Knife River Earthlodge

Interior of the Hut of a Mandan Chief

Karl Bodmer

Quick Facts

Location:

564 County Rd 37, Stanton, ND

Significance:

The ancestral home of the Hidatsa

Amenities

1 listed

Fire Extinguisher

The houses of the village-dwelling tribes on the upper Missouri usually were circular in shape, the larger houses averaging about thirty feet in diameter. Their design incorporated four center wooden pillars and an adjoining framework of posts and beams supporting numerous rafters and wall poles. Over these was laid a matting of willow and grass and an outer, insulating later of earth.  

A hole in the roof admitted some light and otherwise vented the smoke from a central firepit in the floor. An exterior, moveable screen shielded the vented from the wind and rain. The entrance to the interior was protected from the weather by a covered passageway. ... 

Description by David Hunt, Director, Stark Museum, Orange, Texas, USA 

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