10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 185 
Hidatsa-Mandan at Like-a-Fishhook Village (Report of the Com- 
missioner of Indian Affairs, 1862, p. 194). From 1862 until the 
middle 1880’s, when they were settled upon individual allotments, 
the three tribes occupied one large village. 
Before the recent wholesale removal of the people from the valley 
under the threat of the rising waters, the Arikara occupied the east 
end of the reservation on both sides of the river, extending upstream 
to a point between the Beaver Creek and Red Butte schools on the 
right side of the stream and to above Nishu school on the opposite 
side. The Mandan and Hidatsa are so extensively intermarried that 
it is doubtful if today a “full-blood” Mandan remains, but in 1950 
the group living on the south side of the Missouri, above the Arikara 
and extending to about the mouth of the Little Missouri, tended to 
identify themselves as such. 
ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND 
Western North Dakota, in which the Garrison Reservoir and Fort 
Berthold Reservation are located, lies in the High Plains area. Bas- 
ically the region is a high, level plain through which the various 
streams have carved deep, steeply walled valleys for themselves. The 
valley of the Missouri varies in width here from less than a mile to an 
extreme of over 3 miles. The lower land bordering the stream is 
subject to annual overflow and this flood plain is covered generally 
with a dense growth of timber, cottonwood, ash, elm, and willow 
predominating. The valley walls are rugged, highly dissected, and 
cut regularly with drainage ways which frequently extend for miles 
into the uplands. It is not uncommon to find a badland type of ter- 
rain of variable extent along the valley walls; the Little Missouri 
River flows through badlands for much of its length. In spite of 
its rugged nature, the hilly section which divides the level upland 
from the valley floor carries a good cover of grass, the coulee bottoms 
show small groves of ash and elm, and scattered junipers are found 
on the slopes of the badland buttes and canyons. The area is utilized 
for cattle range. 
Between the valley walls and the flood plain bordering the stream, 
lies a level to gently sloping terrace. Although highly variable, this 
averages perhaps a half mile in width and is generally wider on the 
east and north sides of the valley than on the west and south. A 
great deal of this terrace is under cultivation, with wheat, oats, and 
barley the usual crop. 
The heavily timbered flood plain is utilized to a limited extent 
for grazing and, in the higher parts, for growing hay. For a num- 
ber of years preceding the flooding of the area its timber was exploited 
to a limited extent by local sawmill operations. 
