By Jerry W. Kram 
MHA Times Reporter 

            For millennia, the peoples of the MHA Nation thrived and built a prosperous economy on the banks of the Missouri River. Even after colonization, they created bustling towns near the river including Elbowoods, Nishu, Van Hook, Independence, Sanish and others. Then, about 70 years ago, all of that was lost when the Garrison Dam was completed and the nation was drowned by the waters of what is now Lake Sakakawea.

            As the generation that still remembers life on the bottomlands is passing, Twyla Baker, President of the Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, has been organizing annual rides to remember and share the stories of the bottomlands. For nearly 10 years, riders have come to the MHA Tourism Earth Lodge Village to ride along the water like their ancestors did and then share a meal and stories with elders who remember life before the lake.

            “The Honoring the Bottomlands Ride is a memorial and remembrance,” Baker said. “Here in the earth lodge I am looking at the photo of George Gillette at the signing of the Pick-Sloan Act, which is the legislation that flooded the river bottomland. It flooded a bunch of our communities and put a huge wedge that split communities, families on opposite ends of a huge reservoir.”

            Baker said the flood created a huge trauma for the people of the MHA Nation. While some may think it was something of the far past, for many it is still something that happened a single generation ago, including Baker.

            “My parents were some of the people who were forced to leave the bottomlands,” she said. “My dad grew up in Independence and my mother was from the Van Hook area. So we ride to remember those communities and share stories and work to heal the trauma that still echoes through the generations. We just want to make sure the youth remember that we come from really strong people.”

            The bottomlands were the wealth of the MHA Nation. Baker said the crops and gardens planted along the winter not only fed the people but were the basis of a trading system that stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. It made the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara powerful and influential tribes.

            “We really ran the economy across the Upper Missouri Valley,” Baker said. “We traded with tribes all across the country. We made our life here along the river and centered our life around agriculture. Because of that we didn’t move a lot. We kind of stayed in place for around 10,000 years. So the best way to break down a people like that is to take their land away and that happened up and down the river.”

            Baker said it is the responsibility of her generation, who grew up with the people who lived on the river, to make sure their stories are shared and not forgotten.

            “It is now the responsibility of the children of those people to carry on the stories,” she said. “Just like they carried on the stories of our even earlier ancestors. So we are the ones who are going to carry on those stories and we want to make sure those stories reach the ears of our children. Our parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents survived a lot to bring our language and lifeways to us.”

            Honoring the ancestors with a ride also acknowledges the central role of horse culture in the MHA Nation. Baker said the MHA people are horse people.

            “It is very healing to do this, especially as the tribal college along with groups in the community are bringing back and encouraging these rides,” she said. “Despite being a difficult topic, they are so supportive and community based. There is so much love and support from horse people for the bottomlands ride.”

            One of Baker’s favorite things about the rides is the increasing participation of young people who ride and then stay and share a meal with elders who tell of their memories of the bottomlands.

            “My generation is bringing their kids to these events,” Baker said. “Members of the college’s equine program are involved and are really excited about these events. It gives them a chance to get out into the community and feel like they are doing something that is healing for our community. That’s exactly what we want them to be doing with their education, furthering that healing and knowledge of horses. Plus it’s fun and we get to eat.”

            The Four Sisters Garden and Fort Berthold Extension provided a meal of locally sourced traditional foodstuffs. Garden Chef Lisa Poitra prepared a meal of corn and bean soup with North Dakota sourced buffalo, squash soup, juneberries, zucchini and juneberry muffins and bannock.

            “There are going to be more events like this in the future,” Baker said. “We have received funding for them and are going to be carrying them out in collaboration with different departments in the college. Sometimes we are able to tap into the resources of the tribe. Tourism is always very supportive of us and we are grateful for that.”