140 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Buun. 185 
Of more recent date is another earth-lodge village (32MZ1), opposite the mouth 
of the Little Knife River. Known as Crow Flies High village, it is believed to 
have been occupied between 1868 and 1893 by the Hidatsa. Metal, glass, and 
other recent materials were plentiful, but there was little of native origin. 
On the basis of the preliminary River Basin Survey reports, and of 
Will and Hecker’s publication, the party directed by the writer ex- 
pected to excavate a village of earthlodges. It was soon determined, 
however, that only one such structure was ever made in the village, and 
the Hidatsa occupied cabins when they dwelt at Crow-Flies-High. 
Except for reports on Crow-Flies-High’s band by the Commissioner 
of Indian Affairs, to be cited later, this was all the published infor- 
mation available on the site and its occupants. The several reports of 
the Commissioner between 1876 and 1900 mentioned the band under 
the leadership of Crow-Flies-High, but no description of their village 
was offered. 
Local lore was virtually absent on Crow-Flies-High Village. The 
nearby town of Sanish (established in 1916 and abandoned in 1952) 
and Newtown (established in 1951) were constructed long after the 
Indian village was last occupied. Most White people in the area were 
not aware that there had been a community of Indians in that vicinity. 
Even the farmer plowing the land at the site did not notice that he was 
moving over an old Hidatsa village. He had not even observed the 
broken glass and metal pieces on the ground. 
A few persons who had arrived in the vicinity before the founding 
of Sanish, and the grandchildren of John Goodall, the original home- 
steader of the section on which the site is located, were aware of the 
former existence of the village. A few local amateurs had excavated 
portions of the site in search of relics, and one of these men reported 
finding corn in “crockery jars.” Others had looted the village grave- 
yard situated on the bluffs opposite from Sanish and above the native 
village. 
Hidatsa informants were still available who had actually lived in 
Crow-Flies-High Village, and many details were furnished by them 
on the history and social life of the band. The site was examined by 
two of these men, and data were obtained on the location and owner- 
ship of fishtraps, cornfields, cabin arrangements, and even the clan 
affiliation of their occupants. The ethnological data will be discussed 
in a later section of this report. 
EXCAVATIONS AT CROW-FLIES-HIGH VILLAGE 
The site of Crow-Flies-High Village was located on a broad terrace 
west of the Missouri River which in this vicinity flowed from north to 
south, and it was about 35 feet above the water level. The flats 
between the base of the terrace and river were treeless, but there were 
swampy sections at the base of the terrace where water seeped through. 
