Fort Mandan, North Dakota (CoD Winter, 1804)

The CoD wintered with the Mandan’s and built Fort Mandan, about 40 miles north of present day Bismarck. The first two photos show Pris and the fort. The weather was more extreme than the Americans had encountered before, going down to -45 Degrees F. They traded blacksmithed products (axes, repairing guns etc) for produce grown by the Mandan’s.
We stayed at Fort Lincoln State Park, just outside of Bismarck. It was the home of the 7th Calvary prior to their campaign to the Little Big Horn in the summer of 1876. The 3rd photo shows private Jon Hamlin just before our tour of the rebuilt Custer House.
The weather has gotten cold here. Night time temperatures have been into the high 30s and we had sleet yesterday. It rains off and on, with high temperatures in the mid 40s! And to think the last time we were in North Dakota it was 96!