North Dakota Sampler - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 522

pelts—bought from trappers or taken in trade from Indians—found their way into hats
worn by smart dressers around the globe.
Visiting Indians camped on the grassy plain 25 miles southwest of Williston, near Fort
Union Trading Post. The reconstructed post, a national historic site, features a replica of
the1851residenceofthe“bourgeois,”orpostmaster.Ithasatwo-storyfrontporch,abroad
facadeandalookouttowerontheroof—alldesignedtoconveythepowerbehindwhatone
19th-century missionary called the “vastest and finest” fort on the Missouri. Fort Buford
was one of several military posts that protected overland and river routes used by immig-
rants settling the West, but it is probably best remembered as the place where the famous
Hunkpapa Sioux leader, Sitting Bull, surrendered in 1881.
Located a half-mile east of the fort, the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive
Center tells the story of these two mighty rivers and provides the same magnificent view
that Lewis and Clark's team enjoyed in 1805-1806.
Backtracking on Rte. 1804, head south on Rte. 85 until you reach the entrance to
Theodore Roosevelt National Park's North Unit.
12. Theodore Roosevelt National Park (North Unit)
Mention the word Badlands and the image that springs to mind is one of a desolate, dan-
gerous place. One can easily understand why General Alfred Sully, who caught his first
glimpse of this region of North Dakota in 1864, said that it looked like “hell with the fires
out.”
Overcenturies,theLittleMissouriRiver,itstributariesandtherelentlessforcesofwind
and rain have carved deep, rugged canyons through western North Dakota's plains. Dra-
maticpyramid-shapedbuttesandsteepbluffswithbandsofred,orange,pink,yellow,gray,
andblack canbeseenalonga14-mile scenic drivethat windsfromtheNorthUnit'svisitor
center to Oxbow Overlook.
Likeitscounterpartunittothesouth,theareaisrichwithallsortsofwildlife.Longhorn
cattle can be seen drinking water at the bison corral. Golden eagles soar overhead, hunting
unwary prairie dogs. Here and there, mule deer (named for their large ears) pause as they
graze to watch cars pass by. But for most visitors the tour's highlight comes when bison,
the park's proudest residents, are seen. Up to 60 million of these massive mammals, stand-
ing six feet tall and weighing more than a ton, once roamed the Great Plains. Today these