Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

About Us:

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 displays include Native American artifacts, a buffalo robe visitors will be able to try on, as well as a "cradle-board" much like the one Sakakawea may have used to carry her baby. An authentic wood canoe carved from the trunk of a large cottonwood tree demonstrates the winter preparations the Expedition made while at Fort Mandan.

After Lewis and Clark left to continue their journey west, the rich history of this area continued to grow, with the establishment of Fort Clark in 1830. Built as a trading post of the American Fur Company, Fort Clark soon became a cultural and diplomatic center for the early Americans and the neighboring Mandan and Arikara tribes. The latest addition to the Interpretive Center - the Fort Clark Exhibit in the Sheldon Gallery - presents the history of the mighty steamboats, frontier trade and Native American culture that saturated this region.

The Interpretive Center's Bergquist Gallery, one of only four galleries in the world to house a complete collection, rotates the prints of Karl Bodmer on a seasonal basis. Bodmer's watercolors and Maximilian's written descriptions are considered the most complete and reliable eyewitness account of the Upper Midwest Indian cultures.

Location: Intersection of US Highway 83 and ND Highway 200A on McLean County Highway 17, Washburn, North Dakota, 38 miles north of Bismarck.