Matootonha

Matootonha, also called Mitutanka, was a Mandan village on the Missouri below the mouth of the Knife River. Its people lived in earthlodges and cultivated the fertile river bottoms. The village belonged to a network of Mandan and Hidatsa communities whose farms and trade made this stretch of the upper Missouri a meeting place for peoples from across the Plains.

In October 1804 the Lewis and Clark expedition reached Matootonha, where Sheheke, known to the visitors as Big White, was a leading chief. The expedition built Fort Mandan nearby for the winter. Mandan knowledge, food and diplomacy helped the travelers endure the season and prepare for their journey upriver. The encounter placed the village at the center of a new relationship with the United States while its inhabitants continued to maintain their own established connections.