Life was not easy at the Fort Clark fur trading post back in the 1830s. The fort was located on the Missouri river near present-day Washburn and it was a major economic center. The post manager, Francis Chardon, kept a journal, describing the cold weather, the fur trade, tribal activities, and the devastating smallpox epidemic. He also kept a regular tally of how many rats he had killed!
Perhaps the disease outbreak in North Dakota’s history was the smallpox epidemic that all but destroyed the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara peoples. In June of 1837, infected passengers aboard a steamboat spread the deadly virus up and down the Missouri River.
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The history of smallpox in North Dakota spans centuries. The terrible disease devastated the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara people in 1781. Years later, in 1804 along the Missouri River near the mouth of the Heart River, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark saw earth lodge villages abandoned due to the duel threats of smallpox and Yanktonai raids.
In 1837, a steamboat stopping at Fort Clark near present-day Washburn, North Dakota, carried passengers infected with smallpox. The virus tore through the Native people living near the trading post. Ninety percent of the Mandans died, as well as half of the Hidatsas and Arikaras.
Fort Clark’s manager documented the epidemic in his journal, writing “(Where) the disease will stop, I Know not.” He wrote that the mounting deaths also included suicides, and noted that the Native people blamed the whites for the epidemic. Smallpox all but destroyed the tribes.