Fort Mandan - Winter Quarters for the Corps of Discovery

The original fort is now underwater and in the middle of the ever-changing river channel.  This fort was constructed over 40 years ago, in 1972, by the McLean County Historical Society.

Is that a beautiful blue sky, or what?!

I am so-o-o-o glad we were here in the winter time!  EV-eryone else comes in the summertime - but that's not when Lewis and Clark were here.  Hard to get a "feel" for what it would have been like to spend a winter here if it's 95 degrees out...

The fort's not too impressive from the outside, but it certainly is from the inside.  I'll show you a couple of pictures, but each and every room is loaded with artifacts and period pieces - utterly amazing stuff!

Fort Mandan is not only where the Corps of Discovery wintered in 1804-05, but it is where Sacajawea gave birth to her son.  That son, Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau (but known as Pompy) was ultimately adopted by Captain Clark along with Pompy's sister, Lisette, after Sacajawea died on December 22, 1812.

The fort was built in a triangular shape with officers and the Charbonneau's on the right and enlisted men, etc. on the left.  York's blacksmith's shop was also on the right.  Having a blacksmith along saved their bacon in more ways than one!

Lewis and Clark's Quarters

I'm not thinkin' that satchel under the bed nor the boots were Lewis's for real.  If he carried those things, maybe, but if he wore those boots and walked from St. Louis to Fort Mandan, those wouldn't be lookin' so spiffy.  Remember a few posts back I mentioned the gi-normous hat Lewis hauled on this trip?  There's a replica at the foot of the bed.  This photo doesn't do it justice; it's almost as long and the bed is wide!  It's a must-see in person.

These instruments are like those Lewis and Clark - not the Corps, but Lewis and Clark themselves - would have used to create the first maps ever drawn of the American northwest!  Now that is super cool!  The readings recorded cemented the United States' possession of the Louisiana Territory forevermore.  Woohoo!!

Charbonneau actually had two wives, hence their quarters had a double bed and a single - either that or Sacajawea was a bit too pregnant to share a bed with her hubby.  Is that a skunk hide on the wall? or a badger, maybe?  Since he made his living as a fur trapper you can bet the walls were covered in furs for sale - not to mention the myriad other things they used furs for!

I'd wrap one of those furs around my neck in a heart beat!

In the course of their journey Lewis traded "one uniform laced coat, one silver epaulet, one dirk (long, straight-bladed dagger) and belt, one hanger (small sword used by seamen) and belt, one pistol and one fowling piece," valued at $135 in the currency of the day to the Clatsop Indians "in exchange for a canoe, horses etc,..."  Today, that would be at least $2,700.  Yikes!!