Details

Collection Summary
Collection: 1952 - Frank Bennett Fiske
Folder: 0000
Item: 00028
Title: All that remains of Old Fort Rice
Date: 1900
Creator: Fiske, Frank Bennett,--1883-1952
Inscription/Marks: [in red gouache on negative emulsion] All that remains of Old Fort Rice [info By Kathy Weiser-Alexander, December 2017] Fort Rice (1864-1878) – This military post was established in July 1864 by General Alfred H. Sully as a field base for his summer expeditions. At this time, travel in the area was unsafe due to aggressive Indian attacks on the transportation routes. The U.S. Government, in an attempt to make both the land and river routes safe for travelers, sent General Sully and the 30th Wisconsin Infantry to build the post. The fort buildings were constructed of cottonwood logs cut from the banks of the nearby river and prairie sod for the buildings’ roofs. The Wisconsin infantry was later replaced by 1st US Volunteer Infantry, a group of soldiers comprised primarily of Confederate prisoners of war, familiarly known as “Galvanized Yankees,” who had agreed to assist the U.S. Army in the western Frontier instead of languishing in a Union prison. Life was rough at the fledgling fort, with soldiers suffering from severe cold and disease during the first year. Some 81 men died in the post’s first year; however, only seven of these deaths were due to hostile activity. The post served as the base of operations for General Sully from 1864-65 and later, was the location of several important Indian negotiations, which would eventually lead to the Fort Laramie Treaty. Fort Rice was abandoned in November 1878 when Fort Yates was built on the Standing Rock Agency. Located in present-day Morton County, 8/10 of a mile southeast of the town of Fort Rice, the no buildings mark the Fort Rice State Historic Site. However, in the 1940’s the Works Progress Administration (WPA) marked many of Fort Rice’s original foundations, and today there are maps and additional markers at the site.
Summary: Looking across field towards dark toned remains of brick foundation of a Fort Rice building. In the background are hills and buttes, some with farm buildings or homes.
Red ID: PH_I_15663 Image ID: 145817 Image Notes: 1952-00028

Collection: 1952 Digitized Images from Collection
Title: Frank Bennett Fiske
Date: 1880-1952

Summary: Includes prints and negatives of portraits, agriculture, education, wildlife, hunting, Frank Fiske studio portraits, and some views of South Dakota. Fiske’s Native American photographs include portraits, Indian gatherings and ceremonies, boarding schools, Indian houses and dwellings, and Native American agriculture. Fiske’s documentation of daily life on the reservation includes such shots as Sioux customers waiting for a Fort Yates trading store to open; a Sioux dance in the streets of Fort Yates; a plow issue before the agency boarding school; an encampment of tipis, including those traditionally painted; and three Indian men being taxied off the reservation to join the army in WWI.

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