 Fort
Clark (1830-1861) - Another non-military fort, this
site was another trading post built by James Kipp. Before the
fur trader, an employee of American Fur Company, built Fort
Clark, the location was already home to the
Mandan
Indians who
had built a village of earth-covered homes on the bluffs of
the west bank of the Missouri River at the confluence of
Chardon Creek and Clark's Creek. Kipp built the trading post
in 1830-31 just south of the village to enhance trade with the
Indians. The post measured 120 by 160 feet, was surrounded by
a palisade, and inside its walls, were a home for head trader
Francis A. Chardon and other fur trade buildings.
The first steamboat up the Upper
Missouri River arrived at Fort Clark in 1832, delivering all
types of trade goods and returned with hundreds of bison robes
and beaver pelts. Unfortunately, the steamboats also brought
with them, diseases that the
Mandan
Indians had never been
exposed to. In June, 1837, one of the boats was carrying
passengers infected with smallpox. Within no time, the disease
swept through the
Mandan village, killing about 90 percent of
them. A few months later, those that survived, abandoned
their village. The following year,
Arikara
Indians moved into
the abandoned village. For several years, they did well, until
yet another epidemic hit them – this time cholera in 1851
which took many lives. Another smallpox epidemic occurred in
1856, further reducing their numbers. The fur traders moved
from th sit after the trading post was badly damaged by fir in
1860. Despite the devastating tragedies, the
Arikara continued
to use the village as a summer home until 1861, when they were
attacked by Dakota
Indians. What little was left of the
abandoned fort was scavenged by passing steamboats to use as
firewood.
Though no buildings remain of the
old trading post today, it has become an important
archeological site due to its well-preserved record of the fur
trade and of personal tragedy. The archeological remains of
the large earth lodge village, cemetery, and trading post are
now protected and listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. It is located about 1 ¼ mile west of the town of Fort
Clark in Mercer County. Open daily during the summer, there is
no admission fee to the archeological site, which provides a
self-guided tour, interpretive signs, a picnic area and
observation deck.
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Fort Clark State Historic Site
HC 2, Box 26
Center,
North Dakota 58530
701-794-8832
Fort Ransom (1867-1872) - On
June 17, 1867, the 10th U.S. Infantry, under the leadership of
Major George H. Crosman arrived in southeastern
North Dakota,
in what is present day Ransom County, to build a fort. The
purpose for the military post was to protect settlers and
railroad workers building the Northern Pacific Railroad from
Fargo to Bismarck. Situated on Grizzly Bear Hill, the post was
named in honor of Major General Thomas E.G. Ransom, a
Civil War hero.
The
soldiers
first began enclosing an area measuring 350 by 400 feet with
breastworks and then began to build several log buildings,
including barracks, quartermaster and commissary storehouses,
a granary, bakery, guardhouse, hospital, stables, and other
buildings. However, according to an 1869 inspection report,
most of the buildings were primitive and unfinished. Just
three years later, in 1872, the post was dismantled and the
materials used to build Fort Seward at Jamestown.
Today, though
no buildings remain, the location is a state historic site.
The building locations and dry moat are still visible. The
site is located 3/4 mile southwest of the town of Fort Ransom,
North Dakota.
Fort Ransom State Historic Site
State Historical Society of North
Dakota
612 E. Blvd. Ave.
Bismark,
North Dakota 58505
701-328-2666
Fort Rice (1864-1878) - This
military post was established in July, 1864 by General Alfred
H. Sully as a field base for his summer expeditions. At this
time, travel in the area was unsafe due to aggressive Indian
attacks on the transportation routes. The U.S. Government, in
an attempt to make both the land and river routes safe for
travelers, sent General Sully and the 30th Wisconsin Infantry
to build the post. The fort buildings were constructed of
cottonwood logs cut from the banks of the nearby river and
prairie sod for the buildings’ roofs. The Wisconsin infantry
was later replaced by 1st US Volunteer Infantry, a group of
soldiers comprised primarily of Confederate prisoners of war,
familiarly known as "Galvanized Yankees,” who had agreed to
assist the U.S. Army in the western Frontier instead of
languishing in a Union prison.
Life was
rough at the fledgling fort, with
soldiers suffering from
severe cold and disease during the first year. Some 81 men
died in the post’s first year; however, only seven of these
deaths were due to hostile activity. The post served as base
of operations for General Sully from 1864-65 and later, was
the location of several important Indian negotiations, which
would eventually lead to the Fort Laramie Treaty. Fort Rice
was abandoned in November, 1878 when
Fort Yates was built on
the Standing Rock Agency.
Located in
present-day Morton County, 8/10 of a mile southeast of the
town of Fort Rice, the no buildings mark the Fort Rice State
Historic Site. However, in the 1940’s the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) marked many of Fort Rice’s original
foundations, and today there are maps and additional markers
at the site.
Fort Stevenson (1867-1883)
- Established in June 1867 by Major Joseph N.G. Whistler with
troops from Fort Berthold,
the fort was named for Brigadier General Thomas G. Stevenson
who was in the
Civil War.
The post's objectives were to serve as a supply base for
Fort Totten
and protect the vessels traveling along the Missouri River.
Though the post was never directly attacked, the troops were
sometimes engaged in skirmishes. However, the greater danger
to
soldiers
at the fort were the fierce winters on the northern plains,
where temperatures would often drop to 40 degrees below zero.
Fort Stevenson was abandoned in the summer of 1883, the
buildings dismantled and the troops transferred to Fort
Buford. Today, the site is under the waters of Lake Sakakawea
on the Missouri River.
©
Kathy Weiser/Legends
of America, updated March, 2010.
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