Fort Clark Trading Post State Historic Site was once the home to a

Mandan The Mandan () are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still ...

and later an

Arikara The Arikara ( ), also known as Sahnish,
''Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.'' (Retrieved Sep 29, 2011) ...

settlement. Over the course of its history it also had two factories (trading posts). Today only archeological remains survive at the site located eight miles west of

Washburn, North Dakota Washburn is a city in southern McLean County, North Dakota, McLean County, North Dakota, United States. Located along the upper Missouri River, it is the county seat of McLean County. The population was 1,300 at the 2020 United States census, 202 ...

, United States.

History

In 1822, the

tribe built a settlement with earth-covered lodges on the bluffs 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 ...

. In 1830, a representative of the

American Fur Company The American Fur Company (AFC) was a prominent American company that sold furs, skins, and buffalo robes. It was founded in 1808 by John Jacob Astor, a German Americans, German immigrant to the United States. During its heyday in the early 19th c ...

built Fort Clark Trading Post south of the village. The first

steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is marine propulsion, propelled primarily by marine steam engine, steam power, typically driving propellers or Paddle steamer, paddlewheels. The term ''steamboat'' is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels worki ...

to journey up the upper-Missouri River was the ''Yellowstone'' which arrived in 1832 carrying 1,500 gallons of goods and liquor.

George Catlin George Catlin ( ; July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872) was an American lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the American frontier. Traveling to the Wes ...

visited in 1832, and

Karl Bodmer Johann Carl Bodmer (11 February 1809 – 30 October 1893) was a Switzerland, Swiss-France, French printmaker, etcher, lithographer, zinc engraver, draftsman, draughtsman, painter, illustrator, and hunter. Known as Karl Bodmer in literature and p ...

and

Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (23 September 1782 – 3 February 1867) was a German explorer, ethnologist and natural history, naturalist. He led a pioneering expedition to southeast Brazil between 1815 and 1817, from which t ...

stayed the winter of 1833-1834. In 1837, the steamboat ''St. Peters'' docked at the village carrying passengers infected with

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

, and sparking the 1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic.''Rationalizing Epidemics: Meanings and Uses of American Indian Mortality Since 1600''; David S. Jones; Harvard University Press; 2004; Pg. 76 As the disease swept through the village, it wiped out approximately ninety percent of the inhabitants. In 1838, the nearby

Arikara The Arikara ( ), also known as Sahnish,
''Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.'' (Retrieved Sep 29, 2011) ...

tribe moved into the abandoned village. In 1850, another trading post was built by Charles Primeau. In 1851, a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

outbreak occurred and then a smallpox outbreak in 1856. When an attack by the Dakota happened in 1861, the fort was permanently abandoned.

Historic site

Most of the site has been owned by the state since 1889. A total of in two sections of the state historic site were listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1986 as Fort Clark Archeological District. and More than 2,200 features on the surface from the ruins of houses and graves still exist. Lodge depressions are also visible along with an unmarked cemetery with more than 800 graves. The site is operated by the

North Dakota State Historical Society The State Historical Society of North Dakota is an agency that preserves and presents history through museums and historic sites in the state of North Dakota. The agency operates the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck, North Dakota, Bismarck ...

External links

Fort Clark Trading Post website
{{NRHP in Mercer County, North Dakota

References

Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in North Dakota Clark Pre-statehood history of North Dakota Protected areas of Mercer County, North Dakota North Dakota State Historic Sites Trading posts in North Dakota Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in North Dakota National Register of Historic Places in Mercer County, North Dakota American Fur Company 1830 establishments in the United States Forts along the Missouri River Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation

History

Historic site

See also

External links

References