The Three Domes, Clay Bluffs 15 Miles above the Mandan Village

George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872 · 1832

“This is, perhaps, one of the most grand and beautiful scenes of the kind to be met with in this country, owing to the perfect appearance of its several huge domes, turrets, and towers . . . These stupendous works are produced by the continual washing down of the sides of these clay-formed hills; and although, in many instances, their sides, by exposure, have become so hardened, that their change is very slow; yet they are mostly subjected to continual phases, more or less, until ultimately their decomposition ceases, and their sides becoming seeded and covered with a green turf, which protects and holds them (and will hold them) unalterable: with carpets of green, and enamelled with flowers, to be gazed upon with admiration, by the hardy voyageur and the tourist, for ages and centuries to come.” George Catlin sketched this landscape during a voyage on the Missouri River in 1832. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 1, no. 10, 1841; reprint 1973)