English: Title: Bulletin

Identifier: bulletin3011907smit Year: 1901 (1900s) Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Subjects: Ethnology Publisher: Washington : G. P. O. Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book

Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image: 84 ARIKARA [b. a. e. liers and living in three villages between Grand and Cannonball rs., Dak. By 1851 they had moved up to the vicinity of Heart r. It is not proba])le that this rapid rate of movement obtained during migi-ations prior to the settlement of the Atlantic coast by the English. The steady westward pressure of the colonists, together with their policy of fomenting intertribal wars, caused the continual dis- placement of many native communities, a condition that bore heavily on the semisedentary tribes, like the Arikara, who lived in villages and cultivated the soil. Almost continuous warfare with ag- gressive tribes, together with the ravages of smallpox during the latter half of the

Text Appearing After Image: RUSHING BEAR—ARIKARA 18th and tlie beginning of the 19th cen- turies, nearly exterminated some of their villages. The weakened survivors con- solidated to form new, necessarily com- posite villages, so that nnich of their an- cient organization was greatly modified or ceased to exist. It was during this period of stress that the Arikara became close neighbors and, finally, allies of the Man- dan and Hidatsa. In 1804, when Lewis and Clark visited the Arikara, they were disposed to be friendly to the United States, but, owing to intrigues incident to the rivalry between trading companies, which brought suffering to the Indians, they became hostile. In 1823 the Arikara attacked an American trader's boats, kill- ing 13 men and wounding others. This led to a conflict with the United States, but peace was finally concluded. In con- sequence of these troubles and the fail- ure of crops for 2 successive years the tribe abandoned their villages on the Missouri and joined the Skidi on Loup r.. Neb., where they remained 2 years; but the animosity which the Arikara dis- played toward the white race made them dangerous and unwelcome neighbors, so that they were requested to go back to the Missouri. They did so, and there they have remained ever since. Under their first treaty, in 1825, they acknowl- edged the supremacy of the National Government over the land and the people, agreed to trade only with American citi- zens, whose life and ))roperty they were l^ledged to protect, and to refer all diflB- culties for final settlement to the United States. After the close of the Mexican war a commission was sent by the Gov- ernment to define the territories claimed by the tribes living n. of Mexico, between the Missouri and tlie Rocky mts. In the treaty made at Ft Laramie, in 1851, with the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa, the land claimed by these tribes is described as lying w. of "the Missouri, from Heart r., N. Dak., to the Yellowstone, and up the latter to the mouth of Powder r., Mont.; thence s. e. to the headwaters of the Little Missouri in Wyoming, and skirt- ing the Black hills to the head of Heart r. and down that stream 1o its junction with the Missouri. Owing to the non- ratification of this treaty, the landed rights of the Arikara remained unsettled until 1880, when, by Executive order, their present reservation was set apart; this in- cludesthetradingpost, established inl845, and named for Bartholomew Berthold, a Tyrolese, one of the founders of the Amer- ican Fur Company. The Arikara, Man- dan, and Hidatsa together share this land, and are frequently spoken of, from the name of their reservation, as Ft Berthold Indians. In accordance with the act of Feb. 8, 1887, the Arikara received allot- ments of land in severalty, and, on ap- proval of the allotments by the Secretary of the Interior, July 10,1900, they became citizens of the United States and subject to the laws of North Dakota. An indus- trial boarding school and 3 day schools are maintained by the Government on Ft Berthold res. A mission board- ing school and a church are supported by the Congregational Board of Mis- sions. In 1804 Lewis and Clark gave the population of the Arikara as 2,600, of whom more than 000 were warriors. In 1871 the tribe numbered 1,650; by 1888 they were reduced to 500, and the census of 1904 gives the population as 380. As far back as their traditions go the Ari-

Note About Images

Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.