Bowers] HIDATSA SOCIAL AND CEREMONIAL ORGANIZATION 217 



war parties and visiting groups often went to the Crow and assisted 

 them in stealing horses until the aboriginal culture broke down. 



Whereas during the 18th centm-y, the Arikara were in conflict with 

 the Mandan and Hidatsa in their northward penetration of the 

 Missouri River valley, by the close of the century they were willing 

 to cooperate with their northern earth lodge neighbors against a 

 common enemy — the Sioux. Peace between the Arikara and their 

 northern agricultural neighbors developed slowly due to old griev- 

 ances — chiefly competition for agricultural grounds — and trouble 

 frequently broke out during the period prior to 1837. As the pressure 

 of the Sioux increased, numerous efforts were made to bring the 

 Arikara into the earth lodge federation. In 1836, after a few years 

 of nomadic life when their corn crops failed, the Arikara came north 

 with the intention of rebuilding (Greenshield site) near Painted 

 Woods. This region had been abandoned by the Hidatsa and Mandan 

 groups in their northward migration along the Missom-i and one 

 village group of Arikara from the Grand River had, on several occa- 

 sions, settled there temporarily. This arrangement was generally 

 accepted by the Hidatsa and Mandan, now greatly reduced in num- 

 bers, for it offered protection on the south from the Sioux who had 

 meanwhile hunted in the Heart and Cannonball River regions 

 abandoned by the Mandan a half century earlier. So the Arikara came 

 to the trading post at Fort Clark in the late winter of 1837 and were 

 received by the Hidatsa and Mandan (Chardon, 1932, p. 100). During 

 the late winter, one Arikara band went out hunting with the Hidatsa 

 onto the Upper Missouri and the other remained with the Mandan.^*^ 

 When spring came they did not separate to build a separate village 

 as had been planned, and when smallpox broke out that summer, the 

 three tribes suffered so severely that the Arikara took over and 

 occupied the Mandan village at Fort Clark. From that time on, the 

 Arikara were accepted as friends ;^^ they assisted the Hidatsa and 

 Mandan when attacked. After 1837 there was growing evidence 

 that, due to increased pressure by the Sioux, the Assiniboin should 

 be included in this federation. Whereas the Arikara had carried on 

 continuous warfare with the Crow on every occasion, with the estab- 

 lishment of friendly relations with the Hidatsa, warfare with the 

 Crow was discontinued. The Hidatsa had established permanent 

 friendly relations with a few Assiniboin bands after a century or 

 more of conflict with them over the control of the Missouri upstream 



'• They probably represented the two separate village groups reported by Maximilian and others during 

 the period 1810-34. 



s' Occasionally, quarrels occurred which demanded prompt action by the respective police and councils. 

 For procedures in resolving these differences before the entire groups became involved, see Chardon, 1932, 

 p. 188. 



