Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site
Several Hidatsa and Mandan villages once stood near the confluence of the Knife and Missouri rivers near present-day Stanton, North Dakota. In 1804, when Lewis and Clark visited the area, an estimated 4,000-5,000 people inhabited more than 200 earthlodges. The Corps of Discovery built Fort Mandan on the eastern shore of the Missouri River, downstream of the confluence with the Knife River, and passed a frigid winter in the company of the villages’ inhabitants. Historical evidence also suggests that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark met Sacagawea and her fur trader husband Toussaint Charbonneau in this area.
Although the park’s connection to the Lewis and Clark Trail (and to Sacagawea) is well established, Congress created Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in 1974 to focus on the cultures and lifestyles of the Plains Indians. As a result, the park’s interpretation program focuses on the region’s tribal groups—the Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara—while the movement of Lewis and Clark is one facet of the larger interpretation program.
Center for State of the Parks assessment of Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site (Knife River) indicates that the park’s cultural resources are in fair condition, with an overall score of 73 out of 100. Natural resources conditions rated a poor overall score of 59 out of 100.
