Bison supplied immense quantities of meat for the tribes that hunted on the Great Plains.

Some of these tribes, including the Lakotas, Dakotas, Yanktonais, Chippewas, Mandans, Hidatsas and Arikaras, lived on the Great Plains.

Other tribes lived to the east in the woodlands of Minnesota or west in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and traveled into the Plains every summer to hunt bison.

So important was this animal to the well-being of American Indian tribes that they organized themselves every summer to travel as far as necessary to find bison, kill sufficient numbers for winter food supply and carry the meat back home again.

These hunts required careful and exact organization. The tribe’s well-being depended entirely on a successful hunt.

Bison was the raw material from which American Indians of the Great Plains made their living.

Bison provided meat, bones to be made into tools, hides for clothing, housing, bedding and containers.

Hunting required great skill and courage, but it also took skill to tan the hides, shape the tools and preserve the meat.

Both nomadic tribes such as the Lakotas and the sedentary tribes such as the Mandans hunted bison. All tribal peoples also hunted deer, antelope and elk. They also fished and trapped birds, but no other animal provided the food security that bison did.

In addition, all the tribes used bison hides, hooves, heads, horns, tails, bones and many internal organs to make the necessities for a comfortable life.

Parts of the bison were used to make toys for children, such as ribs for sledding.

During most of the year, any family or village that needed meat could go out to hunt bison, deer, elk or antelope.

However, the big summer and early fall hunts were conducted for the entire tribe. The summer hunt was organized by tribal leaders whose decision had to be obeyed by all members of the tribe.

Anyone who approached the bison herd without permission would be severely punished. Usually, one of the young men’s societies was given the authority to maintain order among the tribe so no one scared off the bison herd.

Hunts were often preceded by religious ceremonies such as the Sun Dance. During these ceremonies, the people made spiritual sacrifices to ensure a successful hunt.

For many of the tribes of the northern Great Plains, bison held a special spiritual significance.

The summer hunt was a good time for children to learn the important tasks of an adult. Girls learned to prepare food, mend clothing and pack for hunting camp. Boys learned to hunt and to obey the hunt leaders.

Many rules, skills and ceremonies were passed down from parent to child during the summer communal bison hunt.

My First Buffalo Hunt, by Wolf Chief

Wolf Chief was born into a Hidatsa family around 1850. As a young boy, he accompanied his father and other hunters on the summer hunt, though it was not yet time for him to participate in the hunt.

This was his first lesson in the work of adult men of his tribe.

More than 60 years later, Wolf Chief told the story of his first hunt to Gilbert Wilson, an anthropologist who recorded many stories of the old ways of the Hidatsa. The story has been edited slightly.

When I was about 12 years of age, all the people of our village went on the west side of the Missouri] River toward what is now the town of Dickinson, for we had heard that buffalo herds were there. We crossed the river in bull boats . . . .

My father, Son of a Star, was chosen leader of the hunt and Belly-up was his crier. We made our first camp just outside the timber of the Missouri.

The next morning our people struck tents . . . . The young men went along the side of the road on horseback. In old times when we made a march like this, a large number of the people walked . . . .

The season of our march was in the first part of July. Before we had left Like-a-Fish-Hook village, all the families had hoed their gardens free of weeds so that we could leave them in safety, knowing that our crops would be in good condition when we returned.

We made six or seven camps before we found any buffaloes. As we came near to Cannonball River, my father sent two young men ahead to see if they could find any buffaloes. They returned saying, “There is a big bunch of buffaloes over there.” 

They made their report on returning that evening. Everybody got ready for the hunt the next morning.

We arose early in the morning and my father saddled two horses while I also saddled one, for I was going with the hunting party.

I had a white man’s saddle, small for a boy, which I had gotten from the Crow Indians. Both my father’s horses had elk horn saddles.

In the rear of his saddle he tied short ropes in a twist, like a figure eight. This was to be used to bind the meat on the saddle when we came home from the hunt.

The party was made up of about 40 men, each leading an extra horse and 8 boys of from 12 to 15 years of age, each riding a single horse only, not leading one. A boy of 16 or 17 was thought old enough to be a hunter.

The 40 men were young men, or men in their prime, that is, of hunting age.

With us boys, who did not expect to take part in the actual hunt, went 3 old men, one of them carrying a bow and arrows. I do not think he really expected to use them but carried them more for the sake of old-time customs.

The 3 old men and we smaller boys, were not expected to take part in the actual chase of the buffaloes.

The leader of the hunt had been appointed the night before. He was Belly-up, or E-da´-ka-tas. Our name for a leader of the hunt was Matse´-aku´-ee, or, keeper of the men.

The name for my father’s office, leader of the tribe on the march, we called Madi-aku´-ee or tribe-traveling keeper.

Belly-up went on ahead and all the rest of us followed. We went out about five miles. Then we sent out two men on ahead . . . to spy out the herds.

We went at a smart trot. Pretty soon we saw our two scouts returning. They reported to Belly-up that they had located the herds.

They returned at a gallop, so we knew before they had reported, that they had news to tell. Belly-up now pressed forward faster and we all followed at a gallop.

All the men had quirts, as had Belly-up himself and I remember how the quirts would come down, “Slap, slap,” on the horses’ flanks and the hoofs go “Beat, beat” on the stones.

About a half mile from the buffaloes we stopped on the hither side of a hill which hid the buffaloes from view. The men took the saddles off the horses they were riding and put bridles in their mouths made of raw hide ropes, then remounted.

Belly-up went off a little way, took out a piece of red calico, tore off a strip and tore it into three or four pieces. These pieces he put on the ground as he faced in the direction of the buffaloes.

He spoke something, evidently a prayer. I could not tell what he said, but I knew that the red cloth was a sacrifice to the buffaloes.

Everybody now got ready and the men mounted their horses and stood in a long line facing the buffaloes, with Belly-up on the extreme right.

Of course, I mean only the hunters. The line now started forward at a sharp gallop, with all the heads and necks of the horses even, in a long line.

A soldier Indian, a man named Tsa-was, rode in front, and if any man got too far forward in the line, Tsa-was, or “Bears Chief,” would strike the horse in the face.

We boys had to follow behind with the 3 old men. These were old men of about 60, or more. One of them, as I have said, had his bow and arrows along, but all the young men in the hunters’ line had rifles. We were all on the leeward side of the buffaloes.

As we came over the brow of the hill we sighted them about four hundred yards away. Belly-up gave the signal, “Ku kats! Now’s the time!” 

Down came all the quirts on the flanks of the horses, making the ponies leap forward like big cats. Everyone now wanted to be first to get to the herd and kill the fattest buffalo.

I was somewhat scared, for the horses were at break-neck speed and my pony took the bit in his mouth and went over the rough, stony ground at a speed that I feared would break his neck and mine too.

“Bang!” went a rifle. A fat cow tumbled over.

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!” The herd swerved around and started up wind as buffaloes almost invariably did when they were alarmed.

The herd went tearing off. Only a fast horse could overtake buffaloes and indeed, a fleeing buffalo could outrun many speedy horses.

We killed only cows. The flesh of the bulls was tough and that of calves, when it was dried, became soft and was easily broken into pieces. For this reason, we did not often kill calves, although we sometimes did for the skins.

My father had killed three fat cows in the hunt, for he was along with the party. He butchered the cows and brought his spare horse (which he had left behind the hill, hobbled) and loaded it with meat.

He put a little of the meat also on the horse that he rode, but none on the pony I rode.

As he was cutting up the carcass, I saw him throw away what I thought was a good piece of meat.

I hated to see that piece of meat wasted and when I thought he was not looking, I picked it up and threw it back on the pile.

When we got home, I overheard my father say to my mother, “Our boy is not a wasteful boy—he wants to save what he has. He threw back on the pile of meat, some tough leg meat that I had thrown away. He did not want to see it wasted.”

He returned back to the camp from the place of the hunt much more slowly than we had gone thither. Sometimes we went at a trot, very often at a walk.

Almost every part of the buffalo was used in the old times. The choice cuts, with the shoulders and hams, we carried home, but the spines, neck, and heavier pieces we left behind on the prairie, covered over with hides.

The next day we came back to the place of the hunt for the meat we had left behind. We found it safe and carted it back to camp.

We spent two days drying the meat and making bone-grease. We did not dry the meat in smoke but on stages in the open air.

The tribes used different techniques in hunting. Some drove bison herds over a cliff or into a small canyon. Others surrounded the herd and then approached for the killing.

As soon as the bison were killed, women removed the hides and began to cut the meat into pieces. Usually some of the meat was consumed immediately as the tribe or band celebrated a successful hunt, but hundreds of thousands of pounds of meat were dried for winter use.

Women sliced the meat into thin strips and hung it on poles in the sun near a small fire to dry. Dried meat did not spoil.

Many of the tribes dried the meat at the hunting camp before returning to their villages. While the meat was drying, the hides were stretched out on the ground and staked down.

Women then scraped the hides clean of all flesh and began the process of preserving the hide. Hides might be tanned for robes. Other hides might be left untanned and used as rawhide.

Hunters broke open the bones to remove the marrow which was eaten fresh or used in soups. Marrow is high in calories and protein, so it was a highly valued food. The bones were saved to be made into sharp, strong tools.

Following the summer hunt, the people returned home with many tons of dried bison meat. If they were able to protect their supply of meat from raiders or military attack, they would eat well until the following spring.

This document is presented with permission of the Minnesota Historical Society and American Museum of Natural History. From Gilbert Wilson’s Reports, 1913, part 1, pgs 125-141.

Lakota Bison Hunt

The Lakotas lived in the woodlands east of the Great Plains where they lived as both hunters and farmers until around 1707.

The winter count of Battiste Good tells us that by 1707, the Lakotas had both horses and guns. They acquired guns and horses through trade networks that linked Indians to European Americans.

By the middle of the 18^th century, the Lakotas were primarily bison hunters. They hunted for food and hides.

The surplus in hides was traded to other tribes or to Anglo-Americans for other things they needed. Women prepared the hides for trade by stretching and tanning the hides.

They also decorated the hides in order to get the best advantage in trade. In the late summer or early fall, Lakotas traveled to the Mandan villages to trade bison hides for corn which they needed for a good diet.

As the time for the communal hunt approached, the Lakotas began making plans. The hunt could not take place until a spiritual leader had a vision.

The vision might tell the people that the time to hunt was right, or it might tell them to wait a while. Either way, the people listened carefully to the advice and followed it.

After the proper spiritual ceremonies had been completed, the council met to discuss the hunt. The council members smoked a pipe in the appropriate ceremonial manner and carefully discussed the hunt.

They decided when and where the hunt would take place. The discussion might have lasted a few hours or several days. The council ended with a great feast prepared by the women of the village.

Before the hunt began, the council chose four young men to organize and maintain order in the hunt. These men were called akicitas (ah kee CHEE tahs) or marshals. Each of the marshals wore a special shirt and carried a feathered banner to signify his role. The akicitas controlled the camp and had the authority to punish anyone who disobeyed.

Before the hunt, women prepared to move the camp. They made repairs to the tipis, harnesses and clothing.

The men prepared their bows and arrows and bison hunting horses for the hunt. They also played a game called hehaka (heh HAH kah) which was a game of speed and accuracy that involved catching a hoop with a stick.

The entire village traveled between 10 and 25 miles each day. Even very small children, elderly people and those who were sick went with the village on the hunt. They stopped where there was enough water and wood for a good camp.

The people traveled close together and kept watch for enemies. The season for the Lakotas’ hunt was the time when all tribes were out to hunt bison.

When the camp arrived at a place near the herd, the people, even children and dogs, had to be very quiet so the bison herd would not be frightened.

When the scouts discovered a herd, they returned to signal the hunters. Different signals meant different size herds. If the scout waved his robe, then spread it on the ground, it meant that he had seen a herd (Battiste Good Winter Count).

First, the Lakotas made an offering to the spirit of the bison. The camp herald went through camp calling everyone to make ready for the hunt.

At first light, the marshals led the hunters silently toward the herd and arranged them so each had a fair chance.

At the signal, the hunters galloped toward the herd, keeping low on their horses. The bison, not seeing humans, did not run until the hunters released their arrows.

The hunters tried to wound or kill as many as possible. They shot an arrow into the bison’s side or chest. An animal that was wounded, but not killed might turn and charge the hunter’s horse.

The hunter quickly left the first bison he shot and rode after another. They continued until the horses were exhausted or all the bison they wanted were killed.

If there was a white bison in the herd they made a special effort to kill it. White bison were rare and considered wakan (wah KAHN) or sacred.

A white bison robe made an extraordinary gift or offering. One of the bison carcasses, perhaps a white one, was sacrificed for a good hunt. The hide was removed from the carcass, but the remainder of the animal was left in the field as a sacrifice of thanks.

Each hunter identified the animals he had killed with some mark or piece of clothing. Soon the women arrived with horses and travois for carrying the hides, meat and other parts back to camp.

The hunters took a fresh liver, dipped it in gall (a bitter fluid from the gall bladder) and ate it. Lakota hunters believed that this food, eaten raw, gave them strength and courage. Roasted meat was served to the rest of the village.

Women now dried the meat, stored the fat and made wasna (WAHZ nah). They staked out the hides. The men rested.

After all the meat was dried and preserved, the tribe decided if they had enough for the winter or if they needed to conduct another hunt. If they did not need to hunt anymore, the marshals gave up their control of the camp and life returned to normal.

Bison provided everything necessary for a good life on the Great Plains. The Lakotas chose to live as nomads, hunting and trading, which provided them with a good living and a strong spiritual foundation.

However, this life also required that they be constantly prepared for an attack or war with enemies.

ND Studies 8^th grade

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NEXT: PART 4 ME’TIS: The Métis Bison Hunt, with Father Belcourt

Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog

Horses evolved in North America. They went through many stages, changing from small and three-toed to one-toed and increasing in size to about the size of a deer.

They were well-adapted to the grasslands of North America, but they disappeared from the continent around 10,000 years ago. Scientists do not know why horses disappeared. It may have been because of some ecological disaster, disease, over-hunting by humans—or all three.

Paleontologists have deterrmined that some North American horses migrated westward and crossed the Bering Land Bridge into Asia where they prospered. Whatever the cause, there were no horses (Equus species) in North America from about 10,000 years ago until about 1520 A.D.

When Columbus made his second expedition in 1493 to the Caribbean islands, he brought horses, but it is doubtful that any of those animals were released on the continent.

In 1519, however, the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) brought horses into the southern Great Plains of the continental mainland. Horses returned to North America, but they were now domesticated animals trained to work for humans.

Spanish explorers, missionaries and rancheros kept horses for transportation, for beasts of burden and for farm work.

The early Spanish closely guarded their horses and did not allow American Indians to own them.

Many tribal historians believe that American Indians only rarely captured and trained wild horses.

American Indians acquired horses in 1680, when Pueblo peoples, led by Popé, drove the Spanish from New Mexico and captured the horses left behind. Comanches, Utes and Apaches captured horses and developed the skills they needed to ride and hunt on horseback.

Trade between tribes brought horses north from New Mexico. The Shoshonis (who now live in Montana) began making journeys south to trade for horses.

Their trade involved more than horses. They also traded buffalo robes and other goods for bridles and saddles. Using the Spanish model, American Indians made their own bridles and saddles.

By 1700, a few horses had reached the tribes of the Upper Missouri River country. By 1750 horses were incorporated into the life ways of Indian tribes and were part of a web of trading and raiding among the tribes.

Horses brought great advantages to Indian tribes. With horses, hunters could travel long distances to find bison herds. Horses added speed and efficiency to the bison hunt. And they were useful in hauling heavier and larger burdens than a dog or human could.

However, horses required feed—grass or cottonwood tree bark for winter feed. And riders were occasionally injured by an accident with a horse.

Like metal goods and guns, horses arrived on the northern Great Plains in advance of non-Indian traders and explorers. 

Though horses and other European trade goods brought many advantages, they were also a sign that white soldiers and settlers would soon follow.

Section 2: Lakota Horses

During the decades before 1650, Lakotas, a branch of the large Dakota (sometimes called Sioux) nation, lived in the woodlands east of the Red River.

During the 17^th century, they moved into the Great Plains and occupied the land between the Red River of the North and the Missouri River.

They began to live a more nomadic life than they had in the woodlands. They followed bison herds and became expert hunters.

According to the winter count of Battiste Good, the southern bands of Lakotas first saw horses around 1700.  By 1715, horses appeared frequently in Good’s winter count.

Sometime in the middle 18^th century (around 1750), Lakotas used horses regularly for hunting and transportation. Most likely they traded with other tribes for horses as they found out how useful horses could be.

Horses became an important part of society because Lakotas were nomadic. They moved their villages to places where they had good grass and water for their horses and nearby bison herds.

Horses made moving the village much easier because they could carry heavy loads. Horses also made bison hunting more efficient because a horse could carry a hunter right into the bison herd.

Older men and boys sometimes used saddles in the bison hunt. The saddle was made from two pieces of wood, about 20 inches long and one and one-half inches thick. The two pieces were joined by an elk antler that was shaped and fitted to form an arch just behind the horse’s withers.

Another piece of elk antler joined the two pieces of wood behind the rider.

Raw bison hide covered the entire saddle and was stitched into place with sinew. When the rawhide dried, the wood and antler saddle was very strong. The saddle was attached to the horse with a girth of bison leather.

Some hunters made stirrups of buffalo hide or wood. These well-made saddles might have been used by generations of Lakota hunters.

A Lakota family might own several horses, but a bison hunting horse was a special animal that was not used for other purposes, except perhaps war. When a man wanted a hunting horse, he selected a fast young horse and trained it to hunt bison.

He rode the horse alongside and into herds of running horses. In this way, the horse became trained for speed and learned how to approach a moving herd of animals. The hunter also rubbed bison robes over the horse so it would learn to know and not fear the smell of bison.

Some hunters rode after the bison herd with only a halter on their horse. Others used a saddle as well.

When a Lakota horse was prepared for a bison hunt, it had a halter, or head piece, that was made of leather tanned from a bison hide. There were two leather straps: one strap encircled the horse’s muzzle just behind the corners of the mouth.

This strap was attached to another strap that passed behind the horse’s ears. Another long leather strap was attached to the halter and extended back to the rider. The halter fit somewhat tighter than modern halters.

A woman’s saddle was made in a similar way, but constructed so that the woman could also carry large packs of household goods or children on horseback.

Some Lakota horses were used to pull loads packed onto a travois (TRAV-wah, or TRAV-voy). A travois was made using tipi poles that were inserted into a harness placed over the horse’s back.

A webbed basket was suspended between the poles for carrying children, elders, or ill adults, household goods, or bison meat. Before horses came to the northern Great Plains, dogs pulled much smaller travois.

A woman who could pack a travois efficiently and well was held in high esteem.

Horse hair had many uses, too. It could be removed from the mane or tail without hurting the horse and might be used to decorate a headpiece or clothing.

Horse hair was also added to bison hair in making very strong ropes. Lakota artists often used images of horses in painting or beadwork.

Lakotas loved and cherished their horses. For special occasions (religious ceremonies or war) a horse might be painted with symbols that were important to its owner.

Some people decorated their horse’s bridles, saddles and saddle bags with beads or quillwork.

One mask (in the Smithsonian Institution today) was made of bison hide. Holes were cut in the hide for the horse’s eyes and ears. The hide was decorated with feathers.

Horses came to represent wealth to the Lakotas. Both men and women could own horses.

Men might acquire them through trade or in raids. A woman might receive a horse as payment for her beadwork.

But, in the Lakota tradition, wealth was to be given away to honor someone else who had done a great deed, or to honor someone who had died. Horses often changed hands in giveaway ceremonies.

Historians debate the impact of horses on the Lakota way of life. Some historians argue that horses changed the Lakota way of life and even had an impact on their religious ideas. Other historians state that horses allowed Lakotas to improve, but not change, their way of life.

The Lakota economy—or way of making a living—did not change greatly when they acquired horses. Lakotas continued to hunt bison and incorporate the great animal into every aspect of their lives.

Because horses made bison hunting so much more efficient, they, too, came to be honored in many parts of Lakota life.

Once the bison were gone from the northern Great Plains, some horses remained with the tribe to connect the Lakota people to their pre-reservation past.
ND Studies, 8^th Grade Lakota Horses.

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NEXT:

Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog

by Francie M. Berg | Dec 28, 2021 | Blog 74

We hope you had a Merry Christmas with a Happy New Year ahead!

We will be making some major changes in 2023. During the New Year we will be developing a Virtual Buffalo Website that we expect to be equally available to other countries around the world, in addition to our North American citizens.

One of the fun things we did this year related to buffalo, was the three-day Bismarck State College Bison Symposium which we helped sponsor, the last weekend in June. It has inspired us to move ahead.

The 2^nd day my daughter Kathy and I and 80-some visitors traveled our Historic Tour in 2 large travel buses to the Hettinger-Lemmon area of North and South Dakota. We all had a great experience—we hosts as well as tourists!

Note: You can’t visit all our 8 Historic Sites in one day—it’s too exhausting! But we made it to 5 of them.

This included: a big herd of 400 live buffalo that came running up over the hills and milled around us in the loaded buses. Our authentic Shadehill Buffalo Jump used 5,500 to 7,000 ago. Two of the last great buffalo hunts anywhere in the world. And the Dakota Buttes museum where our guests enjoyed a delicious Bison Stroganoff dinner and admired Prairie Thunder—our full-size mounted bull buffalo.

One Bismarck woman told me she and her husband had traveled the world, seen “everything,” and this was the BEST TOUR they’d EVER taken!

The first and third days were in Bismarck focused around the State Heritage Center—lots of good speakers and 3 or 4 fascinating panel discussions led by Native Americans as well as college experts.

We had so many requests for repeat tours that some of us are now involved in a small “Brainstorming Group” for our area. A wise young man— Hettinger’s mayor—talked us into beginning by focusing first on a smashing virtual Website. We think he’s right!

So now that’s what we’re working on, playing with names. Maybe it will be “Alive on La Riv’er Grande Buffalo Trails” or “Buffalo Trails Alive on La Riv’er Grande.”

Maybe not. But this honors early French fur traders who paddled up and down our rivers way back in the 1700s loaded with furs and named them with a French flair. And it celebrates our Grande Riv’er which waters a great chunk of this part of North and South Dakota and ultimately pours southeast into the Missouri River.

Visitors learned that buffalo are not cattle—in many ways they are wild animals. Like the deer in the headlights you glimpse at the edge of the highway or shelterbelt.

Just watch them break into an uncontrollable stampede one day when pushed too hard!

“The point of the tour,” explained Erik Holland of the North Dakota Heritage Society which helped to sponsor the Symposium. “Is to get people who have spent a day listening to the rationale about bison and bison ecology and preserving the animals on a Thursday—to a place where they can imagine it.

“And being inside a bison herd helps them recognize the majesty of the animal, the depth of the story and the broad wide spaces of North Dakota.”

We think this may be a first for this kind of program—that included scientific presentations on Bison by college professors as well as thousands of years of Buffalo history and culture told by Native American storytellers in a three-day event.

Archaeology and anthropology blending together with live herds of buffalo grazing the buttes and badlands in these historic hills made a powerful impact.

Live buffalo have always grazed the banks of La Riv’er Grande—and we predict—always will. They bridged the near-extinction of buffalo back in the 1880s.

Newborn calves were saved here on the South Grande by the Duprees—a Native American family—the next spring after their long, cold winter hunt, when the animals became almost extinct. They were nurtured with range cows on these very grasslands until Pete Dupree owned a herd of 83.

Today several long-standing commercial buffalo herds still graze the same grasslands, still watered by La Riv’er Grande.

We hope you and your family and friends celebrated a Merry Christmas—and wish you a Happy, Happy New Year throughout all of 2023!

We’ll meet with you again on January 10, 2023. That’s when our blog continues to explore the North Dakota 8^th Grade curriculum and asks the question  (Italic, bold) “When did Native Americans in this place obtain horses and how did it change Buffalo hunting?”

And we have a century-old buffalo trail a few miles north to visit when the snow melts off the green grass next spring. We’re eager to hike that trail and photograph it for you!

If you’d like to take another look at the BSC Bison Symposium, here are the links

https://buffalotalesandtrails.com/2022/05/teachers-do-you-remember-what-you-did-last-summer?              Blog 58-May 7— Advance Rehearsal of the Tour

https://buffalotalesandtrails.com/2022/07/blog-62-part-1-bsc-bison-symposium-june-22-25-2022/             Blog 62-July 12–BSC Bison Symposium Part 1

https://buffalotalesandtrails.com/2022/07/bsc-bison-symposium-june-22-25-2022-part-2/              Blog 63-July 26—BSC Bison Symposium Part 2

Francie M Berg, Author

Ronda Fink, Assistant

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NEXT: Part 2 North Dakota Studies—Mandan and Lakota Horses.
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Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog

Most of the people in North Dakota were nomadic or semi-nomadic until about 1100 A.D.

Archaeological evidence tells us that by then, some lived in permanent homes in fortified villages and became sedentary.

The people we know today as the Mandans moved into ND around the year 1000 A.D. By 1100, they had settled in several villages along the Missouri, Heart and Knife rivers. They were still living there in the 19^th century.

They gathered in villages and built permanent houses and are known as sedentary tribes. Along their journey to this location, they learned about corn and how to grow it.

Other People continued to move around, usually following bison herds.

Because these people migrated to find game and plant foods, they lived in housing that could be easily packed up and taken with them, or they built shelters whenever they settled down for a little while. They might have moved 12 to 20 times a year.

They probably traveled more during summer and fall when it was important to find game and plants to preserve for winter. Likely they moved less often in winter.

As the People made changes in their lives, they continued to remember their past and told the stories to their children. Every group of people has a story about where they came from and how they were created. The Bible and Koran tell of the Creation.

These stories came to be known as origin stories. They help us to reach back into the past to learn more about the earliest residents.

Many of the Dakota stories include buffalo because of their importance in the Native culture.. Some groups have more than one origin story.

We can learn a lot about the culture of the People and what qualities they thought were important by reading or listening to their origin stories.

The earliest People to come to ND had creation, or origin, stories. Some of these stories have been preserved through oral tradition. Oral tradition means telling stories about the creation to others, especially the children.

Most of the origin stories are very complicated and very long. There are many characters and many events. The stories are important today because they tell us about the spiritual beliefs and cultural traditions of the People.

Origin stories give us one view of how people came to live here. The stories were handed down from parents to children for centuries. We don’t know what people called themselves when they began telling these stories, but over hundreds of years, they came to call themselves Hidatsa, or Lakota, or Chippewa or another name.

Origin stories tell of some of the great struggles the people went through to emerge on the earth and become fully human.

They had to learn many things and organize into well-ordered communities. They had to learn to understand supernatural powers as well as the natural powers of the plants, animals, rocks and climate.

It is important to remember that some of these stories should be told only at a certain time of the year or under certain conditions.

Since we cannot always meet those conditions when we read the stories, we need to remember to be thankful that the stories have been recorded for us to read and be respectful of the spirit of the people who told these stories over the generations.

The Hidatsa

The Hidatsa have three different origin stories because they believe long ago, there were three different groups of people who eventually came together to become the Hidatsa.

The people established 13 villages along the Missouri that eventually became the 13 clans of the Hidatsa.

The Awatixa (ah wah TEE ha) believed that they were created on the shores of the Missouri River by the great hunter Charred Body, who brought the Awatixa (“People of the Village of the Scattered Lodges”) to Earth.

The Awaxawi (ah wah HAH wi) climbed to the surface of the earth by climbing up a vine.

These “People of the Village on the Hill” lived east of the Missouri River and raised crops until they migrated to the Missouri River and joined the Awatixa and Hidatsa-proper.

The Hidatsa-proper—“People of the Willows”—emerged from the earth near a large lake (often identified as Devils Lake).

They climbed up a vine and emerged through a hole onto the surface.

Tragically, a pregnant woman got stuck in the hole and prevented more people from climbing up the vine. The pregnant woman stopped the migration so there are still Hidatsa ancestors under the earth.

The Hidatsa-proper migrated around the Great Plains until they came to the Missouri River. Here they met the Mandans who helped them cross the river to the west bank.

The Mandans gave the name “Minitaree” or “Cross the Water” to the Hidatsas. Once they arrived at the Missouri River, the Hidatsa-proper learned how to grow corn from other people.

The Mandans

The Mandans were created in two events.

First Creator created the land, animals, plants, rivers and hills west and south of the Missouri River.

A spirit being called Lone Man created the flat land, ponds and grasslands east and north of the Missouri River. Lone Man also created cattle, sheep, birds and white People.

First Creator and Lone Man disagreed about some details of creation, but eventually, Lone Man came to live among the Mandans.

The second event took place at the mouth of the Missouri River. There the people lived in a cave.

A young man left the cave and went to the surface. He returned to his people and told them about the land, so the Mandans left the cave, bringing corn and squash with them.

They lived in different places along the Mississippi River, but then returned to the Missouri River where they met the other Mandans.

Lone Man continued to live with the Mandans a long time, but then decided to return to his home, the south wind.

He promised the Mandans that he would return someday and in the meantime, they would always have his help.

Lone Man returns every spring as the warm wind.

The Arikaras

The Arikara origin story tells us that long ago the people lived in Mother Earth.

Then, Mother Corn brought all the people out to the world.

At first, the people did not know how to live properly, so they wandered. As they wandered, some of them were made into fish, others into birds, moose, bears and other “animal people.” 

Eventually, the Arikaras found a land (in modern Nebraska) that had everything they needed to live. Here, Mother Corn came to them and taught them how to live on earth and how to pray to Man Above.

Mother Corn died, but she left the corn plant to remind the Arikaras of her love for them.

Many years later, the Arikaras moved north to live along the Upper Missouri River.

The Dakotas

The Dakotas tell of coming from across the ocean where they had lived in the land of cold winter and much ice.

They crossed the ocean in boats. When they landed, they found a place where there was plenty of game and other things they needed.

They migrated westward and met the Chippewas in a place where there were three large lakes. While they lived there, white people came, bringing metal tools.

These tools caused trouble for the Dakotas with the Chippewas, but the Dakotas drove the Chippewas away.

 The Dakotas continued to move west until they reached the Mississippi River Valley where they settled in permanent villages.

The Lakotas

The Lakotas believe that long ago, there were only four people on earth.

One of them was the Trickster, Iktomi. Iktomi tricked Anog-Ite into telling him how to get other people from under the earth.

The people under the earth were six men and their wives and a young man named Tokahe, The First One.

Iktomi invited them to the surface. He told them that the world was full of food, clothing and everything they needed. But Iktomi had tricked them; the people found nothing that they needed.

Anog-Ite’s parents, Waziya and Wakanka helped the people by bringing them food and water. Waziya and Wakanka led the people to the forest and showed them how to hunt and live on the earth.

The people learned well how to live and had children. The children of these people are the Lakotas (Sioux).

The Chippewas

The earth, the sun, and the moon were created by the Great Creator, Kitchie Manitou.

Kitchie Manitou also created the plants, rocks, trees, animals, wind and birds. He sent the birds in the four directions (north, south, east and west) to carry life to every place.

Then, when all of the plants and animals had been created, Kitchie Manitou took four parts of Mother Earth and blew into them creating Man.

 Kitchie Manitou then lowered Man, the last creation, to the earth. Man considered all of creation his elders because they came before him.

The Chippewa people who descended from Man first lived by a great salt water, a long way east of where they live now in Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota.

For many years, the Chippewas migrated west, always trying to live closer to the place where their Me-da-we religion could be practiced in its purest form. They finally reached the proper place which was La Pointe Island in Lake Superior (the Apostle Islands).

From here, the Chippewas spread in many directions. Some of them migrated into North Dakota, where they lived and hunted between the Red River and the Turtle Mountains

For the earlier 8^th grade ND Studies see the following:

https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-i-paleocene

NEXT: Blog 73-Part 1-North Dakota 8^th Grade studies: Raising Corn

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Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog

A special event took place at the Vore Buffalo Jump site in 2014 when the Foundation Board decided they wanted a tipi. Not just any tipi, but a fully authentic one. And the buffalo hides had to be tanned in just the way women tanned them and sewed them together long before they had horses.

They hold high standards. Vore Buffalo Jump leaders have tried to adopt and use ancient Native American methods and authentic Native tools in their work when possible.

 That meant the tipi had to be small enough and light enough to be hauled by one or two dogs. So why not find Native women to do it?

They soon discovered that the well-known expert in the art was closer than they imagined. The ancient technique was being taught at Chief Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, Montana—not so  far away. And a class of Northern Cheyenne women in the college was studying just that.

Seven Cheyenne women agreed to come and make the tipi in the old way on the Wyoming site.

The last tipi made by the Northern Cheyenne was around 1877—when herds of buffalo were on the verge of extinction and reservations were being established. 

They said they’d be delighted to come, tan the hides and make the proper kind of tipi needed..

 In fact, for these women it would be “A dream fulfilled!”

The women who came were Larie Clown, Victoria Haugen, Lori Killsontop, Tee Jay Littlewolf, Maria Russell, Rebekah Threefingers and Jodi Waters.

The hide was laced onto a frame so the women could use buffalo leg bone fleshers to remove fat and meat from the skin. After the hide had dried and become stiffer rawhide, the hair (wool) was scraped off using an elk horn scraper.

 In an article he wrote for the Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation Gene Gade, then president, wrote that few tasks were more labor intensive—or necessary—than processing the skins of buffalo and other animals into tanned leather and then using it to produce all kinds of essential products including clothing, tipi covers, moccasins, storage bags and many other items.

 It was a time‐consuming job, performed almost entirely by women.

 All tribes in the region were using some form of “brain tanning” by the time the Vore Site was used. It’s a technique that early people throughout the world discovered, in one variation or another. He explains that without this treatment the hides would have quickly become rancid and start to decompose.

 The brain contains oil called lecithin that becomes a natural tanning agent to lubricate the skin. If you intend to make the hide into a blanket or warm winter coat, only one side of the hide needs to be scraped, because the hair doesn’t have to be removed. The hair was left on and the hide left to dry, stretched and taut.

But if you plan to make a tipi cover or use it as leather, all the hair must be removed. Soaking it in water up to three days, loosens the hair and raises and softens the grain layer of the hide..

Because brains “mix oil and water,” they form a stabilized emulsion on the hide. Nearly all buffalo skulls at the Vore site, Gage said, have been bashed open to remove the brain for hide tanning purposes.

The first priority after a buffalo jump that killed many buffalo was to process the tons of meat that would otherwise spoil quickly. Hides were usually tied in bundles and set aside or soaked in water while the meat was being dried and preserved.

 Then the arduous process of “Soak and Scrape, Soak and Scrape!” began, says Gage. After first soaking and cleaning, the next critical step was to thoroughly scrape away any flesh, fat, muscle or connective tissue from the hide—a job the women usually did on their knees.

After working the skin for hours on the frame, the hide was unlaced and another technique stretched the hide: the hide was used to toss youngsters into the air. Such a sport was enjoyed a century earlier.

As a child sat in the center of the robe, those holding the edges of the hide pulled in unison to send the child up into the air. After a dozen tosses, another child got a turn. This unique method stretched the hide and thrilled the children!

The students then used sinew to stitch five hides together to construct the tipi. Their one concession to modern times was the use of metal needles. Sewing the hides together took three days.

On the morning of the dedication, the tipi was traditionally honored by having military veterans walk barefoot across the tipi cover while an honoring song was sung. Cheyenne elders spoke about the importance of this tipi.

The women next set up the pole framework, wrapped the hide cover around the poles, pinned the right and left sides together and inserted smoke flap poles. 

 Alan Blackwolf, Keeper of the Northern Cheyenne Sacred Buffalo Hat, then smudged the tipi.

 Accompanied by drumming and singing by two Cheyenne elders, the group danced in a circle to a Friendship Dance.

For the Northern Cheyenne women, they had accomplished their mission. They were happy and proud of what they had done— ‘A Dream fulfilled!”

Buffalo hides, travel and refreshments had been rather costly. But the Vore Foundation Directors had been able to get grant funds and donations together to do it right.

 So the tipi was constructed on site by students as planned, accompanied by an instructor from Chief Dull Knife College under the guidance of Larry Belitz, one of the few experts in the art.

“To bring this long-sought dream into reality required the effort of the Cheyenne workers, Larry Belitz who directed the tipi-making, and behind-the-scene work of Vore Buffalo Jump Board of Directors,” said Jackie Wyatt of the VBJF, who lives in Sundance WY.

This kind of tipi—made with five buffalo hides—was used by Plains tribes before they had horses. Once the Plains hunters obtained horses, their tipis could become much larger. This one weighs about 90 pounds so it likely would have taken two dogs to pull the travois.

 When finished, the new tipi found a home in the large research building down in the Vore sinkhole, where it now provides inspiration to researchers and volunteers as they work to excavate new layers of bones and develop new educational panels.

 Funding for the project came from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund, the Wyoming Humanities Council, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and donations.  Photos credit Vore Buffalo Jump Foundation. See also “The Ancient and Arduous Art of Brain Tanning Buffalo Hides” by Gene Gade.

NEXT: STUDIES FOR SCHOOLS
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Francie M Berg

Author of the Buffalo Tales &Trails blog