North Dakota Sampler - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 521

traditional Indian dances still performed at powwows across the West. Although the natur-
al grassland has disappeared from much of the country, the Audubon refuge is one place
where sharp-tails still gather for a ritual as old as the prairie.
8. Fort Stevenson State Park
If you have any doubts that fishing is the major draw at Lake Sakakawea, drop by the city
park in Garrison, off Rte. 37. There, Wally the Walleye, a 26-foot fish statue, underscores
thetown'sclaimasthewalleyecapitalofNorthDakota.FortStevensonStatePark,onGar-
rison Bay just south of town, is a popular launch point for anglers heading out for salmon,
smallmouth bass, northern pike and of course, walleye.
9. New Town
West of Garrison, State Rte. 1804 traverses farm and ranch country. Soon you are entering
the million-acre Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, home to Three Affiliated Tribes (the
Mandans, Hidatsas and Arikaras). New Town, the major city on the reservation, was a
planned community built in the 1950s to replace villages flooded by Lake Sakakawea.
Today it boasts a joint tribal museum, a casino, and the intricately girdered Four Bears
Bridge, just west of town on Rte. 23. Spanning Lake Sakakawea, this mile-long structure
is best appreciated from the Crow Flies High Butte observation point on the western edge
of town. Heading north and then west on State Rte. 1804, the drive crosses the Little Knife
River.
10. Lewis and Clark State Park
As the drive heads toward the park, rocky buttes in the distance foreshadow the shift from
rolling plains to rugged Badlands. Located on an upper bay of Lake Sakakawea, this site
contains one of the largest tracts of native prairie in the state park system. In late spring,
whenthequietlandscapesuddenlyexplodeswithfestivewildflowers,thisisafineplaceto
enjoy prairie clovers, purple coneflowers and other blooms that form part of nature's mul-
tihuedpalette.Afterastrollalongoneofthepark'snaturetrails,you'llnodoubtagreewith
MeriwetherLewis(abetterexplorerthanspeller)thattheseplains,sooftenthoughtbarren,
are “verry handsom” indeed. The expedition camped nearby on April 17, 1805.
11. Fort Union Trading Post
The world of fashion may seem to have little in common with the Great Plains, but this
settlement was founded in 1828 by John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company. Beaver