CROW-FLIES-HIGH (82MZ1), A HISTORIC HI- 
DATSA VILLAGE IN THE GARRISON RESER- 
VOIR AREA, NORTH DAKOTA * 
By Caruine MALour 
INTRODUCTION 
Crow-Flies-High was a late 19th century Hidatsa Indian village 
located on the Missouri River near Newtown, N. Dak. In terms of 
archeology it was very recent in origin, almost modern. Yet by 1952 
it was almost reduced to a legend. In that year there remained two 
cabin depressions and three cache pits. It had almost been obliterated 
after many years of plowing and cultivation during the present cen- 
tury. One small depression about 8 feet in diameter marked the loca- 
tion of a single earthlodge which had once served as the village 
“dance hall.” The rest of its structures could not be identified. The 
original extent of the village, however, was indicated by numerous 
fragments of dishes, bottles, metal objects, pieces of leather, and 
broken animal bones scattered over the ground. 
Published information on the site is scarce and some of it is in- 
accurate. From such sources it can be determined that the site was 
primarily Hidatsa, that it was occupied sometime during the latter 
part of the last century, that it is near Newtown, N. Dak., and that it 
was named after a chief called Crow-Flies-High. 
A Corps of Engineers map, Missouri River Survey, 1891, chart 
No. 92, located the village on the right bank of the Missouri River, 
about 21% miles above the mouth of the Little Knife River. Eleven 
rectangular structures were outlined. Maps of the Missouri River 
Commission, in 1894 (sheet LVI) noted the village in the same place. 
At the present time its remains are in sec. 5, T. 153 N., R. 93 W., 
and beneath the waters of Garrison Dam Reservoir. 
1 Submitted December 1956. The party which excavated this site in 1952 was directed 
by Carling Malouf. It was financed through a contract between the National Park Serv- 
ice, Region Two Office, Omaha, Nebr., and Montana State University, represented by 
Dr. Carl McFarland, President. Valuable assistance was given by personnel in the Mis- 
souri River Project, River Basin Surveys, Smithsonian Institution, through Ralph D. 
Brown, its Director. His successor, Robert L. Stephenson, has kindly provided the 
writer with additional information and artifacts from the site. Members of the Montana 
State University party included Carling Malouf, John Garrett, who acted as Field 
Supervisor, Roy Shipley, Richard Cannon, Margaret Wetzteon, DeVona LeMieux, Maynard 
Dahl, and Lewis Napton. 
137 
