Day 32-Bismarck,ND to Washburn,ND (46/1,423 miles)

My grandfather used to have a plaque at his cabin that read something to the effect that, "Indian men went hunting and fishing while Indian women did all of the work. White men thought they could improve upon that system! "

Mandan men did some fishing but their big thing was hunting. Along with their domestic chores, Mandan women did the hard work associated with farming and with cleaning and preparing the hides and meats of the buffalo and other game that the braves would take down.  Mandan men could have multiple wives and polygamy was the norm.

Most of the Mandan earth lodges that Lewis and Clark encountered in the upper Missouri River Valley had been abandoned.  The Mandan population was decimated by a smallpox epidemic three decades earlier and the surviving Mandans migrated north along the River.  (My guess is that they went north to distance themselves from their enemies, the Teton Sioux, to the south.  It certainly was not a climate-driven decision!) By the time Lewis and Clark arrived the Mandan population was only about 1,200.  

The photographs above are from a re-creation of a large Mandan village that was located near the present day town of Mandan. Local Sioux told Lewis and Clark that the village had been abandoned for about 25 years.

Lewis and Clark finally stopped for the winter of 1804-05 at the end of October near Washburn, ND, where they hastily built a fort across the River from two Mandan and three Hidatsa  villages.  Upon their arrival, Mandan Chief Sheheke-shote (White Coyote ), whom Lewis and Clark called "Big White", famously told the Corps of Discovery, "If we eat you shall eat, if we starve, you must starve also."

Fort Mandan became a popular hangout for the Native American neighbors over the course of the bitterly cold winter that ensued.  The Native Americans shared their food generously and many of the men of the Corps of Discovery became close to Native American women.

This a replica of the fort near the site of Fort Mandan. 

Lewis and Clark employed a French for trader who had been living in one of the Hidatsa villages,Toussaint Charbonneau, to serve as a translator on the upcoming leg of their journey. 

Upon learning that she was a Shoshone, a tribe they knew they would encounter on the eastern edge of the mountains,Lewis and Clark permitted Charbonneau to bring along one of his two Indian wives, 16-year old Sacagawea.  Sacagawea gave birth to the couple's son (Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, whom Clark nicknamed Pomp) at Fort Mandan in February 1805.  Lewis later described Charbonneau as a man of no great virtues, but Sacajawea would prove herself valuable to the expedition.

The above statue of Sacajawea and Pomp is located near the North Dakota State Capitol. 

 I have decided that Fort Mandan is an appropriate spot to end the first year of my Lewis and Clark bicycle journey. I look forward to resuming and completing my journey in 2017! My wife has assured me that if she eats this winter, I shall eat also!