Note 192 — Chapter XXIV · DESCRIPTION OF FORT CLARKE AND THE ENVIRONS

This location of the Mandan villages corresponds with the account of Lewis and Clark, except that these explorers represent Ruhptare as situated on the north bank of the Missouri—doubtless their winter village, as explained by Maximilian. When the smallpox swept away the inhabitants of these villages (1837), the remnant of the Mandan abandoned them to the Arikkara, and formed one small village between their former towns and the mouth of Knife River. By 1845 they began moving to the Fort Berthold reservation, where they have since lived, located on the west bank of the Missouri. Their dwellings are chiefly log huts, although a few earth lodges may yet be seen. See O. D. Wheeler, "Last of the Mandans," in Wonderland, 1903, pp. 19-36.—Ed.