Fort Berthold

Frances Densmore was born in Red Wing, Minnesota in 1867. As a child she developed an appreciation of music by listening to the nearby Dakota Indians. She became a music teacher, working with Native Americans across the country. Concerned that the tribal music might disappear, she began to record and transcribe their music. In 1907, Densmore began this archiving officially for the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of American Ethnology.

The 1950s are remembered fondly by most US history textbooks. Known as the Eisenhower era, the postwar years were considered a new height of prosperity, with median family purchasing power increasing as much as 30%. Unfortunately, that prosperity was not universally shared. While many Americans were celebrating the end of World War II, indigenous people on the Fort Berthold reservation were being forced into a settlement agreement over losses they would suffer due to the Garrison Dam. After this settlement they experienced an economic decline aggravated by drought, poor relationships with the surrounding governments, and their decreasing ownership of the land.

Thomas Rogers was born on June 4th, 1890 to a prominent Arikara family on the Fort Berthold Reservation. When the US declared war on Germany in 1917,…

Doctor Herbert Wilson was born in Bethel, Vermont, on this date in 1921. Wilson was a physician at Fort Berthold for 43 years before retiring. Herbert’s…

The General Allotment Act of 1887 made Native Americans individual landowners. The act stated that the head of each family would receive 160 acres of…

Arikara, or Sáhniš as called by its people, is part of the Caddoan language family, a group of languages that comes from the Caddo dialect, which is over…

The Garrison Dam is the fifth largest earthen dam in the world. Made by packing down dirt with other materials, its total volume is 66.5 million cubic…

If you grew up around North Dakota, you’ve heard of the Mandan tribe, and you might even be a member. What you may not know, is that the last full-blooded…

North Dakota officials have noticed an uptick in the number of oil wells transferring ownership in the Bakken.Nearly 700 wells are in the process of being…

State officials have noticed a worrisome trend the past few months in the oil fields on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation: The amount of natural gas…