l8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 93 



nient, although one traditional account states that subsequent to their 

 separation from the Quapaw they followed the Des Moines River 

 to its headwaters and wandered to the northeast. Other traditions 

 state that they dwelt on the Big Sioux River in bark houses but learned 

 to make earth lodges and to cultivate maize from the Arikara, who 

 at that time are said to have occupied the historic Omaha territory in 

 northeastern Nebraska. Many traditional accounts indicate close con- 

 tact with the Arikara in prehistoric times, but Fletcher and La Flesche 

 doubt that maize was first introduced to the Omaha by the Arikara. 

 The Ponca are said to have been the last of the cognate tribes to 

 separate, leaving the Omaha on the Missouri River. Ponca traditions 

 state that they first obtained horses from the Padouca (Comanche) 

 and later drove these people away from their interior village. Aside 

 from certain legends that " horses came from the southwest " the 

 Omaha traditions are not explicit in this regard. Traditions are some- 

 what vague as to Omaha villages on the Missouri but several sites, 

 extending from the mouth of the White River in South Dakota on the 

 north, south to the Platte and east of the Elkhorn River are mentioned. 

 (Fletcher and La Flesche, 191 1, pp. 36-94.) 



Dorsey gives a detailed account of Omaha migrations in which 

 traditional and historic movements appear to be blended in a con- 

 fusing fashion. In this account the united Iowa, Omaha, and Ponca 

 are said to have moved northwest in Iowa up the Chariton River until 

 they reached the pipestone quarries in Minnesota. It is said that they 

 were already building earth lodges and cultivating the soil at that time. 

 Here they were attacked by the Sioux (Dakota) and fled southwest to 

 the Missouri River in South Dakota, ascending that stream to the 

 mouth of the White River. The Iowa and the Omaha stayed here, 

 while the Ponca went otT to the Black Hills. The latter returned, and 

 the three tribes then descended the Missouri on the western bank 

 until they reached the Niobrara River, where the Ponca remained. 

 The others crossed, and the Omaha settled on Bow Creek, while the 

 Iowa went south and built a village on a stream near the present site 

 of Ionia in Dixon County, Nebr. The Omaha then moved to a place 

 near Covington, Nebr., opposite Sioux City, and the Iowa passed them 

 and built another village just north of the present city of Omaha, 

 where the town of Florence is now located. From this site the Iowa 

 moved southward until they reached their reservation on the Kansas- 

 Nebraska line. Dorsey gives a map of the traditional Omaha villages 

 north of the Platte and east of Shell Creek which, in conjunction with 

 similar data in Fletcher and La Flesche, should have value when work 

 on Omaha archeology is begun. Dorsey states that the Oto were first 



