Missouri was a region frequented by many tribes, rich in game, and one
from which the Hudson's Bay Company derived quantities of furs. The
Blackfeet, who, as already mentioned, occupied in recent years the
country about the headwaters of the Missouri, formerly lived farther
north, and about the close of the eighteenth century were encountered
near the Saskatchewan, neighbors of the Assiniboin and Cree. About the
year 1790 Mackenzie traversed the country, and wrote, regarding the
number and distribution of the tribes then claiming that northern
region: "At Nepawi, and South-Branch House, about thirty tents of
Knisteneaux, or ninety warriors; and sixty tents of Stone-Indians, or
Assiniboins, who are their neighbors, and are equal to two hundred men;
their hunting ground extends upwards to about Eagle Hills. Next to them
are those who trade at Forts George and Augustus, and are about eighty
tents or upwards of Knisteneaux: on either side of the river, their
number may be two hundred. In the same country are one hundred and forty
tents of Stone-Indians; not quite half of them inhabit the West woody
country; the others never leave the plains, and their numbers cannot be
less than four hundred and fifty men. At the Southern headwaters of the
North branch dwells a tribe called Sarsees, consisting of about
thirty-five tents, or one hundred and twenty men. Opposite to those
Eastward, on the head-waters of the South Branch, are the Picaneaux, to
the number of from twelve to fifteen hundred men. Next to them, on the
same water, are the Blood-Indians, of the same nation as the last, to
the number of about fifty tents, or two hundred and fifty men. From them
downwards extend the Black-Feet Indians, of the same nation as the two
last tribes; their number may be eight hundred men. Next to them, and
who extend to the confluence of the South and North branch, are the
Fall, or Big-bellied Indians, who may amount to about six hundred
warriors." (Mackenzie, (1), p. lxx.) "South-Branch House" of this
narrative stood between the north and south branches of the
Saskatchewan, near the present town of Dalmeny, in the Province of
Saskatchewan. The Picaneaux, who probably possessed from 200 to 300
skin-covered lodges, were the Piegan, the Piekann Indians of Maximilian,
whose village as it appeared in 1833 was painted by Bodmer. Likewise the
Fall or Big-bellied Indians, whose habitat about the year 1790 was near
the junction of the two branches of the Saskatchewan, were the Atsina,
the Gros Ventres of the Prairie, and their village or camp in 1790 was
probably quite similar to the one visited by Maximilian 43 years later,
when it was sketched by Bodmer.
By reason of the roving disposition of the northern tribes, those
mentioned in the preceding quotations and their neighbors, it was not
possible for them to erect and maintain permanent villages. The
skin-covered lodge served as a shelter easily and quickly raised and
readily transported from place to place as requirements and desires made
necessary. But many bark-covered structures were probably to have been
found scattered throughout the wooded sections.
Something of the manners and ways of life of these people may be
gathered from another passage in Mackenzie's narrative: "In the fall of
the year the natives meet the traders at the forts, where they barter
the furs or provisions which they may have procured; then they obtain
credit, and proceed to hunt the beavers, and do not return till the
beginning of the year; when they are again fitted out in the same manner
and come back the latter end of March, or the beginning of April. They
are now unwilling to repair to the beaver hunt until the waters are
clear of ice, that they may kill them with fire-arms, which the
Chepewyans are averse to employ. The major part of the latter return to
the barren grounds, and live during the summer with their relations and
friends in the enjoyment of that plenty which is derived from numerous
herds of deer. But those of that tribe who are most partial to these
desarts, cannot remain there in winter, and they are obliged, with the
deer, to take shelter in the woods during that rigorous season, when
they contrive to kill a few beavers, and send them by young men, to
exchange for iron utensils and ammunition." (Mackenzie, (1), pp.
xc-xci.)
The large ceremonial lodges erected by the Blackfeet were among the most
interesting structures reared by the tribes of the Northwest. A
remarkable example was encountered by the Fisk party September 1, 1862,
near the banks of Milk River, a short distance from Fort Benton. As
described in the journal: "We passed this afternoon an abandoned camp of
some three thousand or four thousand Blackfeet Indians. A large
'medicine lodge,' in which they had celebrated their superstitious
rites, was left standing, although its covering had been mostly stripped
from its frame-work. It was circular, and about one hundred feet in
diameter and forty feet high in the centre, the roof poles running from
the top down to and around a tree, which was erected for a centre pole.
This, in time of occupancy, is covered with dressed buffalo skins, and
constitutes the Indian's highest achievement in the architectural line."
(Fisk, (1), p. 24.) The entire ceremony attending the selection of a
site for the structure, the cutting of the poles, the erection of the
associated sweat lodges, and the final raising of the medicine lodge,
has been recorded by Grinnell, (3), pages 263-267, and is one of the
most complete accounts of a native ceremony ever prepared.
ARAPAHO.
The ancient habitat of the Arapaho, according to tradition, was once far
northeast of the country which they later occupied. It may have been
among the forests of the region about the headwaters of the Mississippi,
the present State of Minnesota, where their villages would have stood on
the shores of lakes and streams. But later, like the related Cheyenne,
with whom they have been closely allied during recent generations and
probably for a long period, they reached the prairies, through what
causes may never be known, and there, with different environments, their
manners and ways of life changed. While a people of the timbered
country, they undoubtedly reared and occupied the forms of habitations
so characteristic of the forests, as exemplified by the wigwams of the
Ojibway and other tribes in recent times, but after reaching the prairie
country, where buffalo were obtained in such vast numbers, their
villages or camps assumed the appearance of those of the Siouan tribes,
conical skin lodges taking the place of the mat or bark covered
structures.
The Atsina, a detached division of the Arapaho, closely associated with
the Blackfeet, were often mentioned by the early writers as the Gros
Ventres of the Prairie, and in certain English narratives as the Fall or
Rapid Indians. In other journals they were mentioned under the name
Minnetarees of Fort de Prairie. Thus they were called by the early
American explorers.
On May 29, 1805, just two weeks before arriving at the Great Falls of
the Missouri, the Lewis and Clark party reached Judith River, and a
short distance above its junction with the Missouri "We saw the fires of
one hundred and twenty-six lodges, which appeared to have been deserted
about twelve or fifteen days, and on the other side of the Missouri a
large encampment, apparently made by the same nation. On examining some
moccasins which we found there, our Indian woman said that they did not
belong to her own nation the Snake Indians, but she thought that they
indicated a tribe on this side of the Rocky mountains, and to the north
of the Missouri; indeed it is probable that these are the Minnetarees of
fort de Prairie." (Lewis and Clark, (1), I, p. 234.) The following year,
when the expedition was returning from the west, the tribe was again
mentioned. On July 15, 1806, the expedition passed Shields River, and
two days later reached Brattons River (now Bridger Creek), a tributary
of the Yellowstone in the present Sweetgrass County, Montana. Here, "In
one of the low bottoms of the river was an Indian fort, which seems to
have been built during the last summer. It was built in the form of a
circle, about fifty feet in diameter, five feet high, and formed of
logs, lapping over each other, and covered on the outside with bark set
up on end, the entrance also was guarded by a work on each side of it,
facing the river. These intrenchments, the squaw informs us, are
frequently made by the Minnetarees and other Indians at war with the
Shoshonees, when pursued by their enemies on horseback." Another similar
work was encountered the next day. (Lewis and Clark, (1), II, pp.
379-380.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 16
[Illustration: _a._ Blackfoot camp. Paul Kane, 1848]
[Illustration: _b._ Arapaho village, Whitewood Canyon, Wyoming, about
1870]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 17
[Illustration: "CAMP OF THE GROS VENTRES OF THE PRAIRIES" ON THE UPPER
MISSOURI
Karl Bodmer, 1833]
The preceding references to fortified camps are of great interest, but
similar works were mentioned by other explorers of the upper Missouri
Valley. During the summer of 1833 several were encountered by
Maximilian, and on July 18 of that year he wrote: "On this day at noon,
we reached, on the south bank, an Indian fort ... it is a kind of
breastwork, which Indian war-parties construct in haste of dry trunks of
trees.... This fort consisted of a fence, and several angles, enclosing
a rather small space, with the open side towards the river. In the
center of the space there was a conical hut, composed of wood. Near this
fort, on the same bank of the river, there was a beaver's den made of a
heap of brushwood." (Maximilian, (1), p. 216.) Six days before, on July
12, they had encountered several huts probably similar to that which
stood within the "fort." In the narrative it is said: "Just at the place
where our vessel lay, were four old Indian huts, of some war or hunting
party, composed of trunks and boughs of trees piled together in a
square, in which some of our party made a fire to cook their meat.
Scarcely 100 paces above these huts, was the Indian Fort Creek of Lewis
and Clark." (Op. cit., p. 212.)
Elsewhere in this sketch other native "forts" will be mentioned. The
erection of such works appears to have been quite common among the
widely scattered tribes.
Fortunately, a very interesting picture of a skin lodge village or camp
of the Atsina has been preserved, a painting made by Bodmer during the
summer of 1833, when it was visited by Maximilian. It stood on the bank
of the Yellowstone, at the mouth of the Big Horn, near the dividing line
between Rosebud and Yellowstone Counties, Montana. Describing the
settlement as it appeared on the evening of August 3, 1833. Maximilian
wrote: "On the left was the mouth of Bighorn River, between considerable
hills, on which numbers of Indians had collected. In the front of the
eminence the prairie declined gently towards the river, where above 260
leather tents of the Indians were set up; the tent of the principal
chief was in the foreground, and, near it, a high pole, with the
American flag. The whole prairie was covered with Indians, in various
groups, and with numerous dogs; horses of every colour were grazing
round, and horsemen galloping backwards and forwards, among whom was a
celebrated chief, who made a good figure on his light bay horse." These
were the Gros Ventres, "called by the English, Fall Indians."
(Maximilian, (1), pp. 231-232.) Bodmer's painting, or more correctly, an
engraving made from the painting, is reproduced in plate 17.
On July 8, 1842, Fremont, while on his journey to the Rocky Mountains,
reached a village of the Arapaho and Cheyenne. But before arriving at
the village the party came in contact with a large number of Indians
belonging to the two tribes, who were chasing a herd of buffalo. Of the
exciting scene presented by these many mounted Indians and the rushing
buffalo, he left a vivid account: "We were too far to hear the report of
the guns, or any sound; and at every instant, through the clouds of
dust, which the sun made luminous, we could see for a moment two or
three buffalo dashing along, and close behind them an Indian with his
long spear, or other weapon, and instantly again they disappeared. The
apparent silence, and the dimly seen figures flitting by with such
rapidity, gave it a kind of dreamy effect, and seemed more like a
picture than a scene of real life. It had been a large herd when the
_cerne_ commenced, probably three or four hundred in number; but, though
I watched them closely, I did not see one emerge from the fatal cloud
where the work of destruction was going on. After remaining here about
an hour, we resumed our journey in the direction of the village.
"Gradually, as we rode on, Indian after Indian came dropping along,
laden with meat; and by the time we had neared the lodges, the backward
road was covered with the returning horsemen. It was a pleasant contrast
with the desert road we had been traveling. Several had joined company
with us, and one of the chiefs invited us to his lodge. The village
consisted of about one hundred and twenty-five lodges, of which twenty
were Cheyennes; the latter pitched a little apart from the Arapahoes.
They were disposed in a scattering manner on both sides of a broad,
irregular street, about one hundred and fifty feet wide, and running
along the river. As we rode along, I remarked near some of the lodges a
kind of tripod frame, formed of three slender poles of birch, scraped
very clean, to which were affixed the shield and spear, with some other
weapons of a chief. All were scrupulously clean, the spear-head was
burnished bright, and the shield white and stainless. It reminded me of
the days of feudal chivalry; and when, as I rode by, I yielded to the
passing impulse, and touched one of the spotless shields with the muzzle
of my gun, I almost expected a grim warrior to start from the lodge and
resent my challenge. The master of the lodge spread out a robe for me to
sit upon, and the squaws set before us a large wooden dish of buffalo
meat. He had lit his pipe in the mean while, and when it had been passed
around, we commenced our dinner while he continued to smoke. Gradually,
five or six other chiefs came in, and took their seats in silence. When
we had finished, our host asked a number of questions.... A storm had
been gathering for the past hour, and some pattering drops on the lodge
warned us that we had some miles to our camp.... We found our companions
under some densely foliaged old trees, about three miles up the
river.... Nearly opposite was the mouth of one of the most considerable
affluents of the South fork, _la Fourche aux Castors_, (Beaver fork,)
heading off in the ridge to the southeast." (Fremont, (1), pp. 29-30.)
This would have been near the eastern boundary of the present Morgan
County, Colorado, a region approaching the western edge of the great
prairie, in the midst of the range of vast herds of buffalo. The entire
description of the events of the day as prepared by Fremont reads more
like fiction than fact and is one of the clearest and most concise
accounts extant of a buffalo hunt by native tribes under such
conditions. The paintings by Stanley and Wimar, as reproduced in plates
2 and 3, would serve to illustrate Fremont's narrative.
The following year (1843) Fremont, on his second expedition, reached St.
Vrain's Fort; thence continuing up the South Fork of the Platte he soon
arrived in the vicinity of the present city of Denver, and at some point
not far below the mouth of Cherry Creek discovered a large Arapaho
village. This was on July 7, 1843, and to quote from his journal: "We
made this morning an early start, continuing to travel up the Platte;
and in a few miles frequent bands of horses and mules, scattered for
several miles round about, indicated our approach to the Arapaho
village, which we found encamped in a beautiful bottom, and consisting
of about 160 lodges. It appeared extremely populous, with a great number
of children; a circumstance which indicated a regular supply of the
means of subsistence. The chiefs, who were gathered together at the
farther end of the village, received us (as probably strangers are
always received to whom they desire to show respect or regard) by
throwing their arms around our necks and embracing us.... I saw here, as
I had remarked in an Arapaho village the preceding year, near the lodges
of the chiefs, tall tripods of white poles supporting their spears and
shields, which showed it to be a regular custom.... Though disappointed
in obtaining the presents which had been evidently expected, they
behaved very courteously, and after a little conversation, I left them,
and, continuing up the river, halted to noon on the bluff, as the
bottoms are almost inundated; continuing in the afternoon our route
along the mountains, which are dark, misty, and shrouded." (Fremont,
(1), pp. 111-112.)
A photograph of a small Arapaho village, standing in Whitewood Canyon,
Wyoming, about the year 1870, is reproduced in plate 16, b. The
skin-covered lodges shown in this photograph were probably similar to
those sketched by Bodmer a generation before.
SAUK AND FOXES.
It is not the purpose of the present sketch to trace the early
migrations of the two related tribes, or to refer to their connection,
linguistically or socially. However, it is evident their villages were
similar in appearance, and both had two distinct forms of habitations
which were occupied during different seasons of the year. The summer
villages of both tribes consisted of bark houses, and near by were
gardens in which they raised corn, squashes, beans, and some tobacco,
but with the coming of autumn the families scattered and sought the more
protected localities where game was to be secured, and there erected the
dome-shaped, mat-covered lodge, resembling the structures of other
tribes of the region.
The middle of the eighteenth century found the two tribes established in
villages near the mouth of Rock River, on the left bank of the
Mississippi, in the present Rock Island County, Illinois. Here they were
visited by Long and his small party August 1, 1817, at which time the
Fox settlement "containing about thirty cabins, with two fires each,"
stood on the left bank of Rock River, at its junction with the
Mississippi. The Sauk village was 2 miles up Rock River and consisted
"of about one hundred cabins, of two, three, and in some instances, four
fires each," and it was, so Long wrote, "by far the largest Indian
village situated in the neighborhood of the Mississippi between St.
Louis and the Falls of St. Anthony." (Long, (1), pp. 68-69.) This was
the birthplace, in the year 1767, of the great Sauk leader Black Hawk.
At the time of Long's visit the people of the two villages had several
hundred acres of corn, "partly in the low ground and extended up the
slopes of the bluffs," and were in a very prosperous condition.
The village was destroyed by the militia June 15, 1831, and those who
escaped soon after crossed the Mississippi. In 1837, having ceded their
hunting grounds in Iowa to the Government, they removed to a tract in
Kansas beyond the Missouri, where they continued to reside for some 20
years as practically one tribe. Later the majority of the Foxes returned
to Iowa and secured a small tract of land near Tama, in Tama County, on
the left bank of Iowa River, where a mixed group continues to dwell. In
1867 the remaining Sauk ceded their lands in Kansas and removed to the
Indian Territory.
As already mentioned, the tribes erected two distinct types of
habitations. The mat-covered lodge is shown in plate 18. The bare
frames, ready for the mat coverings, are indicated in _a_, while the
completed structure is represented in _b_ of the same plate. Both
photographs were made near Tama within the past few years.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 18
[Illustration: _a._ Frames of structures ready to be covered with mats
or sheets of bark]
[Illustration: _b._ Mat-covered lodges
SAUK AND FOX HABITATIONS]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 19
[Illustration: SAUK AND FOX HABITATION COVERED WITH ELM BARK]
During the summer of 1820 Schoolcraft was on the upper Mississippi and
stopped at the village of the Sioux chief "La Petit Corbeau," which
stood on the bank of the river a few miles below the present city of St.
Paul. He was conducted to the lodge of the chief, which, so he wrote,
"is spacious, being about sixty feet in length by thirty in width--built
in a permanent manner of logs, and covered with bark." (Schoolcraft,
(2), p. 318.) A few days later, on August 6, 1820, he left the mouth of
the Wisconsin, passed the mouth of Turkey River, which joins the
Mississippi from the west, and 1 mile below the mouth of Turkey River
arrived at a Fox village which stood on the left bank of the
Mississippi. This would have been near the present village of Cassville,
Grant County, Wisconsin. Here were twelve lodges, "large, and built of
logs, in the same substantial manner practised among the Narcotah
bands." This refers to the village of La Petit Corbeau and others which
he had recently visited. And continuing the narrative, "The cause of
their being now deserted, is the fear entertained of an attack from the
Sioux, in retaliation for the massacre lately perpetrated upon the banks
of the St. Peter's. The desertion appears to have taken place after they
had planted their corn, and from the order in which the village is left,
it may be concluded that its re-occupation is kept in view. I found
several small gardens and corn fields adjoining the village, in which
squashes, beans, and pumpkins were abundant, but the corn had been
nearly all destroyed, probably by wild animals. Walking back from the
river half a mile ... I was surprised to find an extensive field of
water- and musk-melons, situated in the midst of a grove of small,
scattering trees, but without any inclosure. Some of the fruit had been
destroyed by animals, but a great abundance still remained." (Op. cit.,
pp. 340-341.)
The preceding references would seem to apply to summer habitations, as
distinguished from the mat-covered structures already mentioned. The
descriptions are rather vague, and the lodges encountered by Schoolcraft
may have been similar in form to that shown in plate 19. This most
interesting and valuable photograph was made in the Indian Territory
probably 40 years or more ago, and represents a rather large dwelling.
It shows clearly the manner in which sheets of bark were placed and
secured to serve as roof and sides, and in this instance the bark
appears to be that of the elm.
Interesting notes on the manners and ways of life of the Sauk and Foxes
just a century ago are to be found in a communication from Maj. M.
Marston, of the Fifth Infantry, to Morse. Marston was commanding officer
at Fort Armstrong, from which place the letter was written during the
month of November, 1820. At that time the Fox village standing on the
bank of the Mississippi, opposite Fort Armstrong, consisted of
"thirty-five permanent lodges," and this may refer to the type of
structures shown in plate 19. As Marston then wrote: "There is also a
small Sauk village of five or six lodges on the west bank of the
Mississippi, near the mouth of Des Moin river, and below Fort Edwards;
and a Fox village near the lead mines (about a hundred miles above this
place,) of about twenty lodges; and another near the mouth of the
Wapsipinica of about ten lodges." Thus the villages and camps of the two
tribes were to have been seen on both banks of the Mississippi, but
undoubtedly the greater part of their hunting was done westward from the
river, within the present State of Iowa. A century ago the people of the
village would leave "as soon as their corn, beans, &c., are ripe and
taken care of, and their traders arrive and give out their credit, (or
their outfits on credit,) and go to their wintering grounds; it being
previously determined in council, on what particular ground each party
shall hunt. The old men, women, and children, embark in canoes; the
young men go by land with their horses; on their arrival, they
immediately commence their winter's hunt, which lasts about three
months." The traders would follow and remain in convenient places.
During the winter most of the Indians would pay their debts, get many
necessary articles, and at the same time reserve the more valuable
skins. These, "such as beaver, otter, &c., they take home with them to
their villages, and dispose of for such articles as they may afterwards
find necessary." The winter of 1819-20 was evidently a very prosperous
one for the two tribes as well as for the traders, and Marston wrote:
"These traders, including the peltries received at the United States
Factory, near Fort Edwards, collected of the Sauk and Fox Indians during
this season, _nine hundred and eighty packs_. They consisted of 2,760
beaver skins; 922 Otter; 13,440 Raccoon; 12,900 Musk Rat; 500 Mink; 200
Wild Cat; 680 Bear Skins; 28,600 Deer. Whole number, 60,082."