Eighteen years before the establishment of the Mandan village of Mih-tutta-hang-kush, the Lewis and Clark Expedition began building winter quarters a few miles northwest of this point in November 1804 and named them Fort Mandan in honor of the Mandan people. The expedition spent the winter of 1804-05 there before continuing up the Missouri River the following spring. The exact location of Fort Mandan remains unknown because, since 1805, the Missouri River has changed course several times and washed away most physical traces of the fort. Maps made by Captain Clark and others indicate that the remains likely lie somewhere in the river valley before you. A timeline for the area notes the Lewis and Clark Expedition passing through from 1804 to 1806, the establishment of Mih-tutta-hang-kush in 1822, the Fort Clark Trading Post by 1830, a smallpox epidemic that decimated 90% of the Mandans at Mih-tutta-hang-kush in 1837, Arikara occupation of the former Mandan village in 1838, the establishment of Primeau's Post in 1850, the destruction of Fort Clark by fire in 1860, and the Arikaras' abandonment of the village in 1861.