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In their northward movement they
encountered members of the
Sioux
making their way westward. Wars ensued, with intervals of peace and
even of alliance between the tribes. When the white race reached the
Missouri
River they found the region inhabited by
Siouan
tribes, who said the old village sites had once been occupied by the
Arikara.
In 1770 French
traders established relations with the Arikara,
below Cheyenne River, on the
Missouri.
Lewis and
Clark met the tribe 35 years later, reduced in numbers and
living in three villages between Grand and Cannonball Rivers,
South
Dakota .
By 1851 they had moved up to the vicinity of Heart River. The steady
westward pressure of the colonists, together with their policy of
fomenting intertribal wars, caused the continual displacement of many
native communities, a condition that bore heavily on the semi
sedentary tribes, like the
Arikara,
who lived in villages and cultivated the soil. Almost continuous
warfare with aggressive tribes, together with the ravages of smallpox
during the latter half of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th
centuries, nearly exterminated some of their villages. The weakened
survivors consolidated to form new, necessarily composite villages, so
that much of their ancient 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
Mandan
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, killing 13 men and wounding
others. This led to a conflict with the United States, referred to as
the
Arikara War, but peace was finally concluded. In consequence of
these troubles and the failure of crops for two successive years the
tribe abandoned their villages on the
Missouri
River and joined the Skidi on the Loup River in
Nebraska,
where they remained two years.
However, the animosity which the Arikara
displayed toward the white race made them dangerous and unwelcome
neighbors, so that they were requested to go back to the
Missouri
River. Under their first treaty, in 1825, they acknowledged the
supremacy of the National Government over the land and the people,
agreed to trade only with American citizens, whose life and property
they were pledged to protect, and to refer all difficulties for final
settlement to the United States.
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Arikara maiden at the water's edge, 1908,
photo
by Edward S. Curtis.
This image available for
photographic prints and
downloads
HERE!
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After the close of the
Mexican War a commission was sent by the Government to define the
territories claimed by the tribes living north of Mexico, between the
Missouri
River and the Rocky Mountains. 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 west of the
Missouri
River, from Heart River in
North Dakota
to the Yellowstone, and up the latter to the mouth of the Powder River in
Montana;
thence southeast to the headwaters of the Little
Missouri
in Wyoming, and skirting the
Black Hills
to the head of Heart River and down that stream to 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; which included a trading post, established in
1845, and named for Bartholomew Berthold, an Austrian founder of the
American Fur Company.
The
Arikara,
Mandan, and
Hidatsa
together share this land, and are frequently spoken of, from the name of
their reservation, as Fort Berthold
Indians.
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In accordance with the
act of February 8, 1887, the Arikara
received allotments of land in severalty, and, on approval of the
allotments by the Secretary of the Interior on July 10, 1900, they became
citizens of the United States and subject to the laws of
North Dakota.
An industrial boarding
school and three day schools were maintained by the Government on the Ft
Berthold reservation. A mission boarding school and a church were
supported by the Congregational Board of Missions. In 1804
Lewis and
Clark gave the population of the Arikara as
2,600, of whom more than 600 were warriors. In 1871 the tribe numbered
1,650; by 1888 they were reduced to 500, and the census of 1904 gave the
population as 380.
As far back as their
traditions go the Arikara have
cultivated the soil, depending for their staple food supply on crops of
corn, beans, squashes, and pumpkins. In the sign language the Arikara are
designated as "corn eaters," the movement of the band simulating the act
of gnawing the kernels of corn from the cob. They preserved the seed of a
peculiar kind of small eared corn, said to be very nutritious and much
liked. It is also said that the seed corn was kept tied in a skin and hung
up in the lodge near the fireplace, and when the time for planting carne
only those kernels showing signs of germination were used. The Arikara
bartered corn with the
Cheyenne
and other tribes for
buffalo
robes, skins, and meat, and exchanged these with the traders for cloth,
cooking utensils, guns, etc. Early dealings with the traders were carried
on by the women. The Arikara
hunted the
buffalo in winter, returning to their village in the early spring,
where they spent the time before planting in dressing the pelts. Their
fish supply was obtained by means of basket traps. They were expert
swimmers, and ventured to capture
buffaloes
that were disabled in the water as the herd was crossing the river. Their
wood supply was obtained from the river; when the ice broke up in the
spring the
Indians
leaped on the cakes, attached cords to the trees that were whirling down
the rapid current, and hauled them ashore. Men, women, and the older
children engaged in this exciting work, and although they sometimes fell
and were swept downstream, their dexterity and courage generally prevented
serious accident.
Their boats were made of
a single
buffalo skin stretched, hair side in, over a frame of willows bent
round like a basket and tied to a hoop 3 or 4 feet in diameter. The boat
could easily be transported by a woman and would carry three men across
the
Missouri
River with tolerable safety. Before the coming of traders the Arikara made
their cooking utensils of pottery; mortars for pounding corn were made
with much labor from stone; hoes were fashioned from the shoulder-blades
of the
buffalo and the elk; spoons were shaped from the horns of the
buffalo
and the mountain sheep; brooms and brushes were made of stiff, coarse
grass; knives were chipped from flint, and spears and arrowheads from horn
and flint; for splitting wood, wedges of horn were used. Whistles were
constructed to imitate the bleat of the antelope or the call of the elk,
and served as decoys; popguns and other toys were contrived for the
children and flageolets for the amusement of young men. Garments were
embroidered with dyed porcupine quills; tooth shells from the pacific were
prized as ornaments. Also noteworthy was the skill of the
AArikara in
melting glass and pouring it into molds to form high colored beads used
for trade. Their basket weaving has been identified with one practiced by
former tribes in Louisiana and probably survived from their ancestors who
migrated from the far southwest.
The Arikara were
equally tenacious of their language, even though they were next-door
neighbors to the
Sioux tribes for more than a century, living on terms of intimacy and
intermarrying to a great extent. At the turn of the century, almost every
member of each tribe understood the language of the other tribes, yet
spoke his own most fluently. At this time they also adhered to their
ancient form of dwellings, erecting, at the cost of great labor, earth
lodges that were generally grouped about an open space in the center of
the village, often quite close together, and usually occupied by two or
three families. Each village generally contained a lodge of unusual size,
in which ceremonies, dances, and other festivities took place. The
religious ceremonies, in which the individuals subscribed or village had
its special part, bound the people together by common beliefs, traditions,
teachings, and supplications that centered on the desire for long life,
food, and safety.
In 1835 Prince Maximilian
of Wied, the German explorer and naturalist, noticed that the hunters did
not load on their horses the meat obtained by the chase, but carried it on
their heads and backs, often so transporting it from a great distance. The
man who could carry the heaviest burden sometimes gave his meat to the
poor, in deference to their traditional teaching that "the Lord of life
told the Arikara
that if they gave to the poor in this manner, and laid burdens on
themselves, they would be successful in all their undertakings."
In the series of rites,
which began in the early spring when the thunder first sounded, corn held
a prominent place. The ear was used as an emblem and was addressed as
"Mother." Some of these ceremonial ears of corn had been preserved for
generations and were treasured with reverent care. Offerings were made,
rituals sung, and feasts held when the ceremonies took place. Rites were
observed when the maize was planted, at certain stages of its growth, and
when it was harvested. Ceremonially associated with maize were other
sacred objects, which were kept in a special case or shrine. Among these
were the skins of certain birds of significance and seven gourd rattles
that marked the movements of the seasons.
Elaborate rituals and
ceremonies attended the opening of this shrine and the exhibition of its
contents, which were symbolic of the forces that make and keep all things
alive and fruitful. Aside from these ceremonies there were other quasi
religious gatherings in which feats of jugglery were performed, for the
Arikara,
like their kindred the
Pawnee, were
noted for their slight of hand skills.
The dead were placed in a
sitting posture, wrapped in skins, and buried in mound graves. The
property, except such personal belongings as were interred with the body,
was distributed among the kindred, the family tracing descent through the
mother.
The Arikara were
a loosely organized confederacy of sub-tribes, each of which had its
separate village and distinctive name, few of which have been preserved.
The following names were noted during the middle of the 19th
century:
Hachepiriinu (Young
Dogs)
Hia (Band of Cree),
Hosukhaunu (Foolish Dogs),
Hosukhaunukare rihn (Little Foolish Dogs'),
Sukhutit (Black Mouths)
Kaka (Band of Crows)
Okos (Band of Bulls)
Paushuk (Band of Cut-throats')
Today, the Arikara are
a part of the
Mandan
Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, located in New Town,
North Dakota
.
Contact Information:
MHA
Nation
404 Frontage Road
New Town,
North Dakota
58763
701-627-4781
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