History

New Town celebrated 50th year
In January 1951, New Town was nothing more than a stubble field with only one small building located on what today is Main Street. It's come a long way since then.

Creation of the Garrison Dam and reservoir meant that several communities in southern Mountrail County and on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation would be flooded by water – including Elbowoods, Sanish and the Southern end of Van Hook.

Officials from the communities of Van Hook and Sanish gathered and eventually decided that one new modern town with water and sewer facilities would be better than two little villages and a plan was formulated. The suggested name for this new town was Sanhook.

In September of that year, state and local officials broke ground at the proposed town site and construction of roads, streets and real estate began. Will all the activity in the area, signs were placed proclaiming "This way to the new town," or "This is the site of the new town to be made up of Van Hook and Sanish." Thus, its name.

By 1955, New Town's population had grown to 1,400 residents and the number of businesses in town exceeded those of Van Hook and Sanish combined. The discovery of oil in the vicinity led to even further development in the community and throughout the region.

Van Hook still exists today, although few year-round residents reside there. It is considered one of the top fishing spots on the lake. The portions of Sanish that did not move to the New Town site relocated on a bluff that overlooks the Four Bears Bridge. The site of old Sanish is now the New Town Marina.

Today, New Town is located on State Highway 23 near the crossing of Lake Sakakawea by the Four Bears Bridge and boast a population of nearly 2,000. Progress slowed slightly over the years but still remains steady today. It is a haven for recreation opportunities and draws thousands of visitors for hunting, fishing, and lake activities every year. The construction of Four Bears Casino and Lodge less than a decade ago also draws people from all over the United States and Canada each year.

Today, New Town is considered one of the fastest growing small towns in North Dakota. It remains one of the most popular recreation spots in the state, boasting camping and picnic shelters, a beautiful 9-hole grass green golf course that overlooks the lake and a Main Street bustling with business and industry.

Fort Berthold Reservation
Original boundaries established by Fort Laramie Treaty in 1851 about – 13 million acres- the Missouri, the Heart, the Yellowstone, the Powder River and the Black Hills were the original boundaries. Present land base is about ½ million acres.

Fort Berthold, originally a fur trading post at Like-a-Fishhook Village, was named after Bartholomew Berthold from St. Louis. He was a member of a prominent fur trading family in the mid 1850’s. The fort was eventually turned over to the Government and today the Bureau of Indian Affairs still calls the Agency Fort Berthold.

The Three Affiliated Tribes
The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara are the three tribes who live on the Fort Berthold Reservation. The Mandan and Hidatsa have had a long association going back to the Heart River (Slant Village south of Mandan) in the early 1700’s. Toward the end of the 1700’s, the Mandan and Hidatsa moved to the Knife River Area (near Stanton). There were 5 large earthlodge villages there with a population of over 2,000. This is where the Lewis and Clark Expedition came in October 1804, and built Fort Mandan, where they stayed over the winter of 1804-1805. This was a great trade area where furs, corn, flint, and other items were traded.

In 1837, the terrible smallpox epidemic struck and nearly wiped out the Mandan and Hidatsa Tribes. Those who were left banded together and moved to Like-a-Fishhook Village in 1845.  Several years later, about 1862, the Arikara moved upstream and joined them. The Three Tribes have been together ever since.

The Treaty of 1866 (with the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara) provided that the Government would furnish livestock and farm implements. Since the Three Tribes were always agricultural, growing large fields of corn and other vegetables, the quickly became successful farmers and ranchers. Around 1891, the Indian people began moving to tracts of land upstream in the areas, which would eventually become Elbowoods, Independence, Lucky Mound, etc. The Fort Berthold Agency moved from Like-A-Fishhook Village in about 1892 and the new area was called Elbowoods.

A very successful farming and ranching industry was established in the Missouri River Valley. Most families owned cattle and horses. The Garrison Dam was built in the late 1940’s. By 1953, 350 families moved out of the Missouri River Valley to other areas on higher ground. The waters of the Garrison Dam flooded 155,000 acres of prime agricultural land. This is how the tribes came to live in the New Town area.

The Three Tribes adopted a Constitution and Bylaws in 1936 and formed their own Government known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. This constitution provided for a Tribal Business Council elected by members of the tribe. Today, the Tribal Business Council still operates under this Constitution. The present Tribal Administration Office, (built in the early 1980’s) by the 4 Bears Casino & Lodge, houses many of the Tribal Government programs.

Today, there are about 8,000 enrolled members of the Three Affiliated Tribes. This is an increase from the 3,000 members we had in 1956 at the time of the Garrison Dam. About ½ (or 3,500 to 4,000) live on the Reservation. Other tribal members live in almost every state in the Union and Canada.

The Name “Four Bears”
There were two prominent chiefs named Four Bears. The Mandan Chief Four Bears lived at the Knife River Village and died in 1837 of the Smallpox epidemic. There are several famous paintings by George Catlin in 1832 and Karl Bodmer in 1833 of the Chief Four Bears. The Hidatsa chief Four Bears lived at Like-A-Fishhook. He went to Fort Laramie in 1851 to the Great Treaty Council and signed on behalf of the Hidatsa people.  In the fall of 1861, the Hidatsa Four Bears, was killed by the Sioux while he was bathing in the river.

Four Bears Bridge
The Four Bears Bridge was built and dedicated in Elbowoods in 1934. It was named “the Four Bears Memorial Bridge” after both the Mandan and Hidatsa Chiefs. If you look closely when you drive across the bridge, you can see the plaques on each side. The bridge was dismantled in 1953 because of the Garrison Dam. It was moved to its present site shortly there after New Town was established. When it was built in the early 1930’s, there were very few cars, only Model T’s and Model A’s, which were quite small and didn’t travel very fast. Most of the Indian people crossed the bridge with horses and wagons. (Today you would have to have a pretty fast horse to get across the bridge without getting run over by someone heading to Bingo at the Casino!).

Four Bears Monuments
In addition to the Bridge, there are two other monuments to Four Bears. There is a monument to the Mandan Chief Four Bears, which stood on the west side of the river near the bridge in Elbowoods. This was a tall granite pillar with a plaque on it. This monument was moved to Twin Buttes and is now in front of the school. There is a monument to the Hidatsa Chief Four Bears also called the Fort Laramie Monument. It used to stand in front of the Agency building in Elbowoods.  In 1953 it was moved to a high hill near the site of New Sanish overlooking the river, however it was vandalized and nearly destroyed. The statue of the Indian on top of the monument was stolen, as was the wrought iron fence that surrounded the pillar. After the Museum was built, the monument was moved to the front of the Museum, where it now stands.

The Four Bears Park Area
In 1953, shortly after the relocation, the Tribal Council asked the Corps of Engineers, to let them use the land which was in the “taking area” along the lake, for ceremonial grounds, campsites and rodeo grounds. The land area now known as Four Bears Park was one of the spots requested by the Tribe since they owned the adjacent land. That is why the Museum, Pow-Wow grounds, Casino, IHS and Tribal Office were built in this area. The Museum was always on Tribal land but the land where the Casino is, was in the “taking area” and under the control of the Corps of Engineers. For many years, the Tribe worked to secure a trade of the land where the Casino stands for other lands, which the tribe owned but were being flooded by the waters of the dam. Finally in 1991, this exchange was accomplished and the Tribe now owns this land. That is why the Tribe was able to build the Casino there. If it were still on the Corps of Engineers land, the Tribe wouldn’t have been able to build a Casino in that location.

The Three Tribes Museum
The Museum was built in 1964 as a place to preserve the heritage of the Three Affiliated Tribes and to display the culture and history of this area. Some of the funds to build the museum came form the Helen Gough Estate. Helen Gough was an enrolled member who owned several oil wells in McKenzie County. Oil was discovered in the Williston Basin field in the early 1950’s. Shortly thereafter, several wells were developed on the Reservation. Several of these belonged to Helen Gough. She passed away in 1963 but left provisions in her will to build the Museum and for scholarship funds.

The Fort Berthold Veterans’ Monument
The Fort Berthold Indians, like most American Indians, are extremely patriotic. Two years after the Agreement of 1866 was signed at Like-a-Fishhook Village, Ten Arikaras joined the Army as Scouts. Several were with General Custer and Reno at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. One of the Scouts, Bloody Knife, was killed at the side of Major Reno. Many singed up thereafter and served as scouts at Fort Lincoln and Fort Buford. About thirty members served in WWI and many others followed in WWII, Vietnam, and so on. The Veteran’s posts on Fort Berthold are named – the Younghawk Bear Post, the Myron Johnson Post, Badgun Post and etc. The Fort Berthold Veteran’ Monument was dedicated on May 16, 1987.  It is in front of the museum and has been the site of several military ceremonies.

Hidatsa Earthlodge
The Earthlodge was constructed in 1996 by a number of people in the area. Dennis Fox Jr. was instrumental in planning and supervising the building. Our tribes lived in these Earthlodge structures for centuries along the Missouri River.

Indian Health Services
As part of the treaties and agreement between the U.S. Government and Indian tribes, health services are to be provided to Indian people. This was in exchange for the many lands given up by the Indian people for things such as the railroad, homesteading, roads, reservoirs, and etc. The I.H.S. (Indian Health Services) Clinic (Minne-Tohe) meaning Blue Water was built in the 1960’s. Before that a small outpatient clinic was maintained at the BIA office in New Town. A wide range of health services are provided including a dialysis unit, social services, mental health, specialty clinics such as diabetes, wellness, and women and child programs.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition
As mentioned earlier, Lewis and Clark and their company of about thirty men arrived at the Knife River Village in October 1804. With the group was York, William Clark’s servant. He was the first black man seen by the Indians. The Expedition also had a black lab accompany them on their journey, his name was Scannon. The white men built Fort Mandan and spent the winter there. In April 1805, they left Fort Mandan and continued up the Missouri River. Along with them were Sakakawea (the Bird Woman) and her infant son, Baptiste. They passed the present site of the Four Bears Park on April 15, 1805. When they returned form their journey to the Pacific Northwest, they split up at Lolo Pass. William Clark went to the Yellowstone River and Captain Lewis continued on the northern route. They were to reunite at what is now the Williston area (where the Yellowstone and Missouri meet). Captain Clark arrived there first, but the mosquitoes were so bad that he left a note on a tree for Captain Lewis, therefore they would continue downstream and await his arrival. At about 1  p.m. on August 12, 1806, Captains Lewis and Clark reunited at a point about six miles south of the Casino. For that reason this area is called Reunion Point. When they arrived back at the Knife River Village, one of the Mandan Chiefs (Big White also known as She-he-ke) returned to Washington with them. After about three years he returned to the Knife River Village.

Crow Flies High Lookout Point
This butte is named after Chief Crow Flies High, who was the last to surrendered to the U.S. Government from this area. Crow Flies High is from the Hidatsa Tribe. He led his people in and around eastern Montana, southern Saskatchewan and western North Dakota before his surrender.

Thunder Butte
This butte is also called Table Butte. The Hidatsa Tribe considers the legend behind this butte very sacred. It is considered the resting-place of the Mythical Thunderbird.

The story behind the new 4 Bears logo
4 Bears Casino & Lodge is named after the great Mandan Chief Four Bears. Who lived in the 1800’s and died of Small Pox. Carl Bodmer a great European painter of that time depicted Chief Four Bears in his full Ceremonial wear and robe. In1985, 4 Bears Casino & Lodge commissioned Three Affiliated Tribes member Kathy Whitman, also known as Elk Woman to recreate the Bodmer painting. Two key elements from Bodmer and Whitman’s paintings were used in 4 Bears’ new logo.

The bear was originally an element of Four Bears’ Ceremonial robe. Four Bears was known for his great courage.  The ceremonial robe depicted a bear with a spear in its side. Four Bears once killed a bear with a spear, which taking great courage as this fierce animal could not be killed with a single spear by most men.

 The red hand was on Four Bears’ ceremonial robe, it honored Four Bears’ abilities for defeating his enemies in hand to hand combat.

The sun stands for Four Bears’ leadership and care for his people as the sun brings life to the earth. Four Bears was a life giving force to his Tribe.

Other elements include, background buttes and water which signify the various Buttes and Lake Sakakawea, which surround 4 Bears Casino & Lodge.

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