Cannonball-Missouri River Confluence History Meets National Criteria by Dakota Goodhouse

Bismarck, ND, December 11, 2023 --- The Cannonball-Missouri River confluence is host to over a dozen archaeological and historical occupations and events over the course of the past one thousand years. The many documented and verified stories of the confluence more than meets the criteria for preservation and for National Historic Site or National Memorial status. here is a bullet point list to pique your interest followed by a series of figures and narrative expanding on the occupations and events.

·         The ancient Ochéti Shakówiŋ (the Great Sioux Nation) presence in the Late Woodlands Period (circa 500-1000 CE)

·         The Mandan Indians and Cannonball River Phase circa 1200-1450 CE

·         The Cheyenne Occupation circa 1700-1803 CE

·         The Cheyenne-Lakhóta Conflict circa 1762-1763 CE

·         An English Trade Post established on the north bank of the Cannonball River circa 1798 CE

·         The Upper Missouri River intertribal conflicts of the 1790s

·         The Corps of Discovery stop in October 1804

·         The Historic Spring Flood of 1825

·         The Arikara-Lakhóta Conflict of 1835-1836

·         The Historic Smallpox Epidemic of 1837 

·         The Assiniboine-Lakhóta Conflict of 1862-1863

·         The Historic Cannonball Ranch circa 1864 through 1913

·         The 1864 Punitive Campaign led by General Alfred Sully

·         The 1866-1867 winter camp of the Húŋkpapa Lakhóta

 Dakota Goodhouse, a PhD graduate student in History at NDSU, has composed a “show and tell” of various historic images, maps, and winter count entries to argue the case for National Landmark or National Memorial status. “The historic tragedies that deserve the same respect and preservation as Fort Clark State Historic Site and Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site,” said Goodhouse, “are the spring flood of 1825, remembered in many winter counts, and the 1837 smallpox epidemic that struck the Húŋkpapa Lakhóta people while they were camped at the Cannonball-Missouri River confluence. This was the very same epidemic that nearly wiped out the Mandan Indians.”

 Visit Goodhouse’s history blog thefirstscout.blogspot.com to view a selection of images and summaries relating to the preservation of the Cannonball-Missouri River confluence.