Ft. Clark Trading Post

July 25, 2009

North Dakota historical experts believe this is one of the most important historical sites in the state. All that is left is a series of round depressions in the ground, about 40' in diameter, where the Mandan lodges were located.

Mandan Indians built earthlodge villages here in 1822 and, eight years later, James Kipp built Ft. Clark Trading Post just south of the Mandan village. It was a fort with vertical log barricades. It measured 134 feet x 154 feet.

In 1837, 90 percent of the population here was wiped out by an epidemic of smallpox when infected passengers from the steamboat St. Peters socialized briefly with the Mandans who had no immunity defense to the disease. Historians are convinced that the crew of the steamboat knew about the requirement to quarantine where smallpox was present, but decided to pull up to shore at Ft. Clark anyway, because they had orders from The American Fur Company to pick up bales of Buffalo hides. Money spoke louder than humanitarian concerns, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of Native Americans.

There is a journal with exquisite details of what life was like in those days, written by Francis A. Chardon -- should be available on Amazon. [Source: Passport to North Dakota History, p.35]