Washburn, ND

Nearly 200 years ago, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark spent a winter among the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians in what is now North Dakota. The six months they lived along the Missouri River near present-day Washburn, N.D., (pop. 1,421) hasn’t escaped the attention of townspeople, who are preparing to commemorate the bicentennial of their historic journey to discover the nation’s interior.

“You can’t live here and not be aware of the area’s ties to the Lewis and Clark expedition,” says Kristie Frieze, director of the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. “But this is so much bigger. We’re really excited about sharing our story.”

Washburn, on the north bank of the winding Missouri River, is home to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and a replica of Fort Mandan, which members of the expedition originally built, and lived in, during the winter of 1804-1805.

The interpretive center contains American Indian artifacts, American history exhibits, and a collection of paintings by Swiss watercolor artist Karl Bodmer, who chronicled the lives of the Plains Indians in the 1830s. A 37-foot canoe, similar to six built for the Lewis and Clark expedition at Fort Mandan, also is on display. Area volunteers built the canoe in 1997 by felling a cottonwood tree with handsaws and then spent two months hewing it with axes for authenticity.

Three years earlier, local artist Bill Reynolds decorated the length of a downtown building with a hand-painted mural depicting the expedition’s winter in Fort Mandan. A few miles down the road is the Fort Clark Historic Site, one of three major fur-trading posts on the Upper Missouri, and the Knife River Indian Village, where the Hidatsa Indians lived in earthen lodges.

The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial will be observed January 2003 through the fall of 2006. Washburn is one of the designated sites on the trail being promoted by the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Committee, based in Portland, Ore.

“When 2003 comes, Washburn will be ready and waiting to introduce travelers following the Lewis and Clark trail to the best piece of history along the trail,” says David Borlaug, a Washburn resident and president of both state and national Lewis and Clark bicentennial planning committees.

The story that Washburn has to tell, however, is more than historical exhibits and artifacts; it’s also real people bringing history to life. Doug Yunker and his family, for instance, recreate the past by providing guided trips on the Missouri River in birch bark canoes.

“I try to let the river do the speaking, but we provide some history, too,” says Yunker, who dresses in buckskin clothing on the trips. “When we’re not on the water, we do tomahawk throwing, fire starting, and things like showing people how to put up a tepee. We try to give them a flavor for the era without making it so rugged we scare them away.”

American Indians also are actively involved planning and presenting authentic re-enactments of the period. Members of the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes, whose descendants still live in the area, befriended and aided Lewis and Clark on their journey, while Sakakawea, a young Indian woman, accompanied them westward as an interpreter.

Washburn already has done much to prepare for the bicentennial, but much remains to be done. For instance, the interpretive center is being expanded and Fort Mandan enhanced with $2 million raised by the North Dakota Lewis and Clark Foundation.

“We’re not just planning for tourism; we’re strengthening our town,” says Mayor Al Christianson. “We’re already seeing the economic benefits, and the best is yet to come.”

Candi Helseth is a freelance writer in Minot, N.D.

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