The area of where Hettinger, North Dakota took root had a rich history even before the town began. The land was hunting ground for the Cheyenne, Sioux, Crow, Arikara and Mandan people. Frontiersmen traveled on the nearby Cedar and Grand rivers. The story of Hugh Glass the mountain man took place south of Hettinger near today’s Lemmon, South Dakota. Glass’s mates abandoned him after he was attacked by a bear, but according to legend, he survived after limping more than 200 miles to Fort Kiowa.