Download or read book Reconstructing Fort Union written by John Austin Matzko and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2001-01-01 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Here is the Crow-Flies-High band of Hidatsa, who lived on the site in the late nineteenth century; here is the "wild west" town of Mondak, founded in 1904 to peddle alcohol to North Dakotans; and here are the Park Service personnel, whose mission to preserve what is left of the historic fort puts them in direct conflict with civic leaders who want the entire site reconstructed to draw more tourists. Matzko chronicles the struggle, with all the political plays, bureaucratic snags, and chance twists that led to the reconstructionists' victory - and to one of the largest archaeological excavations ever mounted by the National Park Service.