Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 21 



their upstream neighbors. There were fewer Assiniboin and they 

 rarely wintered on the Missouri River upstream from the earth lodge 

 villages at and below Knife River. The Hidatsa and River Crow 

 hunted on that stretch of the Missouri between the Knife and Yellow- 

 stone Rivers and were numerous enough to withstand the Assiniboin. 



It was during this time that the Awaxawi moved upstream and at- 

 tempted to build a permanent village above Knife River only to be 

 driven out by the Hidatsa. War broke out between them and was 

 continued for 3 years during which time the Awaxawi moved down- 

 stream near Fort Yates and built a village near the friendlier Cheyenne. 

 This conflict with the Hidatsa and temporary residence below the 

 Mandan traditionally is prior to 1782, according to Bears Arm, as the 

 Awaxawi were in the Painted Woods region during the first smallpox 

 epidemic. 



Awatixa traditions provide little information on their early history 

 and migrations, for they claim to have always occupied positions on 

 the Missouri, priQcipally around and upstream from Painted Woods 

 (Washburn, N. Dak.). They have no traditions of permanent resi- 

 dence elsewhere. It was in this area that they believe the clans and 

 all of the rites relating to the Sacred Arrows originated. From all 

 information provided by traveler accounts, Mandan informants, and 

 Awatixa traditions, it appears that this group lived in that area for 

 at least three centuries. They claimdd to be the descendants of an orig- 

 inal population which came down from the sky to Charred Body Creek 

 situated a few miles below the present town of Washburn. Their 

 traditional history is chiefly an account of the cultural development 

 of tribal ceremonies pertaining to this vUlage site, the sites of the 

 Hensler-Sanger region, and site 34 at the mouth of the Knife River. 

 References to legendary incidents occurring elsewhere are exceedingly 

 rare. They speak of moving downstream to the north bank of the 

 Heart River while still a part of the Crow (Mountain or Western Crow) 

 where certain incidents occurred prior to the removal of the latter to 

 the western Plains in company with a few Mandan families. They 

 claim Rock Viflage above the Knife River was built after the epidemic 

 of 1782 when the Hidatsa consisted of both nomadic and agricultural 

 groups. They also mention in the Waterbuster bundle myth, a tem- 

 porary village built farther upstream and below Shell Creek. This 

 site is said to have been built prior to the arrival of the Hidatsa-Crow. 

 Nor are the Awatixa unique in claiming exclusive cultural development 

 in one area along the Missouri River, having first been created there 

 by culture heroes who brought the original "parents" of the tribe down 

 from the sky; some Mandans have a similar legend to account for the 

 original creation of the earth and the human population of the region 

 at the mouth of the Heart River. 



710-195—65 3 



