Fort Mandan in 1806

Photo: The full-size replica of Fort Mandan at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, near Washburn, North Dakota.

On Saturday, August 17, 1806, as the Corps of Discovery anxiously made way down the Missouri River, the men stopped briefly to check on Fort Mandan. What was once their protective home during the winter of 1804-05 was nearly gone just 16 months after they left it.

William Clark wrote in his journal for that day, “…Set out and proceeded on to Fort Mandan where I landed and went to view the old works the houses except one in the rear bastion was burnt by accident, Some pickets were Standing in front next to the river.”

The actual site of the fort, according to notes by Gary E. Moulton in “The Definitive Journals of Lewis & Clark,” was about 14 miles west of today’s Washburn, North Dakota. The actual site is likely to have been washed away by the Missouri over time, and could even lie partially underwater.