Mandan and Bismarck, North Dakota

Trip Start Oct 01, 2008
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Trip End Oct 27, 2008


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Where I stayed
Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park
(Mandan hotels)

Flag of United States  , North Dakota,
Thursday, October 16, 2008

Wednesday began with a beautiful rosy dawn and we were soon underway to Bismarck and Mandan in North Dakota. We drove through miles and miles of quite flat farmland, with many crops being harvested as we went by. Initially, we were surprised by the drying cornstalks, still unharvested, until we realized that the corn has to dry on the cob before being threshed. The roads are long and straight so we made excellent time. One disadvantage of the high speeds that one can travel is that there is a lot of road kill along every highway - deer, foxes, porcupine, coyotes, pronghorn, and some domestic animals.
 
We arrived at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park in time to walk around the site, which in addition to a beautiful sheltered campground near the confluence of the Heart and Missouri Rivers, also is home to the preserved remains of Fort Abraham Lincoln, an 1800s army infantry and cavalry post which was led by George Custer, prior to his forays into the Black Hills and eventually to his ill-fated attempt to force the Indians onto reservations in Montana Barracks and mess hall at Fort Abraham Lincoln
Barracks and mess hall at Fort Abraham Lincoln
 . There are just a few buildings remaining, with the foundations or cornerstones of many more. We were unable to go into the buildings, but peeked into the windows and saw that they were much like those of other old army bases, rows and rows of bunks and simple furnishings for the men. We also visited the reconstructed houses of On-a-Slant Mandan village. It was a large village, covering 8 acres with over 75 circular dwellings, built with a frame of timbers, then covered with a network of willow and then covered with dirt - a very practical design in this place of harsh winds and snowy, cold winters. These dwellings had been reconstructed by the CCC during the 30s, another project we visited. Yet  another was Yellowstone Park, where among the projects completed, was the giant archway through which we drove into the Park near Gardiner.
 
We had another fine evening, though a little colder than the previous night. Larry and Murray met a young couple on the river shore, who had rented a cabin in the park for a mere $40 a night. The young man was the son of a farming family, who farmed 32 sections or 8 square miles of land in the northern part of the state.
 
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