Moving to Fort Totten: Pros, Cons & What to Know
Moving to Fort Totten means moving to a real community on the Spirit Lake Reservation near Devils Lake -- this record discloses the community's real, current picture, and its real, documented history, honestly rather than through stereotype or omission.
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Learn moreFort Totten's setting and tribal role
Fort Totten is a real tribal-headquarters site of the Spirit Lake Tribe (Dakota Sioux), near Devils Lake, North Dakota's largest natural lake, and is home to Cankdeska Cikana Community College, a public tribal land-grant college (base record).
A real, disclosed, difficult history honestly told
Fort Totten was built in 1867 as a U.S. Army post and was converted in 1890 into a federal American Indian boarding school that operated until 1935, with enrollment sometimes topping 400 -- Dakota children from Spirit Lake were its first students, later joined by Chippewa children from Turtle Mountain. The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the State Historical Society of North Dakota have recently partnered to investigate this history further, including a search for the remains of children who did not return home -- disclosed here directly and without sensationalizing it (base record).
A real, current historic site distinct from present-day community life
The former post today operates as the Fort Totten State Historic Site, a heritage-tourism and educational site administered by the State Historical Society of North Dakota, distinct from the community's present-day residential and institutional life (base record).
Real, disclosed current economic realities
This record discloses Fort Totten's own genuinely elevated poverty rate (approximately 41.7%) and genuinely low median household income directly, alongside the real, current institutional presence of Cankdeska Cikana Community College and the wider Spirit Lake Reservation's own economic-development context (base record).
Key takeaways
- Fort Totten serves as a real, current tribal-headquarters site of the Spirit Lake Tribe near Devils Lake.
- Cankdeska Cikana Community College, a public tribal land-grant college, anchors local education and employment.
- The site's real, documented 1890-1935 history as a federal Indian boarding school is disclosed honestly, including a current investigative partnership between the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa and the State Historical Society.
- A real, substantial local poverty rate (~41.7%) is part of the current economic picture -- confirm current data directly with the Spirit Lake Tribe.
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