The Blockhouses

Fort Clark's palisade and projecting blockhouses were built to protect its occupants from attack and the Company's trade goods from theft. Historic documents and archaeological excavations show that the blockhouses changed in number and location over time: an 1833 fort plan places them on the north and south corners, an 1847 illustration on the east and west corners, and an 1859 drawing shows a two-story blockhouse on the east corner, while a sketch from one year later indicates there was no blockhouse on the west corner. Excavations at the west corner uncovered a square arrangement of small rocks where the missing blockhouse was expected, suggesting a structure about 14 ft (4.4 m) on a side, with an interior about 12 ft (3.7 m) square if 12 inch timbers formed the walls. A 6 ft (1.8 m) by 3 ft (1.0 m) rectangle of stones inside the north corner likely marked a stairway to a second level. The stone foundation probably served to level the timber base rather than support a massive structure. The blockhouse was built next to, rather than as part of, the palisade, and after it was raised, pickets were removed from in front of its 2 1/2 ft (0.78 m) wide doorway and reset on either side to form a narrow walled entry from the fort. This west blockhouse was probably erected during the fort's last expansion in the mid-to-late 1850s and was torn down by 1860.

North Dakota · United States