Knife River historic earth lodge site once marked ‘center of our universe’

Gerard Baker among speakers to reflect on Knife River town site's lasting cultural influence

More than a hundred people gathered under a big-top tent to hear Gerard Baker, a cultural leader of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, speak of the societal significance of Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. Baker, the highest-ranking American Indian in National Park Service history, took his first permanent job as a park ranger at the historic town site near Stanton, N.D., in 1979. It would be just one step in a career that would help change the national interpretation of Native history.

Baker’s talk was the keynote in a daylong celebration of the historic site’s 50th anniversary on Saturday. In the works for over a year, the event featured live performances, stories from elders and educational and cultural sessions that bridged the past with the present. In addition, American Legion Auxiliary units and the Young Hawk Bear American Legion Post #253 honor guard from the Fort Berthold Reservation arrived to support veterans and their families.

Meanwhile, Baker discussed the history of the park and the importance of its location. Descendents of these lands still inhabit territories far beyond what most people think, he emphasized. “Our home goes far beyond to the south, to the north, to the east and to the west,” he said. “Our people owned and had those territories when they were here. And I’m willing to tell you right now that those people are still here.”

Michael Barthelemy, director of Native American Studies at Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, reminded the crowd that the grass-covered structures nearby hold the intimate stories of untold generations of lives. “Those earth lodges at one time were the center of our universe,” Barthelemy said.

“In our current time of cultural renaissance, we look back at this place as a place of cultural renewal,” said Barthelemy, a historian and citizen of the MHA Nation. “And we also have to think, what does territory mean? How do we come to define territory? How do we come to define space? And as Indigenous people, we don’t define space in the same way that non-Indigenous people do.”

The Knife River Indian Villages site is just 550 acres, Barthelemy said, but that’s a small portion of a much larger territory. A smallpox epidemic in 1782, followed by an attack by the Dakota people, forced citizens to abandon the Heart River and relocate to the Knife River area to the north. After the 1837 smallpox epidemic, the remaining residents would also leave the Knife River site.

The smallpox epidemic left a lasting impact on the Mandan and Hidatsa. When Baker started working at the site, he asked his parents and relatives questions about the Knife River Indian Villages. “I asked my folks when they were still alive, how come we never went there?” recalled Baker. “And there was a feeling about this place at that time because it was so close to the 1837 smallpox [epidemic] that we were scared to come back.”

“They were smudging me. Oh, they prayed for me. And when they got through, they gave me hell. They said, whatever you do, don’t ever pick up anything.”

Gerard Baker, Mandan and Hidatsa cultural leader, retired National Park Service ranger

Despite others’ fear, Baker felt drawn to the park. As a young boy, he used to hear about the five villages. While working at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, someone asked if he wanted to work at the Knife River Indian Villages. Baker took the offer.

When he started working at the site, he remembered family and friends were cautious of the location. One day, when his mother’s friends came over to visit, they expressed concern about him contracting the disease or reawakening spirits.

“They took me in the living room by the stove, I remember that,” said Baker. “And this one lady especially, she started crying. They were smudging me. Oh, they prayed for me. And when they got through, they gave me hell. They said, whatever you do, don’t ever pick up anything. Because if you take it home, they’re going to follow you home. Leave it there and respect them.”

Many speakers reminisced about what Knife River Indian Villages meant to them. Ethan White Calfe, the event emcee and former National Park Service ranger, said his admiration for the site began when he was 5 years old. His late grandmother, Greta White Calfe, would bring him here every year for Culture Fest, a two-day gathering in the last week of July.

“I loved this place, and it always felt like home,” recalled White Calfe, a citizen of the MHA Nation. “And when I got a little older, I realized that’s because it was home. These depressions out here, they were actually my people’s homes, my family’s homes. That was the primary reason that it felt like home, calling a deep spiritual connection that was part of me.”

When White Calfe became a park ranger, Knife River was his first gig. He would go on to work at Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Though White Calfe has moved on from Knife River, he recognizes the significance of the land.

Prairie Rose Seminole, co-director of the documentary “We Ride For Her” and advocate for Indigenous peoples, came to the gathering to support the park’s national recognition. In addition to being a citizen of the MHA Nation, she has Northern Cheyenne and Dakota roots.

“I came out today because it’s historic to acknowledge that our history is documented as Three Affiliated Tribes, but also documented within our government and how we’re acknowledging that we exist and we’re still here,” she said.

While many attendees were excited to celebrate the park’s anniversary and learn its history, the area was once a point of contention among the locals. Farmers in Stanton didn’t want the former trading hub to be established as a National Historic Site when it was suggested in the 1970s. The agricultural workers in the area feared the acknowledgment would hinder their practices and take away parts of their farmland. Since the location was officially recognized in 1974, site staff and citizens of the MHA Nation began sharing their knowledge and inviting the community to learn about what being on this land culturally means.

“The local people had no understanding of why we want to acknowledge this space, recognize it, and then preserve it for future generations,” said Seminole. “This is historic because they’re getting over it and we’re telling our stories and sharing our way of life with people.”

One of Seminole’s favorite parts of the event was Lanny Real Bird’s Native American Sign Language program. She learned about how the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara and visiting tribes communicate with each other despite not speaking the same language or dialect.

After Real Bird’s lesson, Keith Bear, a world-renowned flute player and storyteller, performed stories of humor, family and love. The Hidatsa and Mandan educator told the history and roots behind each song. “The Bug Song,” which originated as a lullaby for his daughter, who now has children of her own, is one of his most popular songs. He now plays the tune for his grandchildren.

Shane Balkowitsch brought out his portable darkroom, box camera and chemistry materials for a demonstration on wet plate photography in the education tent. Balkowitsch’s work is showcased in the book “Northern Plains Native Americans, a Modern Wet Plate Perspective,” which chronicles his 15-year journey to create portraits of 1,000 American Indians using the 19th-century technique. Since he began the project, he’s had hundreds of people from the MHA Nation sit for photos. Earlier during the event, he took a picture of those honoring veterans, which he processed during the demo.

Seminole found the celebration of the park’s 50th anniversary to be not only informative but an insightful and powerful reminder of people’s resilience. “We come together so often for loss and grief in our community,” she said. “So to come and celebrate our place and claim space is just really beautiful.”

Dateline:

STANTON, N.D.