516 - Bill Mills Nature Trail

More than one hundred centuries ago, men hunted wooly mammoths and mastodon along the edge of a receding glacier. The massive ice sheets gradually reversed the north-flowing direction of the ancient river we now call the Missouri, and bent it to flow southeast to meet another great river, the Mississippi, and flow to the Gulf of Mexico instead of Hudson Bay.

The glacier left behind rich grasslands favored by giant bison, mammoth, cameloids, and horses. Time passed and drought struck the Northern Plains. Conifers disappeared and many of the Ice Age animals--megafauna--went extinct because of the temperature shift, over-hunting, or both. Smaller, swifter animals possessing the biological ability to reproduce at a greater rate than megafauna, took their place. Small, multi-family groups of people formed to hunt the huge expanses of grassland and river bottoms. The nomadic people mined flint from quarries that dotted the prairies of what is now North Dakota. Eventually, from at least 3,000 BP to 1,000 AD people began to occupy the landscape in a somewhat more sedentary nature. The rich history of the Northern Plains is apparent in the numerous historic and cultural properties that dot the landscape of the Missouri River. It was a place witness to many significant historic events that together tell the story of several important themes in the history of the nation.

As you walk along this beautiful Bill Mills trail, you might allow your mind to explore the lesser traveled parts of your imagination, and a time long ago… Continue to explore the Northern Plains Heritage Areas Talking Trail and Experience the Stories along the way..