Mandan Indians - North Dakota

The Mandan Indian tribe established a village at the confluence of the Missouri  and Heart River around 1781.  It was called the On - A - Slant Village as it was built on ground that slopes towards the river valley.  They lived in buildings of earth lodges.  Some 200 years later a smallpox breakout killed many and the survivors resettled up north.

Many Plains Indian tribes had social organizations that had different kinds of functions. Mens societies were often associated with hunting or war. Women's societies were usually religious or social. Among the Mandan, men and women joined societies appropriate for their age group. Young women could join the Little River Women society; in their middle years, women joined the Goose Society; elderly women belonged to the White Buffalo Calf Society.

Young Mandan women joined the Little River Women society in their teens. Several years later, as adult women in their twenties, they turned over their right to the society to younger women in exchange for gifts that represented the high value of membership.

Of note is Scattered Corn who was born in the middle of the 19th century, the daughter of Moves Slowly, who was the last Mandan corn priest. Her mother was Medicine Seed, who taught Scattered Corn to build a proper earth lodge. During her lifetime, Scattered Corn built three earth lodges for her own use. In 1929, with funding from the State Historical Society, she built an earth lodge on the capitol ground.

This is the entry to the earth dwelling.

The frames were made of cottonwood logs and covered with layers of willow branches, grass and earth.

There is hole in the ceiling which allowed the cooking smoke to escape and the sun to shine in.

The Mandan Indians had a rich culture.  They were skilled in warfare but did not look for trouble.  They were considered to be more humanitarian and provided assistance to Lewis and Clarke who were sent by the President to find a route from St Louis to the coast.

Cheers, Beverley and Ross