“Center of Missouri Valley History”

Here, you are halfway from the mouth to the source of the Missouri. Here was the center of the Fur Trade for half a century, with eight different fur posts and two military posts within your vision. (See Map on reverse). This was, before white man came, an Indian capital. On this side,

½ mile above the dam and 25 miles downstream, were great bastioned fortresses. East of the river 10 miles North and 15 South were their counterparts. The remains of the downstream forts are to be seen today. Amid them were scores of Indian villages, cultivated lands. They were here in 1743 when Verendrye planted a leaden plate for France, four miles downstream. Here, in 1804 Lewis & Clark counciled with the Teton Sioux on this very dam site. Here, in 1811 the famous brawl immortalized by Washington Irving between Manuel Lisa and Hunt, leader of the Astorians, occurred. By 1817 there were permanent fur posts. Here, in 1831, the Yellowstone, first steamboat, came to carry herds. Here in 1856, Harney counciled with the Sioux, the largest aggregation of Indians ever assembled. Here, Sully’s expeditions of 1863 and 1864 against the hostile Sioux jumped off. Here was the steamboat head for the great Black Hills Gold Rush in 1876 and the railhead for its continuance from 1880 to 1886. THIS IS HISTORIC GROUND.”

Stanley County, west side of Oahe Dam on 1806 (2006)