North Dakota Trip - Day 8: Medora to Williston, ND

Friday - August 28, 2009

We left Medora and headed north to see the North Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt N.P. Along the way we stopped briefly at Ilo Wildlife Refuge. We didn't see much but have been surprised at all the lakes and ponds. Also noted was the lack of traffic and how few visitors we met at this time of year.


Soon we reached the north unit of the park and were excited to find a lot more buffalo activity. At one point on the scenic drive through the park they were all over the road. There was barely enough room to squeeze by. "Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam".


Our next stop is at Fort Union Trading Post just south of Willeston, ND and right on the Montana border. The fort was established by John Jacob Astor for his American Fur Trading Company. The for we visited is not the original, but a full scale partial reconstruction built upon the foundation of the original structure.


From Fort Union we continued our journey a few miles east to the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers at which point the State of North Dakota has built an Interpretive Center which is part of the Fort Buford State Historic Site (a few miles down the road). Not much is left of Fort Bufort except for a few buildings which have been restored. The soldiers from Fort Buford policed the international boundary, guarded railway construction crews, and provided escorts for steamers and wagon trains. Sitting Bull surrendered here in 1881.


After Fort Buford we made a short drive to the Marquis Plaza Hotel (sounds fancier than it was) in Williston and Applebee's for dinner.