Fort Lincoln, part one

Yesterday, we finally made it to Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park in Mandan, ND.  We had planned to go earlier this week, but had to postpone it because of rain and thunderstorms. 

When we arrived at the park entrance, we were greeted by a gate/booth and we had to pay a $5 vehicle fee and then an interpretive fee for each of us to have access to the buildings.  Not knowing what that meant, we paid the interpretive fee too. 

Our first stop was the visitor’s center where they had a lot of artifacts on display.  They even had an area that said “Please touch.”  Of course, our kids asked if someone had painted over the “do not” part.  We assured them they were allowed to touch – it was a display of the tools the Mandan Indians used, so mostly bones of some sort.  This display shows what the Mandan Indian village looked like back in the mid-1600s.

The back side of the building housed cases of artifacts from the men of the cavalry that would have been at Fort Lincoln. 

   There was a lot of history and we just took a glance at things because we weren’t planning on spending a lot of time, plus there were busses of school kids all over! 

After we walked around in the visitor center we decided to take a look at the On-A Slant Indian Village and see what the earth lodges looked like.  The original On-A-Slant Mandan Village contained 75 earthlodges. 

There was a tour group a head of us, but that was okay with us because we just wanted to take in the sites without being rushed along or held captive by a tour guide.

The first earthlodge we went into was soooo cool.  Apparently, the construction of the lodge included a wood frame covered in willows, natural grass, clay, and earth which resulted in a sound house that would be cool in the summer.  The lodges would take 10-17 days to build and would last about 12-15 years.  The lodge was also large enough to house 10 people. 

The first lodge was like a step back in time.  It had a lot of artifacts that the Mandan would have used in their daily lives.  The second lodge we visited was more of an art display – not as exciting for the kids.  On our exit of the second lodge, an interpretive guide informed us we were not allowed in the lodges without a guide and she would be starting a tour if we would like to join. 

This was a little aggravating because it was never explained that we had to take a guided tour to enjoy these sites.  While we were in the visitor center, the attendant never guided us or explained the procedure.  Plus, as I explained to the interpretive guide this I also mentioned that we enjoy moving and viewing things at our own pace and we hadn’t really planned on spending a lot of time there today we just wanted to get a feel for the history. 

At that point we headed up to the high area where the infantry post was and checked out the blockhouses.

Here are the flights of steps you have to climb to get to the top of the blockhouse and enjoy the views. 

I chose not to climb that final flight of steps for various reasons, but Jay and the kids did and here is what they captured for me . . .

The blockhouses were built as lookouts to help protect the workers as they were building the railroad. 

In the 1930’s the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) laid cornerstornes where the buildings would have been and then they are marked with an interpretive marker of information.