Location: Stanton, ND Map
Area: 1,758 acres (7.11 km²)
Open: 8am- 6pm Memorial Day- Labor Day
8am- 4:30pm Winter time
Closed: Thanksgiving, Christmas, 1 Jan
Entrance Fee: Free
Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site is an open air ethnographic museum on a site of three former Native American villages situated half a mile North of a town of Stanton in North Dakota along County Road 37. Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site covers a total area of 1,758 acres (7.11 km²) along the Missouri River. Plains Indians that lived here had three major settlements that included Big Hidatsa, Awatixa Xi’e and Awatixa villages. The most famous resident of the villages was a Native woman Sacagawea who belonged to Lemhi Shoshone tribe. She joined Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804- 1806) that explored newly acquired lands as a result of a Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Her expertise and knowledge of survival in the wilderness as well as her ability to interact with other natives helped American explorers to reach the Pacific Ocean.
Knife River Villages will dispel the myth that Plains Natives were entirely nomadic tribes and lived in teepees. Some of their houses were quiet complex and ingenious in their design. Native dwellings were circular in shape and some reached a diameter of 40 feet or 12 metres. Wooden dome would support soil that covered the house. It provided good isolation for its residents and kept the temperature cool in summers and warmer in cold winters. Several families could live under one roof along with their pets. Some of their houses have collapsed, but their general outline is still visible in the ground. Some of the houses are reconstructed to give an impression of what it was like to live here.
These villages were thriving due to trade with the Europeans. However smallpox outbreak of 1837- 1840 greatly unaffected local peoples. Death rate reached 90% among various tribes that had any contact with outsiders. Eventually villages were abandoned. Survivors left their settlements and moved to Like-a-Fish-Hook village.
The site is located in central North Dakota, one kilometer north of the town of Stanton, at the confluence of the Knife River and the Missouri. Landscapes of plain, steep banks or forest are present along these two rivers.
Life in the villages
Traces of ancient mud huts,
caches and paths are visible on the site. The dwellings have left large
circular depressions on the ground that can reach 12 meters in diameter.
These dwellings were built at ground level and could house between 10
and 30 people. After their abandonment, the walls and the roof ended up
collapsing leaving the circular traces on the ground. The village of
Awatixa Xi'e was established around 1525 and that of Hidatsa around
1600.
Like the nomadic tribes, the Native Americans inhabiting
the mud lodges hunted buffalo but they were primarily farmers living in
villages on the edge of the Missouri and its tributaries.
Villages were placed so that they could be easily defended, often on a
narrow dune with two sides protected by the river and a third by a
palisade.
The villages of the Knife River were an important
center of commerce and agriculture. Native Americans served as middlemen
in the trade of furs, weapons and metals such as copper, from Minnesota
to the Great Plains in the South and the Pacific in the West.
Smallpox outbreak
The villages flourished until 1837 when a smallpox
epidemic decimated the population. The survivors migrated north to the
village of Like-a-Fish-Hook around 1845. Epidemics killed 90% of those
infected between 1837 and 1840. The two Mandan villages that were in
contact with the Lewis and Clark expedition experienced the terrible
effects of the virus. The epidemic broke out around 1804-1805 and out of
1,600 villagers, only 31 survived. The disease was transmitted through
trade. Despite the warning signs, Native Americans continued to visit
trading posts and expose themselves to the virus. Once the villages
affected by the disease were empty, the neighboring villages plundered
them and spread the virus through blankets, horses and tools.
When Native Americans lived in the area, the landscape
was very different from today. The highlands were a grassland region
containing few trees. The lowlands near the river beds were rich and
fertile lands used by Native Americans to harvest corn, beans, squash
and sunflower. There were also trees such as red ash, poplar, American
elm and negundo maple as well as buffaloberries.
In 1974, the
area surrounding the park was changed back to what it once was in order
to preserve the beauty and historical value of the site. It now contains
grasslands, forest, preserved sites, wetlands and sandbars. Wild animals
feed on the various berries present.
The different vegetation
zones are home to many species of animals. White-tailed deer, coyotes,
beavers, skunks, gophers and squirrels populate the woods. Many birds
are also present in the park. There is game: turkey, pheasant, Canada
goose, mourning dove; birds of prey: owl, red-tailed hawk, bald eagle,
kestrel; as well as other birds: white pelican, snow goose and great
blue heron. The Knife and Missouri rivers are home to 36 different
species of mollusk inside the park.
Insects are taken from the
grounds of the park and analyzed. Over 200 species of invertebrates have
been identified. The most common orders are Coleoptera, Diptera,
Hemiptera and Hymenoptera. Many of these are important in the park's
food chain.
Like everywhere else, the park fights against exotic
invasive species. Exotic plants appeared when Native Americans and
Europeans began deforestation. Most of these species are introduced
accidentally, but some were introduced intentionally. In the park, we
find leafy spurge, the cissa of the fields and the sweet clover. The
park inventories and studies animal and plant species in order to decide
on a management and control plan for invasive species.
During the summer months, the temperature can reach 30°C with low humidity and variable winds. The average annual temperature is 4°C. The winter months see temperatures below −15°C. Annual rainfall is approximately 40 centimeters.