Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the MississippiBushnell, David I. (David Ives)
History
Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi
Bushnell, David I. (David Ives)
Algonquian Indians; Caddoan Indians; Indians of North America -- Dwellings; Siouan Indians
A sketch of Fort Pierre as it appeared July 4, 1851, is given in plate
23, _b_. This was the work of the young Swiss artist, Friedrich Kurz,
and is now reproduced for the first time. The small groups of Indians,
the tipis standing near the fort, and the rolling prairie in the
distance are all graphically shown.
The several divisions of the Teton performed the sun dance, at which
time a large ceremonial lodge would be erected, which stood alone in the
camp circle, formed of the numerous skin tipis. The lodge as reared at
different times and by the various tribes varied in form and method of
construction, but it seems to have been the custom of all the tribes to
abandon the structure at the termination of the ceremonies. It was
regarded as a sacred place and one not to be destroyed by man. Large
structures of this sort were often encountered by parties traversing the
plains and adjacent regions, and one, probably erected by a tribe of the
Teton, was discovered by the Raynolds party, July 16, 1859, in the
extreme eastern part of the present Crook County, Wyoming. In the
journal of the expedition it was written on that day, "We have not yet
met any Indians, nor any indications of their recent presence. The site
of our camp is, however, marked by the remains of an immense Indian
lodge, the frame of which consists of large poles, over thirty feet in
length. Close by is also a high post, around which a perfect circle of
buffalo skulls has been arranged." (Raynolds, (1), p. 31.) This may have
been used during the preceding year, at which time the skin tipis of the
people enacting the sacred ceremonies were pitched in the form of a
circle with the great lodge standing in the center. But with the
completion of the annual dance the participants removed, with their skin
tipis, to other localities, allowing the sacred structure to be
destroyed by the elements.
OGLALA.
Of the early history of this, the principal division of the Teton,
nothing is known. During the first years of the last century they were
discovered by Lewis and Clark on the banks of the upper Missouri, south
of the Cheyenne River, in the present Stanley County, South Dakota. They
hunted and roamed over a wide region, and by the middle of the century
occupied the country between the Forks of the Platte and beyond to the
Black Hills. While living on the banks of the Missouri their villages
undoubtedly resembled the skin-covered tipi settlements of the other
kindred tribes, and later, when they had pushed farther into the prairie
country, there was probably no change in the appearance of their
structures. A very interesting account of the villages of this tribe,
with reference to their ways of life, after they had arrived on the
banks of the Platte, is to be found in the narrative of Stansbury's
expedition, during the years 1849 and 1850.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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