Four Bears Bridge

Last updated
Four Bears Bridge
Lake sakakawea.jpg
Four Bears Bridge seen by satellite in 1996
Coordinates 47°58′47″N102°33′43″W / 47.9797°N 102.562°W / 47.9797; -102.562
CrossesLake Sakakawea
Characteristics
Longest span316 feet (96 m)
History
Construction startJuly 2003
Construction end2005
Construction cost$55,000,000 [1]
Location
Four Bears Bridge

Four Bears Bridge is one of two bridges built over the Missouri River on the Fort Berthold Reservation in the U.S. state of North Dakota. It carries North Dakota Highway 23. The current bridge which opened in 2005 is the second largest bridge in the state and replaced an earlier bridge built in 1934. The 1934 bridge was moved in 1955 following the construction of the Garrison Dam and the creation of Lake Sakakawea. [2]

One worker was killed and three were injured when a portion of the new bridge collapsed during construction on November 30, 2004.

The current bridge is decorated with medallions reflecting the heritage of the Three Affiliated Tribes, the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa who inhabit the reservation. The bridge is named for two chiefs, one Mandan and one Hidatsa and both named Four Bears.

The bridge opened to traffic on September 2, 2005, at around 10:00 a.m. local time . An official opening ceremony was held on October 3, 2005.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Town, North Dakota</span> City in North Dakota, United States

New Town is a city in Mountrail County, North Dakota. The population was 2,764 at the time of the 2020 census, making it the 18th largest city in North Dakota. New Town was platted in 1950 as a replacement site for the residents of Sanish and Van Hook, as these towns were scheduled to be flooded by the creation of Lake Sakakawea, a reservoir to provide water for irrigation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Sakakawea</span> Man-made reservoir in North Dakota, United States

Lake Sakakawea is a large reservoir in the north central United States, impounded in 1953 by Garrison Dam, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam located in the Missouri River basin in central North Dakota. Named for the Shoshone-Hidatsa woman Sakakawea, it is the largest man-made lake located entirely within North Dakota, the second largest in the United States by area after Lake Oahe, and the third largest in the United States by volume, after Lake Mead and Lake Powell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garrison Dam</span> Dam in McLean/Mercer Counties, North Dakota

Garrison Dam is an earth-fill embankment dam on the Missouri River in central North Dakota, U.S. Constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from 1947 to 1953, at over 2 miles (3.2 km) in length, the dam is the fifth-largest earthen dam in the world. The reservoir impounded by the dam is Lake Sakakawea, which extends to Williston and the confluence with the Yellowstone River, near the Montana border.

The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, is a Native American Nation resulting from the alliance of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara peoples, whose native lands ranged across the Missouri River basin extending from present day North Dakota through western Montana and Wyoming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hidatsa</span> Native American ethnic group

The Hidatsa are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a parent tribe to the modern Crow in Montana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandan</span> Native American tribe of the Great Plains

The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still reside in the area of the reservation; the rest reside around the United States and in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Abraham Lincoln</span> North Dakota state park

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is a North Dakota state park located 7 miles (11 km) south of Mandan, North Dakota, United States. The park is home to the replica Mandan On-A-Slant Indian Village and reconstructed military buildings including the Custer House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site</span> National Historic Site of the United States in North Dakota

The Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site, which was established in 1974, preserves the historic and archaeological remnants of bands of Hidatsa, Northern Plains Indians, in North Dakota. This area was a major trading and agricultural area. Three villages were known to occupy the Knife area. In general, these three villages are known as Hidatsa villages. Broken down, the individual villages are Awatixa Xi'e, Awatixa and Big Hidatsa village. Awatixa Xi'e is believed to be the oldest village of the three. The Big Hidatsa village was established around 1600.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Berthold Indian Reservation</span> Indian reservation in the United States

The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is a U.S. Indian reservation in western North Dakota that is home for the federally recognized Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. The reservation includes lands on both sides of the Missouri River. The tribal headquarters is in New Town, the 18th largest city in North Dakota.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Like-a-Fishhook Village</span> Former settlement in North Dakota, United States

Like-a-Fishhook Village was a Native American settlement next to Fort Berthold in North Dakota, United States, established by dissident bands of the Three Affiliated Tribes, the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa. Formed in 1845, it was also eventually inhabited by non-Indian traders, and became important in the trade between Natives and non-Natives in the region.

Edward Lone Fight served as Chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation from 1986 to 1990. In 1988 Lone Fight met with President Ronald Reagan, a meeting which was the catalyst for the Just Compensation Bill, introduced based on the findings of the Joint Tribal Advisory Committee, which provided the tribes partial compensation for the flooding of reservation due to the construction of the Garrison Dam under the Pick-Sloan Legislation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mato-tope</span> Native American; Chief of the Mandan tribe

Mato-tope was the second chief of the Mandan tribe to be known as "Four Bears," a name he earned after charging the Assiniboine tribe during battle with the strength of four bears. Four Bears lived in the first half of the 19th century on the upper Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Four Bears was a favorite subject of artists, painted by George Catlin and Karl Bodmer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Buford</span> United States historic place

Fort Buford was a United States Army Post at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers in Dakota Territory, present day North Dakota, and the site of Sitting Bull's surrender in 1881.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Dakota Highway 1806</span> Highway in North Dakota

North Dakota Highway 1806 is a state highway in the U.S. state of North Dakota. ND 1806 and ND 1804 were named to reflect the years of Lewis and Clark's travels through the area, and run along the southwest and northeast sides of the Missouri River, respectively. ND 1806 consists of four separate segments, running along Lake Sakakawea and the Missouri River in McKenzie, Dunn, Mercer, Oliver, Morton, and Sioux Counties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sacagawea</span> Native American explorer

Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who, in her teens, helped the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving their chartered mission objectives by exploring the Louisiana Territory. Sacagawea traveled with the expedition thousands of miles from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, helping to establish cultural contacts with Native American people and contributing to the expedition's knowledge of natural history in different regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Stevenson</span>

Fort Stevenson was a frontier military fort in the 19th century in what was then Dakota Territory and what is now North Dakota. The fort was named for Thomas G. Stevenson, a Civil War general who was killed in the Battle of Spotsylvania. It was built in 1867 and abandoned in 1883.

Fort Berthold was the name of two successive forts on the upper Missouri River in present-day central-northwest North Dakota. Both were initially established as fur trading posts. The second was adapted as a post for the U.S. Army. After the Army left the area, having subdued Native Americans, the fort was used by the US as the Indian Agency for the regional Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan Affiliated Tribes and their reservation.

Twin Buttes is an unincorporated community in Dunn County, North Dakota, United States. It is a community on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, which is home of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Three Affiliated Tribes. Twin Buttes is 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Lake Sakakawea, and 12 miles (19 km) north-northeast of Halliday.

Alyce Spotted Bear was a Native American educator and politician and an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.

Raymond "Ray" Cross was an American attorney and law professor from the U.S. state of North Dakota. He was a member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, and a former professor of American Indian Law at the University of Montana. As an attorney, Cross represented Native Americans in multiple landmark trials, including two U.S. Supreme Court cases, and successfully won a compensation claim against the U.S. government for the flooding of 156,000 acres of tribal land in North Dakota due to the construction of the Garrison Dam.

References

  1. "Four Bears Steadily Crosses Sakakawea in ND : CEG".
  2. "Four Bears Bridge dedication at Four Bears Monument, Elbowoods, N.D."