Fort Stevenson State Park

We did some sightseeing in the area.  There is a state park just south of Garrison on the lake.  It is on the site of where an old fort was in the 1800's.  The fort was active from just after the civil war until the late 1800's.  They have rebuilt the old guard house and turned it into a museum.  It is a great place to learn about the history along the Missouri River.  Before the dams were put in  -- the river was usually too high or too low.  They used keel boats to get up river and then finally steamboats.  The survivors (mostly wounded soldiers) of the Battle at Little Bighorn (Custers disaster) fled by steamboat and Fort Stevenson was the first safe place they went. 

The fort was originally built to protect the native Americans in the area.  This is the opposite of why most forts were built.  The government put three tribes together on reservations that were mortal enemies of each other.  The museum had artifacts from the natives as well as the military.   There were paintings that depicted fort life painted by a self taught native American artist.  All kinds of guns and cannons used by the military were on display.   When the fort was decommissioned in the late 1800's everything was auctioned off.  Many locals bought up the stuff and over the years have donated it back to the museum.  For its small size it was packed with lots of informative stuff.  Well worth the entrance fee of five dollars plus we checked out the campground.  Very nice paved, level sites with water and electric.