floating from their scalp-locks; their heads and breasts were painted
with vermilion, and long strings of wampum hung from their necks and
mutilated ears. But at the present moment there appeared to be no
thought of their appearance. Every sense was wrapped up in an intense
interest in the approaching council; every breath was held; and every
eye fixed with eagerness upon the face of the Commissioner, as he arose
to address the meeting." (Op. cit., pp. 233-235.) This vivid description
of the gathering of the Oto in a great earth-covered structure near the
banks of the Missouri during the summer of 1833 tends to recall Lieut.
Timberlake's meeting with the head men of the Cherokee, when they came
together in the townhouse at Chote late in the year 1761. The two
structures were of similar appearance and probably did not differ
greatly in size, although at Chote there were several tiers of seats
surrounding the central space within the house which were lacking in the
Oto lodge, but the two gatherings were evidently quite similar, although
belonging to different generations and being in regions separated by
many hundreds of miles of forest and plain. The great rotundas, or
townhouses of the Cherokee, were the most interesting of the various
native structures which formerly stood east of the Mississippi.
(Bushnell, (1), pp. 59-63.)
The preceding notes on the Oto refer to their permanent earth-lodge
villages, which were occupied only part of each year. When away from the
village they would make use of the skin-covered tipi, although the
temporary shelter of the Pawnee may have been copied by some members of
the tribe. Fortunately a very good description of the appearance of a
winter encampment of several families, at some point far west of the
Missouri on the prairie of Nebraska, during the winter of 1851-52, has
been preserved. The account was prepared by a traveler who became
separated from his companions and reached the camp unexpectedly while
traversing the snow-covered wilderness. The "little camp consisted of
two large tents, which stood in a deep ravine, overgrown with stunted
oaks, and on the banks of a deep stream, whose waters were hidden
beneath a thick covering of ice." One tent belonged to the chief
Wa-ki-ta-mo-nee, the other to a half-breed named Louis Farfar. Arriving
at the camp, so the narrative continues, I "crawled into the tent of the
medicine-man, and took my place by his blazing fire, while the other
occupants lay or crouched around. The old mother was busy in the
preparation of the meat, and by her side, next the opening, were two
daughters; the older about eighteen, the younger about two years old.
The father of the family, his son, and Schin-ges-in-ki-nee had,
according to Indian custom, kept the best places for themselves, which
was so much the better for me as I was placed between them. The medicine
pipe, with a bowl cut out of some red stone, went round briskly, and the
time that was employed in distributing the meat intended for the meal I
spent in taking a good view of the Indian dwelling. Sixteen long poles,
made of slender pine trees, were so placed as to form a circle of
sixteen or eighteen feet in diameter, their tops being bent over and
fastened together. Around this framework was thrown, like a mantle, the
tent leather, consisting of a great number of buffalo-hides, tanned
white, and neatly sewed together for the purpose with sinews. The
leather did not reach quite to the top, but left an opening, by which
the smoke could escape; but there were two prolongations of the tent
leather, something like flags, which were supported by particular poles,
so as, in stormy weather or contrary winds, to form a very tolerable
chimney. The tent was fixed so firmly to the ground with pegs that the
tightly stretched sides would admit neither the rain nor the snow, when
it melted from the heat of the fire; and the inhabitants had not only a
secure refuge, but a tolerably comfortable dwelling. The various
possessions of the Indians were hung round on the tent poles, where they
only took up room that could easily be dispensed with, and kept out the
cold that could have most readily found an entrance at those places. On
the space round the fire, buffalo-hides were spread for beds at night,
and when rolled up in the day made convenient seats; the fire, in a kind
of pit half a foot deep, and two and a half in diameter, was a mass of
glowing embers, with a number of logs blazing on the top, and diffused a
most pleasant warmth over the small space. Near the fire a branch of a
tree was stuck into the ground, and another placed horizontally across
it, and running the whole breadth of the tent, from which hung the most
indispensable of household utensils in the form of a great kettle,
whilst the rest of the pole was covered with wet and torn mocassins and
gaiters, in a manner that was certainly more convenient than
ornamental.... Besides the wild half-naked forms of the Indians, a
number of dogs, young and old, made part of the company assembled in
Wa-ki-ta-mo-nee's tent. The attention of the mistress of the family, a
very dirty old squaw, was exclusively devoted to the vast kettle and its
bubbling contents; a row of roughly-cut wooden platters stood before
her, and by means of a pointed stick she fished up from the cauldron
large joints of bear and half turkeys, and loaded each of the platters
with a huge portion of the savoury smelling food." (Moellhausen, (1), I,
pp. 171-175.) The second tent, so he wrote, "was more spacious" than the
one which he had entered, and described. This is an interesting
description of a small winter camp of the Oto as it stood in the midst
of the snow-covered prairie, near a stream "whose waters were hidden
beneath a thick covering of ice." The scene could undoubtedly have been
repeated in many localities in the vast region west of the Missouri. The
identity of the stream near which the two tents stood during the winter
of 1851-52 is suggested by a note in Fremont's journal, written 10 years
earlier. On June 22, 1842, when traversing the prairies, soon to reach
the right bank of the Platte, he wrote: "Made our bivouac in the midst
of some well-timbered ravines near the Little Blue.... Crossing the next
morning a number of handsome creeks, with clear water and sandy beds, we
reached at 10 A. M., a very beautiful wooded stream, about thirty-five
feet wide, called Sandy creek, and sometimes, as the Ottoes frequently
winter there, Otto fork." (Fremont, (1), p. 14.) The greater part of the
course of Sandy Creek is through the present Clay and Thayer Counties,
Nebraska, a hundred miles or more south of west from the Oto village
then situated near the mouth of the Platte.
Moellhausen remained with the Oto until the temporary camp was abandoned,
then returned with them to their permanent village. The journey required
several weeks but in time they approached the Missouri, and as they
neared their destination: "We passed the burial place of the Ottoes just
before we descended into the valley, and shortly afterwards came to the
village. The first consisted of a number of hillocks inclosed by rough
palings, and decorated with sticks with little bits of coloured stuff
and feathers fluttering from them. The village, which lay not many
hundred yards farther was a group of about sixty huts of various
construction, some of clay, shaped like haycocks or baking ovens, others
like small houses, built of thick oak bark. These dwellings stood mostly
empty, as the inhabitants had pitched their tents just now in the angle
formed by the Nebrasca and Missouri, on account of the rich grass to be
found in these bottom lands under the protecting snow, and because they
and their cattle were in that situation more sheltered from the violent
gales of wind." (Moellhausen, (1), I, pp. 210-211.) Here is a reference
to a third form of habitation known to the Oto. In addition to the
earth-covered lodge and the skin tipi, both of which were characteristic
of the time and place, they appear to have reared structures similar to
the habitation of the Sauk and Fox, as shown in plate 19, a type of
dwelling known to several neighboring tribes in the upper Mississippi
Valley.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 34
[Illustration: _a._ "Pemmican maul, Oto Agency, Nebrasca, J. W. Griest."
Formed of one piece of wood. Extreme length, 39 inches. (U.S.N.M.
22437)]
[Illustration: _b._ Heavy stone maul with handle attached. "Yankton
Sioux. Fort Berthold. Drs. Gray and Matthews, U. S. A." Extreme length
about 2 feet 2 inches. (U.S.N.M. 6325)]
[Illustration: _c._ "Tools of the Mandans for dressing leather, Dakota.
Drs. Gray and Matthews, U. S. A." Handle of antler, with flint blade
attached. Extreme length of handle about 11 inches. (U.S.N.M. 8409)]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 35
[Illustration: _a._ Oto dugout canoe, from Kurz's Sketchbook, May 15,
1851]
[Illustration: _b._ Bull-boat and paddle, obtained from the Hidatsa.
Marked "Fort Buford, Dak. Ter. Grosventres Tribe. Drs. Gray and
Matthews." (U.S.N.M. 9785)]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 36
[Illustration: _a._ Structure showing arbor over entrance]
[Illustration: _b._ Long structure with entrance on one side
WINNEBAGO HABITATIONS, ABOUT 1870]
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 77 PLATE 37
[Illustration: WINNEBAGO STRUCTURES]
It is quite evident that after leaving the permanent earth-lodge village
of the Oto the Long party just a century ago passed one of the temporary
camps of the same people. This, fortunately, was sketched by the artist
of the expedition and reproduced in the narrative of the journey, and is
now shown in plate 33. To quote from the narrative: "For the
elucidation of what we have said respecting the form and arrangement of
the skin, or travelling lodges of the Indians, we subjoin an engraving,
representing an encampment of Oto Indians, which Mr. Seymour sketched
near the Platte river. In this plate, the group of Indians on the left
is intended to represent a party of Konza Indians approaching to perform
the calumet dance in the Oto village. It may be proper to remark, that
this party when still distant from the Otoes, had sent forward a
messenger, with the offer of a prize to the first Oto that should meet
them. This circumstance was productive of much bustle and activity among
the warriors and young men, who eagerly mounted their horses, and
exerted their utmost speed." (James. (1), II, pp. 188-189.)
Various ethnological specimens collected among the Oto a generation or
more ago are in the collections of the National Museum. One quite rare
object, a "pemmican maul," formed of a single piece of wood, is figured
in plate 34, _a_.
An original sketch by Kurz in May, 1851, representing a group of Oto
with a dugout canoe, is reproduced in plate 35, _a_.
MISSOURI.
In the narrative of the Lewis and Clark expedition appears this record:
"June 13, 1804. We passed ... a bend of the river, Missouri and two
creeks on the north, called the Round Bend creeks. Between these two
creeks is the prairie, in which once stood the ancient village of the
Missouris. Of this village there remains no vestige, nor is there any
thing to recall this great and numerous nation, except a feeble remnant
of about thirty families. They were driven from their original seats by
the invasions of the Sauks and other Indians from the Mississippi, who
destroyed at this village two hundred of them in one contest." (Lewis
and Clark, (1), I, p. 13.) About 5 miles beyond they reached the mouth
of Grand River which flows from the northwest, serves as the boundary
between Carroll and Chariton Counties, Missouri, and enters the left
bank of the Missouri River. Therefore the old village of the Missouri
evidently stood at some point in the latter county. It was probably
composed of a number of mat and bark covered lodges resembling the
village of the Osage which stood a few miles farther up the river. Two
days later, June 15, the party identified the site or remains of the
former village of the Little Osage, and, so the narrative continues:
"About three miles above them, in view of our camp is the situation of
the old village of the Missouris after they fled from the Sauks." (Op.
cit., p. 15.) From this village the few Missouri Indians appear to have
sought refuge among the Oto, then living on the banks of the Platte.
WINNIBAGO.
When first known to Europeans the Winnebago occupied the region west of
Green Bay, west of Lake Michigan, where, according to the Jesuit
missionaries, they had resided for many generations. There they were
living in the year 1634 when visited by Nicollet, and just 35 years
later, during the winter of 1669-70, a mission on the shore of the same
bay was conducted by Pere Allouez, which proved a gathering place for
various tribes, including the Winnebago, Sauk and Foxes, Menominee, and
Potawatomi. These, with the exception of the Winnebago, were Algonquian
tribes.
As already mentioned, the Oto, Iowa, and Missouri appear to have been
closely connected with the Winnebago, all speaking dialects understood
by one another. And it is also evident that when the Oto, Iowa, and
Missouri began their movement westward to the Mississippi and beyond the
Winnebago remained behind. However, about the beginning of the last
century they reached the banks of the Mississippi, and by successive
moves during the next 50 years some arrived in western Minnesota, soon
to be removed to lands beyond the Missouri, adjoining the Omaha, in the
northeastern part of Nebraska.
While living in the vicinity of Green Bay their villages were groups of
mat and bark-covered lodges, typical of the tribes of the wooded country
which abounded in lakes and streams. And it is quite evident that during
their migration westward, when they made long stops before finally
reaching the banks of the Missouri, they continued to erect and occupy
structures similar to those which had stood in their old villages
generations before.
Typical examples of Winnebago dwellings are shown in plates 36 and 37.
The arbor over the entrance is an interesting feature, seldom appearing
in the Algonquian villages, although often shown in front of Siouan
lodges.
In a forthcoming publication Radin has given a list of the various forms
of structures erected by the Winnebago, some of which existed until very
recent years. (Radin, (1).)
MANDAN.
As mentioned in the sketch of the Assiniboin, a small party of French
accompanied by members of that tribe during the autumn of 1738 went
southward from the Assiniboin country to the Mandan towns, where the
French remained several weeks. The leader of the expedition, La
Verendrye, prepared an account of the journey, this being the earliest
record of a visit by Europeans to the Mandans known to exist, although
it is easily conceived that French trappers may have been among the
tribe earlier in the century.
The expedition arrived among the Mandan November 28, 1738, after a
journey of 46 days, but soon pushed forward to a larger village.
Fortunately the journal contains references to the ways of life of the
Mandan and a brief description of their fortified or protected
settlements. At that time the tribe was said to have had six villages,
and evidently all were protected by encircling palisades. The village in
which the French then rested consisted of 130 lodges, and "all the
streets, squares and huts resembled each other." The French were
particularly interested in the manner in which the town was protected,
but the account in the journal must exaggerate the strength, or rather
the size, of the ditch. The palisade was described as being 15 feet in
height, and "At fifteen points doubled are green skins which are put for
sheathing when required, fastened only above in the places needed, as in
the bastion there are four at each curtain well flanked. The fort is
built on a height in the open prairie with a ditch upwards of fifteen
feet deep by fifteen to eighteen feet wide. Their fort can only be
gained by steps or posts which can be removed when threatened by an
enemy. If all their forts are alike, they may be called impregnable to
Indians.... Both men and women of this nation are very laborious; their
huts are large and spacious, separated into several apartments by thick
planks; nothing is left lying about; all their baggage is in large bags
hung on posts; their beds made like tombs surrounded by skins.... Their
fort is full of caves, in which are stored such articles as grain, food,
fat, dressed robes, bear skins. They are well supplied with these; it is
the money of the country.... They make wicker work very neatly, flat and
in baskets. They make use of earthen pots, which they use like many
other nations for cooking their food." (La Verendrye, (1), p. 21.) In
addition to the six more important villages there appear to have been
others, similar but smaller. Referring to these La Verendrye wrote (p.
23): "We noticed that in the plain there were several small forts, of
forty or fifty huts, built like the large ones, but no one was there at
the time. They made us understand that they came inside for the summer
to work their fields and that there was a large reserve of grain in
their cellars." Evidently these were nearer their cornfields, away from
the river banks, and were occupied only parts of each year.
From this all too brief account of the Mandan it is quite evident that
when they were first encountered by the French, living in their earth
lodges, their villages strongly palisaded, their caches filled with corn
and other food supplies, buffalo robes and bear skins, they were in
their most powerful and prosperous state. But what great changes they
were destined to undergo during the next hundred years!
On October 19, 1804, the Lewis and Clark party discovered the first of
the ruined villages of the Mandan, evidently standing on the left bank
of the Missouri, in the southern part of the present Burleigh County,
North Dakota. It proved an interesting day. "In walking along the shore
we counted fifty-two herds of buffaloe and three of elk, at a single
view. Besides these we also observed elk, deer, pelicans, and wolves."
The ruined village had been protected by palisades and, according to the
Arikara chief, who accompanied them, had been occupied by the Mandan.
These, so they wrote, "are the first ruins which we have seen of that
nation in ascending the Missouri." During the night of October 19 the
expedition encamped on the south, i. e., right, bank of the Missouri,
evidently about 2 miles below the mouth of Little Heart River, which
flows from the westward and joins the Missouri in the present Morton
County, North Dakota. The following day they advanced 12 miles up the
Missouri.
October 21, 1804, was cold and bleak. Snow and ice covered the ground,
and the wind blew strong from the northeast. That day the expedition
advanced only 7 miles. They passed the mouth of Big Heart River and the
site of Bismarck, the present capital of the State. Two miles above
their camp of the night previous, about opposite the mouth of the Big
Heart, they reached "the ruins of a second Mandan village, which was in
existence at the same time with that just mentioned. It is situated on
the north at the foot of a hill in a beautiful and extensive plain,
which is now covered with herds of buffaloes; nearly opposite are
remains of a third village on the south of the Missouri, and there is
another also about two miles further on the north, a little off the
river. At the distance of seven miles we encamped on the south, and
spent a cold night." The next day, October 22, they discovered other
ruined towns of the Mandan. "In the morning we passed an old Mandan
village on the south, near our camp; at four miles another on the same
side.... At six we reached an island about one mile in length, at the
head of which is a Mandan village on the north in ruins, and two miles
beyond a bad sandbar. At eight miles are remains of another Mandan
village on the south; and at twelve miles encamped on the south....
These villages, which are nine in number, are scattered along each side
of the river within a space of twenty miles; almost all that remains of
them is the wall which surrounds them, the fallen heaps of earth which
covered the houses, and occasionally human skulls and the teeth and
bones of men, and different animals, which are scattered on the surface
of the ground." (Lewis and Clark, (1), I, pp. 112-114.) Other deserted
villages were passed as they continued ascending the Missouri, to arrive
late on the 26th of October, at an old field of the Mandan, about
one-half mile below the first of their then occupied villages.
The winter encampment of the expedition, Fort Mandan, was situated on
the left bank of the Missouri, about opposite the future Fort Clark, and
some 7 or 8 miles below the mouth of Knife River, and consequently
several miles from the first Mandan village. Here the expedition
remained until April 7, 1805. The lower of the Mandan villages was
"Matootonha," the second and smaller was "Rooptahee." The list continues
and refers to "the third village which is called Mahawha, and where the
Arwacahwas reside." "The fourth village where the Minnetarees live, and
which is called Metaharta." A fifth village is mentioned but its name is
not given. (Op. cit., pp. 120-121.) Referring to these more in detail
the narrative tells something of their origin: November 21, 1804, "The
villages near which we are established are five in number, and are the
residence of three distinct nations: the Mandans, the Ahnahaways, and
the Minnetarees. The history of the Mandans, as we received it from our
interpreters and from the chiefs themselves, and as it is attested by
existing monuments, illustrates more than that of any other nation the
unsteady movements and the tottering fortunes of the American nations.
Within the recollection of living witnesses, the Mandans were settled
forty years ago in nine villages, the ruins of which we passed about
eighty miles below, and situated seven on the west and two on the east
side of the Missouri. The two finding themselves wasting away before the
small-pox and the Sioux, united into one village, and moved up the river
opposite to the Ricaras. The same causes reduced the remaining seven to
five villages, till at length they emigrated in a body to the Ricara
nation, where they formed themselves into two villages, and joined those
of their countrymen who had gone before them. In their new residence
they were still insecure, and at length the three villages ascended the
Missouri to their present position. The two who had emigrated together
still settled in the two villages on the northwest side of the Missouri,
while the single village took a position on the southeast side. In this
situation they were found by those who visited them in 1796; since which
the two villages have united into one. They are now in two villages, one
on the southeast of the Missouri, the other on the opposite side, and at
the distance of three miles across. The first, in an open plain,
contains about forty or fifty lodges, built in the same way as those of
the Ricaras: the second, the same number, and both may raise about three
hundred and fifty men.
"On the same side of the river, and at the distance of four miles from
the lower Mandan village, is another called Mahaha. It is situated in a
high plain at the mouth of the Knife river, and is the residence of the
Ahnahaways. This nation, whose name indicated that they were 'people
whose village is on a hill,' formerly resided on the Missouri, about
thirty miles below where they now live. The Assiniboins and Sioux forced
them to a spot five miles higher, where the greatest part of them were
put to death, and the rest emigrated to their present situation, in
order to obtain an asylum near the Minnetarees. They are called by the
French, Soulier Noir or Shoe Indians; by the Mandans, Wattasoons, and
their whole force is about fifty men.
"On the south side of the same Knife river, half a mile above the Mahaha
and in the same open plain with it, is a village of the Minnetarees
surnamed Metaharta, who are about one hundred and fifty men in number.
On the opposite side of Knife river, and one and a half mile above this
village is a second of Minnetarees, who may be considered as the proper
Minnetaree nation. It is situated in a beautiful low plain, and contains
four hundred and fifty warriors." (Op. cit., pp. 129-131.)