The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is a U.S.

Indian reservation An American Indian reservation is an area of land land tenure, held and governed by a List of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States#Description, U.S. federal government-recognized Native American tribal nation, whose gov ...

in western

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

that is home for the federally recognized

Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation (MHA Nation), also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes (Mandan language, Mandan: ''Miiti Naamni''; Hidatsa language, Hidatsa: ''Awadi Aguraawi''; Arikara language, Arikara: ''ačitaanu' táWIt''), is a fede ...

, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. The reservation includes lands on both sides of the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

. The tribal headquarters is in

New Town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

, the 18th largest city in North Dakota. Created in 1870, the reservation is a small part of the lands originally reserved to the tribes by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, which allocated nearly 12 million acres (49,000 km²) in North Dakota,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

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and

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Description and demographics

The reservation is located on the

in (in descending order of reservation land) McLean, Mountrail, Dunn, McKenzie, Mercer and Ward counties. The reservation consists of 988,000 acres (4,000 km²), of which 457,837 acres (1,853 km²) are owned by Native Americans, either as individual allotments or communally by the tribe. The McLean National Wildlife Refuge lies within its boundaries. The Tribe reported a total enrollment of 15,013 registered tribe members in March 2016. Many members live in cities because there are more job opportunities. Unemployment on the reservation was at 42%. The 2000 census reported a reservation population of 5,915 persons living on a land area of 1,318.895 sq mi (3,415.923 km²). The population of the reservation was 6,341 as of the 2010 census.

History

A part of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is Indian territory of the Three Tribes recognized in the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851). Created in 1870 by the U.S. government, the reservation was named after Fort Berthold, a United States Army fort located on the northern bank of the

some twenty miles downstream (southeast) from the mouth of the Little Missouri River. The green area (529) on the map turned U.S. territory on April 12, 1870, by executive order. Area 620 and the part of area 621 south of the Missouri remained in possession of the Indians. At the same time, the narrow area north of the Missouri (up to the greenish line) became territory of the Three Tribes. Thus, the United States recognized the Indians' right to the area with their only permanent homes in Like-a-Fishhook Village. By executive order, the tribes' holdings were reduced to the light pink area (621) on July 13, 1880 (although they gained some extra land straight north of the Missouri). On December 14, 1886, the tribes agreed to cede the land outside the nearly rectangular area on both sides of the Missouri indicated with black dots and strokes. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries under the

Dawes Act The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the P ...

and related laws, the US government redistributed communal holdings of tribes, assigning lots to heads of households. The government was trying to encourage the tribal members to take up subsistence farming in the European-American style. The tribe retained some communal holdings and, since its reorganization in the 1930s, has resisted distribution of individual allotments. The creation of Garrison Dam between 1947–53 and Lake Sakakawea as water reservoir for irrigation, for flood control, and hydroelectric power generation in 1956, flooded of large areas of tribal lands that were devoted to farming and ranching, destroying much of the Three Affiliated Tribes’ economy. Creation of the lake increased the proportion of water area on the reservation. It totals 263.778 sq mi (683.182 km²) or one-sixth of the reservation's surface area. The reservation was well positioned when the application of

hydraulic fracturing Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, fracing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of Formation (geology), formations in bedrock by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the ...

and directional drilling technologies caused a boom in oil production from the Bakken shale formation beginning around the year 2000. The Four Bears Bridge, which opened in 2005 replacing the original 1955 Four Bears Bridge, provides access across Lake Sakakawea.

Communities

The largest communities of the reservation are the towns of

and Parshall. The tribe operates 4 Bears Casino and Lodge in New Town, which was built in 1993. Communities are: * Four Bears Village * Mandaree *

* Parshall * Twin Buttes * White Shield * Sanish

References

External links

Official website of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes

Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota
United States Census Bureau {{authority control 1870 establishments in Dakota Territory American Indian reservations in North Dakota Geography of Dunn County, North Dakota Geography of McKenzie County, North Dakota Geography of McLean County, North Dakota Geography of Mercer County, North Dakota Geography of Mountrail County, North Dakota Geography of Ward County, North Dakota States and territories established in 1870 Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation