Menoken Indian Village Site

The Menoken Site occupies a terrace on the south side of Apple Creek, a tributary of the Missouri River, to which it flows near Bismarck. The site consists of a defensive earthworks, whose major component is a ditch about 245 metres (804 ft) in length, with four bastion loops projecting outward at equally spaced intervals. The ditch is about 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) deep, and varies in width from 6 to 7 metres (20 to 23 ft) in width. The ditch forms a curve, covering about 100° of a circle, and protects an inner area of about 1.5 acres (0.61 ha). Archaeological evidence indicates that there was originally a palisade just inside the ditch; only post holes of this structure survive. The inner area of the fortification, which has not been fully investigated, is estimated to have had between 11 and 13 semi-subterranean residential structures in it.[3]

This site, first excavated in the 1930s, was thought for many years to be that of a Mandan village visited by the French explorer La Verendrye, but archaeological investigations in the 1990s and early 2000s have revealed evidence that the site is actually somewhat older, and that the site was probably occupied by ancestors of one of the region's major tribal groups, with an occupation period c. 1100-1300. It was probably used as a semi-permanent settlement, from which the occupants would hunt bison and other wildlife. Extensive finds exist here of stone tools, predominantly quarried in the Lynch Quarry vicinity to the west, as well as ceramic pottery fragments and bone tools.[3]

The site was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1964, primarily on the basis of the belief (now known to be incorrect) that it was associated with La Verendrye, but it retains significance to its critical place in the region's prehistoric chronology, and its archaeological importance.[4] Elements of the site's improvements, made during the Great Depression, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. The site, acquired by the state in 1937, is open to the public, with a walking trail that has interpretive signage.

Depression Era Work Relief Construction Features at Menoken State Historic Site
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
CCC kiosk, in 2017
Location	171st St and 32nd Ave NE, Burleigh County, North Dakota (1.7 mi N of Menoken, near Bismarck)
Coordinates	46.8412°N 100.5182°W / 46.8412; -100.5182
Area	1.9 acre portion of 13.7 acre parcel
Built	1930s????
Built by	Works Progress Administration
Architect	Russell Reid
MPS	Federal Relief Construction in North Dakota, 1931-1943, MPS
NRHP reference No.	10000998[5]
Added to NRHP	December 7, 2010[5]

Depression Era Work Relief Construction Features at Menoken State Historic Site was listed on the National Register in 2010.[5] The listing included one contributing building and two contributing objects on a 1.9 acres (0.77 ha) portion of a 13.7 acres (5.5 ha) parcel.[6]

171st Street and 32nd Avenue NE; Bismarckvicinity 1.7-miles north of Menoken and 1-mile east from the I-94 exit at milepost 170

Late 19th & Early 20th Century Revivals / Late Gothic Revival / Picturesque. WPA Rustic

Work of the Works Progress Administration, with design directed by Russell Reid, Superintendent State Park Section. State Historical Society of North Dakota

historically Verendrye State Park

[7]

• Double Ditch State Historic Site, similar village site, also NRHP-listed
• Depression Era Work Relief Construction Features at Double Ditch Indian Village Site State Historic Site, also NRHP-listed
• List of National Historic Landmarks in North Dakota
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Burleigh County, North Dakota

• Media related to Menoken Indian Village Site at Wikimedia Commons
• Menoken Indian Village State Historic Site - State Historical Society of North Dakota