(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to "Prairie Pulse."

Coming up a little bit later in the show, we'll learn about the struggles and successes of women in the military.

But first, joining me now is our guest, the Site Supervisor at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Washburn, North Dakota, Dana Morrison.

Dana, thanks for joining us today.

- Thank you very much for having me.

- Well, as we get started, tell us a little bit about yourself and your background maybe.

- Oh, I grew up in Northeastern North Dakota, just outside of Cavalier, it's where I went to high school.

Grew up from a long line of farmers, my dad is a farmer currently, and I went to college in the Twin Cities, studied history with a minor in journalism, and then I moved out here to Bismarck in August of 2015, to begin working as a year-round temporary employee at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.

And have spent the last 10 years living in this community, working at the Interpretive Center.

I live in Bismarck, so I commute and listen to podcasts throughout the day, and I'm involved in the local theater community as well.

So on my off time, I still present to people like I do up at the Interpretive Center, but as a different character, which has been really fun to connect with people in the community here.

- Well, good.

Well let's start off with, tell the folks, what is the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center?

- The Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center is a museum just on the outskirts of Washburn, North Dakota.

The museum was built in 1997, as a way to bring people in to the Lewis and Clark story.

And it is an interpretive center that not only talks about Lewis and Clark's expedition, but we also talk about other North Dakota history that happened in that area, including a few artists that came through, the fur trade, we talk about agriculture and we have rotating exhibits as well.

So it's a gathering place for travelers to learn about this region, what happened here.

We draw people in with the Lewis and Clark story since it is a national story, and then we tell them more about what happened in this area over the course of really thousands of years when we bring in the indigenous people that were first here.

- Yeah.

With that said, you said built in 97, it's a beautiful spot and a beautiful view sitting there at the Conservative Center, but you know, I understand the focus is primarily on the winter of 1804 and 1805.

Can you tell the people exactly why that winter is so important?

- Well, Lewis and Clark had three winter forts as they were traveling.

They had a gathering spot at Camp Dubois, which is in present day, Illinois.

They had one on the far west coast just outside of Astoria, Oregon, but they had a spot in what became North Dakota called Fort Mandan, and that's what we focus on at our site as well.

It was a very important winter for the Lewis and Clark expedition.

If you visit other Lewis and Clark sites, there's always this debate on where the Lewis and Clark journey started.

Did it start in Camp Dubois?

Did it start further out east as they were gathering their materials and the idea formed under President Jefferson?

We like to get in on that argument too, that our site is really where the expedition started as we know it, as the important story that we have.

One of the reasons is, there's a large group of people that are staying in and had built Fort Mandan, but then after that winter is over, a group of them go back east.

So our site, Fort Mandan is where the permanent party forms and those are the people's story that we hear much more about.

Probably the most important addition to the expedition is their meeting of Sacagawea, this is where they met her.

They first met her husband who came to the fort to offer his services to help in the translation line.

He could speak French and Hidatsa, so when they were trying to communicate with the indigenous tribes, he would be part of that chain.

But his biggest contribution ended up being married to Sacagawea and apart from Lewis and Clark, she is certainly the most recognizable person.

And getting to meet her and getting to take her along, it's irreplaceable for them in their story.

I don't think they quite understood the gravity of meeting her, but she certainly showed her worth many times throughout the expedition.

- Well, absolutely, as a young person in probably junior high or whatever, history Sacagawea is what we remember maybe as much as Lewis and Clark.

Site supervisor.

What exactly do you do?

I mean, do you give tours or what do you do as Site Supervisor?

- I do give some tours.

That's where I started.

I was giving tours all the time in my first role at the Interpretive Center.

Now I don't do that quite as much.

I will still give tours, it's definitely the most fun that I get to have as part of my job, but as Site Supervisor, I am coordinating working with our maintenance supervisor any repairs that are going on.

We are part of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, our site is currently under that, and so I work with employees from the Heritage Center to work on improving our site.

It's all about making sure that our site is presentable to the public and for visitors that come.

And so I try to look at those details to make sure that it's a very welcoming space for our visitors.

- Well, with that said, if someone comes out to the Interpretive Center, what will they actually see on the tour?

- So up at the Interpretive Center, it is more of a self-guided experience with our interpreters roving.

So walking around to be there to answer questions and to provide insight of what they're looking at.

So as I mentioned earlier, we do have a lot of different galleries.

We talk about Lewis and Clark, fur trade, agriculture and so there's a lot to experience and as a means to enhance that for our visitors, we have a lot of interactive elements because that tangible is really going to sit deeper and make it a more memorable experience.

So as people will walk through, they'll notice these wooden trunks that we have and we invite people to open them up and explore them.

You can dress up if you're into that.

We've got toys and games for kids that are directly connected to our site themes.

So we like to make it a very interactive experience for visitors.

- Okay.

You've mentioned Fort Mandan a few times.

Tell us more about that.

Expand on what people can see or do there.

- Yeah, so we have a second location, which is two miles down a frontage road from our Interpretive Center, and that'll be the reconstruction of Fort Mandan.

The reconstruction was built in the early 1970s, so older than our Interpretive Center, and it was built by the local community in Washburn as a memorial piece to what was built in nearly 200 years before.

And so it's a true to scale replica of the fourth at Lewis and Clark, and the men built and stayed in for that winter of 1804, 1805, and that will be very interactive for our visitors as well.

Because the structure is a replica and we furnish it with replica items that allows our visitors to touch things, pick them up, get a closer look and really dive into the experience of the fort.

And Fort Mandan is gonna be a guided experience for our visitors, so they can get a lot more information and get some context of what life was like during their winter stay.

- You mentioned, I think you said that it was built in 97, but then State Historical Society took it over in 2021.

- [Dana] Correct.

- What were the differences there?

I mean?

- So it was a private foundation before, that's who built it up and got all of the resources that we have.

So they did a lot of great work over their time managing the site, and now we're under the state, which allows for more stability and it's reassuring to have the state be able to give resources and like I said, provide some of that stability.

- Well, with that said, let's go back to it.

You have art collections, I believe, on display.

Can you tell us about those?

- Yeah.

Under the work of the foundation, they were very diligent in collecting art collections to present to people.

So some of the other subjects that we talk about outside of Lewis and Clark, we talk about Prince Maximilian and Karl Bodmer, which was a expedition that came after Lewis and Clark followed their trail into present day Montana and back, so didn't quite make it the whole way.

But their big contribution is Karl Bodmer was a Swiss artist and for everything that Lewis and Clark did, all of their journaling, all of their notes, they only had a few sketches in their journals.

Karl Bodmer coming about 25 years later, really brought what was out here to life for people.

And so he created a collection of 81 pieces, their 81 aquatints.

And we have a rotating display of them in our galleries.

So no matter when you visit, you can always see a few of his aquatints.

Every once in a while we get all 81 up, which just kind of takes over our whole museum and it's pretty impressive.

Karl Bodmer's counterpart is gonna be George Catlin and he might be a little more familiar to people.

He has quite a few images in the National Gallery out in Washington DC and we're lucky enough to have a collection of his as well, which is George Catlin's hunting scenes and amusements.

So he depicts exactly what it says, hunting scenes that he was part of or witnessed, and then some of the games that the indigenous people are playing and they're here about the same time and they're two very different styles of artistry, which is fun to compare and contrast.

And then we do also have other art collections, including Michael Haynes, who is a modern day western artist who did a beautiful watercolor collection of Lewis and Clark's work.

And we have some local as well that are featured in our galleries.

- Well, that is a lot.

So what would people see this summer?

Or does it rotate every few weeks?

- It's pretty set for the summer.

- [John] Okay.

- We do have that Karl Bodmer collection, and we do have George Catlin's works up as well, so that'll be in our temporary gallery.

And then, not up this summer, but pretty soon we are working on a guns of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

So if you visit us this summer, you will see some display cases in the back that are prepped and ready to be filled, and we're really excited for that to open.

- You know, why is the Lewis and Clark story so important to America?

- I think there's a few different answers to that.

You get the exploration side, which I think Americans have always been really intrigued by.

You know, there's the race for space and there's deep sea ocean exploration.

There's just this drive that Americans have to explore and learn.

And then I love the Lewis and Clark story for the coming together of so many different people to make this one journey work seamlessly.

You know, I talked about the meeting Sacagawea, and then her husband is a French fur trapper, and you have members of the expedition that come from all sorts of different backgrounds and they're meeting dozens of different indigenous tribes that they have to connect with.

Clark has an enslaved man, so you have a Black man on the expedition.

Lewis has a dog, a Newfoundland dog that he travels with.

And just the sense of comradery and working together, they were a military expedition.

So I think Americans can really connect with that as well, of all of these people coming from different backgrounds for a common goal that they were able to complete, not only successfully, but over and above, I think, what President Jefferson wanted from this expedition.

- Well, you mentioned indigenous people and of course, the opening of the West, well, it kind of meant the eventual devastation for indigenous peoples.

Do you tell that side of the story as well?

- If we naturally come to it with a group, we do get people asking about that.

And what is Lewis and Clark's legacy on that end of things?

Certainly Lewis and Clark were coming into territory that they knew they didn't, it's not their home, they're trying to make a good impression.

But it's undeniable what came after, even if that wasn't Lewis and Clark's intention during our fur trade exhibit that we have, our permanent exhibit, we do talk about the smallpox outbreak that happened in the 1820s, which happened as a direct result of contact with Euro Americans coming to the area.

So it's nothing we shy away from.

We don't always present it on the forefront, but we're not shy about, having those conversations either.

- Okay.

How many employees and volunteers do you have at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center?

- So we have six year round employees, and of course, just the nature of our job, we're much busier in the summer, so we have also six seasonal employees, both interpretive and maintenance.

- [John] Okay.

- We do get volunteers every once in a while.

We've had volunteers, especially through our school tour season, which is pretty much the month of May, and we've had volunteers for various events as well that have come and gone and they've been a huge help as well.

- How many visitors do you get per year?

What do you expect for this season kind of thing?

- We're around, 12 to 15,000 typically a year, which is always exciting to welcome people from all over, and we're on trend for that as well this year.

- Yeah.

So where do most visitors come from?

Are they just from North Dakota or from where?

- They're from all over.

We have a couple of maps that we keep track of where visitors are from at our front desk.

And I think this time, at this time of year, we're only missing two states and we've got about five to six countries that people are coming from.

From Japan, from South Africa, from different European countries.

So it's a lot of fun to have people from all over the world come to Washburn, North Dakota to learn about Lewis and Clark.

- What are your hours, I mean, do they change in the summer or what?

Yeah.

- Yep.

So during the summer, so from May through September, we are open seven days a week, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM so you can always come and find us.

And then on our off season, we are closed on Sundays and Mondays still open nine to five.

- Okay.

Can you tell us maybe one or two things that maybe surprise visitors when they come?

- I think my favorite thing is, we are also advertised as a 24 hour rest area, so you can always visit our site, if you need a break, and those visitors that don't know that we're a museum, they'll look of wonder as they walk into our site, they were just looking for a bathroom and then all of a sudden here's all of this information and this history that they can engage in.

I think another thing that people are surprised at at our site, is just how long they stayed in Fort Mandan.

Fort Mandan is where they spent the longest amount in one spot.

It was all dependent on the weather, but it has a lot of historical significance for their expedition, and a lot happened during that winter that we get to tell people about.

- I noticed a smile on your face, but Dana, what is the best part of your job?

It seems to come out in.

- Just meeting with people from all over the world.

You know, I have a passion for history, I've worked at the site for 10 years and I still get excited to tell the Lewis and Clark story and to be able to have that connection person to person, there's nothing like it.

- Yeah.

Well, if people want more information, if they wanna find out more, where can they go?

Who can they contact?

- We have a Facebook page and Instagram, Lewis & Clark's Fort Mandan, if you search for us.

We do have a webpage under the Historical Society website as well.

So if you Google us, Lewis & Clark, Fort Mandan, Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center will have a page under there and you can always just give us a call, we're happy to chat with you, about anything you wanna know.

- Okay.

Well, Dana, thanks so much for joining us today.

- [Dana] Thank you.

- Stay tuned for more.

(soft music) The roles of women in the US Armed Forces have changed dramatically over the years.

For a female in the military, choosing a career where one would be surrounded by men brings both challenges and rewards.

Watch as two Minnesota veterans tell their stories of struggle and success.

- From this point moving forward, training, when we giving you instruction your only response would be, "Yes, Drill Sergeant, "No Drill Sergeant."

Am I understood?

- [Army Officers] Yes, Drill Sergeant.

- You know, when you're surrounded by a lot more men than women.

Men who can do a lot more pushups than you, can do a lot more sit-ups and can run faster, I feel like there was kind of a challenge, but at the same time, I've always, felt that men and women are different.

So I never felt pressure to be more than what I was or to match or compete.

It definitely pushed me to go harder.

(soft music) - I grew up a farm girl.

The physical pieces of being in the military was not a big deal.

I enjoyed it, basic training was actually the funnest time of my time in the service.

Getting to do obstacles and different things like that.

Physically, it wasn't challenging for me at all.

It was more, I grew up in a small rural community where everybody knew me as Mindy and all of a sudden I went to the military where I am one of the only women.

(soft music) And so it was a very unique experience with the different cultures, different backgrounds of people.

I have never experienced that amount of male attention, I would say before.

Some of it largely inappropriate and not knowing how to handle it.

(soft music) - I felt protection.

We had a bunch of big brothers and big uncles kind of looking out for you and wherever you go, I mean, there are people that don't do that.

Doesn't matter what field you're in.

So there were some that were more protective of you than others and looked out for you more than others.

But I never really felt like I was discriminated against because of my gender.

I feel like there has been a little bit more acceptance on women being able to fill some of those roles that maybe they didn't in the past.

Women are doing truck driving and maintenance on vehicles and it's probably come a long way as far as what women are capable and able to do.

Our mission on a regular basis was to just load up these trucks and bring stuff from point A to B and survive.

My job was the weapons and making sure they were clean, making sure that they were functional and all that stuff.

I don't know if it was a job that I necessarily was wanting, but I really enjoyed doing it because I had my own arms room, I had my own way of doing things, my own system.

I did feel like it was a very important job.

If any of those weapons went out and they malfunctioned, I would've felt like that was on me.

(truck engine revving) I was on a convoy and we got some small arms fire, which the direction when we get small arms fires we just blow through, we just keep on going.

The only time we stop is if, there's a casualty.

(guns firing) I think it really kind of awakened us to the reality of this is war.

This isn't just missions, we literally could die out here.

(soft music) I got home, I actually moved in with my mom in the very beginning, that was just kind of the plan all along.

And she was growing concerned because I was, up all night and sleeping all day, and she made a couple of comments that I was different, that I had changed.

And I went to a veteran therapist who said, it's probably PTSD related.

So then I kind of started down that road of like, okay, well let's try to fix and figure this out.

What ended up really pulling me out of depression or anxiety, or just the life that I was living, I think it was my faith.

I think my faith grew really strong.

(soft music) As a woman, sometimes we get in this mindset of we need to prove something.

We need to prove who we are, we need to prove our value.

And men and women, although we're different, we're equal in value and what we do matters and what we do makes a difference.

Whether we're doing as many pushups or not doing as many pushups, or whether we're at the front lines or not at the front lines.

(soft music) What we're doing matters, it makes a difference.

(soft music) - Fort Hood Texas was my first duty station.

It was the first day at my duty station when I in-processed that I was sexually assaulted.

(soft music) As a 20-year-old young woman, limited experiences outside of here, it was different.

I had in-processed late in the evening and the staff sergeant that in-processed me was my perpetrator.

(soft music) I still am not sure that I would've came forward with it, but he was going to be a Navy chaplain and had just graduated seminary school.

And I knew that if I didn't say anything that there would be other women.

But that investigation took six months and so I was stuck in Fort Hood for six months now feeling like I'm wearing a scarlet letter and a little bit scared of retribution.

After I came forward, 13 other women also came forward.

(soft music) And then it turned into drinking more alcohol as well, I ended up really developing an addiction.

And so for me, there was a lot of challenges, I would say during that time, that wasn't related to being deployed.

It was just related to a lot of different things that had accumulated over time.

When I got back out of the service, I had came back to this area here in Bagley and I started going to AA meetings.

I started chairing AA meetings.

I started working in the jails with another gentleman doing AA meetings for females that were incarcerated.

And in the interim, like I decided I'm going back to school to use my GI Bill and all of those things.

And I took my first psychology course and I just lit up with passion.

(soft music) It does seem that veterans are a little more open to therapy with a veteran, and I've had several on my caseload that I think it's been incredibly beneficial because I can speak their language and I can empathize and I can understand, and they don't feel like they're gonna break me.

I have a nickname at work, they call me, the Velvet Hammer because the like they say, "You're smooth but effective."

Because I am very blunt, they joke around and say, "I use like trucker speak to connect with people."

But I can use all the intelligent words as well but I just be very genuine and very real and that I think connects, you know, more than anything.

(soft music) I think that there's definitely a lot more women that are in leadership now than probably were before.

I remember when I went through AIT, we had one female drill sergeant, but really it was male predominant and now they have drill sergeants that are females.

You have commanders that are females, you have first sergeants that are females.

And so I think that as time has went on with more women being in the military, they have risen up to the ranks and taken roles of leadership and really supported other female military members.

So I think that that's a good thing.

(soft music) I can definitively say, that the struggles and the suffering that I have endured has made me strong.

So my goal in life, is just to give people hope.

(soft music) - Well, that's all we have for "Prairie Pulse" this week.

And as always, thanks for watching.

(soft music) - [Narrator] Funded by, the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008.

(soft music) And by the members of Prairie Public.

(soft music)