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For centuries the Upper Valley was a lifeline winding patterns. Intermarriage and trade helped cement relations. and through a harsh land, drawing Northern to Its wooded eventually the two cultures became almost Indistinguishable. With banks and rich soli. Earthlodge people, like the nomadic tribes, the Arlkaras to the south, they formed an economic force that hunted bison and other game but were essentially a farming people dominated the region. living In villages along the Missouri and Its tributaries. At the time of their contact with Europeans, these communities were the culmina­ After contact with Europeans in the early 18th century, the villages tion of 700 years of settlement In the area. Traditional oral histories began to draw a growing number of traders. Tragically. the prosper­ link the ancestors of the Mandan and Hldatsa tribes living on the Ity that followed was accompanied by an enemy the Indians could Knife River with tribal groups east of the Missouri River. Migrating not fight: European disease. When smallpox ravaged the tribes in for several hundred years along waterways, they eventually settled 1781, the Mandans fled upriver, nearer Hldatsa Village. The people along the Upper Missouri. One Mandan story tells of the group's from Awatlxa Xi'e abandoned their village, returning to the area In creation along the river. Coming Into conflict with other tribes, the 1796 to build Awatixa Village (Sakakawea Site). The weakened Mandans moved northward to the Heart River and adopted an tribes were now easier targets for raiders, who burned architecture characterized by round earthlodges. Awatlxa village in 1834. After another epidemic In 1837 almost destroyed the Mandans, the villages broke up. Their movements for The Hidatsas were originally divided Into three distinct sub-tribes. the next few years are obscure. In 1845. the Mandans and Hldatsas The Awatlxa were created on the Missouri River, according to their founded Like-A-Flshhook village upriver, where they were Joined In traditions. Awaxawi and Hldatsa-Proper stories place them along 1862 by the Arikaras. The tribes were forced in 1885 to abandon streams to the east. The Hldatsas moved farther north to the mouth their village and make their final move onto the Fort Berthold of the Knife, settling Awatlxa Xl'e Village (Lower Hldatsa Site) Reservation. Today the tribes, now called the Three Affiliated around 1525 and Hldatsa Village (Big Hldatsa Site) around 1600. Tribes, continue to practice their traditional ways. They were never as sedentary as the Mandans, but did borrow from them, learning com horticulture and adopting some of their pottery All art by Karl Bodmer courtesy Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha Western Contact When trader Pierre de when explorer David horses, weapons, cloth. la Verendrye walked Thompson reached the and iron pots. Diseases into a Mandan village in area in 1797. but the brought by Europeans 1738. he found a Native pace of change Quick­ and overhunting of the American society at the ened after Lewis and bison further weakened height of its prosperity. Clark visited the tribes the failing cultures. The first recorded Euro­ in 1804. Explorers like Finally, the Federal Gov­ pean to see the Indians Prince Maximilian of ernment moved them to of the upper Missouri. Wied and artists like individually owned res­ his arrival was the start Karl Bodmer and ervation plots and told of a relentless process George Catlin drew them to grow wheat. that within 100 years sharp portraits of a soci­ Their societies and ritu­ transformed a culture. ety in transition. An als were banned. In one At first the three tribes influx of fur traders set generation. the three remained relatively iso­ up new trade patterns tribes were forced into lated. although there that undermined the radical changes that were increasing con­ tribes' traditional posi­ eroded their ancient tacts with French. Span­ tion as middlemen. Vil­ relationship with the ish. English, and Amer­ lage people grew more land and ended a way ican traders. Their cul­ dependent on such of life. ture was still healthy European goods as

Top: Artist Karl Bodmer Above: Pehriska­ portrayed Prince Max­ Ruhpa, leader of the imilian (green jacket) Hidatsa Dog Society, and himself (far right) was portrayed by meeting Hidatsa Indians. Bodmer in the society's Steamboats following in regalia. Sah-ko-ka, the the wake of explorers Mandan girl painted by helped carry the small­ Catlin, was known for pox that devastated the her beauty. Knife River villages. Painting by William Cary.

About Your VIsit lived here. Research at Knife River Indian Vil­ Knife River and nearby lages National Historic sites documents 11,000 Site is administered by years of human activity. the National Park Ser­ The earliest known peo­ vice. U.S. Department ple in the region during ofthe Interior. The area the Paleo-Indian period is located 60 miles (10.6Q0-6000 Be) were north of Bismarck. ND, nomads who hunted and can be reached via now-extinct large game. U.S. 83 and Hwy. 2ooA. Archaic (6,000 BC-AD1) A visitor center, exhibits. people, also nomadic. and history and nature lived by hunting and trails are available. For gathering. The earliest more information. write artifacts found at Knife the Superintendent. Earthlodge depressions at Awatixa village site. River date from this RR#l. Box 168. Stanton. period. Signs of ND58571. Reading the Past pottery shards. and semisedentary living The story of Knife River 8,400 stone tools. Dr. and rUdimentary agri­ Make your visit a safe is still being written. Ahler now believes that culture occur in the Awatlxa Village (Sakakawea Sl!.>i one. Watch your step Long-held theories the Hidatsa arrived in when using trails and have been revised by the area earlier (around (1000 BC-AD 1(00). Awatlxa Xl'e be careful along the recent archeological 1300) than had been Permanent earthlodge Village river banks. research. From 1976 to thought. Evidence from villages and a horticul­ (Lower Hldalsa Sft. 1983. Dr. Stanley Ahler some 50 sites consti­ tural economy charac­ 1~11'''' :E:, lei Help u. preserve thl. of the University of tutes an unbroken rec­ terize the Plains Village unique r_rd of North Dakota directed ord of 500 years of Period (AD 1000(1885). cultur.1 development excavations in the park. human inhabitation. of which the Knife River by le.vlng .rtIf-u Piecing together the Even this period repre­ sites represent the final o Km 0.5 .nd .Ite rem.ln. story from the remains sents a fraction of the and most sophisticated ~ OMi 0.5 undisturbed. of earthlodges, 150,000 time that humans have phase.

GPO 1989-2"2-M5/00057 The Village Economy ~~~~~,,~ ~~ Agriculture was the eco­ the meager rainfall and wasThe thebison basic scapula gardening hoe major trade routes, they nomic foundation of the short growing season. tool. became middlemen, Knife River people, who Summer's first corn was dealing in goods from a harvested much of their celebrated in the Green vast network: obsidian food from rich flood­ Corn ceremony (right), from , copper plain gardens. The land Berries, roots, and fish from the Great Lakes, was controlled by supplemented their shells from the Gulf of women-the size of a diet. Upland hunting Mexico and the Pacific family's plot was deter­ provided buffalo meat, Northwest, and, after mined by the number of hides, bones, and sinew. the 17th century, guns, women who could work horses, and metal items. it-and passed through These proficient farmers High quality flint quar­ the female line. They traded their surplus pro­ ried locally found its raised squash, pumpkin, duce to nomadic tribes way to tribes over a beans, sunflowers, and, for buffalo hides, deer large part of the conti­ most importantly, tough, skins, dried meat, and nent through this trade quick-maturing varieties other items in short sup­ system. of corn that thrived in ply. At the junction of National Museum of American Art I III '11111lt/ INII'jJlilltlJll.,(! -I- AdN Mandan trade proposal offers 30 beaver skins and a rifle for buffalo, weasel, and otter skins. The Battle and the Hunt :( q In this warrior culture, selves. Hunting parties ruinous to a reputation did not spur every ac­ raiding and hunting were planned in much if not. The primary tion: The warriors often were the chief occupa­ the same fashion, with weapon was the bow had to defend the vil­ tions of the men. When a respected hunter and arrow, along with lage against raids by conflict was imminent, choosing participants clubs, tomahawks, lan­ other tribes. When the a war chief assumed and planning the event. ces, shields, and knives. men prevailed in battle leadership of the Prowess in battle and Even more prestigious or hunt, the women village. Tangible re­ hunt led to status in the than wounding or killing wou!d celebrate with sults-horses and loot­ village, both individually an enemy was "count­ dance and song often came from the and for the societies ing coup"-touching'him throughout the village. raids, which were really and clans. Ambitious in battle. But ambition stages on which war­ young men would risk riors could prove them- leading a party-highly rewarding if successful,

. ''''f ..f Bodmer's portrait of Mato-Tope, a Mandan I'--"~ warrior and chief, shows "~ \\ the insignia ofhis battle experience. The ,.,..1-, notched, tufted, split, and painted feathers in­ ,"" \ dicate respectively: cut­ ting the foe's throat and taking his scalp; first coup; arrow injury; kill­ ing the foe. Wooden /, sticks represent gun­ piS buffalo robe was shot wounds. Wooden J,,,,,.!~ato-ToP~inted by Mandan chief knife symbolizes knife ~~""lJfl;~ to. celebrate he wrested from a Chey­ explOIts In battle. enne. (See robe at The most famous deed right.) Painted hand was the slaying of a shows that he has cap­ Cheyenne in hand-to­ tured prisoners. hand combat (lower left scene). Karl Bodmer.

Spirit and Ritual Spirits guided the he reported to his sacred objects associ­ events of the material elders determined his ated with tribal mythol­ The four-day Okipa cer­ world, and from an early role within the tribe. If ogy. With bundle owner­ emony re-enacted the age, tribal members directed by his vision, ship came responsibility Mandan creation story. (usually male) sought he would as a young for knowledge of the Society was revitalized, their help. Fasting in a man make a greater songs, stories. prayers, and young men endur­ sacred place, a boy sacrifice to the spirits, and rituals necessary ing the ordeal might re­ hoped to be visited by spilling his blood in the for spiritual communica­ ceive visions. George a spirit, often in animal Okipa ceremony (be­ tion. Certain bundle Catlin. form, who would give low). The Okipa was the owners were looked him "power" and guide most important of a upon as respected lead­ him through life. The number of ceremonies ers of the tribe. nature of the vision that performed by Mandan clans and age-grade societies to ensure The ceremonial pipe, or good crops, successful calumet, was smoked in hunts, and victory in friendship as well as for battle. Ceremonies spiritual rites. could be conducted only by those with "medicine," which was obtained by pur­ chasing from a fellow clan or society member one of the bundles of Mandan community before extensive contact with Europeans. Painting by H, Tom Hall, courtesy of the National Geographic Society

The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes shared a reached the proper age. Besides serving as warrior culture superbly adapted to the conditions of the bands, each group was responsible for a social upper Missouri valley. Their summer villages, function: policing the village, scouting, or planning located on natural terraces above the river, were the hunt. Most importantly, the societies were a ordered communities as large as 120 lodges. These means of social control, selling standards of behav­ spacious structures (right, above) sheltered families ior and transmilling tribal lore and custom. of 10 to 30 people from the region's extreme tem­ peratures. The villages were strategically located The roles of the sexes were strictly defined. Men for defense, often on a narrow bluff with water on spent their time seeking spiritual knowledge or two sides and a palisade on the third. In winter the hunting and horse raiding, difficult and dangerous inhabitants moved into smaller lodges along the but relatively infrequent undertakings. Women per­ bollomlands, where trees provided firewood and formed virtually all of the regular work: gardening, protection from the cold wind (right, below). preparing food, maintaining the lodges, and, until the tribes obtained horses, carrying burdens. The In this society, men lived in the household of their lives of these people were not totally devoted to wives, bringing only their clothes, horses, and weap­ subsistence, however. They made time for play, such ons. Women built, owned, and maintained the as the hoop and spear game shown at right. Hon­ lodges and owned the gardens, gardening tools, ored storytellers passed on oraltradilions and moral food, dogs, and colts. Related lodge families made lessons, focusing on traditional tribal values of up clans, whose members were forbidden to marry respect, humility, and strength. The open area in inside the group. Culling across village boundaries, the center of each Mandan village was often given a clan expected its members to help and guide each over to dancing and ritual, which bonded the mem­ other. Clans were competitive, especially regarding bers of the tribe and reaffirmed their place in the success in war, but it was the age-grade societies, world. transcending village and clan, that were looked to for personal prestige. Young men purchased mem­ bership in the lowest society at12 or 13, progress­ ing to higher and more expensive levels as they Top: Inside a Mandan earthlodge. Bottom: A Hidatsa winter village. Karl Bodmer.