On October 26, 1974, congress enacted Public Law 93-486 establishing Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. It is the mission of the National Park Service to protect and conserve our nation's scenic, natural, and cultural resources in such a manner that will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of all future generations.

The history of land and vegetation use in the vicinity of Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site begins with the Native American occupation. This occurred about 10,000 years ago when big game hunting and berry/nut gathering people traversed the area. For nearly a millennium this area was a trading hub established by the earthlodged Hidatsa and Mandan tribes with the primary commodity being Knife River flint. In addition, it is important as a place where Indian culture and agriculture developed. It should be noted that there were more people living along the Knife and Missouri Rivers in the 18th and early 19th Century than there are today. After the small-pox epidemic in 1837, the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes abandoned their villages here and moved approximately 60 miles up river to establish Like-a-Fishhook village.

During the second half of the 19th Century steamboats frequented the area and created "wood yards" on the Missouri River bottomlands. Their purpose and function were to cut and store wood to be used as fuel for the steamboats. The largest of these "wood yards" occurred at the mouth of the Knife River in what is now Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site and present day Stanton.

It was originally believed that the park contained village sites that were hundreds of years old. The full significance and role of the park's cultural sites in our history is only beginning to be understood. Through archaeological studies we have found some sites that are not hundreds of years old but thousands of years old. The historical, archeological, and biological value of Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site is far greater than was first envisioned. It is one of the few units of the National Park System in which an intensive, parkwide archeological survey has been completed. The surveys conducted from 1976 through 1980 resulted in the identification and evaluation of all the archeological sites within the park.

Permanent settlement of the area by EuropeanAmericans occurred in 1882 when the village of Stanton was established. While we often tend to limit our consideration of environmental degradation to modern culture, it is clear that Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site and the region surrounding it have experienced intense changes and impacts over the past few centuries. Today's faunal and floral communities are a product of those impacts.

Although the primary resources of Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site are cultural, it possesses prime natural areas that include native prairie and riverain habitats. These are extremely significant because they are part of an almost exhausted resource. Energy development, dam building and intensive agriculture have either destroyed or seriously deteriorated similar ecosystems on the Missouri River. Natural areas like those found at the park are rapidly becoming ecological prototypes.

In managing the park's natural resources, a high degree of sensitivity must be shown toward the cultural, historical, and archeological values of the national historic site. The vegetative communities in the park, including Missouri River bottomlands and mid-grass native prairie, must be managed to compliment the historic scene and to maximize the ecological value of the area. We must determine what natural processes are taking place and define the optimum ecological communities.


The 1,759 acre park contains land on both sides of the Knife River just before its confluence with the Missouri River. The park lies approximately in the middle of that portion of the Missouri River that has not been flooded by dam building. While most of the park has been intensively cultivated or grazed for many years, it still remains an area where, with proper management and use, natural habitats can be reestablished or improved.

Two physiographic zones exist within the park boundaries. The first and lowest of these is the floodplain. It is found immediately adjacent to the rivers, and is where historically both the Knife and Missouri floodplains were subject to inundations during spring runoffs or excessive rain storms. Historically the floodplain was forested and much of it is now comprised of a forest type known as "Missouri River bottomlands". These floodplains, since the earliest of human occupations until present day, have been intensely impacted and altered.


A second zone is the "terrace" which is the older and higher floodplains. It is comprised of gently sloping to nearly level surfaces. A distinct scarp or terrace edge usually separates the terrace zone from the floodplain zone. Vegetation on the terraces is dominated by prairie grasses.

Both of these zones are well exhibited at Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. The floodplain zone occurs on both sides of the Knife River in the southern part of the park. Another way to identify the floodplain is to recognize that its elevation is within 20 feet of the Missouri River. Terrace zones can be found in two areas of the park; the village areas themselves and a second, higher terrace (130 feet above the river level) in the northernmost portion of the park.

The geology of the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site and the immediately surrounding area consists of bedrock of the Paleocene age. Local formations consist of poorly lithified sandsilt, silty clay, and clay with shale and lignite. Fairly well consolidated sandstone occurs as a ledge in the channel or bed of the Knife River. Soils include Strea silty clay loam, Straw loam, Lihen loamy fine sand, and Telfer loamy fine sand.

The climate of the area is best designated as semi-arid and continental, being characterized by seasonal temperature extremes and rapidly changing weather patterns. Cold, dry arctic air masses impart a rigorous winter climate. In contrast, the summer climate finds high temperatures and dry winds. Average annual precipitation is about 16.00 inches. Two years out of 10 an annual precipitation of less than 12.00 inches can be expected. The average length of the growing season is 115 days.

Today, despite clear cutting, farming and grazing, the park contains some of the few remaining and best preserved examples of bottomland forest and prairie mid-grass vegetative communities. Specifically, the lower terraces contain an overstory of cottonwood, peach leaved willow, green ash, box elder, and American elm. The understory consists of Virginia wild rye, loosestrife, dogbane, black medir, milkweed, wild licorice, carrion flower, grape, fern and strawberry. Buffaloberry, chokecherry, juneberry, and Russian Olive are found throughout the floodplains.

Various grasses such as wheatgrass, needlegrass, grammagrass, upland sedges, and little and big bluestem and a wide variety of forbs dominate the upper terraces in the park. Several non-native and noxious plants that exist in the park include rhubarb, lilac, leafy spurge, Canada thistle, smooth brome, and sweetclover.

Associated with these vegetative communities are many species of fauna. Larger birds and mammals rely on the wooded areas for winter cover and rearing young. Specifically the white tailed deer, bald eagle, skunks, owls, raptors, wild turkey, badgers, coyote, and beaver can be found in this enclave. Other species found in the park included weasels, sharp-tailed grouse, pheasant, migrating and nesting waterfowl, raccoons, northern pocket gopher, thirteen-lined ground squirrel, and cottontail rabbit.


The portions of the Missouri and Knife Rivers found within the park provide yet another ecosystem. Twenty-six species of aquatic mollusk are known to exist here. Catfish, walleye, goldeye, sucker, carp, shiner, garfish, perch, and darter are common fish species that rely on the park's rivers.

Please come visit us in person -- or use these pages to increase your understanding of the American Plains Indian.

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