Fort Berthold Indian Reservation

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The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is a U.S. Indian reservation in North Dakota that is home for the Three Affiliated Tribes which consists of the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa peoples. The reservation was created by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 with nearly 12 million acres (49,000 km²) in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The current incarnation was created in 1870 by the U.S. government and is located on the Missouri River in McKenzie, Mountrail, Ward, McLean, Mercer and Dunn counties. The reservation presently consists of 988,000 acres (4,000 km²) of which 457,837 acres (1,448 km²) are owned by Native Americans, either as allotted land or directly by the tribe.

The population of the reservation was 3776 out of 8400 registered tribe members. Unemployment was at 42%.

In 1951 with the construction of Garrison Dam approximately a quarter of the reservation was flooded to create Lake Sakakawea. This flooding required the reservation seat in New Town to be moved to its present location. The current reservation now hosts a casino built in 1993 in New Town as well as the new Four Bears Bridge which has just opened in 2005.

The 2000 census reported a population of 5,915 persons living on a land area of 3,415.923 km² (1,318.895 sq mi). With the creation of Lake Sakakawea there is also a very significant amount of water area on the reservation, amounting to 683.182 km² (263.778 sq mi) or one-sixth of the reservation's surface area. Its largest communities are the cities of New Town and Parshall.