The Indians within the limits of Dakota Territory are the Sioux, the
Poncas, and the Arickarees, Gros Ventres, and Mandans.
_Sioux._--There are probably, including those at the Red Cloud agency,
at present temporarily located in Wyoming, about 25,000 Sioux under the
care of government at eight different agencies.
The Yankton Sioux, numbering about 2,000, are located in the extreme
southern part of the Territory, on the east side of the Missouri, about
fifty miles from the town of Yankton, upon a reservation of 400,000
acres, nearly all rolling prairie, set apart for them by treaty of 1858,
out of the tract then ceded by them to the United States. They have not
been much inclined to work; and, although there is good land within
their reservation, they are poor, having still to be subsisted in a
great measure by the government. It is but due to say of the Yanktons,
that, while other bands of Sioux have been hostile to the government and
citizens, they have uniformly been friendly, even to the extent of
assisting the government against their own kindred. They are now giving
considerable attention to the education of their children, having six
schools in operation, with an average attendance of three hundred and
sixty-six scholars.
The Sisseton and Wahpeton bands have two reservations,--one in the
eastern part of the Territory, at Lake Traverse, containing 1,241,600
acres, where are 1,496 Indians; and one in the north-eastern part of the
Territory, at Devil's Lake, containing 345,600 acres, where are 720
Indians, including a few from the "Cut-Head" band of Sioux. These two
reservations are provided for in a treaty made with the bands in 1867.
These Indians were a portion of the Sioux living in Minnesota at the
time of the outbreak in 1862. Many of them claim to have been, and
doubtless were, friendly to the whites during the troubles referred to;
and when the removal of the Sioux took place in 1863, as noticed
heretofore under the title of "Santee Sioux," they went to the western
part of Minnesota and to the eastern and northern parts of Dakota, near
their present reservations. They are quite generally engaged in
agricultural operations, under the system adopted while they were on
their reservation in Minnesota, by which the individual Indians receive
pay in goods or supplies for all work performed, only the aged, infirm,
or sick being supplied with clothing and subsistence gratuitously. So
far as these Indians are concerned, the scheme has been decidedly
successful; and it should be extended to all the tribes and bands now on
the "feeding-list," so soon as practicable. There are four schools in
operation for the bands at Lake Traverse, attended by one hundred and
twenty-three scholars. An unusual degree of interest is manifested of
late in having their children educated. By treaty made with them in
1867, the amount of funds to be appropriated annually for their benefit
is at the discretion of Congress. For the present year, the sum of
$75,000 has been appropriated for the benefit of these Indians. They
also participate in the proceeds derived from the sales of the Sioux
lands in Minnesota, which furnish a considerable revenue yearly.
The Oncpapa, Blackfeet, Lower Yanktonai, Upper Yanktonai, Sans Arc,
Upper and Lower Brule, Two Kettle, Minneconjou, and Ogallala bands are
located at five different agencies, viz.: the Upper Missouri, or Crow
Creek agency, on the east side of the Missouri; the Grand River agency,
at the mouth of the Grand River; the Cheyenne River agency, at the mouth
of the Cheyenne River; the Whetstone agency (so called from its former
location at the junction of the Whetstone with the Missouri Rivers), on
the White River, about two hundred and twenty-five miles west of the
Missouri; and the Red Cloud agency, at present on the North Platte,
about thirty miles south-east from Fort Laramie. The Indians at these
agencies number in the aggregate about 22,000. They have a reservation
set apart for them by the treaty of 1868, containing about 25,000,000
acres, lying west of the Missouri River and north of Nebraska. Prior to
this treaty, these Indians had for years been engaged in acts of
hostility against the government and in depredations upon the white
settlers. Claiming to own most, if not all, of the Territory of Dakota,
and portions of the Territories of Montana and Wyoming, as well as the
western part of Nebraska, they used every effort to prevent the
settlement of the country so claimed, their hostility being especially
directed against the Union Pacific Railroad. The military operations of
1867-68, however, convinced the Sioux of the hopelessness of opposing
the progress of the railroad, and the settlement of the immediate belt
through which it was to pass, and disposed them to accept the provision
made for them by the treaty of 1868. With the exception of the main
portion of the Ogallala band, at the Red Cloud agency, and a
considerable body of disaffected Indians from all the bands, known as
the "hostile Sioux," of whom "Sitting Bull" and "Black Moon" are the
principal chiefs, these bands are all within the limits of the
reservation set apart by said treaty of 1868. A few at each of the
agencies on the Missouri River have shown a disposition to engage in
agriculture; but by far the greater part of them remain "breech-clout"
Indians, disinclined to labor for a living, and accepting subsistence
from the government as the natural and proper consideration for the
favor done the government by their consenting to remain at the agencies
assigned them. If they have any suspicion that this thing cannot last
forever, and that the time will soon come for them to work or starve,
the great majority do not allow themselves to be influenced by it, but
seem determined to put the evil day as far off as possible.
_Poncas._--The Poncas, numbering 735, have a reservation of 576,000
acres, near the confluence of the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers, in the
south-eastern part of the Territory, provided for them in their treaty
with the United States, made in 1858. They are quiet and peaceable, are
inclined to be industrious, and engage to some extent in farming; but
from various causes, principally the destruction of their crops by
grasshoppers, have not succeeded in supporting themselves without
assistance from the government. They are well advanced in civilized
habits of life, and have shown considerable interest in the education of
their children, having three schools in operation, with an average
attendance of seventy-seven scholars.
_Arickarees, Gros Ventres, and Mandans._--These tribes number 2,200, and
have a reservation set apart for their occupancy by executive order of
April 12, 1870, comprising 8,640,000 acres, situated in the
north-western part of Dakota and the eastern part of Montana, extending
to the Yellowstone and Powder Rivers. They have no treaty with the
government, are now and have always been friendly to the whites, are
exceptionally known to the officers of the army and to frontiersmen as
"good Indians," and are engaged to some extent in agriculture. Owing to
the shortness of the agricultural season, the rigor of the climate, and
the periodical ravages of grasshoppers, their efforts in this direction,
though made with a degree of patience and perseverance not usual in the
Indian character, have met with frequent and distressing reverses; and
it has from time to time been found necessary to furnish them with more
or less subsistence to prevent starvation. They are traditional enemies
of the Sioux; and the petty warfare maintained between them and the
Sioux of the Grand River and Cheyenne River agencies--while, like most
warfare confined to Indians alone, it causes wonderfully little loss of
life--serves to disturb the condition of these agencies, and to retard
the progress of all the parties concerned. These Indians should be moved
to the Indian Territory, south of Kansas, where the mildness of the
climate and the fertility of the soil would repay their labors, and
where, it is thought, from their willingness to labor and their docility
under the control of the government, they would in a few years become
wholly self-supporting. The question of their removal has been submitted
to them; and they seem inclined to favor the project, but have expressed
a desire to send a delegation of their chiefs to the Indian Territory,
with a view of satisfying themselves as to the desirableness of the
location. Their wishes in this respect should be granted early next
season, that their removal and settlement may be effected during the
coming year. Notwithstanding their willingness to labor, they have shown
but little interest in education. Congress makes an appropriation of
$75,000 annually for goods and provisions, for their instruction in
agricultural and mechanical pursuits, for salaries of employes, and for
the education of their children, &c.