“Though Yahweh is high, yet he sees the lowly, but the proud he perceives at a
distance.” Psalm 138:6
As the Missouri River
wound its way across Montana into the hills and razorbacks of northwest North
Dakota in the 1860s, it brought steamers carrying passengers and freight across
the plains toward the more populated east. There was a post at Like-a-Fishhook
Village on the Fort Berthold Reservation. From atop the second story of the
young missionary’s chapel, the towers of the stockade or atop the Native’s
larger earth lodges, one could see about six miles upriver. Once a steamer was
spotted, people knew they had 20 minutes to prepare to meet the ship to board
it or load cargo.
