The River: Knife River Indian Villages
This reading uses the first two paragraphs of the National Park Service page. It leaves out the rest of the page, which covers later history after Europeans arrived (visitors by boat, the 1837 smallpox epidemic, and the Garrison Dam) and information for park visitors.
This page is a simplified version of the original text (leveled toward 800L). Photos, maps, and other images are not on this page — use the original link above to see them.
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The Upper Missouri River Valley
For hundreds of years, the Upper Missouri River Valley was a lifeline. The river wound through a harsh land. It drew Northern Plains Indians to its wooded banks and rich soil. The earthlodge peoples hunted bison and other game, as the nomadic tribes did. But they were mostly farmers. They lived in villages along the Missouri River and its tributaries. The Knife River is one of these tributaries. It rises more than eighty miles to the west. The Hidatsa made their home where it flows into the Missouri.
The Hidatsa and the Rivers
The Hidatsa developed a way of life that was perfectly suited to the Knife and Missouri Rivers. They built earthlodges from cottonwood and river willow that grew along the banks. They made pottery from river clay. They bathed in the cool water. They also traveled long distances on the rivers, which were like natural highways. Spring floods made the land fertile again. This led to large harvests in the fall.