Text of Ziebach Co., SD History (1982) - pages 1 - 20 This file is the text of the book, "South Dakota's Ziebach County, History of the Prairie", published in 1982 by the Ziebach County Historical Society, Dupree, SD Permission to publish this book in electronic form was given by Jackie Birkeland, member of the Historical Committee. This book is copyright, 1982 by the Ziebach County Historical Society, Dupree, SD. Scanning and OCR by Terri Tosh , final editing by Joy Fisher, . South Dakota's Ziebach County, History of the Prairie This book is an Epitaph to those who were beckoned to the call of this great prairie. A DEDICATION My interest in the history of Ziebach County was sparked by afternoons of visiting with Mrs. Alice Shannon and with Mrs. Amy Clown. With their stories, these women brought alive the first half of this century on the prairie. My association with many of the descendants of the Dupris family gave me a feeling of connection with the past and Charles Steen's stories of Narcisse Narcelle intrigued me. All of this led to my joining forces with the ladies of the Ziebach County History Committee and ultimately to more than a year of our researching; visiting, interviewing, and 'bothering' people; and trying to write: With gratitude for the support of all the friends who never 'bottomed out' and with thanks to all who have contributed to this book, on behalf of the History Committee, I would like to dedicate this book to the future generations of Ziebach County that they may know something of the past. It has been written for them. Ann Fleming Project Director [photo] ACKNOWLDGEMENT John W. Whalen, as executive director of South Dakota Committee on the Humanities wishes to convey their appreciation to Ann Fleming for her work as program director of this book. The Dupree Community Club and the Ziebach County Historical Committee gratefully acknowledge the year of organization, research and supervision she provided. We are indebted to speakers Harold Shunk, Bob Lee, Don Laudenschlager and John Lane, the latter as special consultant also. Many thanks to the typists who worked gratuitously. We are thankful to sources such as the South Dakota Historical Society, the many interviews so freely given, the effort of so many in contributions of writing and pictures. The monetary contribution and encouragement of the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities was most helpful. Special credit needs to be given to local newspapers for the history which was gleaned from their pages. Thanks go to West River Progress, Dupree Leader, Ziebach County News, Redelm Record, Faith Independent and Faith Gazette. Cover design by Gerald J. Weis, Sr. PREFACE Organization began in the fall of 1979 when the Ziebach County Historical Committee chose to prepare for the publication of a history to honor the memory of those who were here earlier and contributed so much to Ziebach County and surrounding areas. It is also meant to convey to posterity a sense of beginnings and historical facts as true as can be constructed. A grant was obtained in June, 1980 from the South Dakota Committee on the Humanities, and with the Dupree Community Club as sponsor, there hasn't been a dull moment since! Writings and tapes submitted reached beyond expectations. Space does not allow printing without editing in every case, for this, there are regrets. You will find it interesting, imaginative, funny, sad and determined -- just as your relatives are! Historical Committee: Thelma Frame, Shirley Menzel, Virginia Woodward, Faye Longbrake, Jackie Birkeland, Rose Griffith, Ruth Edwards, Jessie Young. [photos of members of Historical Committee] REFERENCE BOOKS ATHEARN, ROBERT G. Forts of the Upper Missouri, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 1967. BLASINGAME, IKE. Dakota Cowboy, University of Nebraska Press, 1958. Call of the Prairie, Dupree Golden Jubilee, 1960. Department of Historical Collections: South Dakota, Vol.'s I-XXXVII. DONNENWIRTH, RICHARD G. Westward Expansion of the Indians and Fur Trade into South Dakota, 1957, unpublished. DUCHENEAUX, FRANK. The Peace Treaty of Fort Laramie, April 29, 1869. A souvenir of the Cheyenne River Reservation Peace Treaty Centennial, Eagle Butte, August 31 and September 1, 1968. CRST 1968. DURATSCHEK, SR. MARY CLAUDIA, O.S.B. Crusading Along Sioux Trails, 1947. Faith Country - 1960 book. GASD, WAYNE. The Great Buffalo Hunt, University of Nebraska Press, 1959. GILBERT, LUKE. Brief History of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, Souvenir Program Commemorating 50th Anniversary of Cheyenne River Agency, 1891-1941; 1941. HALL, BERT L. Roundup Years, Old Muddy to Black Hills, Pierre, 1954. Isabel Territory - Verla Jewett 1961 book. JOHNSON, LEONA, Notes from the Service or Why Teachers Go Mad, 1946, unpublished scrapbook. LEBEAU, SANDRA KAY. A History of the Cheyenne River Bands of Lakota, 1786-1890. compiled for Dr. Cash. LEE, BOB AND DICK WILLIAMS. Last Grass Frontier, South Dakota Stock Grower Heritage, 1964, Black Hills Publishers, Inc., Sturgis. PAIGE, HARRY W. Songs of the Teton Sioux, Westernlore, 1970, L. A. ROBINSON, JAMES M. West from Fort Pierre, The Wild World of James (Scotty) Philip, Westernlore Press, L. A.: 1974. Saddle Strings. SNEVE, VIRGINIA DRIVING HAWK. That They May Have Life: The Episcopal Church in South Dakota, 1859-1976. Seabury Press, N.Y.: 1977. EHRENSPERGER, EDWARD C., editor History of the United Church of Christ in South Dakota 1869-1976. Pine Hill Press, Freeman, S.D. 1977. CREDITS/ BIBLIOGRAPHY SOUTH DAKOTA ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, S.D. 1971 interviews with: Raymond Brown Thunder, Guy Buffalo, Sarah Buffalo, Alex Chasing Hawk, Silas Condon, Charles Dog with Horns, Charles Inamongst, Lucy Swan, Ruth Thunder Hoop and Oscar White Weasel. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, (SDSHS), Museum, Pierre, S.D.: Photographs. Bureau of Indian Affairs; Cheyenne River Reservation, Realty Office, Eagle Butte, S.D. THE PRAIRIE SPEAKS I am a bountiful garden. My fertile soil, kissed by the sun and rain, grows a varied abundance of food. I am life giving and life sustaining. My native grasses and wild flowers feed all my creatures-- the rabbit, the grouse, the deer; great herds of cattle and sheep graze my hillsides; vast fields of wheat and barley ripple in the never-ending breeze. I yield wild fruits-- plums, chokecherry, grape and buffalo berry. I am mother to all life. In spring my verdant slopes delight the eye for as far as it can see. Summer brings maturing crops and colours ripening into the golden hues of autumn. The silent white of winter covers all, making beautiful even the man-made scars, and preparing the soil for another cycle of growth. I am peace, and plenty, and beauty. Overhead my ever-changing sky, with its varying shades of blue, and stormy shades of gray and black, my fleecy cloud shapes, my brilliantly hued sunrises and sunsets, their shades of red and orange and purple, shot with streaks of silver and gold charms the eye and soothes the senses. Even when the rains stay away, and dust and hoppers wrack their havoc, there is a stark lonely, beauty left. And there is always my sky! I can be deadly, too. Winter blizzards with their freezing cold, blinding snow, howling winds to trap the unwary, bringing death to all life. But, after the storm has passed I am tranquil, quiet, inviting children, young and old, to try my snowy slopes and frozen ponds. You may hate me--or love me But you will never forget me. Eva Henderson Miller A MORNING MEDITATION I walked along a prairie trail, In the coolness of the morn, And beauty was scattered thru-out the swale, The Bethlehem Star and the violet pale, Smiled back as I passed along; But one was crushed by a heavy tread Its sweetness and beauty forever fled. God had planted them all with a lavish hand And their roots were deep in the prairie sand, It would blossom again, with more beauty and grace Bringing a smile to a tired face. And I thot, "How like Life is this prairie land, Where roughness and beauty walk hand in hand, And hearts that are bruised by the careless tread Of an unkind word, better left unsaid, Came back the stronger, for pain and scar, With beauty reborn: -- "Like the Bethlehem Star." Annie M. Knipfer PRAIRIE BLOSSOMS On the South Dakota prairies No pale magnolia grows - But I have seen rare beauty, Where a hedge of wild plum blows. There is no sweeter fragrance, In the Garden of the Gods, Than that which greets the senses, Where the prairie wild rose nods. And ringing forth with gladness Its message of the spring, The dainty prairie bluebell Re-echoes, while I sing. A song of real thanksgiving To the Father up above For the beauty that surrounds me And reflects his boundless love. Annie M. Knipfer TO A MEADOWLARK OH! You heaven-sent little stranger, You brave, courageous thing To sit right there on my garden gate, And insist that it is spring, I'd never have known it really, For the winds that continue to blow Are raw and damp and chilly, But you say that it is so. God must have whispered the answer And told you to pass it along, This message of hope and courage In your gay melodious song. So I'll open wide my window The better to hear you sing And wish you joy as you fly away With your message of the spring. Annie M. Knipfer THE CHINOOK Over the wild, desolate prairies The snow lay white and cold. A blizzard struck just yesterday With fury that was bold. The storm had left ... so In the night ... cold and dark, That now upon the morning bright It left its awesome mark. At noon a soft and gentle breeze Blew quickly across the plain. It came from out the south and west And spread over the domain. The snow soon melted fast away And creeks with water rose. The chinook had come with friendly warmth And so the winter goes! Warren W. Robertson MY PRAIRIE These wide open spaces, wild and free The land I love for it's home to me. Springs green, velvet dress delights the eye Under the beautiful, boundless sky. The fleece-white clouds, the sunsets bright, Her thunder, lightning and stormy night! Each paints a picture beyond compare, And all is free for us to share. The deer, the hare, and all manner of beast Feeds on the plain of her fertile breast. Wild fruit, wild game on a vast grass sea, A land of infinite variety! This land can be harsh when blizzards rage; and drought and hoppers leave naught but sage. Still, money can't buy this land from me – 'Tis my home on the prairie, wild and free. Eva Henderson Miller Dupree, South Dakota THUNDER BUTTE In northern Ziebach County Stands Thunder Butte alone The monarch of surrounding hills ... With a diadem of stone! He stood there countless ages, While red men roamed the plains And Buffalo and antelope Grazed over vast domains. There still he stands undaunted, While seasons come and go, Unchanged alike by summer sun Or by the Winter snow. The Persepolis of Persia Stood not more dignified, Nor the Acropolis of Athens In its historic pride! Rule on, Majestic Mountain! May nothing ever mar Your innate rugged beauty, That may be seen afar. G. M. Drummond SOUTH DAKOTA Where the coyotes howl, And the wind blows free- South Dakota I long for thee. You're blessed with sunshine And glorified by fame- South Dakota, I love thy name. South Dakota I long for thee With all your grandeur, And prairies free. You're a land of health! You're a land of wealth! South Dakota for me. Where rattlesnakes rattle And prairie dogs be, South Dakota For you--for me. You've birds-- What beauteous song! South Dakota It's for you I long. Frances Bjorgum Copyrighted April 22, 1938 Chapter 1 BEFORE THE BEGINNING [photo caption -Rosebud Delegation (11-26); Standing Rock (2742): Sitting Bull (27), Thunder Hawk (30), Hairy Chin (35), High Bear (31), John Grass (39), Gaul (40), and Louis Primeau, Interpreter (41); Pine Ridge (43-58): American Horse (53); Cheyenne River, Crow Creek and Lower Brule (59-80): Spotted Elk (63), White Swan (65), Charger (66), Swift Bird (68), Narcisse Narcelle (70), Bull Head (79). (SDSHS)] THE FRENCH AND THE FUR TRADE by Ann Fleming The French association with the Chippewa caused the Sioux to be driven onto the Plains where they acquired guns and horses, and later came to be respected as the 'Warriors of the Plains'. Eventually these Frenchmen from Canada led the development of the fur-trade along the Missouri River that destroyed the fur-bearing animals of the region, brought tuberculosis, venereal disease, and smallpox (that decimated the Mandan and Arikara tribes), and served as a means for the Indian people to assimilate a second culture -- that of the European. Descendants of the French-Indians became leaders and spokesmen for the Sioux in their struggle to retain what was theirs. The names of these pioneers remain with residents of the Cheyenne River Reservation and of Ziebach County. Following is a review of the events that brought this about. In the late 1600's, French explorers came into the Plains region and claimed it for France. The La Verendrye brothers, in the 1740's, came through this area on their way to the hills or mountains in the West. As fur-traders, they were an example for others to follow. In 1760 France lost Canada to England in the French and Indian War. The Hudson Bay Company gained complete control over the Canadian fur-trade and many French fur-traders left Canada. St. Louis became the new headquarters for these fur-traders. By 1775 the Teton Sioux had acquired horses and crossed the Missouri River, and the French fur-companies were establishing trading posts in eastern South Dakota. Trade with the Sioux and Arikara grew, and posts moved up the Missouri River. By 1803 Registre Loisel (from Canada in 1793) had built a house and trading post 25 miles up the river from Big Bend. An early white man to traverse any part of this area was Jon Valle, whom Lewis & Clark met near the mouth of the Cheyenne River in 1804. Their Journal entry states: "He wintered last winter 300 leagues up the Chien River under the Black Mountains. He informed us that the river is very rapid and difficult even for perogues to assend and when rising, the swels is very high." Jon Valle was in the fur business. Manuel Lisa, for the Missouri Fur Company, and Pierre Dorion were important to the development of the fur-trade on the Missouri between 1805 and 1820. From 1807 until 1843 the Missouri River was the heart of the fur country. The Teton Sioux made up half of the Great Sioux Nation and controlled the area west of the Missouri. The other 6 Sioux tribes control led the eastern half of what would later be South Dakota. The Tetons lived on a great buffalo range and had access to much of the beaver trapping area. They controlled the fur-trade, acting as middlemen with traders and trappers. After 1820 most of the trapping was done by professional trappers rather than by Indians. Gradually the region lost nearly all of its fur-bearing animals and the Indians' long range food supply dwindled. Fort Tecumseh was built south of the later Fort Pierre in 1822 by the Des Lauriers for a fur-company. (Des Laurier's daughter, Julia, later married Yellow Hawk, a Sans Arc.) A replacement for Fort Tecumseh was built in 1832 and named Fort Pierre for Pierre Chouteau, Jr., who was then on board a steamer with George Catlin, passing by on his way up the Missouri. Chouteau's introduction of the use of steamboats on the Missouri led to a sudden over-supply of beaver pelts. Before steamboats, traders and trappers used keel boats to take their pelts to St. Louis and return with items for trade. Liquor was the most important article of trade, and a supply of it was necessary for a company to stay in business. Other trade items included cloth, trinkets, coffee, sugar, and metal items such as guns, knives, needles, and cooking pots. In 1832 an act was passed prohibiting the transport of liquor into Indian Territory. John Jacob Astor retired from the fur-trade business in 1834 after a trip to Europe. Europeans were beginning to wear top hats made of silk rather than of beaver. Astor sold his interests in the American Fur Company to the Chouteaus. By 1843 the fur trade took a downward swing. Later, buffalo hides replaced beaver as the article for trade. The market for buffalo robes peaked in the late 1820's. Although declining after that, trade continued until after the Civil War. In 1861, Fred Dupuis wintered at the trading post on Cherry Creek. M. C. Rousseau wrote a letter for Dupuis showing his concern with the decline of the buffalo in this area. Fred Dupuis had arrived at Fort Pierre by 1838, having come from Quebec by way of St. Louis. He was employed for a time by the American Fur Company which established many posts in this area. The companies built posts wherever the Indians wanted to have them. The posts were primarily winter posts and of short duration. There were posts at the mouth of the Cheyenne, at the mouth of Cherry Creek, and further up the river where Pedro was later located, near the forks of the Cheyenne. Basil Clement (pronounced 'Claymo', now Claymore) came from St. Louis and married a Lakota woman. He trapped in the Black Hills n 1848. In 1854-5 Claymore was in charge of a company post on the Moreau. The Moreau Post was probably up the Missouri from the mouth of the Moreau. Claymore also wintered at the Cherry Creek post with Frank La Fromboise. Parquet was in charge of a post at Thunder Butte. These posts were all owned by the American Fur Company. Many other Frenchmen came into this area during these years. Louie Benoist (pronounced 'Benway') came from Sorel, Canada, to Fort Pierre before 1850. Francois M. Benoist was another fur trader from St. Louis. Both of these men married Sioux women. Francois' son, William Benway, was a well-known interpreter for Cheyenne River Agency. Louis LaPlante was another early trader, coming from Quebec. He arrived in Fort Pierre in 1855 after going to sea as a sailor and later coming up the Mississippi River. Louis worked for the American Fur Company, trapped on his own, carried messages for the army, freighted, and ranched on the Cheyenne River. By the 1880's French-Indians had gained social status and influence. The California gold rush of the early 1840's and the Civil War both delayed white settlement in South Dakota. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 and the last herds of buffalo to be slaughtered brought white men into the West River area. Several fur posts or 'forts' were sold to the government for the army. The fur companies had built over 100 trading posts in Indian Territory. INDIAN HISTORY AND POLICIES parts from A HISTORY OF ZIEBACH CO., by Montel Creamer (updated) The first known Indians to inhabit the territory of which Ziebach County forms a part were the Arikara. The tribe engaged primarily in agriculture but roamed short distances in hunting buffalo and other game. In 1745 Chevalier Verendrye and his brother, Lewis Joseph, visited an Arikara camp on the Missouri River, near the present Fort Pierre. The Arikara, called Ree by the white man, were driven north by the Teton Sioux who occupied the entire area west of the Missouri River by 1775. The Teton are one of seven bands of the Sioux. The Sioux were pushed westward by Chippewa Indians armed with French guns and the Teton led their people westward from Minnesota across the prairie. In 1776 the Sioux Nation held all of South Dakota, more than half of Minnesota, a large portion of North Dakota, and a portion of Wisconsin and Iowa. The Teton band, from which the Indian people of Ziebach County are descended, roamed from the Platte River in Nebraska to the headwaters of the Missouri and westward to the Black Hills. Later, as the buffalo were slaughtered by white men, the Teton Sioux went west into Montana, following the remaining buffalo, their source of livelihood. The Teton were the largest and most powerful of all the Sioux bands and hold the distinction of being the last to make peace with the white man. Their name, Teton (Titowan), means "Prairie Dwellers." The Teton were divided into seven important bands: The Minniconjou, Sisapa, Oohenumpa, Itazipco, Sicangu (or Brule), Oglala, and Hunkpapa. The Teton Sioux residing in Ziebach County today belong primarily to the Minniconjou band (Plants by the Stream), and to the Sisapa (Blackfoot), Oohenumpa (Two Kettle), and Sans Arc (Without Bows) bands. The Teton and their Siouan dialect are called 'Lakota' . [photo – Beef issue on ration day, late 1880'2 (SDSHS)] Both France and Spain laid claim to the Mississippi River area. Spain owned and dominated most of the territory west of the Mississippi, in theory at least, until the purchase of Louisiana by President Jefferson in 1803. In 1800 Louisiana was secretly deeded to France, but the Spanish officials continued to function until the transfer of that territory to the United States in the spring of 1804. The area comprising Ziebach County was then put under the following territorial creations: District of Louisiana (1804), Louisiana Territory (1805), and Missouri Territory (1812). In 1821 eastern South Dakota was attached to the territory of Michigan. The area west of the Missouri River in South Dakota was unorganized Indian land over which the United States possessed only original jurisdiction. Later this area was a part of the Nebraska Territory (1851) and the Dakota Territory (1861) and was admitted to the Union as a part of South Dakota in 1889. The Indian and white contacts were rather infrequent prior to 1812, but after that year a definite relationship grew as the white man advanced into Indian country. The Indian wars of South Dakota, in which the Lakota played a leading part, date from the War of 1812. The Santee Sioux, Arikara, and Gros Ventre were for the most part under the influence of the British, while the Missouri Sioux had all of their trade relations with St. Louis and remained stalwartly on the side of the United States government. Manuel Lisa, a trader, kept the Missouri Sioux friendly during the war and took the leading men of the Sioux to St. Louis in 1815 to sign treaties of peace and friendship. Black Buffalo, a Minniconjou chief, was among those chiefs. Following the War of 1812, there was a period of about fifty years when the relations between the whites and the Lakota Indians were, on the whole, pleasant. During this period the fur trade developed. Most of the trade was conducted from the present location of Fort Pierre, which served as a central depot from which the "winterers" would go out to all the tribal camps over the state. The traders exchanged merchandise for fur, which was brought back to Fort Pierre in the spring and sent down the river to St. Louis. In 1851 the Sioux of the Dakotas traveled to Fort Laramie for treaty negotiations with the U. S. Government and several other prairie and mountain Indian tribes. They received money as payment for the buffalo, timber, and grass destroyed by passing immigrants. The Indian tribes promised to keep peace among themselves and with the whites. The government promised the annuity of $50,000 for fifty years (later changed to fifteen years by the Senate) in the form of useful articles, to be distributed yearly among 50,000 Indian people. Following Red Cloud's War along the Bozeman Trail, the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 created the "Great Sioux Reservation". The entire portion of South Dakota west of the Missouri River was given to the Sioux for their absolute and undisturbed use and occupation. Before Red Cloud's War, the Indians had adopted several of the customs of the white man, but for the most part, they followed their traditional ways. The tribal government was by clan, with a 'chief', a council, and an Indian court. After 1868, modern Indian courts were established which modified the tribal government to some extent. This modern system was under the government-appointed agents' supervision. Under the provisions of the treaty of 1868, the Government had promised to build an agency for the Indian people along the Missouri River. In order to carry out this obligation, the Government, in 1870, built the Cheyenne River Agency on the west side of the Missouri at the mouth of the Cheyenne River and in 1871 built Fort Bennett, nearby. The Two Kettle, Minniconjou, Sans Are, and Blackfoot Sioux received their annuities here. In the early winter of 1875 and 1876 the Indian agents, because of the lack of rations at the agencies, gave the Indians permission to hunt buffalo in the unceded territory of Powder River. In December of 1875, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs sent instructions to recall all Indians to their reservations by January 31, 1876. These instructions did not reach the Cheyenne River Agency until December 20, and the runners who were sent to notify the Indian people did not return until February 11, 1876. On the first of February, 1876, the Secretary of War decided that the time given the Indians to return had expired and that it was now a problem for the War Department to handle. The Northern Cheyenne and Sioux met the U. S. Military in the Battle of the Rosebud and the Battle of the Little Bighorn. Minniconjou Sioux who distinguished themselves in the battle against Custer included Hump, White Bull, and Iron Thunder. Following their victory over the 7th Cavalry, the Indians of the Great Sioux Reservation were treated as prisoners of war. Those that returned to the reservation had their horses and weapons taken from them. Fleeing from the army, many Sioux joined Sitting Bull and Hump in a flight to Canada. The Lakota who settled in present day Ziebach County returned from Canada several years after the Custer battle, being transported down the Missouri River in steamboats. In the fall of 1876 a commission escorted by military detachments visited the reservations and secured the signatures of a few of the head men. This Black Hills treaty of 1876 provided for a smaller reservation for the Teton Sioux. The Great Sioux Reservation lost land west of the one hundred and third meridian (including the Black Hills) and west of the forks of the Cheyenne River. This treaty allowed three wagon roads to be constructed through the reservation. With the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, whites had entered the area and towns were growing and needed supplies. The government, in consideration of these cessions, agreed to provide all of the necessary aid to assist the Indians in the task of becoming 'civilized', to furnish them with schools and with instructions in mechanical and agricultural arts, and to provide each Indian with subsistence until such time as the Indians were able to support themselves. In 1887 the Dawes Act further changed the Indian type of life by providing for the allotments of fixed areas of land to individual Indians and for the sale of the surplus land to the Government. The proceeds from the sale of this land were to constitute a tribal trust fund to be administered for the tribes' interests by the United States. The Government was to act as guardian for the Indians, who held their land in severalty; and the land was not to be sold or disposed of for twenty-five years. An Indian man with a wife was given 640 acres and his wife was allotted 320 acres. As children were born to the union each child was allotted 160 acres. In 1889, a bill was finally passed that met the requirements of both the Government and the Indians. It provided for the breaking up of the Sioux Reservation into small reservations and for the opening of the surplus land between the Cheyenne River and the White River to white settlement. The Cheyenne River Reservation was created under this Act of 1889, and its boundaries were defined: "Beginning at a point in the center of the main channel of the Missouri River ten miles north of the Moreau River, or Owl River, said point being the southeastern corner of the Standing Rock Reservation; thence down said center of the main channel of the Missouri River, including also entirely within said reservation all islands, if any, in said river, to a point opposite the mouth of the Cheyenne River; and up the same to its intersection with the one hundred and second meridian of longitude; thence north to the Moreau; thence due east to the place of beginning." The area of the reservation comprised 2,804,090 acres. The Cheyenne River Reservation is composed of the two (now organized) counties of Dewey and Ziebach. Armstrong County (unorganized) was incorporated into Dewey by the 1954 State Legislature. In 1891 the Cheyenne Agency was moved 55 miles up the Missouri River to a site on the west bank, opposite Forest City (now inundated), where it remained until 1959. In 1891 Fort Bennett was abandoned. In 1900 the Milwaukee Railroad obtained a six mile right-of-way across the northern part of the Cheyenne River Reservation and the southern part of Standing Rock Reservation, known as "the Strip". It was used by cattle companies to drive herds to the railhead at Evarts on the Missouri River. The greatest opposition to the opening of the reservation to white occupation was made by the ''squaw men'' or white men with Indian wives, who had settled on the reservation. One of these men, Douglas Carlin, son of an army officer, had over 10,000 head of cattle and was one of the wealthy men of the reservation. Cheyenne River Reservation was divided into eight large pastures and the Indian Bureau leased 1.5 million acres to a cattle syndicate in 1902. The Indian people retained the right to graze their animals on the range. The plan worked well until the Indian people, few of whom branded, began to lose their cattle. The practice of leasing to large companies continued until 1935. On May 29, 1908, an Act of Congress opened up the unallotted portion of the reservation for homesteading and hundreds of white settlers took up homesteads. Land was sold for from two to six dollars per acre. There was such a stampede that the Indian Bureau had to sell the land by lottery. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad bought a right-of-way across the reservation. A southern branch of the railroad extended from Trail City to Faith. Towns springing up along that route were Promise, LaPlant, Ridgeview, Mossman, Parade, Eagle Butte, Lantry, Dupree, Redelm, Arrowhead, and Faith. In 1924 Congress extended full citizenship to all Indian people. Two years later a man named Merriam did a study on reservation conditions. Published in 1928, it led to a full-scale Senate investigation which generated a reform movement. The drought and grasshoppers of the 1930's forced many Sioux to sell or lease their allotted lands in order to survive. Many whites sold out and left the area. Roosevelt's New Deal tried to answer the reform movement. John Collier became Commissioner of Indian Affairs and in 1934 the Wheeler-Howard Act was passed. This act attempted to further integrate and partially reverse the policy of the Dawes Act. This act prohibited future allotments, prohibited the sale of Indian land except to the tribe itself, and authorized annual appropriations for the purchase of land for landless Indians. Also known as the Indian Reorganization Act, it restored religious freedom and provided for Indian self-government by allowing tribal constitutions, elections of tribal officials and tribal regulation of tribal business. The Sioux Indians of the Cheyenne River Reservation accepted the Wheeler-Howard Act. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Council adopted by-laws in 1935 and divided the reservation into 13 political districts, with one councilman elected from each. During World War II many county residents left to join the service. Others left to work in defense plants. After the war some stayed in the cities, but many returned to their homes in Ziebach County. Public Law 776 passed in 1954 opening a new era on the Cheyenne River Reservation. The act made over ten million dollars available to the Tribe and its members. The money was for lands flooded by the Oahe Dam on the Missouri River, to relocate homes, and to make loans and grants to tribal members. Known as the Rehabilitation Program, it was administered until 1977 when final payments were made to members. In 1968 the Federal Government passed the Indian Civil Rights Act. It was followed in 1975 by the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, also known as Public Law 93-638. This law was designed to strengthen tribal governments and involve them in the administration of federal services. Lakota people are now working in more administrative jobs than ever before, running the affairs of the Tribe. Robert Chasing Hawk, from the Red Scaffold district, became in 1980 the first full-blooded Sioux to be elected as Chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. [photo of Monument to Hugh Glass] THE HUGH GLASS STORY by Ruth Edwards Credit given to "Lord Grizzley" by F. Manfred Hugh Glass, though half dead, had more grit and guts than most ordinary men in the prime of their life. The agony he endured, the courage he displayed and the strange revenge he enjoyed is more than a story; it is an authentic legend of the early West. Glass was a strong, lean man and stood 6'2" tall, and was as strong as limbs from a young ash tree. He trimmed his thick, grey hair and beard with a knife. He wore clothing fashioned out of old buffalo bull neck hide. He carried his powder horn and bullet pouch slung over his left shoulder. In the pouch was flint and steel for fire making and a small whetstone. Around his waist hung a large butcher or skinning knife and a loaded horse pistol. He'd given the name of "Old Bullthrower" to his rifle. It was early in August, 1823, when General Ashley and Major Henry and his men were heading north along the Missouri River and west on the Grand River from Fort Kiowa, near what is now Chamberlain, South Dakota. They had crossed the White, Cheyenne, and Moreau Rivers near Thunder Butte. General Ashley ordered Hugh Glass to shave off his beard and upon refusal, Glass rode off in a huff to hunt and scout on his own, only to run into a mother bear and her cubs. She attacked him and they wrestled and fought. He was badly mauled and mutilated as they fought until he was finally able to stab her above the heart. She fell upon his bleeding, shattered body, dead, on his broken, shattered legs. Glass then lost consciousness but barely recalled hearing two shots and men's voices in the dark silence. [map showing sites of Hugh Glass' Ordeals] General Ashley and his men came upon him about this time, shot the cubs and left men to care for him. They sewed up his wounds and Jim Bridger and John Fitzgerald were ordered to stay behind to dig a grave and bury him when he died. After spending five days with Glass and he had not yet died, they were afraid of being attacked by the Ree Indians. They left him and rode off to join their company, telling General Ashley that Hugh had died. It was sheer stubborn defiance that enabled Hugh Glass to regain consciousness. He struggled to the creek and soaked his body in the water. After fortifying himself with water and buffalo berries, he began to plan his revenge upon the men who had left him for dead. Examination of his body left him with the realization that he was badly cut up, had a broken leg, and was full of infection in his open wounds. He skinned the bear and used it's hide like a coat. It stuck to his open wounds. He soaked the bear skin loose from his back and made a splint for his leg which he then bound with wet rawhide. Between delirium and dreams, he fought buzzards, coyote, wolf and rattlesnakes away. He would kill the snakes and cut them into pieces for food. On more than one occasion he would soak his torn body in the stream to try to rid himself of the blood poisoning. Later he would fashion a sled for his broken leg and began to crawl. The fear of the Ree Indians would make him crawl at night and sleep by day, and he was greatly hindered by cactus, snakes, and the flies in his wounds. He was headed for Fort Kiowa. Glass started crawling at the south fork of the Grand River, almost due south, heading for the Moreau River and Thunder Butte. The dust by day, the cold at night, and the fear of an early blizzard also worried him. His food consisted mostly of berries, cactus, and wild roots. Close to Thunder Butte he fought off wolves and buzzards near the remains of a downed buffalo calf. Near Thunder Butte he came upon a tepee, two dogs and a dying elderly Indian woman left behind by her people. He helped her until she died and dug a grave with his hands to bury her. It was October by now, and because the cold air was such a threat, he began to crawl faster and more steadily toward Fox Ridge, then toward Rattlesnake Butte. When he reached the Cheyenne River near Cherry Creek, he made a crude boat and now traveled even faster. It was almost November when he went down the Cheyenne River and entered the Missouri River. It was then that he had a close call with a band of Sioux celebrating some victory, but the idea of finally getting revenge and thoughts of an Indian maiden at Fort Kiowa pushed him onward. He rushed past the mouth of the Okobojo, Chantie Creek and Medicine Butte, past the Bad, Antelope, Medicine and Cedar Creeks. Thoughts of the Indian girl, Bending Reed, whiskey and pancakes filled his head. When he reached Fort Kiowa, there were Sioux camped in front of the fort gates, making a trading visit. The guards let Hugh Glass into the Fort's compound and all were most surprised to see him. His long journey was almost over. Following a rest and recovery period, Glass was soon ready to go on yet another trip. He intended to finally catch up to Jim Bridger and John Fitzgerald. It was in Montana on the Yellowstone River that he found Bridger and after the two of them fought and had words, Glass mellowed and moved on in his search for John Fitzgerald. He found Fitzgerald at Fort Atkinson in Nebraska but again, he mellowed and forgave his fellow man. Hugh Glass was later scalped and killed by the Ree Indians near Fort Union in 1831. At the time, he was still pursuing his life's occupation of hunting. Surely the Hugh Glass Story is a true legend of the old West. SHETAK CAPTIVES In August of 1862, there was an uprising of Santee Sioux in Minnesota. Little Crow, a principal leader of the Minnesota Uprising escaped trial and fled west to the Missouri River with his captives: Mrs. Wright, Mrs. Duly, their own children, and three other children. They were known as the Shetak Captives. With the help of Charles Primeau, bourgeois at Fort Pierre, the Fool Soldiers led by Swift Bird and Martin Charger, were able to pay ransom for the captives. The Fool Soldiers took the captives from near present Mobridge toward Fort Pierre, crossing the river at Peoria Bottom. They were met by Primeau, Louis LaPlant and Fred Dupris. The released captives were given clothes at Primeau's and then rested for a day or two at the Dupris home. LaPlant and Dupris escorted the women and children toward Fort Randall. They were met en route by Major Pattee, on his way to 'rescue' the captives. THE SHETAK CAPTIVES: TWO FOOTNOTES The story of the Shetak Captives is part of two larger stories. The Santee Uprising of 1862 triggered a series of desperate, bloody battles for control of the Great Plains which continued into the late 1860's. The Shetak Captives themselves were among several hundred captives whose story was best told by Fanny Kelly in her book, published in 1871 under the title, My Captivity Among the Sioux Indians. Hers was the last of the captivity narratives, a body of frontier literature and history which has all but disappeared today. The role of the Fool Soldiers in rescuing captives of another race during a period of unparalleled bloodshed is likewise difficult for most modern readers to understand. The Fool Soldiers were an Akicita, a secret soldier/warrior society, whose members were honor-bound to observe such traditional Lakota proverbs as "only the brave and fearless can be just." It was not just to make war on women and children and the Fool Soldiers were not afraid to risk everything to secure their release. They were never rewarded for their transcendental bravery, but their memory is cherished by men of honor everywhere. The Akicitas won the respect of those who had to fight them and eventually they became the nucleus of the Army's Indian Scouts and the BIA's Indian Police. They continued to earn high praise in these new roles, and partially as a result, Indians were the only nonwhites who regularly served in military combat units on an equal footing with white soldiers from the Spanish American War through the first, grim months of the Korean War. It was during the Korean War that all American military formations were integrated by order of President Truman. RABBIT DANCE Long ago there was an encampment of Indians in a ravine along both sides of the river. A young girl went to visit her relatives who lived across the river. When she was returning to her home, she saw someone wearing a gray blanket with two feathers atop its head. He was dancing rabbit style and sang five songs. The girl was told to learn the five songs, but she was not to put words to these songs. So, the girl watched and listened, then returned home and taught her people how to dance and sing the rabbit dance. The songs are still remembered by many, but words have been set to the songs. [photo – Louise Crow Eagle Daugherty] INDIAN DRESS AND DANCE In later years, after the Indians became familiar with the use of flannel, conchos, and beads from the white man's world, these new items influenced the form of the Indian Traditional Dance. Mrs. Thunder Hoop explained this new influence as follows: The ladies were dressed in blue flannel with Iroquois shells decorating their dresses. They wore necklaces that nearly touched the ground. The necklaces were called hair bones which were hollow bones strung together down the front of the dress. They wore belts decorated with conchos. Their moccasins were beaded as was their leggings. Their faces were painted with light colored war paint, each design having a different meaning. A red streak down the face would mean that the maiden is to be honored at the dance and her parents will be giving away horses or other valuable possessions. The Cheyenne war paint is painted with red squares on the cheeks with a yellow background. Some of the ladies wore eagle plumes; these ladies were to be honored members of the dance. This form of dress was sacred to the Indians and only a select group could dress in this fashion. The belief was that lightning would strike those who did not live according to their form of dress. The men wore leggings that extended up the entire leg. The leggings were made from blue flannel and decorated with beads along the sides. They wore blankets of blue or red flannel beaded along the seams. These were folded over their shoulder revealing the beadwork. They also wore beaded moccasins and painted their faces. Those who were qualified such as those who were brave in battle or those who were generous could carry an eagle staff. The eagle staff is a long pole with eagle feathers tied in a row. The men wore eagle feathers on their heads. One feather tied on their head would mean that the warrior has killed an enemy. Two feathers on his head would mean that the warrior is skilled in taking the enemies' horses. Nobody else can wear these feathers unless they have accomplished these feats. Some of the men wore buckskin shirts with scalp locks tied along the upper sleeve and down the sides. Beaded strips of weasel hide were entwined with the scalp locks. The war bonnets were made of eagle feathers. The round war bonnets required the feathers from two eagles, as each eagle has twelve tail feathers; all of these are used. Another war bonnet has a tail that has a row of feathers on each side of the tail. This required the feathers from four eagles. The men that wear these war bonnets are leaders of their people. They are called chiefs. In the dance the men wearing the war bonnets dance slowly in a counter-clockwise movement. The remaining dancers move clockwise. They never dance in the same direction as their leaders. The war bonnet wearers dance in the outer circle and the other dancers dance inside of the circle. The ladies remain in one place throughout the dance. There are certain songs in which these leaders dance. These songs were sung by our ancestors not only to recall days gone by, but also to teach the younger people the truth about their past and the value of their traditions. The dance was a form of entertainment, but also it was an honoring ceremony, a form of mourning a death, and a form of joy following a successful hunt. INDIAN NAMES The name that was given a baby was not necessarily hereditary, or given at birth. The names that the Indians had were given to them because of some brave deed that a relative had performed. These are the deeds that a man could honor in giving names to his children: Steal a horse, Kill an enemy or count coup on a dead enemy -- they could count coup on a dead enemy four times. For example, Raymond Brown Thunder's grandfather earned his name through an incident with the Crow Indians. A Crow war party came to raid the Sioux encampment where Raymond's grandfather lived. In the ensuing battle his grandfather killed two Crow braves. For this act of bravery he was named Brown Thunder. The late Jennie White Weasel was given her name by her father. He had killed an enemy who was wearing a white weasel coat; therefore, he named his daughter White Weasel. One of Jennie White Weasel's daughters is named Scarlet Hand Woman and the other is named Recognize Her Horse. Try to imagine what act of bravery or what deed accompanied these names. In later years, with the coming of the white men, the names took a different form. In many instances the school that an Indian attended would give him a name. Solomon Yellow Hawk's oldest son attended the Santee Normal Training School. At the school they inquired what his name was. He replied that he had no name, except Yellow Hawk. The officials at the school decided that this name was too long. So they gave him the name, Alien West. Alien's Indian name was Bear Boy. An Indian student by the name of Rifle (translated) did not have an English name -- he was given the name of Frank Lillibridge. Another Frank Lillibridge was, at one time, Superintendent at the old Cheyenne River Agency. THE LAST BUFFALO HUNT In 1874, Congress passed a measure to halt the slaughter of buffalo by hide hunters, but President Grant let the bill die for want of his signature. Some adversaries to the bill had argued that the decimation of the buffalo was necessary for the 'civilization' of the Indians, and for ranching. Either in a freak migration or because of pressure from the hide hunters, a large herd of buffalo moved east into Dakota Territory in late summer of 1880. News that buffalo had returned to former grazing grounds spread to Indian camps and white hide hunters. Thomas L. Riggs, a missionary, accompanied a hunting party that left Cheyenne Agency in November of 1880. More than two thousand buffalo hides were taken into Cheyenne Agency that winter. Of 10,000 buffalo in 1882, less than 1,200 remained in 1883. In October of 1883, Sitting Bull and many of his braves rode from Standing Rock Reservation to where the buffalo grazed between the Moreau and Grand Rivers and slaughtered them all. By 1886, the wild buffalo had become extinct in this part of America. Indians could never again depend upon the buffalo for food, clothing or shelter and, the ranges had been cleared for cattle. [photo - Scotty Philip's Buffalo Ranch (SDSHS)] The following is excerpted from "Buffalo Hunt" in Sunset To Sunset by Thomas L. Riggs: "In the early fall of 1880, I had seen a stray buffalo near the Cheyenne Agency and there were reports of others. In October the Indians began talking of a winter hunt and one day Clarence Ward (Roan or Gray-Haired Bear) came to me and told me of their plans, saying it would be a good chance for me to go along. His wife was the daughter of Fred Dupris. I took Sam as my riding or buffalo horse. Then I picked a pair of horses for my buckboard, one of which would do for a packhorse; got my "artillery", my clothes and bedding together with a sack of oats for the horses and crossed the river here at Oahe the day before Thanksgiving. I reached the Dupris' the second day. They had a large establishment, with several houses. I took as an extra a lever-action single shot .45 caliber Sharpes rifle and this, during the hunt, I loaned to Big Foot (Si tanka) for one of his men to use. Big Foot lived on the Upper Cheyenne near the present postoffice of Bridger. Later, during the Ghost Dance, he was one of Sitting Bull's sympathizers. When we started north from the Dupris', there were twenty-five or thirty of us. Most of them went with their travois of tent poles, but the Dupris boys took a wagon. We had snow almost every day, not much at a time, but enough to make us realize it was winter, and that real winter was on its way. We waited on the Moreau for a day or two while two young men were sent to let the Moreau people, who were to join us, know where we were. When we started westward, we followed the valley of the Moreau slowly, some days not making more than three or four miles. The snow was getting deeper and deeper all the time. Traveling in this slow way, we finally came in sight of Slim Buttes (Paha zibsi pila) which was our goal. When we were well in sight of these buttes, the old hunters began to plan on sending out scouts to find out where the buffalo were. There were a hundred and one in our party. About half of these were women. It was said we had three hundred horses and, I was told, five hundred dogs. One evening Roan Bear proposed that we go to the "soldier lodge" -- tiyotipi, or council tent, and learn what was to be done. There had been talk of sending men "to the hills," for we were now not far from where big game might be found. It was just before sunset that our "runners" came into view and the entire camp went wild. "We shall have plenty of meat by this time tomorrow" said Yellow Owl. Next morning we were out early fifty-six men of us. When we could see each other more clearly, I noticed the blackened faces of those who had been appointed "soldiers" for this run. We changed mounts, taking our running horses -- the pampered ones that had run loose all the way out and at every opportunity had been fed the strength-giving shavings of the inner bark and the twigs of young cottonwood trees. A few of these were experienced buffalo runners of known speed and staying power. My own (Sam) was an old hand and knew all that a horse could know about running buffalo, besides being very fast. Every man in camp knew him, for he was the horse that Can pta ye (Wood Pile) had on the Little Big Horn against Custer in '76. Some men rode bareback, but most of them rode a convenient, lightly stuffed running pad. I had added stirrups to the Indian- made pad I used. There had been excitement before, but now it was intense, affecting horses as well as men. To prevent losing one's horse, in case of a fall, each man had a small line, about twenty feet long, lightly tucked under his belt; one end of the line was fastened to the bridle bit and the other tied to the belt itself. The head of the valley brought us out on a bit of level country. We turned to the left, and hardly eighty rods away the already startled buffalo closed up and began to move, giving their stumpy twists of tails an upward flirt as they broke into a lumbering gallop. The run was well on and the leaders began to shoot. This first run of ours allowed but one lone buffalo to escape. We packed back to camp the meat from fifty carcasses. One of these was killed by Little Bear with his bow, in the way of his fathers. The arrow was driven entirely through the body. And so after each day's run we would make our way back to camp with an abundance. The fires crackled, the pots boiled and all were smiling and happy. After about half of the hunting trip had passed, I wrote home: "I have seven robes... ." Of deeper significance, my Dakota vocabulary was greatly enlarged. One young fellow, Clarence Ward, shot a buffalo and dropped it dead, as supposed. He jumped off his horse expecting to bleed the game but just as he was about to do this the buffalo rose up and Clarence fled. He jumped on his horse which began to pitch with him and it was not until the buffalo was almost horning into the pony's tail that the pony woke up and moved. As the pony was running straight away from the buffalo which was chasing him, the man turned and fired as best he could and the buffalo dropped dead. On the way home… we reached the Dupris ranch where a warm welcome awaited us. Fred Dupris, an old employee of the American Fur Company, and another Frenchman greeted me in true earlyday manner, with tears, laughter, curses and prayers curiously intermingled. Fred called to one of the boys, "Take Tom's hawse; put de hawse on de stable; put hay on de hawse; and Tom come in de house and put your feet on de stove!" From a straight meat diet, and nothing else, the change to real coffee with sugar, white bread and potatoes was greatly appreciated. All this is now of the past. The buffalo have departed. The wandering Indian of the plains has also gone." James M. Robinson wrote in West From Fort Pierre that, "After the 1875 annihilation of the great Republican River herd in west Kansas, the largest surviving herd was in the wild region west of the Missouri between the Cheyenne and Grand rivers." "The last of the great wild buffalo hunts were the Cheyenne-Grand River hunts of 1881, 1883 and 1885. These happened in what was then the Great Sioux Territory. When the slaughter of these final hunts had run its course, five exhausted buffalo calves had been saved by [Fred Dupris and his sons]. These orphans were turned loose on the Cheyenne River Reservation with the Dupris cattle. For fifty miles these buffalo roamed on the Dupris range. They thrived and multiplied. The original five head increased to 57 by 1901." [photo – Fred Dupris (SDSHS)] [photo – Cowboys roping a buffalo on the plains (SDSHS)] "Scotty (Philip) watched the tiny Dupris herd grow and bought it in 1901 from Dong Carlin. Doug was administrator of the Dupris estate." In 1901, 57 head of buffalo were driven 100 miles across country from the Cheyenne River to Scotty Philip's 'Buffalo Pasture', north of Fort Pierre. Many old timers had thought this feat impossible. It was unnatural for the buffalo to be moved and many renegades remained on their familiar range and caused 'problems' for the cattle outfits that began to arrive on the Cheyenne River Reservation the following year. In 1980, members of the National Buffalo Association voted to induct Fred Dupris as the first historic member of the Buffalo Hall of Fame, for his contribution to the comeback of the buffalo. Descendants of the Dupris herd were sold to Custer State Park to begin the herd there. Another episode was recounted in Sunset to Sunset by T. L. Riggs: "One night after dark, six of us were bringing an overloaded bunch of pack horses through the deep snow towards the temporary camp when an immense herd of buffalo came up from the southwest and diagonally crossed out front. Co kan tanka rode up to me and said, "I make a night run -- come!" I declined the honor and Co kan tanka disappeared, going right over towards the buffalo. I heard the report of his gun, then almost immediately another flash and report and a little later another. He finally had shot a buffalo and they went to help skin it and bring in the robe. When he caught up with us, he told us what had happened. The first shot was a miss and suddenly he found he was right in the midst of the buffalo. They were running on all sides of him, bumping against his legs, and in his excitement a shot went off in the air. This didn't steady his nerves any, with the result that he did exactly the same thing again! That exhausted all the shells there were in the magazine and realizing what a big fool he was to be so scared and nervous, he started more cooly to hunt in his belt for cartridges. He found he had only three left, and as his belt had slipped around, they were in the middle of his back, so he had to throw off his blanket to reach them! When he got out one cartridge, he very carefully pushed it into the chamber of his gun and although the buffalo were still bumping against him, he kept his wits about him and his eyes open and finally managed to work out of the running herd and get his buffalo. This man was one of those in the Custer fight. His "Agency name" was Lazy White Bull, but the proper translation of the name Ptesanhunka -- would be "White Buffalo Cow Leader". His nickname was Co kan tanka and he was usually addressed by that name. His real name was only for state occasions. He told me a great many things about the Custer fight. He was one of Sitting Bull's active lieutenants, but before the fight Sitting Bull ran away and Co kan tanka had to work under the counsel of others who were handling affairs." (An accurate translation of his nickname is very difficult...but suggests such a term as ... "Big Shot".) POLICE IN THE OLD DAYS by Blaine Clown, Sr. LAST BUFFALO HUNT At the time of the last buffalo hunt, they were camped up by Iron Lightning. There is a road there now that runs north and south. That was the trail they were on. It comes past Rattlesnake Butte, and the whole way up they couldn't find any game. The medicine man would pray and look for game but they didn't find any. Finally, when they camped by the Moreau River, they asked him to pray again and he said he would do it one last time. That would be the finaltime. So they made a sweat lodge there and he told them to get the finest sand. So they got really fine sand from the river there and they put it in the middle of the sweat lodge. The medicine man put it in a pile and then he leveled the top off so it was just flat. Then they closed the door and they sang. After they were done they opened the door. He told them to look at the sand and when they did, they saw tiny tracks as little as mouse tracks, but they were buffalo tracks and a whole herd had run across there. About four of them were picked to scout for the buffalo. One of them was my grandfather's dad. They found the buffalo up on the Grand River. They were not supposed to shoot any but they were hungry so they shot one and ate it. On the way back, those scouts hid the meat in different places, and marked the places. At that time, they had their own police and they were standing all along the way. They were so strict the people even had to ask to go to the bathroom. As they were moving up the trail, when they came to the marked places, they would ask to go to the bathroom. Then they would go over the hill, get the meat and put it under something in their wagon, and go back. They said that if they got caught their horses would be shot and their stuff would be taken. Everything. Another story was told to Blaine Clown, Sr. by his grandfather, Pete Talks: One woman's husband beat her. She went to the tipi where the police stayed and touched each one on the head and told them she needed help. So the leader picked some of them and they went and shot all her husband's horses and sliced his tipi and burned his stuff. Then the police went around and collected things that the couple needed to live, after the husband promised not to beat his wife again. GHOST DANCE A series of difficulties beset the Lakota people in the late 1880's. In 1888 Indian cattle suffered an outbreak of "blackleg". The following year, the Crook Commission kept many Indian families away from their meager crops, attending councils. 1890 brought a serious drought. Meanwhile, epidemics of grippe, measles and whooping cough spread through the reservations. The people had never been reimbursed for the ponies seized following the Battle of the Little Big Horn, nor had the educational facilities on the reservations been increased, as promised. Rations were also cut in 1890. In the fall of 1889, Kicking Bear of Cherry Creek and Short Bull from Rosebud travelled to the Walker River in Nevada to learn about the revelations of Wovoka, a Paiute. [photo – Kicking Bear, 1896, wearing beaded scalp shirt, now in the Smithsonian (SDSHS] [photo – Short Bull, Brule who visited Wovoka with Kicking Bear (SDSHS)] According to James Mooney in "The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890 " FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY, 1896: Here he (Wovoka) saw God with all the people who had died long ago engaged in their old time sports and occupations, all happy and forever young. It was a pleasant land full of game. After showing him all, God told him he must go back and tell his people they must be good and love one another, have no quarreling, and live in peace with the whites; that they must work, and not lie or steal; that they must put away all the old practices that savored of war; that if they faithfully obeyed his instructions they would at last be reunited with their friends in this other world, where there would be no more death or sickness or old age. He was then given the dance which he was commanded to bring back to his people." After a visit on the Northern Arapaho's reservation in Wyoming, Kicking Bear returned in September to the camps of Hump and Big Foot on the Cheyenne River, to spread the Ghost Dance. From Songs of the Teton Sioux by Harry W. Paige, we learn that dancers were to "sing ghost songs and dance in a slow, shuffling drag step in a circle, men and women dancing together ceremonially for the first time. The dance was to be non-violent ... they were to dance until they fell into a trance or "died" and came back to life with stories of having seen their dead again." It is written that the original teachings of Wovoka were distorted by the Sioux with the addition of the Ghost Shirt, impenetrable to bullets, and the prophecy that white men would be destroyed by the coming of a new age. However, it is generally agreed by the descendants of those Sioux that the primary reason for their Ghost Dancing was to enter the trance that would enable them to visit their loved ones who had died and passed on to the other world. In October, Sitting Bull invited Kicking Bear to the Grand River to spread the Ghost Dance to his people. [photo – Big Foot, taken before 1877 (SDSHS)] Kicking Bear was escorted back to the Cheyenne River and on December 15th, while being arrested, Sitting Bull was killed. Many of his followers fled the next day to the Cheyenne River. Many were persuaded to surrender and join the camp at Cherry Creek but others continued up the Cheyenne to where Big Foot's band was camped near the forks of the river. On the night of December 23rd, this camp slipped away, moving toward Pine Ridge. Government officials were puzzled whether the influence of the Ghost Dance and the garbled philosophy, they and certain missionaries were afraid of its effect on the "peace policy". Troops were called in. The Seventh Cavalry was ordered to intercept and disarm the group under Big Foot, who was ill with pneumonia. They were all taken to Wounded Knee. During the disarming process a shot was fired and the Massacre was the unfortunate result. [photo – U. S. Troops march up the Cheyenne River in December of 1890 (SDSHS)] WOUNDED KNEE So much has been documented about the Battle of Wounded Knee and since it did not happen in Ziebach County, but affected so many people who lived here at that time, this story told by Alice War Bonnet Charging Cloud and related by William War Bonnet, her son, is included. The translator is Sidney Keith. "We started from Cherry Creek where it forks with the Cheyenne River. We were running the horses at a quick pace to try to catch the main band of our people under the leadership of Big Foot, traveling towards Red Cloud's camp at Pine Ridge some 100 miles distance. Following almost side by side path with the Cheyenne River, sometimes crossing on the snow-covered thick ice where it curved too much, we tracked their fresh trail. I was thirteen years old at that time (December 26, 1890) and riding horseback following my parent's wagon, with my two little brothers, the year old brother in my mother's arms and the six year old sitting alongside. By sunset we reached Big Foot's camp at a riverbend and branch creek. [photo – Big Foot's Camp (SDSHS)] The following day, our village broke camp and headed south for Pine Ridge. After a good day's ride, we finally reached Bad River, where we set up our encampment for the night. Bright and early the following day, the caravan of 200 people in wagons or on horseback meandered along. By mid-day we rode past Porcupine Butte. Some miles past, as we were climbing a long slope and using a water runoff trough to help conceal our movement towards a high hill, the lead portion of the caravan stopped at the highest point. When we pulled up to the lead group, my mother called me over and she said, 'There are horseback soldiers camped nearby. Stay close to the wagon.' Mother came to tighten my saddle cinch up tight. 'We may have to make a run for our lives, to scatter,' she said. I noticed many tents and horses and many cavalrymen with guns were milling around down below. Four of our men got on their horses, one of them carrying a white flag tied to a long stick as a peace gesture, riding down towards the cavalrymen. All the soldiers lay down immediately and pointed their rifles at our men riding down. But our men kept going and stopped in the center where they had a big gun on wheels. Two of their soldiers got up and started talking to our men, while the rest of their foot soldiers rose to their feet and closed in. Suddenly two of our riders broke through the encircling foot soldiers, rode back at a gallop and said the soldiers wanted to talk to Big Foot who was lying sick in a wagon. Soon the soldiers brought a buggy, put Big Foot in it, and took him back to the confrontation. After some moments of talk, they told us we could camp on the west side, so everybody got busy pitching their tents and small tipis. All this time the foot soldiers were watching every move we made. A buggy came around the camp after everyone was settled and they were issuing coffee, sugar, bacon and hardtack. They said there would be no trouble. But by nightfall they had us surrounded and guarded us all night, like horses. Unknown to us in the darkness, they had moved in more soldiers and more big guns. Early next morning we broke camp, loading the wagons and hitching up the horses. I had my horse about ready when a crier came around the camp telling our men to go to the center for peace talks. So they walked over while the women and children finished packing the wagons. Everyone being jumpy, including myself, my eyes seemed to work as must the owl's at night. I noticed our men being surrounded with rifles pointing at them. On signal it seems, some of their cavalrymen galloped over to our wagons and started searching for guns, whatever they could find, awls, axes and knives, and practically tearing up the wagons. The weapons they found, they took to the center and dumped them on the ground. Not being satisfied with this, they inspected our men, feeling whatever garments and blankets they wore. With things strewn all over the ground, we started quickly to pick up, repacking our belongings back into the wagons. Then I got on my horse and waited. Suddenly cavalrymen on white horses appeared with their sabers glinting in the sun. In the north, cavalrymen on bay horses lined up, ready. Nearby several foot soldiers pulled up a big gun on a hill within sight and range of us. Almost all around us, except to the southeast and south where a creek snaked out of sight, the soldiers were peeking over the hill. A soldier on a bay horse from the bunch to the north rode down at a fast clip, reining in at the center. He looked in all directions and seemed excited about something. He turned his horse real fast, galloping to the north yelling something. And all the soldiers started firing, even the big guns boomed. My horse bolted, then started to rear up, so my mother told me to jump off and let him go. I let go of the reins as I jumped and he took off running towards the southeast through the tree line along the creek, the only opening the horse saw, and I saw too, for ourselves. Mother carrying one brother and I half dragging the older, fled toward the creek and jumped out of sight into a big washout. Soon Father (Ghost Horse) came crawling in, shot above the right knee. He had no gun, just his hands to defend us. He said, "I must move you all further away". Then he picked up the oldest boy and crawled away with him. But a while later he came back and said, "Hun he! They killed my son". And even then he still said he wanted us to move further down the creek, but my mother objected and she said, "We'll die here together, as a family". Mother told me to stand so I got up, but Father pulled me down again. Eventually, without any further words, we crawled to where some plum bushes were, where we hid again. Right away while all hugged the earth for dear life, Father scooted away again to help others, despite Mother's plea for him to stay with us there. Two people came crawling in: Phillip Black Moon and his mother. After that women and children also came to where we were hidden, the children whimpering. Groups came in at intervals. Four of the wounded died while we were lying there. A man by the name of Breast Plate came in and told us that my father was killed. Charge-In-Kill and Nistuste came in later but they left again to help others. Toward sundown more wounded people straggled in. As it got dark the shooting stopped all of a sudden and we heard wagons moving about or away, to the west and southwest. Those who could got up and walked or limped to the north, tiptoeing our way through creek beds and ravines. Occasionally we stumbled over dark objects which turned out to be dead animals or dead Lakotas. And we heard a child saying, "Mama, I want some water" some place in the dark, cold night. Many more wounded were crying for help. We walked north in the creek bed. It must have been Wounded Knee Creek where we separated into four even groups, each to take different routes, to better the chances for one or all groups to escape. By morning, our group reached a high hill. From there we could see a long way. We had traveled a northwesterly direction for the sunup showed the plains and level landscape to the east, the higher buttes and pine-covered hills to the west. The sky showed polka-dotted white puffs with blue background, changing patterns by the wind, strong enough to make eyes water. We had two boys stay up on the hill to watch for soldiers in all directions. "A rider is following our tracks!" the boys hollered down. And like cottontails we dove deeper under the brushes and trees. But it was a Lakota wearing a woman's scarf. It was Nistuste. After we shook hands with him we all cried. He told us that after the shooting he walked to Pine Ridge. He then walked back to Wounded Knee where he found this horse. He started tracking our several trails northward, hoping to meet up with somebody. He insisted that our group go with him back toward Pine Ridge. Before our group could decide which way to go, some more riders appeared and we took off for the creek to hide. They rode up yelling, "We are Lakotas, do not run!" All got up and shook hands with them, one woman and three men. We all cried again. They had some pemmican which they shared with us. We hadn't eaten anything since we had left Wounded Knee a day and a half earlier. One of the men said there were cattle foraging over the hill, that he was going after one. Two men went with him. When they had carried the already quartered beef in to us, one lady did the cooking from a pail and dishes she had gotten from a deserted log house not far from there. We really ate for once, thanks to the men and the nice woman. Nistuste and the three men rode back toward Wounded Knee. That left us with thirteen people, mostly women and children. I was with my brother and mother; a lady that always carried a little one on her back; a woman who had her braids cut off, she was slightly wounded; Alex High Hawk; Blue Hair; and five members of the Many Arrows family. Next morning we got ready to leave and found Dog Chasing had come in with two women sometime during the night. The men who rode out must have sent them in. With our number at sixteen, we left bright and early. I was again riding a horse with my little brother, and Mother, on foot, was leading the horse. Along the way I must have catnapped. When I became clear headed again, we were heading down a hill. At the bottom of the valley stood a log house with a wooden floor and fireplace which they fired up for us to warm up by, and rest. With some daylight left, we started off again. It started to cloud up. Some minutes later it turned into a blizzard. One of the men had steered us toward a cabin which he had spotted from a butte. This blessed haven we reached, so we stayed warm sitting out the storm. We had plenty of meat from that last butchering. Later in the night voices woke me up, loud high pitched voices, women arguing to scatter or to stay and the calmer voices of the men, sometimes whispering. I sat up. Then a new meaning came to my senses. I got scared for the first time. My heart was beating fast, my breathing becoming harder and shorter. Quickly moving and squirming closer to Mother's body was to me as natural as a cottontail rabbit's jumping from danger into its lair. But it turned out that the women may have heard something, then imagined their fears into loud noises. For some time, we just sat there staring at the darkness. During the night some riders went and later they came back and said in a low voice, "It is time to go". It was cloudy and still dark when we left. Sometimes snow would blow but we kept going down a deep draw, always keeping to the lowlands. Finally we stumbled onto a camp of Oglalas who ran away from Pine Ridge during the shooting. At the end of the camp we came to Short Bull's tent. All of the people came to welcome us in, and the rest of our group were all taken to different tents and fed well. We stayed at this camp three months and the sun kept coming out higher and higher. Soon the snow was melting and all knew it was spring. A rider on horseback came into camp one day and said there was going to be a treaty council at Pine Ridge. The next day we headed for Pine Ridge. The chiefs were walking in front, followed by young warriors on horseback. Over the hill we could see many tents and cavalry all over the place. Dust was flying. Horses were tied to hitching posts face to face. We made camp near the post. Canraraka and Iron Thunder came to the camp and said they came after all the Minneconjous who were wounded or deceased--that they belong to the Minneconjous band. In Pine Ridge my mother signed our names as survivors along with the rest of our people. They pitched three big tipis in the center where they told us to go. I remember there was Black Moon and his mother and brothers, Iron Horn and Wood Pile. There were many Minneconjous who showed up at the tipi, even some we thought had died. Ashe was a young girl then, she was there, too. I noticed other people were Blue Hair, Blue Arm, Axe, Brown Eagle and Canraraka. We left Pine Ridge for Minneconjou country at Cherry Creek. We were traveling in five wagons. One wagon was loaded with oats and hay, another one with rations. One wagon full of soldiers was leading us out of Pine Ridge. Despite all these nice things being done for us, I can't forget what happened at Wounded Knee. I cried many nights thinking about it many months afterwards.....they killed my brother and father. GREY WOLVES by Mrs. Ted Butler There were plenty of grey wolves in the first part of 1900 in eastern Meade and Ziebach counties. They denned in the Cheyenne River and Moreau River breaks and killed a lot of stock on Brushy, Red Scaffold and Flint Rock Creeks. Here is my experience with grey wolves. About one mile from home was a thicket of chokecherries. Early one morning, I saddled a little spotted saddle pony, who had a late spring colt that followed along. I found a shady spot rather low in the bend of the creek where I could sit on the creek bank and pick cherries. I had about finished picking, when the colt came running back to its mother, crowding in between me and the pony. I held tight to the bridle rein as the pony was getting nervous, and tried to calm her by petting her neck and talking to her. With a tight rein I managed to get my foot into the stirrup and in the saddle, and as I turned her around there stood one of the largest wolves I had ever seen, and nearly white. It was snarling and showing its large white teeth. It gave one howl and in the meantime I kept talking low to the pony and the colt that was hugging its mother's side. I managed to get on higher ground and there were seven more wolves with shaggy dark necks. I was not afraid and rode to the top of the knell. Just to the other side of me, there were five more of the species, which made thirteen grey wolves in one pack. It didn't take me long to reach home. That fall and winter these wolves killed many colts and cattle. They always killed the best, worked in pairs and would hamstring their victims, and eat only while the kill was fresh, leaving the remainder for the coyotes. Ernst Eidson and Ted Butler were the killers of the old white wolf. While riding on cattle one morning, they found the old fellow napping after filling up on a freshly killed heifer. He was so full, he couldn't run and perhaps his age had something to do with it. After firing a few bullets into him, he was dead. A few days later, John Reed jumped two more and gave them a ten mile race. It was good open country, the first waterhole they came to they jumped in. John did not have a gun to shoot them with, but he managed to keep them swimming until other riders got there with guns. This band seemed to be horse killers, doing a lot of hamstringing on big stock, mostly colts in the spring, but in the summer never touching the weak or poor ones. We had an old buckskin saddle horse, always fat, but lazy. Early one morning two wolves circled him and made a few leaps at him. When he did not run, the wolves walked away. In the Ziebach County News someone mentioned the black timber wolf that was killed. I remember seeing the pelt tied to the back of a saddle horse. It nearly reached the ground on both sides. As I recall, it was killed near Lemmon Butte, west of the J. A. ranch in the early part of 1900, by some of the H. O. boys. FENCING THE RESERVATION by Nettle Reed Butler in Faith Country Dad was still freighting to Smithville when the Cheyenne Reservation was leased to the cattlemen. The majority of them came from the south. There was lots of grass and water for pasturing, but it had to be fenced. My father took a contract to do the fencing, it was barb wire and ash posts. The posts could be cut any place. The line was straight north and south. All material such as grindstone (to sharpen axes and spades), wire and so forth were hauled by wagon from Pierre and Ft. Pierre. After crossing the Cheyenne River at Leslie, just on top of Cherry Creek Hill, we were overtaken by a band of Indians, painted faces, wearing feathers and riding bareback horses. Chief White Swan, the leader, and his band circled our outfit. The Chief, with broken words and sign language, motioned for Dad to get down from his wagon. Chief White Swan made Dad understand that the Indians wanted to know what he was doing on their land or where he was going. He made the leader understand that he was not going to harm their land. Dad moved to the west side of the reservation, went into camp and waited for the question to be settled. It was not long until he was given the word to go back to work. There was no further trouble. Chief White Swan, known as "Puts on His Shoes" said, "I have always been a friend of the white men. · During the Custer Battle I was a government messenger and scout." He was a Montana brave and in later years told many stories of his experiences during the war. After the fencing was finished Dad went back to Ft. Pierre and I went to the J. A. Ranch to stay with my sister Sarah, and husband Frank Bliss.