Hidatsa

Penny auctions were collective actions to help farmers during the Great Depression. When a farm was foreclosed upon and sold by the lending financial institution at auction, the crowd would conspire to bid a trivial amount and return the land and assets to the farmer. Unfortunately for many tribal members, no similar strategy was available two decades later when they were forced from the lands they had lived on for millennia to make room for the Garrison Dam and the lake it would create.

Life was not easy at the Fort Clark fur trading post back in the 1830s. The fort was located on the Missouri river near present-day Washburn and it was a major economic center. The post manager, Francis Chardon, kept a journal, describing the cold weather, the fur trade, tribal activities, and the devastating smallpox epidemic. He also kept a regular tally of how many rats he had killed!

Perhaps the disease outbreak in North Dakota’s history was the smallpox epidemic that all but destroyed the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara peoples. In June of 1837, infected passengers aboard a steamboat spread the deadly virus up and down the Missouri River.

Long before white settlers came to the region, Native tribes farmed, hunted, and worshipped here. While their numbers were small (barely one person per…

An important aspect of Native American oral tradition involves sacred bundles of relics that help storytellers remember tribal stories and histories.…

The Missouri River has a plentitude of fish. Modern-day anglers seek to catch wily walleyes, ravenous northern pike, big catfish and even paddlefish.…

All text and audio copyright, 2015 by the Native American Development Center ©Mark Little Owl: My name is Mark Charles Little Owl. I am from the Three…

All text and audio copyright, 2015 by the Native American Development Center ©Anita Charging: My name is Anita Charging. My native name is Blossoming…

All text and audio copyright, 2015 by the Native American Development Center ©Kathy Johnson: Kathy Fredericks Johnson, and my Indian name is Eagle Plume,…

All text and audio copyright, 2015 by the Native American Development Center ©Lorraine Davis: Today, we're going to talk about stories of resiliencies…