More Forts

Aug. 6 - Saturday
Wow - rough day of travel . . . 75 miles to our next stop!
From Malta we went east on highway 2 to Glascoe, then to nearby Fort Peck Lake.

The actual "fort" had quite a history. It was one of those forts that was originally a trading post. It served as an Indian agency from 1873- 1878, and then the agency was  moved to Poplar. The current, new, town of Fort Peck is about 2 miles from the original one. The new town has a very interesting theater, built many years ago, and several small businesses.

The visitor's center explains the history of the unique dam - an earth filled structure that was the largest project undertaken under the New Deal program.

Several men died during the construction phase, a sad story, and unfortunately not unique. Heavy construction is dangerous. There is a collection of memorials in a large parking area beside the road,  honoring those who died during construction of the dam.

There were approximately 60 deaths in all. This monument is remembering those who perished in an early phase when a huge mudslide buried several men and their equipment.

The lake is huge. This is the fifth largest "artificial lake" in the U.S.! and there are a variety of camping choices around the perimeter. We stayed at the West End campground, where electric is available but no water hook-ups. Electric but no water seems to be the standard in this land of harsh winters.

The visitor center is amazing. Though it explains a lot about the dam, the major emphasis seems to be on dinosaurs.

This whole area is rich with ancient fossil beds - and that includes dinosaurs. They have wonderful dioramas of dinosaurs skeletons, as well as more modern animals like buffalo and coyotes, set in natural surroundings. It's a great place to take the kids, and they have activity ideas and worksheets available to take home too.

We had fun watching the fish in the two demonstration tanks as well. It's the best visitor center we've seen so far this summer!

Aug 7-8
After driving for miles through flat land and wheat fields we arrived at Fort Buford, North Dakota, in the afternoon.

Steve's extensive Internet research had indicated there was a campground around here somewhere, but there weren't any signs that seemed to indicate such, so he inquired at a local office and we followed the directions, just past the fort buildings to what looked like a picnic area. No services, and no charge!

The camping area

Tables and trash barrels, fairly level parking places, and a beautiful view. The campground is bordered by the fort buildings, the cemetery (that's the white line to the right, in back of Steve), and the historic Masonic lodge site, so all are within walking distance. Who could ask for more?

We got set up, had supper and were enjoying the (constant) North Dakota breeze when a couple of other campers pulled in and got set up themselves.

We got to chatting later. One couple was from Buffalo, New York, (he a pediatrician and she a tour guide)   and the other outfit was two guys from "central North Dakota" (an electrician and an antique dealer) who had a goal of staying only on gravel roads to do their exploring. They got tired of being pounded though, so had finally settled for sticking to the more minor backroads and byways.  We had a lively time discussing everything under the sun, and then discovered everyone had similar taste in beer, and so a sampling session broke out. Travel stories, beer comparisons, tips for places to visit, and we all finally went to bed around midnight.

We took our tour of Fort Buford early Monday morning,

Fort Buford barracks

and our tour guide was a lively individual - he's also an actor who portrays several historic characters in local productions.  His knowledge of the history of the area, and the era was very helpful. The other docent took us around several of the outer buildings and her knowledge was  impressive too.

The fort has several restored buildings, most furnished with original or of-the-time period artifacts, and the perimeter of the original fort is fairly well defined.  Kitchen artifacts, cast iron stoves, lamps, china and tableware, even small oil lamps made of bent spoon are in the fort inventory. The items are displayed in the rooms just as they would have been in place when in use. There's a barracks with several cast iron heating stoves, the mess hall and kitchen, and outside, a powder magazine and officer of the guard building mark the far wall.  Much of the historic information is displayed in the officer's home, covering the residence of the Buffalo Soldiers, battles in the area, and much more.
One of the most famous historic events at this post was Sitting Bull's surrender of his rifle in  1881, after returning from Canada. The point was made that he surrendered his rifle, HE did not surrender, and he never signed a treaty.

The markers in the cemetery have been restored, and they tell fascinating, though brief, stories of those buried below. Actually, the military personnel who were buried here have been moved to a military cemetery, but the markers remain to tell the story. Children who died of disease, Indian scouts, Native Americans, all were buried here, side by side.

The fort's location, at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers was strategically important for the purposes of defending settlements, during the civil war Civil War, as the cash flow from these gold fields was important to the Union government at that time.

Off to one side there's a new building, with a sculpture of a horse, and several flags. It's a Masonic Lodge, and it has an interesting history. The lodge now combines #88, which was the first Masonic Lodge in the area, with #135, which was brought with the Buffalo Soldiers from Fort Apache, Arizona.

Today the masons take a continuing interest in this historic site, and here is an interesting footnote. . . . . 
 When the North Dakota masons held a rededication ceremony for the Yellowstone Lodge monument in 2010, descendants of the buffalo soldiers were invited and attended, too-uniting brothers who in historic times there had been segregated. From this website.

From Fort Buford it's only a few miles to Fort Union, which is right on the Montana/North Dakota border. This fort was a commercial enterprise, not a military post. In fact, a docent there told us they were there for "an entirely different purpose" and they know the fort sold clothing and ammunition to Sitting Bull in the years before he surrendered at Fort Benton.

They have "living history" docents, who are pretty good at staying in character.

This young man was sitting by a fragrant, smoking fireplace when we stepped into the room and he gave us a very interesting rundown on the inventory of the trading post and how the procedures worked.

The visitor center has a nice display of artifacts along with a well stocked bookstore.

On the way back to our campsite we stopped at the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center. The displays here tie together the military and economic importance of the two rivers, and connect to the work that the Lewis and Clark Expedition did as they moved across the Missouri to the west coast.

One of the things we've been impressed with is the importance of riverboats. Though river travel is always mentioned in the history of the era, the importance of these special, shallow draft boats isn't highlighted, as it should be. This is a model of the river boat that carried the wounded from Custer's ill-fated battle at Little Big Horn.

As we were leaving the interpretive center we decided to explore a gravel drive off to the side and discovered another campground. This one, right on the bank of the Missouri River, within sight of the confluence with the Yellowstone, has electric service available for $15/night. Non-electric sites are $10. Signage around here is pretty bad, and even when you ask directions, you get vague or incomplete information.

A few more photos in the album