Fort Buford

We have decided to hang out here in Watford City, ND until after the holiday weekend.

The sites are not huge by any means, but it is pretty quiet here and people are friendly, so we are content. And with full hookups there's no pressing need to move on. We'll travel to Montana on Tuesday.

Bob and I took a drive yesterday to visit Fort Buford, outside Willliston, ND. Fort Buford is situated at the confluence of the Missouri River and the Yellowstone River. It is known for being the spot where Sitting Bull surrendered, and you can stand in the very room where it happened.

We had a great time there. A guide named Archie took us around the fort and regaled us with stories of life in the late 1800s. He has been volunteering here for over 20 years and knew his subject very well.
Above you can see one of the barracks; Fort Buford at its peak housed about 700 soldiers.

This is where the Sergeant lived on Post.

The metal frame represents the guard house, where as many as 70 soldiers would be locked up at a time (especially on pay day when spirits were high.) To the right is the Officer of the Day's hut.

There was also a very nice Interpretive Center where we visited a museum and saw a film about the fort. This bag shown here is woven from corn husks and was made by a Nez Percé Indian.

All in all we spent about three hours here, and could have spent more time wandering around. It was an interesting place.

This morning I warped up my Seidel Card Loom with bone tablets I had purchased from the vendor Strange Hours Atelier at the Fiber Fest in Wooster, OH this spring. I was a little nervous about weaving with these, since they have no markings to tell which side is which, but it is going quite well.

This is a simple 4 forward, 4 back pattern. I think I would want marked tablets for anything more complicated.