The "Last Great Buffalo Hunt" site is located in North Dakota along US Highway 12, about 1.5 miles north of the South Dakota border.
By mid-1882 all of the last free-ranging buffalo had migrated into this area, which was then part of the Great Sioux Reservation. On June 20, 1882, about 2,000 Teton Lakota men, women and children traveled from Fort Yates to hunt the last remaining buffalo. On the first day of the hunt, the Indians killed about 2,000 buffalo using modern rifles and horses. The second day was spent skinning, butchering and caring for the buffalo meat to make pemmican and jerky. On the third day, the hunters killed an additional 3,000 buffalo and processed the meat and hides over the next few days. This hunting trip became known as the " Last Great Buffalo Hunt" and it was the last time that a large number of buffalo were killed by the Indians. The site is now marked with a lone tepee ring.
I knew that I was back in farming country when I saw the large grain elevators in Scranton.
The Maltese Cross Cabin built for Teddy Roosevelt is now located at the Visitor Center in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. (It has been moved several times.) The cabin was considered a "mansion" in its day because it had wooden floors, a steeply pitched roof (an oddity on the northern plains), an upstairs sleeping loft, and three separate rooms. Roosevelt purchased several parcels of land in North Dakota and made many trips to cabin because he loved the area. The National Park Service still allows the buffalo and prairie dogs to roam freely in the Park.
There is a Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center located along US Highway 83 just north of Washburn that contains a number of interesting exhibits and historical displays. It is also the place where you have to pay your fees if you want to visit the reconstructed Fort Mandan Historical Site located about 1.5 miles down the road, adjacent to the Missouri River.
In the fall of 1804 Lewis & Clark constructed Fort Mandan along the banks of the Missouri River and stayed until April 6, 1805. North Dakota residents are very proud of Lewis & Clark because they are the only known people that have ever intentionally traveled to North Dakota to spend the winter.
Overlooking the Missouri river is a large statue of Seaman, the dog that Meriwether Lewis brought along on the trip. Just inland from the statue of Seaman is a replica of Fort Mandan, which is equipped with period items that would have been with the Corps of Discovery.
The historic North Dakota State Capitol Building in Bismarck was destroyed by fire on December 28, 1930, and the current capitol building was constructed as a skyscraper design in the 1930s (with several later additions). The Capitol building is the tallest building in North Dakota and is known as the Skyscraper on the Prairie. The 18th floor is used as an observation deck and is the highest vantage point in the State.
Across the street from the capitol building is a nice statue of Sakakawe (North Dakota spelling).
The North Dakota Heritage Center is also located on the Capitol grounds and is a free museum that contains "History for Everyone." There are four main galleries that start with a geologic time when dinosaurs roamed the earth and extends to the Governor's Gallery that explains green energy applications in North Dakota.
Fort Abraham Lincoln was constructed in 1872 at the confluence of the Heart and Missouri Rivers near the On-A-Slant site that had been an established Mandan Indian village since about 1575.
There were 78 permanent structures at the Fort that included officer's quarters, barracks for nine companies, cavalry stales, bakery, hospital and other buildings typical of the time period. General Custer even built his own house at the Fort and lived there until he left for the the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Today, Fort Abraham Lincoln has been partially restored and is part of the North Dakota State Park System. Various parts of the On-A-Slant Indian village, Custer's house, and Fort Abraham Lincoln have been restored and are available for tours, and there are beautiful views of the Missouri River from the top of one of the blockhouse structures.
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| Visitor Center built by CCC |
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| Custer's House |
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| Blockhouse |
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| On-A-Slant Indian Village |
The Huff Indian Village and the Fort Rice Historic Sites are located a few miles down the road from Fort Abraham Lincoln, but very little remains of the original structures at either site.
A little farther south we ran into a group of Indians protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline that is scheduled to run from North Dakota to Illinois. The protesters did not bother us and we were allowed to continue southward on our journey.
At Fort Yates (located on an island in the Missouri River) we attempted to find Sitting Bull's Grave, but it was not well marked. However, while driving around town, I did discovered the Standing Rock Monument. The stone is mounted firmly to a pedestal and is considered to be Wakan (holy or sacred) by the Dakota/Lakota people because they speak of it as a woman and child that turned to stone.
As early as 1740, records indicate that the stone had been carried from place-to-place by the Dakota/Lakota people for generations.
Before his death, Sitting Bull held a council and it was decided that the stone should no longer be moved, so the stone was permanently fastened to a pedestal at Fort Yates and on November 6, 1886 spiritual leader Fire Cloud conducted a dedication ceremony.
With the help of a local woman, we were finally able to locate the Sitting Bull Grave marker.
A sign at the grave marker indicates that Sitting Bull was killed on December 15, 1890, while "Tribal police were acting on orders to bring him into the agency in order to quell the Ghost Dance (a ceremonial dance they believed would bring back the old ways of life). The sign goes on to state that "He was laid to rest here and may have been disinterred in 1953 at the request of four of his grandchildren.
So where is Sitting Bull buried? Read next week's RonnieAdventure to find out!
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