84 



ARIKARA 



[b. a. e. 



liers and living in three villages between 

 Grand and Cannonball rs., Dak. By 1851 

 they had moved up to the vicinity of 

 Heart r. It is not proba])le that this 

 rapid rate of movement obtained during 

 migi-ations prior to the settlement of the 

 Atlantic coast by the English. The 

 steady westward pressure of the colonists, 

 together with their policy of fomenting 

 intertribal wars, caused the continual dis- 

 placement of many native communities, 

 a condition that bore heavily on the 

 semisedentary tribes, like the Arikara, 

 who lived in villages and cultivated the 

 soil. Almost continuous warfare with ag- 

 gressive tribes, together with the ravages 

 of smallpox during the latter half of the 



RUSHING BEAR — ARIKARA 



18th and tlie beginning of the 19th cen- 

 turies, nearly exterminated some of their 

 villages. The weakened survivors con- 

 solidated to form new, necessarily com- 

 posite villages, so that nnich of their an- 

 cient organization was greatly modified or 

 ceased to exist. It was during this period 

 of stress that the Arikara became close 

 neighbors and, finally, allies of the Man- 

 dan and Hidatsa. In 1804, when Lewis 

 and Clark visited the Arikara, they were 

 disposed to be friendly to the United 

 States, but, owing to intrigues incident 

 to the rivalry between trading companies, 

 which brought suffering to the Indians, 

 they became hostile. In 1823 the Arikara 

 attacked an American trader's boats, kill- 



ing 13 men and wounding others. This 

 led to a conflict with the United States, 

 but peace was finally concluded. In con- 

 sequence of these troubles and the fail- 

 ure of crops for 2 successive years the 

 tribe abandoned their villages on the 

 Missouri and joined the Skidi on Loup 

 r.. Neb., where they remained 2 years; 

 but the animosity which the Arikara dis- 

 played toward the white race made them 

 dangerous and unwelcome neighbors, so 

 that they were requested to go back to 

 the Missouri. They did so, and there 

 they have remained ever since. Under 

 their first treaty, in 1825, they acknowl- 

 edged the supremacy of the National 

 Government over the land and the people, 

 agreed to trade only with American citi- 

 zens, whose life and ))roperty they were 

 l^ledged to protect, and to refer all diflB- 

 culties for final settlement to the United 

 States. After the close of the Mexican 

 war a commission was sent by the Gov- 

 ernment to define the territories claimed 

 by the tribes living n. of Mexico, between 

 the Missouri and tlie Rocky mts. In the 

 treaty made at Ft Laramie, in 1851, with 

 the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa, the 

 land claimed by these tribes is described 

 as lying w. of "the Missouri, from Heart 

 r. , N. Dak. , to the Yellowstone, and up the 

 latter to the mouth of Powder r. , Mont.; 

 thence s. e. to the headwaters of the 

 Little Missouri in Wyoming, and skirt- 

 ing the Black hills to the head of Heart 

 r. and down that stream 1o its junction 

 with the Missouri. Owing to the non- 

 ratification of this treaty, the landed rights 

 of the Arikara remained unsettled until 

 1880, when, by Executive order, their 

 present reservation was set apart; this in- 

 cludesthetradingpost, established inl845, 

 and named for Bartholomew Berthold, a 

 Tyrolese, one of the founders of the Amer- 

 ican Fur Company. The Arikara, Man- 

 dan, and Hidatsa together share this land, 

 and are frequently spoken of, from the 

 name of their reservation, as Ft Berthold 

 Indians. In accordance with the act of 

 Feb. 8, 1887, the Arikara received allot- 

 ments of land in severalty, and, on ap- 

 proval of the allotments by the Secretary 

 of the Interior, July 10, 1900, they became 

 citizens of the United States and subject 

 to the laws of North Dakota. An indus- 

 trial boarding school and 3 day schools 

 are maintained by the Government on 

 Ft Berthold res. A mission board- 

 ing school and a church are supported 

 by the Congregational Board of Mis- 

 sions. In 1804 Lewis and Clark gave 

 the population of the Arikara as 2,600, 

 of whom more than 000 were warriors. 

 In 1871 the tribe numbered 1,650; by 

 1888 they were reduced to 500, and the 

 census of 1904 gives the population as 380. 

 As far back as their traditions go the Ari- 



