Fort Clark Trading Post State Historic Site

The archaeological remnants of a village of earth-covered homes at the Fort Clark Trading Post State Historic Site tell a devastating story of a once thriving community wiped out by smallpox and cholera. The area was home to the Mandan and Arikara Indians, and to two competing fur trading posts. The earth lodge village overlooked gardens with crops of corn, squash, pumpkins, sunflowers and tobacco. Today, visitors to this national historic landmark near Washburn, North Dakota, can use depressions in the earth as a guide to village landmarks. More than 2,000 surface markings identify homes, a cemetery, storage pits and other places of interest. The largest depression, located in the center of the village, designates the spot for a ceremonial lodge. Shallow donut-shaped depressions are all that’s left of the lodges where the villagers lived. Clusters of smaller circular depressions denote their graves in an unmarked cemetery.