by Candy Moulton
Encampment, Wyo.
March 18, 2008

Five earth lodges have been rebuilt on the site of an Indian village that was used for more than 400 years, near the confluence of the Heart River with the River in present Mandan, North Dakota. Known as On-A-Slant, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark camped across the river with the Corps of Discovery in 1804, they noted that the village had been abandoned although ruins remained.

The village had been occupied from 1575 to 1781, but was abandoned in part due to disease and also because there had been attacks on the villagers from warring tribes. When the Mandans left On-A-Slant they moved north and established new villages, where Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1805-06.

The site of On-A-Slant is now part of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, and features the five rebuilt earth lodges, some of them outfitted as they would have been during the period of traditional use, with woven backrests, stockpiles of food, buffalo robes marked with drawings to represent winter count, and fire pits, clay pots, and sleeping ledges.
A visit there today is a step back in time often taken from Memorial Day through Labor Day with a guide from the Mandan tribe, who will quietly present the history of this tribe. The Mandans were an agrarian society, known for cultivating the “three sisters” — corn, beans, and squash — which they used themselves, and traded to other tribes for such items as horses and even turquoise brought from the Southwest.

In 1766 the child who would become Sheheke (White Coyote) and who was also called Big White, was born in On-A-Slant Village. When small pox ravaged the tribe in 1781, more than 80 percent of the Mandans died; those surviving deserted On-A-Slant and moved north to establish new earth lodge villages.

By the time Lewis and Clark visited the area and found the Mandans in villages farther north, Sheheke was a tribal leader. The two American captains presented him with a flag and draped a medal around his neck, while he in turn pledged to “Shake off all intimicy with the Seioux and unite themselves in a strong allience and attend to what we had told them and see.” Clark noted that Sheheke appeared to have the respect of his people, with many saluting him as he walked through the village with the Americans.

And the chief pledged this to the captains: “If we eat, you shall eat, if we starve, you must starve also.” His aim in cooperating with the encroaching Americans likely was no more than a sincere effort to benefit the tribe, to establish trade relations with them and thereby give his people an edge against the more aggressive Hidatsas, who already had their own trade relations with fur traders, including representatives of the North West Company, headquartered in Canada.

When returning east in 1806, Lewis and Clark invited Sheheke to accompany them, which he did taking along his wife and son, along with trader and interpreter René Jusseaume. The trip back east was uneventful, but when it was time for Sheheke to return to his home village, the journey was more difficult. By that time tension was palpable along the Missouri as Arikara and Sioux tribesmen resisted further incursion by Americans. It would take two years, $20,000, and more than 600 soldiers to eventually bring Sheheke home. Once there he found his position within the tribe had been compromised, possibly due to his absence, and he never again dominated Mandan politics and society. In 1832 he was killed during a Lakota raid on the Mandan village.
In addition to On-A-Slant, you can visit other Mandan village sites near Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota, including the village of Chief Looking and Double Ditch Indian Village. For artwork and other products created by Mandan people, take the opportunity to visit Five Nations Arts Store in Mandan where you will find beadwork, jewelry, paintings, and sculptures.