BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI y are 
the banks of the Saskatchawan, in a small prairie, backed by the 
Rocky Mountains in the distance. In the vicinity was a camp of 
Assiniboine lodges, formed entirely of pine branches.” (Kane, (1), 
p. 408.) The painting made by him showing the fort and lodges is 
reproduced in plate 25, a. 
DHEGIHA GROUP. 
Five tribes are considered as belonging to this group of the Siouan 
linguistic family: Omaha, Ponca, Quapaw, Osage, and Kansa._Dis- 
tinct from the Dakota-Assiniboin tribes already mentioned, these 
undoubtedly some centuries ago lived in the central and upper 
Ohio valleys, whence they moved westward to and beyond the Mis- 
sissippl. To these tribes may be attributed the great earthworks 
of the southern portion of Ohio and the adjacent regions bordering 
the Ohio River. To quote from the Handbook: “ Hale and Dorsey 
concluded from a study of the languages and traditions that, in the 
westward migration of the Dhegiha from their seat on Ohio and 
Wabash rivers, after the separation, at least as early as 1500, of the 
Quapaw, who went down the Mississippi from the mouth of the 
Ohio, the Omaha branch moved up the great river, remaining awhile 
near the mouth of the Missouri while war and hunting parties ex- 
plored the country to the northwest. The Osage remained on Osage 
River, and the Kansa continued up the Missouri, while the Omaha, 
still including the Ponca, crossed the latter stream and remained 
for a period in Iowa, ranging as far as the Pipestone quarry at the 
present Pipestone, Minnesota.” 
While living in the heavily timbered valleys reaching to the Ohio 
the several tribes now being considered unquestionably occupied vil- 
lages consisting of groups of mat-covered lodges of the type erected 
by the Osage and Quapaw until the present time. But with the 
Omaha, Ponca, and Kansa it was different, and when they reached 
the intermediate region, where forest and prairie joined, they were 
compelled to adopt a new form of structure, one suited to the natural 
environments, and thus they began to make use of the earth-covered 
lodge, and the conical skin tipi, with certain variations in form. 
The characteristic structures of the five tribes will now be briefly 
described, beginning with those of the Omaha. 
OMAHA. 
When Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri in 1804 they found 
the Omaha village-not far from the Missouri, in the present Dakota 
County, Nebraska. On the 13th of August the expedition reached 
the mouth of a creek entering the right bank of the Missouri. Just 
beyond they encamped on a sandbar, “ opposite the lower point of a 
