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 THE
HARD LUCK TRIBES:
THE MANDANS, HIDATSAS, AND ARIKARAS
by
Shebby Lee
Presented at the Dakota History
Conference
April 10, 1981
Along the upper Missouri in
what is now North Dakota reside three Native American tribes which are today
known as the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold. They live very near their
ancestral lands, although much of it now lies beneath the water of the Garrison
Dam. 1
In many ways their history
parallels that of most Indian tribes in the nineteenth century - their land was
stolen, their resources exploited, and their lifestyle destroyed. But there is
one big difference: they never resisted.
The Mandans and Hidatsas (and to a lesser
extent, the Arikaras) are the "nice guys" of Native American history. Aside from
individual skirmishes, they never fought the white man, cooperated to the
fullest extent in the reservation and acculturation process, and as a reward,
were the first tribes to receive U.S. citizenship with full voting privileges in
1891, unlike the limited citizenship granted to the remainder of the first
Americans in 1924.
Why they peacefully submitted
to these major upheavals can be traced back to a number of factors. There are
clues throughout their history which indicate an inclination toward cooperation
rather than confrontation.
The three tribes, who lived
together on and off through most of their known history, 3 were originally as
much a warrior society as any other Plains tribes.4 However, the development of
a prosperous agricultural lifestyle and their increasing dependence on trade
goods over the centuries, created an atmosphere conducive to conciliation, not
aggression.
The Village Indians had more
to lose than their nomadic counterparts, and they therefore began a slow process
of drawing back, becoming more conservative as the years went by, and taking
fewer chances. These were semi-sedentary peoples who lived in permanent earth
lodges, tilled the soil, and augmented their diets with game, wild fruits and
vegetables. 5
The Mandans and Hidatsas had
a physical culture so similar that archeologists are unable to distinguish their
excavated village sites. 6 For many centuries they "borrowed" from each other
cultural characteristics, although even Hidatasas admit that the Mandans were
the dominant influence. 7
Catlin, who visited the upper Missouri
tribes in 1832., opined that the Mandans enjoyed a completely carefree life
dedicated to gambling, sports and amusements.8 In his sweeping statements he
neglected to acknowledge that hunting, defending the villages and observing an
intricately superstitious religion involved labor of any kind. Nor did he, in
his nineteenth century chauvinism, regard the cultivation, harvest, storage, and
eventual cooking of the crops (which were strictly the women’s domain) as worthy
of comment.9
The hundreds of village sites uncovered
along the Missouri River testify not so much to their numerous population as to
their frequent moves upstream in search of undepleted soil and timber. Even more
important, the moves were necessary to avoid conflict with enemies.10
One indication that the Mandans and
Hidatasas would rather "switch than fight" is the fact that the earliest and
southernmost village sites excavated lack fortifications of any kind. Those
located further upstream are progressively barricaded with trenches and tall log
"piquets" and are situated on high bluffs overlooking the river.11 These
precautions are of a defensive nature, which also suggests that the earlier
people were of sufficient strength to avoid attack out of sheer numbers while
their successors were growing progressively more vulnerable through a gradual
loss of population.12
The Mandans and Hidatsas adopted their prisoners rather than executing them,
another sign of "softness". The most famous example of this was the Shoshone
maiden, Sakakawea, Lewis & Clark's knowledgeable guide who was discovered living
in a Mandan village in 1804.13
Who were these pursuers who managed to
displace the tribes so regularly? For one, they were the Arikaras the same tribe
which later joined the Mandans and Hidatsas at Like-A-Fishhook Village near Fort
Berthold.14 But that was after they too had been conquered by enemies and
disease. In their heyday the Arikaras were a belligerent bunch who migrated
frequently as their presence became unwelcome and nearby tribes evicted them. is
Primarily though, the enemy was the Sioux.
16 Beginning with their arrival west of the Mississippi in the early eighteenth
century and continuing through the 1880's, the
Sioux conducted continual raids on the
hapless villages for food, horses, and anything else they could carry off.17
For many years these raids were merely
troublesome to the Village Indians. They enjoyed a prosperous agricultural
economy and operated a vast trade network exchanging produce and furs for horses
and a wide variety of European goods. 18 They could well afford to spare some
trade goods now and then in exchange for the safety of their people. As long as
their economy flourished and their population was substantial, they were
relatively safe.
But the smallpox epidemics of 1780 to ‘81,
and 1837 decimated both. The Hidatsas, who had counted nearly 2,000 people in
1832 during Catlin's visit, were reduced to 500. The Mandans, even harder hit,
dropped from 1,500 to 150.
The Arikaras, being less sedentary,
escaped such drastic reductions, but they too suffered sizeable losses. 19
Prior to this time the tribes had each
resided in separate villages and had, in fact, been sufficiently numerous that
they felt much stronger fealty to their particular villa-e than to the overall
tribe to which they belonged.20 The villages were friendly and located in close
proximity for protection but they retained their distinctions. In the wake of
the smalldox epidemics, however, there were only enough people remaining from
all-three tribes to make up one village.
Like-A-Fishhook Village was built in 1845
by the survivors of the Mandans and Hidatsas.21 They were joined by the Arikaras
in 1862 - a result of the Sioux uprisings to the east. 22
These survivors were understandably
demoralized. Beset by enemy tribes on one side and the necessity of eking out a
living after their economy had been destroyed, there is little wonder that the
tribes accepted the dominance of the white culture willingly. Even a warlike
people could not be expected to resist after such a catastrophe.
The village was located just below Fort
Berthold on the Missouri. The fort, however, was a fur trading post, not a
military installation, and afforded little protection from enemy attacks, which
were frequent.
In December of 1862,, Fort Berthold and
most of the village were burned to the ground by the Sioux. 23 The Sioux
regularly commandeered shipments of supplies, ran off horses, pillaged
unharvested crops and set fire to the prairies to drive off wild game.24 By this
time, of course, much of the timber and game were exhausted anyway, and these
losses reduced the three tribes to a pitiable state.
The Sioux had been known to harass the
Village Indians for centuries, even on so-called friendly trading expeditions.
Why then were these raids intensified just when the three tribes were at their
lowest ebb?
One theory, advanced by Roy W. Meyer in
his book, "The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri", is that the Sioux were
furious with the three tribes’ willing submission to white authority. In their
convoluted way, they were understandably, only succeeded in driving the two
groups closer together. 25
There is a pattern discernable in the
events which followed the near decimation of the tribes. It is an inexorable
downward spiral beginning with the destruction of the economy. The tribes simply
lacked the manpower to carry on their trading activities at the level they had
previously maintained. In addition, fur trading posts were springing up all over
the West, largely eliminating the need for these middlemen. 26
The lack of this income, coupled with the
Sioux assaults which prevented hunting, created a greater dependence on
agriculture. Again, the reduced workforce - this time the women - was a factor.
But more important was a heavier reliance on the weather. Grasshoppers, hail and
drought produced hunger, which led to a poor resistance to both disease and
attack. 27
Begging became commonplace on Fort
Berthold and the Indians’ plight so apparent that even agents who had dispensed
moldy crackers and condemned salt pork as regular rations took pity on them and
organized a soup line. 28
The cycle continued even after the Sioux
were more or less confined to southern Dakota late in the ‘70's, because by then
the alternative of hunting when crops failed had been all but eliminated. If the
Great White Father was exasperated with the capricious behavior of the likes of
Geronimo and Crazy Horse, he should have been delighted with the total
dependence of the Fort Berthold Indians.
But if he was, he showed little evidence
of it. Rations continued to be late and inadequate, agents corrupt, and
recognition of the Indians' consistent record of cooperation nil.29
The destitution of the three tribes during
the decades of the ‘60's, ‘70's and ‘80's is best described in a letter from
Captain Clifford to Governor John Burbank of Dakota Territory written from Fort
Berthold in 1869. After declaring that the three tribes were the only friends
the whites had on the upper Missouri, he deplored the fact that they had been
"most outrageously abused, cheated and swindled in every
conceivable manner, starved, their women prostituted, insults and abuse heaped
upon them until they have sunk very low indeed. God help them, they have
little cause to be thankful for either the friendship or the teachings of the
white man. 30
A reservation had been roughed out for the
tribes by the first Treaty of Laramie in 1851, but the promised rations and an
agent to distribute them appeared only sporadically until 1868.31
In that year, when the reservation was
formally established, it had become apparent to the federal government that the
negotiators in Laramie had been far too generous, and the boundaries were
reduced considerably $32 a process which continued until the twelve million acre
reserve was only one-tenth its original size. 33
The final death knell to the three tribes'
traditional way of life came in the 1880's when they were induced to leave
Like-A-Fishhook Village, where they had miraculously maintained a semblance of
their former life for some forty years. 34 The most recent entry in the
never-ending parade of policy changes implemented by the Bureau of Indian
Affairs was allotment, or the division of tribally held lands into individual
acreages with the "surplus" sold to eager whites. 35
In their infinite wisdom, the BIA and the
U.S. Congress had decided that the way to solve the "Indian problem" was to turn
them into farmers. 36 Today the inherent foolishness of trying to persuade the
Plains nomads to break their Mother Earth is quite apparent. It seems
reasonable, however to assume that the agricultural Village Indians would adapt
to such a familiar lifestyle with ease.
Such was not the case.
Throughout their history the on the rich bottomlands. Each family had its own
plot of land but the plots were all adjoining, and were often worked severally.
37 The tribes were not accustomed to the concept of individual ownership, nor
did they desire to live on isolated plots of land away from family and friends.
What is more, the fields were
traditionally cultivated by the women. The new order called for the introduction
of heavy machinery and the assumption that the men would do the work. This
reversal of roles was a devastating blow to the traditional family structure. 38
Nevertheless, the members of the three
tribes were pressured into moving north and west to their allotted land and
Like-A-Fishhook Village was gradually abandoned. 39 Just to make sure, though,
each earth lodge was burned as its occupants departed. In 1891, Fort Berthold
too was relocated closer to the center of the new reservation, 40 and the last
vestiges of this former civilization disappeared.
Fort Berthold had long since ceased
operation as a fur trading post. The name was perpetuated first by the
Government agency (which administered the primary instrument of acculturation,
the schools) and then by the reservation itself. 41
The abandonment of Like-A-Fishhook
Village, although one step in the gradual disintegration of a people. It began
with the first smallpox epidemic way back in 1780, and it continued long after
the turn of the last century. But this final, irrevocable step ended the
centuries-old Village Indian lifestyle which had developed, flourished, and
declined like so many civilizations before it.
The ancient Greeks and Romans, the
Renaissance Italians, the Elizabethan Britons each represented the height of its
particular civilization. Each is ended, yet the twenty-first century world
population still includes Greeks, Italians, and Englishmen. And so it is with
the Village Tribes of the Upper Missouri.
The population of the three tribes, though
now mixed from frequent intermarriage, has actually grown in the past half
century. 42 Federal attempts to destroy the native culture and produce imitation
white men have been an admitted and universal failure. 43
Despite the Three Tribes' total
cooperation in the acculturation process, native customs, language and folklore
are still practiced on the reservation.44 The strong, sense of community has
survived not only the forced evacuation of Like-A-Fishhook Village, but the more
recent displacement caused by the building of the Garrison Dam in 1954, which
flooded 150,000 acres of the best bottomland on the reservation where 90% of the
population then lived. 45 "Hard Luck Tribes" does indeed seem to be an apt
description. But it may be too soon to declare that the tribes have proved that
nice guys really do finish last.
The tribal members residing at Fort
Berthold today are sitting on vast quantities of the most sought-after commodity
in the free world - energy. Within its borders Fort Berthold contains uranium,
coal, natural gas, oil, and water resources 46 - largely undeveloped and their
true potential unknown. Also present are the promising possibilities of solar,
thermal. and wind power development. 47 The labor force, as on most Indian
reservations, constitutes an additional untapped resource.
This incredible storehouse makes the Fort
Berthold reservation potentially the richest in the country, yet its poverty
level, rate of unemployment and rate of alcoholism are comparable to those on
the Pine Ridge Reservation, which is virtually devoid of natural and economic
resources. 48
The cause for this discrepancy lies in the
people themselves. Their long and profitable association with white fur traders
was the beginning not only of a dependency on the white man, but a trust which
was, regrettably, rarely justified. Their weakened condition after the epidemics
merely reinforced a tendency already established.
The early reservation period produced a
dependence approaching slavery, thus cementing the subordinate relationship.
Calls for self-sufficiency and self-control by modern-day tribal leaders are
often accepted intellectually, but the Big Brother/Little Brother relationship
is too deeply ingrained to be overcome without heart-wrenching trauma.
The twentieth century economic pattern was
the leasing of lands and mineral exploration rights not only to whites, but to
large, multi-national corporations. This practice insured that the people
realized no profit from their own resources, and also risked the further
destruction of their land base and environment.49 A more logical continuation of
the tribes' history would be hard to imagine.
It is sad that the more warlike Plains
tribes, and especially the Three Tribes' most dreaded enemy, the Sioux, have
maintained their fierce pride and self-respect throughout a most disgraceful
period of Native American history, while the cooperative and friendly Village
Indians have suffered a tragic erosion of their self-esteem. 50 But like all of
us, they are influenced by their past, and their history has prepared them only
for a passive role in the events which affect them. For two hundred years the
Three Tribes have been mere bystanders in their own history, unable because of
their accommodating nature, to regain control of their destiny.
Today the tribes are grappling with a long
list of alternatives concerning the utilization of their resources which are
designed to break this cycle of dependence and subjugation.51
An analogy could be drawn here between
these tribes and the newly freed slaves of 1865. Each group was ill-equipped to
cope with its new opportunities and responsibilities. Given the circumstances,
mistakes and setbacks were inevitable. Yet the example of the earlier group can
only bring encouragement to one whose circumstances are alarmingly similar over
one hundred years later. Let us hope that the economic and emotional
enfranchisement of the Hard Luck Tribes will be achieved on a much more
abbreviated timetable.
ENDNOTES
1. Knife River Indian Villages Master
Plan,(National Park Service, 1978) p. 10. Roy W. Meyer. The Village Indians
of the Upper Missouri (Universitv of Nebraska Press, 1977. p. 262.
2. Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 154.
3.Gilbert L. Wilson, "Waheenee, An
Indian Girl's Story" in North Dakota History, Vol. 38, Winter-Spring 1971
(1921). P. 1.
4.Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 70.
5.Ibid., p. 65 & 63
Stanley A. Ahler, A Research Plan for Investigation of the Archeological
Resources of the 'Knife River Indian Villages National Hisforic Site; 1978.
p. 11.
6.Ahler, Research Plan, p. 4 & 11
Raymond W. Wood, Historic Resources of the Knife River Indian Villages
National Historic Site. 1977 . p . 3
7. Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 7. p 9- 11.
Wilson, "Waheenee, An Indian Girl's Story" p.3.
8.George Catlin. Letters and Notes on
the Manners, Customs and Conditions of North American Indians, Vol. I. (New
York: Dover Publications, 1844 & 1973) pp. 126 & 141.
9. Ibid., p. 189.
Wilson, "Waheenee, An Indian Girl's Story" p. 16.
10. Meyer, The Village Indians of.the
Upper Missouri, p. 9.
11.Ibid., pp. 6, 8-9.
Ahler, Research Plan, pp. 12-15.
12.Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 14
13.Ibid.1 p. 43.
Ahler, Research Plan, p. 3.
Knife River Indian Viliages Master Plan, p. 13.
14. Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, P. 101.
15.Ibid., pp. 37 & 88.
16. Ibid., p. 42.
17.Ibid., pp. 42, 119-120.
18. Ibid. , 1). 16
Donald J . Lehmer & Raymond Wood & C.L Dill . The Knife River Phase, 1978. pp.
4-5.
19. Gilbert L. Wilson, Agriculture of
the Hidatsa Indians. (Minneapolis: Reprints in Anthropology, 1917 & 1977) p.
1.
Meyer, The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri, p. 34.
20. Ahler, Research Plan, P. 11.
Wood, Historic Resources, P: 4-5.
Meyer, The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri, p. 70.
21.Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 83.
Ahler, Research Plan, p. 15.
Wilson, Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians, P. 1.
22. Wilson, Agriculture of the Hidatsa
Indians, p. v.
23.Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 119.
24. Ibid., P. 119.
25. Ibid., p. 120.
26. Ibid. p. 85.
27. Ibid., pp. 107-108.
28. Ibid., p. 118.
29.Ibid., p. 120.
Joseph P. Cash and Gerald W. Wolff. The Three
Affiliated Tribes (Phoenix: Indian Tribal Series. 1974) p. 55.
30. Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper.Missouri, p. 120
31. Ibid., p. 102.
32.Ibid., p. 111-112.
Cash and Wolff. The Three Affiliated Tribes, pp. 56-57.
33. Carl Whitman, Jr. Overall Economic
Development Program for Fort Berthold Reservation. 1976. p. 15.
34.Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 135.
35.Ibid., p. 138.
36. Ibid., p. 136.
Cash and Wolff. The Three Affiliated Tribes. P. 64.
37.Gilbert L. Wilson, Agriculture of
the Hidatsa Indians, p. 10.
38.Ibid., P. 119.
Cash and Wolff. The Three Affiliated Tribes, p. 61.
39.Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 135.
Cash and Wolff. The Three Affiliated Tribes, p. 66.
40. Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 149.
41.Ibid., p. 142.
Cash and Wolff. The Three Affiliated Tribes, P. 71.
42. Whitman, Overall Economic
Development Program, p. 21.
43.Cash and Wolff. The Three Affiliated
Tribes, p. 63.
44. Meyer, The Village Indians of the
Upper Missouri, p. 265.
45.Cash and Wolff, The Three Affiliated
Tribes, pp. 82-83.
46. Whitman. Overall Economic
Development Program, p. 55.
47.Ibid., p. 99.
48. Ibid., P. 22.
Jeanne Smith, Survey of Jobs and Job Opportunities, (Pine Ridge
Reservation,
1978). P. 13.
49. Whitman, Overall Economic
Development Program, pp. 25-30.
50. Milt Lee, personal observations from
interviews conducted on Fort Berthold Reservation from August-December, 1980.
Communications consultant and multi- image producer.
51. Whitman, Overall Economic
Development Program, pp. 47-69.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ahler, Stanley A. A Research Plan for Investigation
of the Archeological Resources of the Knife River Indian Villages National
Historic Site, 1978.
Cash, Joseph 11. and Gerald W. Wolff. The Three
AffiliatedTribes. Indian Tribal Series, Phoenix. 1974.
Catlin, George. Letters and Notes on the Manners,
Customs and Conditions of North American Indians, Vol. I. Dover
Publications, New York. 1844 & 1975.
Knife River Indian Villages Master Plan,,
National Park 1978 .
Lehmer, Donald J. & W. Raymond Wood & C.L. Dill. The
Knife River Phase. 1978.
Lowie, Rovert Harry. Notes on the social
organization and customs of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Crow Indians.
Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, American
Museum Press, New York. 1917.
Meyer, Roy W. The Village Indians of the Upper
Missouri. University of Nebraska Press, 1977.
Smith, Jeanne. Survey of Jobs and Job Opportunities.
Pine Ridge Reservation, 1978.
Whitman, Carl Jr. Overall Economic Development
Program for Fort Berthold Reservation. 1976.
Wilson, Gilbert L. Agriculture of the Hidatsa
Indians. Reprints in Anthropology, Minneapolis, 1917 & 1977.
Wilson, Gilbert L. "Waheenee, An Indian Girl's Story"
in
North Dakota History, Vol. 38, Winter-Spring
1971 (1921)
Wilson, Gilbert L. The Hidatsa Earthlodge.
Reprints in Anthropology, Lincoln, NE. 1934 & 1978.
Wood, W. Raymond. Historic Resources of the Knife
River Indian Villages National Historic Site, 1977.
Wood, W. Raymond. Notes
on the historical Cartography of the Upper Knife-Heart Region, np, 1978.
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