Welcome to the On-a Slant Indian Village, once a home to Mandan Indians. In order to understand the Mandan People, one must understand their origin...

The Missouri River is North America’s longest waterway, draining more than half a million square miles through tumbling falls, and lazy, looping oxbows...

William Lass points out in his book titled, Navigating the Missouri, “Before railroads were built in the United States, rivers and lakes offered the easiest...

At its peak in 1873, with over 500 soldiers stationed at Fort Abraham Lincoln, there was bound to be the occasional disciplinary action served to one...

George Armstrong Custer, forever to be associated with one of the most infamous defeats in American History lived here along with his wife, Libbie...

The year was 1862. After a poor harvest season in what is now Southern Minnesota, a band of Dakota Indians grew frustrated after years of accumulated...

While General Sully established Fort Rice on July 7th 1864, he had no intention of staying there very long. Not even two weeks later he led his expedition...

Life was not easy in these small frontier forts, isolated by distance and a seasonally ice-bound transportation system. During the fort’s first year, eighty-one...

In 1868 Fort Rice was expanded to cover an area of 864 feet by 544 feet. It was protected by a ten-foot-high log stockade on three sides and by the Missouri...

Completion of the 2.5-mile long Garrison Dam across the Missouri River in 1956 created Lake Sakakawea–a 368,000 acre reservoir. The Snake Creek National...

More than one hundred centuries ago, men hunted wooly mammoths and mastodon along the edge of a receding glacier. The massive ice sheets gradually...

At a time in American history when the West was still wild, North and South Dakota were still the Dakota Territory, and gold was being discovered in the...

The Cathedral Area Historic District is situated just below the crest of a hilltop, four city blocks north of the west edge of Bismarck’s Central Business...

The Cathedral Area Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 for its eclectic mix of architectural styles that reflect...

This seemingly plain expanse of grass overlooking the beautiful Missouri has a rich history involving the Mandan people going back...

Expert farmers, the Mandan people sustained themselves through crops of beans, squash, sunflowers, and most importantly, corn...

Welcome to Cross Ranch State Park. As you explore the park, you might already be aware that the landscape once lent itself to Native Americans who inhabited...

The Cross Ranch Nature Preserve is located here along the only free-flowing section of the Missouri River in North Dakota. The river is bordered by some of the...

The Crowley Flint Quarry State Historic Site near Golden Valley in Mercer County preserves a pock-marked landscape where, for thousands of years...

Custer Park is Bismarck’s first municipal park, and was originally named Riverview Park. The park was developed by the Bismarck Civic Improvement...

In 1910, the Bismarck Civic Improvement League changed the name of Riverview Park to “Custer Park”. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer...

News of Custer’s death and defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876 made global headlines. This was, in part, because Custer’s expedition...

Welcome to Double Ditch Village, which was occupied by the Mandan Indians from roughly 1490 to 1785. Plains winters are long and bitterly cold. Rainfall fickle, and...

Here, on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River, are the remains of the earthlodges, refuse mounds, and the surrounding fortification ditches...

For three centuries, Double Ditch Indian Village was inhabited by the Mandan Indians. During that time, there were times of...

In 1783, Pierre Gaultier deVarennes et de La Verendrye, a French-Canadian fur trader, set out from Fort La Reine near today’s...

The Bismarck Tribune Building on North 4th Street in Bismarck, North Dakota was built in 1920. Following destructive fires in 1885, 1898, and 1920 at...

In the summer of 1873, the Northern Pacific railroad reached the Missouri River at Bismarck just as a financial panic struck...

This Gothic Revival Style commercial block was completed in 1883 and is one of few buildings that survived a devastating fire in 1898. The building...

The International Harvester Company of Chicago built this five-story brick behemoth as its Bismarck branch warehouse in 1911...

While the exact location of Fort Mandan has never been found, the overlook provides a good view of the landscape similar to how the Corps of...

You may notice many curious depressions in the landscape around you here at the Fort Clark State Historic Site. These indentations are the...

Welcome to Lake Sakakawea State Park! Did you know that the lake was originally named Lake Garrison, after the nearby Garrison community...

Welcome to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. One of the major themes of our museum centers around Thomas Jefferson and the Enlightenment...

Among Jefferson’s general instructions for Lewis and Clark, he emphasized intertribal peace and trade contacts. In order to cultivate...

There’s an ongoing argument where the Lewis & Clark Expedition really started. Was it in Washington, D.C. with Jefferson...

Welcome to Fort Stevenson State Park! The fort first served as a military post that was constructed in 1867 on the north bank of the...

Pioneer Park is a hub of activity for visitors, especially in the summer months when sand volleyball matches are happening and the...

General Sibley Park is named after me, Henry Hastings Sibley. I was born in 1811 in Detroit. I began studying law at the age of sixteen. It was no secret...

The Missouri River holds many stories of years long passed. Stories of trade, transportation, wildlife, Native Americans, and sustenance, among others...

Elizabeth Fenn in her Pulitzer Prize winning book, Encounters at the Heart of the World, points out just how expansive the reach of the Mandan...

While the Mandan Indians basically only appear on the broad swath of history after the arrival of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the...

It is the week of the Green Corn Ceremony in the Knife River Villages - the Mandan and Hidatsa people are preparing to celebrate the arrival of...

Do you think you could live off of the land that you see around you? What types of materials would you need for subsistence and survival? Perhaps you...

The Lewis & Clark Riverboat is a replica 19th Century paddle-wheel steamboat and the second passenger vessel to operate heritage...

Quite possibly one of the greatest Missouri River steamboat captains was Grant Marsh, who lived from 1834-1916. His story, one of historical feats...

Ten miles east of Bismarck, Apple Creek meanders through the terrain, winding its way to the Missouri River. The banks along the creek...

For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River, as a place to hunt, gather, or grow food and as a means for transportation and trade...

Like other stops on this Talking Trail, the Molander Indian Village isn’t immediately noticeable, unless you know what you are looking for–and where...

Loved by visitors of all ages, the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum stands proudly on the North Dakota Capitol Grounds...

In the mid- to late-19th century, railroads completely transformed the Northern Plains. Perhaps no other historical event was more...

Since 1989, the Fort Lincoln Trolley has been chugging along the Heart River south of Mandan, North Dakota. Operating on the remaining five...

Listen as the artists and collaborators share the incredible story of this community driven project at the Bismarck Expressway Art Tunnel!

Listen as Molly McLain share the story behind this community collaborative project.

Driving on North Dakota Highway 83 between Washburn and Underwood, you are almost sure to notice a few things. Wildlife is abundant...

The Missouri River has always been a hub of activity. From wagon trains, steamboats, and the railroad to modern-day fisherman, runners...

July 4th, 1968 marked the grand opening of the Great Plains Museum. The Old West-style false-fronted facility, owned and operated by the Beck brothers...

While the exact location of Fort Mandan has never been found, the overlook provides a good view of the landscape similar to how the Corps of...

Listen as the artists of the incredible Wing Mural share their inspiration and story behind the mural!

The Stephens’ Bridge namesake originated from its proximity to the historic Roy Stephens’ farm. It is also known as the Knife River Bridge...

Beginning in the 1860s, the U.S. Army established infantry posts to protect work crews who were constructing the Northern Pacific Railway...

Imagine Main Street in your hometown. Picture the storefronts, the passers by, the cars driving up and down the road. It is likely the hub...

Linda Warfel Slaughter, author and wife of Dr. Benjamin Slaughter, Camp Hancock’s army surgeon, experienced and wrote about pioneering on...

This was originally the private home of the Fisher family: Asa, his wife Adelaide or “Addie,” and her daughter, Lillian. The story of how it became the governor’s...

The exterior of the house before you has been restored as much as possible to look as it did in 1893, the year it became North Dakota’s first...

Imagine that the governor living in this house had been convicted of a federal crime and removed from office, but refused to recognize their...