Sakakawea Scenic Byway
(23 miles)
This byway highlights fantastic views of the Missouri River Valley along with some of the state’s most outstanding Lewis and Clark destinations. Visitors are able to follow the course of this great journey and discover the history and culture of the people who lived in the rolling hills and wooded valleys of the Missouri and Knife Rivers.
Location
Highway 200A from Washburn to Stanton.
Points of interest
- Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center - The North Dakota Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center provides an overview of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, with special emphasis on the time spent at Fort Mandan during the winter of 1804 - 1805. The Interpretive Center also presents the history of the mighty steamboats, frontier trade and American Indian culture that saturated this region in the Fort Clark Exhibit. Finally, the Interpretive Center's Bergquist Gallery showcases the art of Karl Bodmer, one of only four galleries in the world to house a complete collection, rotating the prints on a seasonal basis. Bodmer's watercolors and Prince Maximilian's written descriptions are considered the most complete and reliable eyewitness account of the Upper Midwest Indian cultures.
- Fort Mandan Historic Site (see Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center)– The reconstructed Fort Mandan rests in the riparian forests of the Missouri River and features refurnished rooms filled with the equipage of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. On-site interpreters provide programs and year-round tours of Lewis & Clark's 1804-1805 wintering post. The Headwaters Fort Mandan Visitor Center, inspired by a Mandan earth lodge, provides modern restroom facilities, a welcoming orientation area, gift shop and classroom Center complements the cottonwood bottomlands near Fort Mandan.
- Cross Ranch State Park - Located along seven miles of the last free-flowing, undeveloped stretches of the Missouri River, Cross Ranch State Park is purposely left primitive to preserve the land's natural beauty. The park’s River Peoples Visitor Center has displays and information about the once mighty Missouri River, which has now been tamed through a series of major dams and reservoirs along its length. A boat ramp and canoe rentals are available for those wishing to explore this scenic segment of the river. An extensive trail system can be explored either on foot or on cross country skis during the winter months. During the summer, the trails allow access to a 5,000-acre dedicated nature preserve where mixed grass prairie, river bottom forests and woody draws can be seen. The park offers semi-modern and primitive camping, showers, campsite reservations, and sewage dump station to campers.
- Fort Clark State Historic Site - Fort Clark Trading Post State Historic Site protects the archeological remains of a large earth lodge village, cemetery, and two fur trade posts (Fort Clark Trading Post and Primeau's Post) and was the scene of devastating smallpox and cholera epidemics that decimated most of the inhabitants of a Mandan and later an Arikara Indian village.
- Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site – This National Historic Site was established by the National Park Service in 1974 and features a state-of-the-art museum dedicated to preserving the culture of the Hidatsa, Mandan and Arikara tribes. The park also features a full-scale reconstruction of a Hidatsa earth lodge with authentic furnishings. Within the park the remains of three Hidatsa village sites are protected including the village Sakakawea lived at when she met Lewis and Clark.
