August 7, 2009

August 7, 2009

Our friendly camp host last night gave us a rundown of the tourist sites in the area. One not on our radar was his former employer, the Great Plains Synfuels plant. When he said they give tours every weekday, I was hooked. That is our destination this morning and luckily we don’t have to backtrack west too far. This chemical plant takes local lignite coal and converts it to synthetic natural gas. The only other commercial coal gasification plant in the world is in South Africa. Born in the years following the oil embargo, the plant went bankrupt soon after opening when oil and natural gas prices plummeted. With DOE help, this plant hung on. There is no tour of the actual plant. It all occurs around a room-size scale model of the plant. Most of the tour of the complicated chemical process was given by a flip-flop wearing young girl who was surprisingly knowledgeable. Fortunately a retiree was also on the tour with some friends and was able to fill in some answers. Disappointingly no photography was allowed since the process details are secret. Apparently they haven’t got the message that nobody has any desire to build another one of these white elephants.

After the hour tour, we drive east a short distance to the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site. When Lewis and Clark paddled past this area, the Missouri River here was lined with Indian Villages of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes. At that time the Indians lived in large earthlodge clusters. Nothing remains of the villages except open fields crowded with depressions where the lodges stood. The Indians were wiped out with the small pox epidemic of 1837. The site turns out to be a big disappointment. The morning tour was cancelled because a ranger failed to show for work. Apparently the other rangers can’t fill in. The film and interpretative center were also weak, not providing a lot of history. Most of what we learned came from our next stop. The one highlight was learning that Sacagawea lived in the village we walked atop.

Downriver a short way is the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center. The Corps of Discovery spent their first winter here living among the Mandan and Hidatsas. It is a good follow-up to the National Park site. The Mandan and Hidatsas, a hunting and agricultural people, lived here because of a local flint quarry. With their monopoly of the flint source, they were able to trade with other tribes for a broad range of goods. Also included in the admission is a tour of Lewis and Clark’s recreated Fort Mandan. It is also well done and gives a good glimpse into their winter quarters.