Company at certain points along the course of the upper Missouri served
to attract bands of the Assiniboin as well as representatives of other
tribes. Several interesting accounts of the arrival of such parties at
Fort Union, near the mouth of the Yellowstone, are preserved. Thus
Maximilian wrote when at the fort, June 29, 1833: "The expected arrival
of more Assiniboins was delayed; they do not willingly travel with their
leather tents in wet weather, because their baggage then becomes very
heavy.... On the 30th of June, at noon, a band of Indians had arrived,
and twenty-five tents were set up near the fort. The women, who were
short, and mostly stout, with faces painted red, soon finished this
work, and dug up with their instruments the clods of turf, which they
lay round the lower part of the hut. One of these tents, the dwelling of
a chief, was distinguished from the rest. It was painted of the colour
of yellow ochre, had a broad reddish-brown border below, and on each of
its sides a large black bear was painted (something of a caricature it
must be confessed), to the head of which, just above the nose, a piece
of red cloth, that fluttered in the wind, was fastened, doubtless a
medicine." Continuing, the narrative recorded the arrival of others.
"Another band of Assiniboins appeared at a distance. To the west, along
the wood by the river-side, the prairie was suddenly covered with red
men, most of whom went singly, with their dogs drawing the loaded
sledges. The warriors, about sixty in number, formed a close column....
The whole column entered the fort, where they smoked, ate, and drank:
and, meantime, forty-two tents were set up. The new camp had a very
pretty appearance; the tents stood in a semicircle, and all the fires
were smoking, while all around was life and activity." (Maximilian, (1),
pp. 202-204.)
A painting of the dwelling of the chief, with a broad border at the
bottom, "and on each of its sides a large black bear," was made by
Bodmer and reproduced by Maximilian. It is here shown in plate 24, _c._
Several interesting details are represented in this graphic sketch. The
dog travois is well shown, both the manner in which a dog appeared when
the frame was attached, and the several pairs of poles with the small
net-covered frames, standing together to the left of the principal tipi.
The preceding quotation from Maximilian is suggestive of an entry in the
journal of the Swiss artist Friedrich Kurz, made some years later. Kurz
wrote while at Fort Union: "October 13, 1851. As we were weighing and
hanging up dried meat, a lot of Assiniboins came to the fort with squaws
and many horse and dog travois. As a whole these trading parties do not
show much of interest, but there are always many details to be picked
up, of great value to a painter." (Bushnell, (3), p. 15.) Kurz remained
at Fort Union until April 19, 1852, when he descended the Missouri to
St. Louis, and thence returned to his native city of Bern. While still
at Fort Union on March 21, 1852, he made the sketch now reproduced in
plate 25, _b_, which bears the legend, "Horse camp of the Assiniboins."
It shows a group of skin-covered lodges in the midst of a grove of
cottonwoods, and evidently the Missouri is in the distance on the right.
At that time (1851-52), according to Kurz, the Assiniboin then living in
the vicinity of Fort Union numbered 420 lodges, with 1,050 men, but
"from 2-3000 Assiniboins live far above, near lake Winnibeg."
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 24
[Illustration: _a._ Near Fort Laramie, 1868]
[Illustration: _b._ Near Fort Laramie, 1868]
[Illustration: _c._ "A skin lodge of an Assiniboin chief." Karl Bodmer]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 25
[Illustration: _a._ Assiniboin lodges "formed entirely of pine
branches." Paul Kane, 1848]
[Illustration: _b._ "Horse camp of the Assiniboins, March 21, 1852."
Friedrich Kurz]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 26
[Illustration: _a._ Tipi of Gi-he-ga, an Omaha chief. Photograph by W.
H. Jackson, 1871]
[Illustration: _b._ Page of Kurz's Sketchbook]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 27
[Illustration: "THE VILLAGE OF THE OMAHAS"
Photograph by W. H. Jackson, 1871]
The Assiniboin living in the far northwest had another and simpler form
of temporary structure, as mentioned by Kane. He wrote, when arriving at
Rocky Mountain Fort, a post of the Hudson's Bay Company, April 21, 1848:
"This fort is beautifully situated on the banks of the Saskatchewan, in
a small prairie, backed by the Rocky Mountains in the distance. In the
vicinity was a camp of Assiniboine lodges, formed entirely of pine
branches." (Kane, (1), p. 408.) The painting made by him showing the fort
and lodges is reproduced in plate 25, _a_.
DHEGIHA GROUP.
Five tribes are considered as belonging to this group of the Siouan
linguistic family: Omaha, Ponca, Quapaw, Osage, and Kansa. Distinct from
the Dakota-Assiniboin tribes already mentioned, these undoubtedly some
centuries ago lived in the central and upper Ohio valleys, whence they
moved westward to and beyond the Mississippi. To these tribes may be
attributed the great earthworks of the southern portion of Ohio and the
adjacent regions bordering the Ohio River. To quote from the Handbook:
"Hale and Dorsey concluded from a study of the languages and traditions
that, in the westward migration of the Dhegiha from their seat on Ohio
and Wabash rivers, after the separation, at least as early as 1500, of
the Quapaw, who went down the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio,
the Omaha branch moved up the great river, remaining awhile near the
mouth of the Missouri while war and hunting parties explored the country
to the northwest. The Osage remained on Osage River, and the Kansa
continued up the Missouri, while the Omaha, still including the Ponca,
crossed the latter stream and remained for a period in Iowa, ranging as
far as the Pipestone quarry at the present Pipestone, Minnesota."
While living in the heavily timbered valleys reaching to the Ohio the
several tribes now being considered unquestionably occupied villages
consisting of groups of mat-covered lodges of the type erected by the
Osage and Quapaw until the present time. But with the Omaha, Ponca, and
Kansa, it was different, and when they reached the intermediate region,
where forest and prairie joined, they were compelled to adopt a new form
of structure, one suited to the natural environments, and thus they
began to make use of the earth-covered lodge, and the conical skin tipi,
with certain variations in form. The characteristic structures of the
five tribes will now be briefly described, beginning with those of the
Omaha.
OMAHA.
When Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri in 1804 they found the Omaha
village not far from the Missouri, in the present Dakota County,
Nebraska. On the 13th of August the expedition reached the mouth of a
creek entering the right bank of the Missouri. Just beyond they encamped
on a sandbar, "opposite the lower point of a large island." From here
Sergeant Ordway and four men were sent to the Omaha village and returned
the following day. "After crossing a prairie covered with high grass,
they reached the Maha creek, along which they proceeded to its three
forks, which join near the village: they crossed the north branch and
went along the south; the walk was very fatiguing, as they were forced
to break their way through grass, sunflowers, and thistles, all above
ten feet high, and interspersed with wild pea. Five miles from our camp
they reached the position of the ancient Maha village: it had once
consisted of three hundred cabins, but was burnt about four years ago,
soon after the smallpox had destroyed four hundred men, and a proportion
of women and children. On a hill, in the rear of the village, are the
graves of the nation." (Lewis and Clark, (1), I, pp. 44-45.)
Seven years after Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri the traveler
Bradbury visited the Omaha village standing on or near the site of the
one mentioned in the earlier narrative. May 12, 1811, while away from
the boat and traversing the country in search of botanical specimens, he
arrived on the summit of the bluffs, and, to quote from his journal: "I
had a fine view of the town below. It had a singular appearance; the
framework of the lodges consists of ten or twelve long poles, placed in
the periphery of a circle of about sixteen feet in diameter, and are
inclined towards each other, so as to cross at a little more than half
their length from the bottom; and the tops diverging with the same
angle, exhibit the appearance of one cone inverted on the apex of
another. The lower cone is covered with dressed buffalo skins, sewed
together, and fancifully painted; some with an undulating red or yellow
band of ten or twelve inches in breadth, surrounding the lodge at half
its height; on others, rude figures of horses, buffaloes, or deer were
painted; others again with attempts at the human face, in a circle, as
the moon is sometimes painted; these were not less than four feet in
diameter. I judged there were not fewer than eighty lodges. I did not
remain long on the summit of the bluffs, as I perceived, from the heaps
of earth, some of these recent, that it was a burial ground, and I knew
the veneration they have for the graves of their ancestors." (Bradbury,
(1), pp. 65-67.)
It is interesting to read of the number of decorated lodges then
standing in an Omaha village, but in later years fewer structures were
so ornamented. A typical example of a tipi of half a century ago is
shown in plate 26, _a_, from a photograph made by Jackson in 1871.
According to the best authorities on the Omaha, from whose monographs
much of the following information has been gleaned, the earth lodge and
the skin tipi are the only forms of habitations made use of by the
Omaha in recent generations. The earth lodge resembled those of other
tribes of the upper Missouri, and among the Omaha the work of erecting
such a structure was shared in by both man and woman.
"The marking out of the site and the cutting of the heavy logs were done
by the men. When the location was chosen, a stick was thrust in the spot
where the fireplace was to be, one end of a rawhide rope was fastened to
the stick and a circle 20 to 60 feet in diameter was drawn on the earth
to mark where the wall was to be erected. The sod within the circle was
removed, the ground excavated about a foot in depth, and the earth
thrown around the circle like an embankment. Small crotched posts about
10 feet high were set 8 or 10 feet apart and 1-1/2 feet within the
circle, and on these were laid beams. Outside this frame split posts
were set close together, having one end braced against the bottom of the
bank and the other end leaning against the beams, thus forming a wall of
timber. The opening generally, though not always, faced the east. Midway
between the central fireplace and the wall were planted 4 to 8 large
crotched posts about 10 feet in height, on which heavy beams rested,
these serving to support the roof. This was made of long, slender,
tapering trees stripped of their bark. These were tied at their large
ends with cords (made from the inner bark of the linden) to the beams at
the top of the stockade and at the middle to those resting in the
crotches of the large posts forming the inner circle about the
fireplace. The slender ends were cut so as to form the circular opening
for the smoke, the edges being woven together with elm twine, so as to
be firm. Outside the woodwork of the walls and roof, branches of willow
were laid crosswise and bound tight to each slab and pole. Over the
willows a heavy thatch of coarse grass was arranged so as to shed water.
On the grass was placed a thick coating of sod. The sods were cut to lap
and be laid like shingles. Finally they were tamped with earth and made
impervious to rain. The entrance way, 6 to 10 feet long, projected from
the door and was built in the same manner as the lodge and formed a part
of it. A curtain of skin hung at the inner and one at the outer door of
this entrance way. Much labor was expended on the floor of the lodge.
The loose earth was carefully removed and the ground then tamped. It was
next flooded with water, after which dried grass was spread over it and
set on fire. Then the ground was tamped once again. This wetting and
heating was repeated two or three times, until the floor became hard and
level and could be easily swept and kept clean. Brooms were made of
brush or twigs tied together. Couches were arranged around the wall in
the spaces between the posts of the framework. These were provided with
skins and pillows, and served as seats by day and as beds by night. In
the building of an earth lodge the cutting and putting on of the sods
was always done by women, and as this part of the task had to be
accomplished rapidly to prevent the drying out of the sods, which must
hold well together, kindred helped one another. The erection of this
class of dwelling required considerable labor, hence only the
industrious and thrifty possessed these lodges." (Fletcher and La
Flesche, (1), pp. 97-98.)
Although the earth-covered lodge, as just described, was used in the
permanent villages, nevertheless in the same villages were to have been
seen many of the conical skin tipis. Both types of habitation were
standing at the Omaha village in 1871 when the photograph, now
reproduced in plate 27, was made by W. H. Jackson.
Near each earth lodge, "generally to the left of the entrance, the cache
was built. This consisted of a hole in the ground about 8 feet deep,
rounded at the bottom and sides, provided with a neck just large enough
to admit the body of a person. The whole was lined with split posts, to
which was tied an inner lining of bunches of dried grass. The opening
was protected by grass, over which sod was placed. In these caches the
winter supply of food was stored; the shelled corn was put into skin
bags, long strings of corn on the cob were made by braiding the outer
husks, while the jerked meat was packed in parfleche cases. Pelts,
regalia, and extra clothing were generally kept in the cache; but these
were laid in ornamented parfleche cases, never used but for this
purpose." (Op. cit., p. 98.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 28
[Illustration: _a._ Page of Kurz's Sketchbook showing Omaha village, May
20, 1851]
[Illustration: _b._ Page of Kurz's Sketchbook showing interior of an
Omaha lodge, May 16, 1851]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 29
[Illustration: "PUNKA INDIANS ENCAMPED ON THE BANKS OF THE MISSOURI"
Karl Bodmer, 1833]
On pages 95 and 96 of the work just cited appears a very interesting
description of the making and raising of a skin tipi. "Formerly the
cover was made of 9 to 12 buffalo skins tanned on both sides. To cut and
sew this cover so that it would fit well and be shapely when stretched
over the circular framework of poles required skilful workmanship, the
result of training and of accurate measurements.... The tent poles were
14 to 16 feet long. Straight young cedar poles were preferred. The bark
was removed and the poles were rubbed smooth. The setting up of a tent
was always a woman's task. She first took four poles, laid them together
on the ground, and then tied them firmly with a thong about 3 feet from
one end. She then raised the poles and spread their free ends apart and
thrust them firmly into the ground. These four tied poles formed the
true framework of the tent. Other poles--10 to 20 in number, according
to the size of the tent--were arranged in a circle, one end pressed well
into the ground, the other end laid in the forks made by the tied ends
of the four poles. There was a definite order in setting up the poles so
that they would lock one another, and when they were all in place they
constituted an elastic but firm frame, which could resist a fairly
heavy wind." There was probably very little variation in the ways and
customs of the different members of the tribe, and the tents of an
entire village would have been raised after the same, long-established
manner. But the structures in an Omaha village did not surround an open
space, "nor were they set so the people could live in the order of their
gentes, an order observed when they were on the hunt and during their
tribal ceremonies. Yet each family knew to what gens it belonged,
observed its rites, and obeyed strictly the rule of exogamy. To the
outward appearance a village presented a motley group of tribesmen. The
dwellings and their different corrals were huddled together; the
passageways between the lodges were narrow and tortuous. There was
little of the picturesque. The grass and weeds that grew over the earth
lodges while the people were off on their summer buffalo hunt were all
cut away when the tribe returned. So, except for the decorations on the
skin tents, there was nothing to relieve the dun-colored aspect." (Op.
cit., p. 99.) Such was the appearance of an Omaha village in the valley
of the Missouri.
In 1847 the Omaha erected a village on the banks of Papillon Creek, near
the line between Sarpy and Douglas Counties, Nebraska. Four years later
it was visited by Kurz during his journey up the Missouri. Kurz was
camped near Council Bluffs, on the left bank of the Missouri. Opposite
was Bellevue, the trading post of Peter A. Sarpy, and while at the
latter place, May 16, 1851, Kurz entered in his journal: "In Bellevue I
have drawn an Indian winter house made of earth, and also a Pawnee
girl." And on May 20 he wrote: "Again crossed the river to Bellevue in
order to visit the Omaha village some six miles distant; went over the
bluffs, as being the shortest way, then crossed the high prairie ... to
the _Papillon_ creek which partly surrounds the village of the Omahas.
The village itself is built on a hill.... The camp or village is
composed of leather tents and earth-covered lodges. Between the tents
and lodges are scaffolds for drying meat and also an enclosure for the
horses.... I walked into the village and watched a group of young men
endeavoring to throw lances through rolling rings, the others being
gathered on top the earth lodges, [pl. 26, _b_] as spectators."
(Bushnell, (3), p. 11.) Sketches made by Kurz at that time are
reproduced in plate 28. The interior of an earth lodge, drawn at
Bellevue May 16, 1851, is shown in _b_; the couches extending along the
wall are clearly indicated, also the fireplace in the center of the
lodge, over which is hanging a hook for the suspension of a kettle. The
village, which stood on the banks of Papillion Creek, is shown in the
lower part of _a_, of the same plate. Both forms of dwellings are
represented in the sketch; also the scaffolds for drying meat and other
purposes, and several inclosures in which their horses were confined.
On June 12 Kurz attended a sacred dance performed for the benefit of a
wounded man. He referred to it in his journal as being given by the
Buffalo Society, where all wore buffalo masks. It was held in a large
earth lodge, and he was accompanied by the chief, Joseph La Flesche.
The site of the small village mentioned by Kurz was identified a few
years ago by Gilder, and some of the ruins were examined. It stood in
the forks of the Papillion, about 4 miles in a direct line west of the
Missouri. To quote from the brief narrative: "It was here the Omaha
lived last before going on a reservation, and where they were visited by
the Swiss artist, Kurz.... It was found that the ruins were quite
shallow and had left but slight depressions, while others left small
circular mounds above the surrounding level. The Rock Island Railroad
has cut through the village, and at least one cache was exposed from top
to bottom--about fifteen feet. In all instances the caches were outside
the lodge sites.
"The surface yielded fractured iron pots, delft or figured china of
white man's manufacture, and rusty iron objects, besides flint scrapers
and chips, potsherds, and the usual accumulations of a village prior to
contact with white people. The writer cannot attribute the flint
implements to the Omaha, but considers the favorable site on a plateau
at the junction of two streams to have been used by another people long
before the Omaha erected their lodges there." (Gilder, (1), p. 75.)
Innumerable ruins of earth lodges were to have been found in the
vicinity of the present city of Omaha, the great majority of which stood
in early days before the arrival of Europeans in the valley of the
Missouri, and it is not possible to say by which tribe the villages were
erected. Many large ruins were discovered on Childs Point, in the
extreme northeastern corner of Sarpy County, just south of Omaha, and
some 4 miles northeast of the small village visited by Kurz. Some of the
ruins were carefully examined by Gilder. One, which appears to have been
considered as possessing the typical characteristics of the group, was
described by Gilder, who wrote: "In all house ruins similar to the one
here described, the main fireplace, four or five feet in diameter, is
situated near the exact center. From this fireplace the floor extends,
nearly flat, to within ten feet of the extreme outer edge or periphery
of the ruin. Here a platform, or step, twelve to fourteen inches high
and almost vertical, rose from the floor and sloped rather sharply to
the outer rim.... Around the line of the inner circumference of the
platform, at distances of approximately five feet, the remains of posts
six or seven inches in diameter were discovered. These were either in
the form of charcoal or of wood dust. Sometimes bowlders lay about the
remains of the posts, as if designed to aid in holding them in position.
The grain of the charcoal posts indicated the wood to have been oak.
About the posts, under the floor, and also under the platform, objects
were more numerous than at other points in the ruin. The charred remains
of four posts about eight feet apart surrounded the central fireplace.
There were two features of house construction that stand out
conspicuously: (1) the floor was approximately six to eight feet lower
than the level of the surrounding ridge; (2) the angle at which the
slabs, logs, or paling probably leaned inward from the periphery seems
to indicate the highest part of the roof at about the same distance
above the surrounding level as the floor was below, making the highest
part of the roof about fifteen feet above the fireplace in the center of
the dwelling.... Little besides broken flint instruments, flint chips,
shells, potsherds, and fractured drift bowlders were found upon the
floor itself; the major number of objects was beneath the floor surface,
very often covered with bowlders, as if the latter had been placed to
mark the spot. Small fireplaces were of frequent occurrence on all parts
of the floor.
"Three caches were found in the first ruin.... In one, fifteen feet west
of the center of the dwelling were found flint blades, a score of Unio
shells, a mano or muller made from a rounded drift bowlder ... and a
pottery pipe in form of a soaring bird.... The bottom of this cache was
six feet from the surface. The second cache lay at the southeastern side
of the ruin. Its bottom was eight feet from the surface of the ground.
It contained thirty shells, several large flint blades, other large
flint implements of unknown use ... animal bones, projectile points, and
a small piece of galena. The third cache, in the northeastern part of
the ruin, was the largest and deepest of the three, its bottom being
nine feet and a half from the surface. On a small shelf, or niche, at
its eastern side, two feet from the bottom, lay, a small image of a
human face carved from pink soapstone, a number of animal bones and
skulls, fish bones and scales, and Unio shells.
"So many and varied were the objects found in the ruin, so abundant the
charred sticks and grasses, that the impression is conveyed that the
dwelling had been abandoned in haste and that it had burned to the
ground." (Gilder, (1), pp. 58-61.) The objects discovered in this
ancient ruin were truly varied, as the discoverer remarked, and likewise
of the greatest interest, including specimens of stone, bone, and
pottery, with bones of animals which had probably served as food. But
how interesting it would be to know the date of the construction of this
large lodge, and the tribe to which its occupants belonged--questions
which may never be determined. However, it unquestionably belonged to
people of a tribe who reared and occupied similar structures in the
valley of the Missouri as late as the latter half of the nineteenth
century.