their new home Like-a-fish-hook Village. The Mandan Indians later joined the Hidatsa at this site. From the first the history of Fort Berthold is a tale of many assaults by wandering parties of Sioux. In 1864 a portion of the second Sully expedition was sent to protect the outpost, and the following year Fort Berthold became a military post. It was garrisoned until 1867, when Fort Stevenson, 12 m. E., replaced it. The rough-hewn log buildings which Berthold and his men erected were later replaced by frame buildings, the dismantled remains and cellars of which are all that mark the site today.

The Graves of Son-of-the-Star and White Shield, famed Arikara chiefs, are marked by a cement monument about 250 yd. NW. of the fort site. Both chiefs were friendly to the white men and helped them in their conquest of the region. Son-of-the-Star was head of the Arikara tribe during the trying times with the Sioux in 1876, and through his reputation for gentleness and a lofty sense of justice stood high in the estimation of both red and white leaders. The two graves are sacred to the Arikara Indians.

A few yards SW. of the monument are the graves of more than 100 Indians of the reservation who served as scouts or enlisted as soldiers with the U. S. Army since the founding of the reservation in 1870. The white marble slabs marking the individual graves stand in precise rows as an army quietly at salute. Each Memorial Day the American Legion posts of Elbowoods (Indian) and Garrison (white) hold joint services here.

At 39 m. is the junction with a dirt road, rutted and winding; not suitable for trailers.

Left on this road to the MISSOURI RIVER, 2 m., known to the Mandans as Mata (division between two parts of land), and to the Hidatsa as Anati (navigable water filled with earth). A ferry (65c per car, 10c per person) crosses the river. Here in the area adjacent to the route live the Mandan Indians. Left to BEAVER CREEK STORE, 6 m., a tiny trading post known locally as Ree. Right to the JAMES HOLDING EAGLE FARM, 12 m., typical of the modern Mandan home, and far removed from the earth lodges used by the Indians a century ago.

About 200 ft. L. of the farm is a circular depression believed by the Mandans to be the SITE OF GRANDMOTHER'S LODGE. Grandmother, according to legend, is The-Woman-Who-Never-Dies. She built her home on the first bench of the river, and on the bottom land below planted her vast cornfield, which the deer and blackbirds helped her cultivate. She now lives in the moon, where prayers for favorable weather for crops are addressed to her.

Within the hollow of the lodge site is what appears to be an ordinary granite boulder. Beneath its edges are often found coins of large and small denominations, given as offerings for good crops. The Mandans say that many offerings are left by members of the Crow tribe of Montana, distantly related to the Hidatsa. It is told that an earth girl married the Man-From-the-Sky and went to live with him, but became homesick for the earth, and attempted to leave the sky on a cord of buffalo hide. Her husband discovered her hanging by the cord, and, angered by her infidelity, threw a boulder at her. The rock crushed her to earth, and today lies where it fell, in the circle of Grandmother's Lodge.

At 39.8 m. is NISHU (Arikara, arrow), community center of the Arikara (Ree) tribe. The few buildings of the community are scattered across the level land between the river lowlands and the hills to the N. Of particular interest is the circular log dance hall or Medicine Lodge. At the appropriate seasons of the year are held the ancient tribal ceremonies pertaining to the successful conduct of agricultural and personal pursuits. In front of the medicine lodge is the boulder which plays a prominent part in the annual cedar-tree ceremonial, a New Year ritual usually held sometime in August. The cedar and the boulder represent the Grandfather and Grandmother of the tribe, and the tree is left standing beside the boulder until spring, when it is decorated with children's moccasins and placed on the ice of the Missouri. When the ice goes out the tree is borne downstream, to carry greetings from the Arikara to their old village sites down the river. Other ceremonials of religious significance include the Mother Corn ritual, the sage dance of thanksgiving, and medicine ceremonies. Since they are seasonal, no set date can be given for these occasions (usually open to public). Arikara beadwork and other articles of handicraft are sometimes available at the store in Nishu.

At 40 m. the route turns R. and follows the only telephone line on the reservation. The steep rolling country is occupied mainly by the Arikara. Their farm homes are usually white frame buildings, although occasionally there is a poorer log house. There are few barns on these farms; the Indians seldom have milk cows, and they let their horses run on the range throughout the entire year.

At 54 m. is the junction with ND 8, a graded dirt road; straight ahead on this is SACRED HEART MISSION, 54.5 m., a Roman Catholic church and mission school established in 1889.

Left from the mission on a road lined with towering cottonwoods is ELBOWOODS, 0.5 m. (1,770 alt., 135 pop.), agency headquarters for the reservation. Its name is derived from the elbow bend of the timber belt along the Missouri at that point. The town centers about the square of agency lawn. Most of the population is white. The town was settled in 1891 when the agency was established. In addition to its regular governmental functions, the agency operates a non-profit flour mill and conducts an experimental farm to educate the Indians in modern agricultural methods. Despite this, many Indians lease their farming lands to white people. What is now the Government School was built in 1876 as the Congregational mission, the first on the reservation.

Just SW. of the town are the Indian Fairgrounds where three-day celebrations, with rodeos and tribal dances, are held each year (July or Aug.).

ND 8 at 55 m. passes SCATTER VILLAGE, a little group of filling stations and garages that grew up around the approach to the highway bridge across the Missouri.

At 56.5 m. is the junction (R) with a dirt reservation road, on which the route continues.

Left on ND 8 to FOUR BEARS BRIDGE, 1 m., the bridge with 19 names. When it was built, the Mandans wished it named for their chief Four Bears, subject of many paintings by the artist Catlin who visited this section more than a century ago. The Hidatsa wished it named for their chief Four Bears, who died a few years before the bridge was built. Because of these tribal jealousies it was decided to name the southern end of the bridge for the Mandan chief, and the northern end for the Hidatsa chief. At each end of the span is a plaque bearing the names of chiefs of both tribes given as associate titles to the bridge: for the Mandans there are Charging Eagle, Red Buffalo Cow, Flying Eagle, Black Eagle, and Waterchief; for the Hidatsa, Poor Wolf, Porcupine, Crow Paunch, Big Brave, Crow-Flies-High, Big Hawk, and Old Dog. This arrangement proved unsatisfactory to the Arikara, and a partial compromise was effected by adding the names of five of their chiefs, Bear Chief, Son-of-the-Star, White Shield, Peter Beauchamp, Sr., and Bobtail Bull, as associates.

The dirt reservation road proceeds NW. along the river lowlands, enters a reservation timber reserve at 60.5 m., and skirts the eastern wooded shore of the Missouri before rising again to the benchland. At 68 m. is a store and filling station. The route now passes through the area occupied by the Hidatsa, also known as the Minitari or Gros Ventres (Fr., big bellies). Their homes are much like those of the other two tribes. The Hidatsa and the Crow Indians of Montana at one time were a single tribe. During a period of want one winter in the eighteenth century, a buffalo was killed by the tribe, and the animal satisfactorily divided until they came to the stomach. The division of this organ led to a quarrel which split the group, and one faction moved W. and became the Crow tribe.

SHELL CREEK, 79 m., is the Hidatsa community center. A few stores, a dance hall, a handful of dwellings, and the central agency experimental farm make up the town.

At 82 m., N. of Shell Creek, is the reservation boundary.

North of the boundary is VAN HOOK, 89 m. (1,843 alt., 372 pop.), named for a teamster who served the railroad surveyors. It is one of the trade points adjacent to the reservation and has the only creamery in the vicinity, a $20,000 cooperative plant. Here is a junction with ND 8.

North of Van Hook on ND 8 is BELDEN, 104 m. (2,250 alt., 25 pop.), the center of a settlement of Finnish people who homesteaded here in 1903-4. The Finnish tongue is used in most of their homes, and they also have the sauna or steam bath without which no Finnish community is complete. The peculiar European three-cornered head scarf is still worn by many of the women. Most of the people have been naturalized and are greatly interested in political trends. About one-third of them are members of the United Farmers and Workers League of America, an organization professing communistic doctrines. The radical views and intensive political activity of these members of the community have earned it a reputation as the communistic center of North Dakota.

At 117 m. is the junction with US 2 at STANLEY (see Tour 6).