DOCSLIB.ORG

The Pageant of Paha Sapa an Origin Myth of White Settlement in the American West

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Pageant of Paha Sapa an Origin Myth of White Settlement in the American West University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for Winter 2008 The Pageant of Paha Sapa An Origin Myth of White Settlement In The American West Linea Sundstrom University of Oklahoma Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Sundstrom, Linea, "The Pageant of Paha Sapa An Origin Myth of White Settlement In The American West" (2008). Great Plains Quarterly. 1400. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/1400 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. THE PAGEANT OF PAHA SAPA AN ORIGIN MYTH OF WHITE SETTLEMENT IN THE AMERICAN WEST LINEA SUNDSTROM As a literary work initiated and directed by a wheels into a respectable modern community. committee of women, The Pageant of Paha Sapa This theme of social evolution was typical of the captures the zeitgeist of the postArontier era larger pageant movement; however, unlike the through the eyes of the influential women of eastern towns, Custer, South Dakota, could not one small town. Like all origin myths, this script draw on its past for moral authority. The town presented the current populace as the rightful began as a mining camp, with the rootlessness heirs of the place and its resources, having won and disorder of any western gold rush town, them through persistence, struggle, and divinely compounded by conflicts with Indians trying ordained destiny. The pageant's message was to drive the white trespassers from their reser­ that "civilizing" influences had transformed vation lands. History as expressed in Custer's the former Indian paradise and frontier hell-on- pageant leaped from primitive perfection to historic chaos to a modern, orderly community. Modifications to the script and performance Key Words: Black Hills, gender, Indian-white over the years imply points of tension between relations, Lakota, Progressive Movement, South Dakota the local women's early post-frontier origin myth and new views of frontier history at mid­ Linea Sundstrom is a consultant specializing in the twentieth century. archaeology and ethnohistory of the northern Great Plains. She wrote Storied Stone: Rock Art of the RURAL REFORMS OF THE PROGRESSIVE ERA Black Hills Country (University of Oklahoma Press, 2004), Rock Art of the Southern Black Hills: A Contextual Approach (Garland Publishing, 1990), The postsettlement years in the western Culture History of the Black Hills (] &L Publishing, United States were a time for towns to reflect 1989), and numerous articles on regional archaeology. on their short and often checkered histories. She received her Ph.D. with honors from the University With the challenges of frontier life behind of Kansas. them, townspeople sought legitimacy through stories of their founders. During the first [GPQ 28 (Winter 2008): 3-26] decades of the twentieth century, townspeople 3 4 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, WINTER 2008 performed these stories, mythic or real, in color­ In The Country-Life Movement, L. H. Bailey ful historical pageants. In performing and proposed that a sense of community could be witnessing the historical dramas, cast and audi­ cultivated through sports leagues, songfests at ence internalized their local story and awoke to the local schoolhouses, and performance of their town's role in the march of progress. historical pageants.6 Bailey and other progres­ During the rise of the Progressive Era at sives promoted such programs to inculcate the turn of the twentieth century, politicians community spirit in excessively independent and activists from a wide range of political, westerners, whom they perceived as lacking educational, economic, and geographic back­ social cohesion.? grounds embraced the idea that government could institute social reforms that would pro­ THE PAGEANT MOVEMENT mote equality, social harmony, and morality. Along with a concern for the rights of workers, Production and performance of historical children, and women, progressives sought to pageants proved to be a popular aspect of the improve the lives of individuals of all classes progressive movement in the West. Proponents through outdoor recreation, communal activi­ anticipated several benefits of local historical ties, and exposure to the fine arts. Among the pageants: wholesome activity for children and tangible results of this movement were public adults, a sense of community pride and cooper­ parks and playgrounds, public murals, settle­ ation, opportunities for leadership and social­ ment houses, and youth organizations.! izing, and increased tourism and settlement.8 Progressives worried that American soci­ Proponents envisioned the pageants as wholly ety was disintegrating in the cities and rural homegrown enterprises; even if the town areas alike. In 1909, President Roosevelt's pageant committee rented some costumes or Commission on Country Life reported to the commissioned a professional writer or historian U.S. Senate on the status of rural society in to create a script, the pageant was to be "an America. According to their report, rural soci­ expression of the life of a community portrayed ety was failing. In the East, this was attributed by members of that community.,,9 Pageant to rural people moving to the cities and to the organizers should invite every local resident dehumanizing effects of industrialism,2 but in to participate, although, as will be seen, they the West it was blamed largely on the self-reli­ did not always follow this rule.!o An implicit ant attitude of the homesteaders. "Self-reli­ but important purpose was to create and dra­ ance being the essence of [the homesteader's] matize origin stories for the young towns-in nature, he does not at once feel the need of the words of one pageant promoter, "to make cooperation for business purposes or of close [local] history live in the minds and hearts" of association for social objects."3 In the words of community members.l1 Like all origin stories, historian Jonathan Raban, "the fear was that these served to legitimate the presence of the the plains were filling up with self-reliant mis­ current population by mythologizing its real or anthropes, undereducated, irreligious, lacking imagined history. Pageants were to entertain, in all the developed social impulses that are educate, and inspire by presenting the ideals of required for a functioning democracy."4 One the past in a colorful, active form easily grasped advocate of social reform attributed the "crusty by children and immigrants.12 Pageants should individuality" of the westerners to the need lead to personal and social improvement. The to wrest "something savage" from the land by town pageant should be a "lighted torch of individual struggle to temper it for civilization.s inspiration for nobler living."13 Pageants also On the heels of the 1909 report, government sought to counter the backwardness and isola­ agencies, churches, and social reformers pro­ tion of rural communities by embedding their posed a series of programs to socialize and edu­ stories within the larger national history and cate rural people toward community cohesion. geography.14 THE PAGEANT OF PAHA SAPA 5 The American pageant movement (some The need to mediate conflicting ideals would say mania) reached an apex in the of communalism and individuality, reckless years immediately preceding World War I, but adventure and community-building, the excit­ persisted until midcentury in many places, ing past and the peaceful but comparatively particularly in the South and West.l5 In the dull present, and Wild West myth and classi­ years after World War I, women's clubs staged cal moral allegory produced a unique kind of pageants to raise funds for community cen­ historical pageant-one that blended .social ters.l6 In the West, the postwar pageants also reform with raucous entertainment and turned attracted tourists seeking a taste of frontier community endeavor toward glorification of history. The pageant movement would become a violent and selfish past. In attempting to a lens into the anxieties and hopes of a new reconcile these discordant ideas, the western American century, originating at the intersec­ pageant used the symbols of womanhood and tion of American progressivism, British anti­ Indianness-in contrast to the white male modernism as expressed in the Arts and Crafts world-to symbolize extremes of virtue and movement, nostalgia for classical ideals, the vice that bore little relation to historical fact. installation of allegorical murals and sculpture In this, the western pageant followed a tenet in public spaces, the expressive dance move­ of the larger pageant movement: "the pageant ment of Isadora Duncan, and popular realiza­ will lose its best lessons if we depend upon facts tion that the American frontier was closedJ7 alone for our material."23 In the western boomtowns, pageants had to negotiate an uncertain bridge between the ThE PAGEANT OF PAHA SAPA moralistic, community-building theme of the eastern pageants and the realities of a chaotic One such program, the Pageant of Paha Sapa, and often immoral early history.l8 Scriptwriters formed an important part of community life could not simply imagine a more orderly his­ in Custer, South Dakota,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Teacher’S Guide Teacher’S Guide Little Bighorn National Monument
    LITTLE BIGHORN NATIONAL MONUMENT TEACHER’S GUIDE TEACHER’S GUIDE LITTLE BIGHORN NATIONAL MONUMENT INTRODUCTION The purpose of this Teacher’s Guide is to provide teachers grades K-12 information and activities concerning Plains Indian Life-ways, the events surrounding the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the Personalities involved and the Impact of the Battle. The information provided can be modified to fit most ages. Unit One: PERSONALITIES Unit Two: PLAINS INDIAN LIFE-WAYS Unit Three: CLASH OF CULTURES Unit Four: THE CAMPAIGN OF 1876 Unit Five: BATTLE OF THE LITTLE BIGHORN Unit Six: IMPACT OF THE BATTLE In 1879 the land where The Battle of the Little Bighorn occurred was designated Custer Battlefield National Cemetery in order to protect the bodies of the men buried on the field of battle. With this designation, the land fell under the control of the United States War Department. It would remain under their control until 1940, when the land was turned over to the National Park Service. Custer Battlefield National Monument was established by Congress in 1946. The name was changed to Little Bighorn National Monument in 1991. This area was once the homeland of the Crow Indians who by the 1870s had been displaced by the Lakota and Cheyenne. The park consists of 765 acres on the east boundary of the Little Bighorn River: the larger north- ern section is known as Custer Battlefield, the smaller Reno-Benteen Battlefield is located on the bluffs over-looking the river five miles to the south. The park lies within the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana, one mile east of I-90.
    [Show full text]
  • Bhss-Ra-Gelb-Shorthrn-Web
    10 • BHSS Livestock & Event Guide A Publication of The Cattle Business Weekly 12 • BHSS Livestock & Event Guide A Publication of The Cattle Business Weekly FRIDAY, JANUARY 17 TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 9am Thar’s Team Sorting - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds 8am Winter Classic AQHA Horse Show, Halter, Cutting, Roping - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds SATURDAY, JANUARY 18 8am Best of the West Roping Futurity, Calf Roping and 9am Thar’s Team Sorting - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds Team Roping classes (to run concurrent with AQHA Classes) - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds SUNDAY, JANUARY 19 WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29 9am Thar’s Team Sorting- Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds 8am Winter Classic AQHA Horse Show, Reining & Working Cow Horse - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds MONDAY, JANUARY 20 8am Winter Spectacular NRCHA Show (run concurrently 8am Equi Brand/Truck Defender Black Hills Stock Show® with the AQHA Working Cow Horse Classes) AQHA Versatility Ranch Horse Competition - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds THURSDAY, JANUARY 30 TUESDAY, JANUARY 21 8am Winter Classic AQHA Horse Show, 8am Equi Brand/Truck Defender Black Hills Stock Show® Halter & Roping Classes AQHA Versatility Ranch Horse Competition - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds 11am-5pm: Hutchison Western Stallion Row Move-In - Kjerstad Event Center, Fairgrounds WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22 11-5pm Truck Defender Horse Sale Check-In 9am South Dakota Cutting Horse Association Show - Kjerstad Event Center Warm-Up,
    [Show full text]
  • A Historical Geography of Lake Kampeska in the City of Watertown, South Dakota Joanita M
    South Dakota State University Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange Geography Faculty Publications Department of Geography 2007 A Historical Geography of Lake Kampeska in the City of Watertown, South Dakota Joanita M. Kant South Dakota State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/geo_pubs Part of the Physical and Environmental Geography Commons Recommended Citation Kant, Joanita M., "A Historical Geography of Lake Kampeska in the City of Watertown, South Dakota" (2007). Geography Faculty Publications. 2. https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/geo_pubs/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Geography at Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Geography Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i A Historical Geography of Lake Kampeska in the City of Watertown, South Dakota 2007 by Joanita Kant copyright ii “Never forget that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Meade i ABSTRACT Many alterations in the hydrology of Lake Kampeska began with the arrival of masses of Anglo settlers in the 1870s. Why the lake has been altered is a complex issue linked to various natural physical processes which would have occurred even without the introduction of those settlers into the ecosystem. Those processes include weather, climate, sedimentation rates, lakebank erosion, chemical and mineral transport from soils, and flooding, among others.
    [Show full text]
  • Wind Through the Buffalo Grass: a Lakota Story Cycle Paul A
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Paul Johnsgard Collection Papers in the Biological Sciences 2008 Wind Through the Buffalo Grass: A Lakota Story Cycle Paul A. Johnsgard University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/johnsgard Part of the Indigenous Studies Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Johnsgard, Paul A., "Wind Through the Buffalo Grass: A Lakota Story Cycle" (2008). Paul Johnsgard Collection. 51. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/johnsgard/51 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Papers in the Biological Sciences at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Paul Johnsgard Collection by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Fiction I Historical History I Native Ameri("an Wind Through the Buffalo Grass: A Lakota Story Cycle is a narrative history of the Pine Ridge Lakota tribe of South Dakota, following its history from 1850 to the present day through actual historical events and through the stories of four fictional Lakota children, each related by descent and separated from one another by two generations. The ecology of the Pine Ridge region, especially its mammalian and avian wildlife, is woven into the stories of the children. 111ustrated by the author, the book includes drawings of Pine Ridge wildlife, regional maps, and Native American pictorial art. Appendices include a listing of important Lakota words, and checklists of mammals and breeding birds of the region. Dr. Paul A. Johnsgard is foundation professor of biological sciences emeritus of the University of Nebraska-lincoln.
    [Show full text]
  • According to Wikipedia 2011 with Some Addictions
    American MilitMilitaryary Historians AAA-A---FFFF According to Wikipedia 2011 with some addictions Society for Military History From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Society for Military History is an United States -based international organization of scholars who research, write and teach military history of all time periods and places. It includes Naval history , air power history and studies of technology, ideas, and homefronts. It publishes the quarterly refereed journal titled The Journal of Military History . An annual meeting is held every year. Recent meetings have been held in Frederick, Maryland, from April 19-22, 2007; Ogden, Utah, from April 17- 19, 2008; Murfreesboro, Tennessee 2-5 April 2009 and Lexington, Virginia 20-23 May 2010. The society was established in 1933 as the American Military History Foundation, renamed in 1939 the American Military Institute, and renamed again in 1990 as the Society for Military History. It has over 2,300 members including many prominent scholars, soldiers, and citizens interested in military history. [citation needed ] Membership is open to anyone and includes a subscription to the journal. Officers Officers (2009-2010) are: • President Dr. Brian M. Linn • Vice President Dr. Joseph T. Glatthaar • Executive Director Dr. Robert H. Berlin • Treasurer Dr. Graham A. Cosmas • Journal Editor Dr. Bruce Vandervort • Journal Managing Editors James R. Arnold and Roberta Wiener • Recording Secretary & Photographer Thomas Morgan • Webmaster & Newsletter Editor Dr. Kurt Hackemer • Archivist Paul A.
    [Show full text]
  • I Saw That It Was Holy: the Black Hills and the Concept of Sacred Land
    Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality Volume 3 Issue 2 Article 4 December 1985 I Saw That It Was Holy: The Black Hills and the Concept of Sacred Land Richard Pemberton Jr. Follow this and additional works at: https://lawandinequality.org/ Recommended Citation Richard Pemberton Jr., I Saw That It Was Holy: The Black Hills and the Concept of Sacred Land, 3(2) LAW & INEQ. 287 (1985). Available at: https://scholarship.law.umn.edu/lawineq/vol3/iss2/4 Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality is published by the University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. "I Saw That It Was Holy": The Black Hills and the Concept of Sacred Land Richard Pemberton, Jr.* "Hear me, four quarters of the world-a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! ...With your power only can I face the winds."1 Black Elk "I never want to leave this country; all my relatives are lying here in the ground, and when I fall to pieces I am going to fall 2 to pieces here." Shunkaha Napin (Wolf Necklace) "The more you think about this, the more meaning you will see in it."3 Black Elk I. The Origins of Difference: Religious and Cultural Assumptions In 1877, Congress voted to transfer the ownership of the Black Hills from the Lakota and Dakota Indian nations4 to the United States. No doubt government officials hoped that, in time, * Richard Pemberton is a J.D. candidate at the University of Minnesota. Au- thor's acknowledgment: I thank Jane Larson, my editor and friend, for the inesti- mable contribution she has made to this article.
    [Show full text]
  • Fishes of South Dakota
    MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATIONS MUSEUM OF ZOOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, NO. 119 Fishes of South Dakota REEVE M. BAILEY AND MARVIN 0. ALLUM South Dakota State College ANN ARBOR MUSEUM OF ZOOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN JUNE 5, 1962 MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATIONS MUSEUM OF ZOOLOGY, UNIVERSITY 01; MICHIGAN The publications of the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, consist of two series-the Occasional Papers and the Miscellaneous Publications. Both series were founded by Dr. Bryant Walker, Mr. Bradshaw H. Swales, and Dr. W. W. Newcomb. The Occasional Papers, publication of which was begun in 1913, serve as a medium for original studies based principally upon the collections in the Museum. They are issued separately. When a sufficient number of pages has been printed to make a volume, a title page, table of contents, and an index are supplied to libraries and indi- viduals on the mailing list for the series. The Miscellaneous Publications, which include papers on field and museum tech- niques, monographic studies, and other contributions not within the scope of the Occasional Papers, are published separately. It is not intended that they be grouped into volumes. Each number has a title page and, when necessary, a table of contents. A conlplete list of publications on Birds, Fishes, Insects, Mammals, Mollusks, and Reptiles and Amphibians is available. Address inquiries to the Director, Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, Michigan No. 13. Studies of the fishes of the order Cyprinodontes. By CARL L. HUBBS. (1924) 23 pp., 4 pls. ............................................. No. 15. A check-list of the fishes of the Great Lakes and tributary waters, with nomenclatorial notes and analytical keys.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sidney-Black Hills Trail
    Nebraska History posts materials online for your personal use. Please remember that the contents of Nebraska History are copyrighted by the Nebraska State Historical Society (except for materials credited to other institutions). The NSHS retains its copyrights even to materials it posts on the web. For permission to re-use materials or for photo ordering information, please see: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/magazine/permission.htm Nebraska State Historical Society members receive four issues of Nebraska History and four issues of Nebraska History News annually. For membership information, see: http://nebraskahistory.org/admin/members/index.htm Article Title: The Sidney-Black Hills Trail Full Citation: Norbert R Mahnken, “The Sidney-Black Hills Trail,” Nebraska History 30 (1949): 203-225 URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1949SidneyTrail.pdf Date: 12/02/2016 Article Summary: The discovery of gold in the Dakota Territory produced the last gold rush in the continental United States. That transformed the trail leading from Sidney, Nebraska, to the Black Hills into a major thoroughfare. By the 1880s new railroad lines were drawing most traffic away from that frontier highway. Scroll down for complete article. Cataloging Information: Names: George A Custer, Red Cloud, Henry T Clark, Luke Voorhees Freighting Companies: Pratt and Ferris; A S Van Tassell; D T McCann and Company; Kennard and Simpson; Daugherty, Kelley and Company; Jewett and Dickenson; Merchants Freighters Mail Carriers: Seymour
    [Show full text]
  • Supplement 1
    *^b THE BOOK OF THE STATES .\ • I January, 1949 "'Sto >c THE COUNCIL OF STATE'GOVERNMENTS CHICAGO • ••• • • ••'. •" • • • • • 1 ••• • • I* »• - • • . * • ^ • • • • • • 1 ( • 1* #* t 4 •• -• ', 1 • .1 :.• . -.' . • - •>»»'• • H- • f' ' • • • • J -•» J COPYRIGHT, 1949, BY THE COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS jk •J . • ) • • • PBir/Tfili i;? THE'UNIfTED STATES OF AMERICA S\ A ' •• • FOREWORD 'he Book of the States, of which this volume is a supplement, is designed rto provide an authoritative source of information on-^state activities, administrations, legislatures, services, problems, and progressi It also reports on work done by the Council of State Governments, the cpm- missions on interstate cooperation, and other agencies concepned with intergovernmental problems. The present suppkinent to the 1948-1949 edition brings up to date, on the basis of information receivjed.from the states by the end of Novem­ ber, 1948^, the* names of the principal elective administrative officers of the states and of the members of their legislatures. Necessarily, most of the lists of legislators are unofficial, final certification hot having been possible so soon after the election of November 2. In some cases post­ election contests were pending;. However, every effort for accuracy has been made by state officials who provided the lists aiid by the CouncJLl_ of State Governments. » A second 1949. supplement, to be issued in July, will list appointive administrative officers in all the states, and also their elective officers and legislators, with any revisions of the. present rosters that may be required. ^ Thus the basic, biennial ^oo/t q/7^? States and its two supplements offer comprehensive information on the work of state governments, and current, convenient directories of the men and women who constitute those governments, both in their administrative organizations and in their legislatures.
    [Show full text]
  • Charles Collins: the SIOUX City Promotion of the Black Hills
    Copyright © 1971 by the South Dakota State Historical Society. All Rights Reserved. Charles Collins: The SIOUX City Promotion of the Black Hills JANE CONARD The Black Hills mining frontier. located in southwestern South Dakota, was one of the last regions to experience the turbulence of a gold rush. Rapid development and exploitation of mineral wealth was typical of the gold discoveries in the mountainous West during the Civil War years and the following decade. Although rumors of gold in the Black Hills had persisted throughout these years, the area lay within the Great Sioux Reservation and few white men had had the opportunity of exploring the region to verity the rumors. By the early 1870s public opinion in the Northwest-as Iowa. Nebraska. Minnesota. and Dakota Territory was called-ran strongly in favor of some action by the federal government to open the Black Hills to settlement. The spirit of 'forty-nine lingered on and old miners, ever dreaming of bonanza strikes, sought new gold fields. One step removed from the real and the imaginery gold fields were the merchants and the newspapermen who hoped to outfit the miners, develop new town sites, supply the needs of new communities, and influence the course of men and events. Charles Collins, a newspaperman and promoter from Sioux City, Iowa, spearheaded a campaign to open the Black Hills gold fields to whites. A dynamic Irishman, he sought to put Sioux City on the map as the gateway to the mines, to bring prosperity to the Northwest, and to acquire fame and wealth for himself.
    [Show full text]
  • Lakota Black Hills Treaty Rights
    LAKOTA BLACK HILLS TREATY RIGHTS http://www.tribalwisdom.org/treaties.html 1787 - Northwest Ordinance of 1787 – Stated that “The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians; their land and property shall never be taken from them without their consent…” 1825 - Removal Act – Created “Permanent Indian Country” in what was considered the “Great American Desert” – Areas west of the western borders of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota – The year of “Trail of Tears” for Cherokee, Creek & Chickasaw as they are relocated to Oklahoma 1830 - Supreme Court Case (Worcester vs. Georgia) Determined that Indian Nations are “Distinct, independent political communities.” 1842 – First Wagon Trains cross Indian Country on the “Oregon Trail” 1849 – Gold discovered in California – 90,000 settlers moved west through Indian Country and split the Buffalo herd in half. 1851 – First Fort Laramie Treaty - Defined Tribal Areas, committed to a “lasting peace between all nations”, gave US Right to construct roads and military posts, agreed to compensate the tribes $50,000 per year for 50 years, indicated the Black Hills as Lakota land. Annuity could be in the form of farming supplies and cattle, to “save, if possible, some portion of these ill-fated tribes” according to BIA Supt. Mitchell. The US Senate reduced the annuity to 10 years without the Lakota’s knowledge 1857 – Grand Gathering of the Lakota – Held at the base of Bear Butte in the Black Hills. 7,500 Lakota gathered, including Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull who pledged to not allow further encroachment by whites. 1858 – Yankton Tribe sold 15 million acres to US, angering the other tribes, who questioned the Yankton’s authority to sell land without full Lakota consent.
    [Show full text]
  • Pleistocene Geology of Eastern South Dakota
    Pleistocene Geology of Eastern South Dakota GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 262 Pleistocene Geology of Eastern South Dakota By RICHARD FOSTER FLINT GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 262 Prepared as part of the program of the Department of the Interior *Jfor the development-L of*J the Missouri River basin UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1955 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Douglas McKay, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price $3 (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Page Abstract_ _ _____-_-_________________--_--____---__ 1 Pre- Wisconsin nonglacial deposits, ______________ 41 Scope and purpose of study._________________________ 2 Stratigraphic sequence in Nebraska and Iowa_ 42 Field work and acknowledgments._______-_____-_----_ 3 Stream deposits. _____________________ 42 Earlier studies____________________________________ 4 Loess sheets _ _ ______________________ 43 Geography.________________________________________ 5 Weathering profiles. __________________ 44 Topography and drainage______________________ 5 Stream deposits in South Dakota ___________ 45 Minnesota River-Red River lowland. _________ 5 Sand and gravel- _____________________ 45 Coteau des Prairies.________________________ 6 Distribution and thickness. ________ 45 Surface expression._____________________ 6 Physical character. _______________ 45 General geology._______________________ 7 Description by localities ___________ 46 Subdivisions. ________-___--_-_-_-______ 9 Conditions of deposition ___________ 50 James River lowland.__________-__-___-_--__ 9 Age and correlation_______________ 51 General features._________-____--_-__-__ 9 Clayey silt. __________________________ 52 Lake Dakota plain____________________ 10 Loveland loess in South Dakota. ___________ 52 James River highlands...-------.-.---.- 11 Weathering profiles and buried soils. ________ 53 Coteau du Missouri..___________--_-_-__-___ 12 Synthesis of pre- Wisconsin stratigraphy.
    [Show full text]