The Great Sioux Reservation initially set aside land west of the Missouri River in
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
and
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
for the use of the Lakota Sioux, who had dominated this territory. The reservation was established in the
Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868
The Treaty of Fort Laramie (also the Sioux Treaty of 1868) is an agreement between the United States and the Oglala, Miniconjou, and Brulé bands of Lakota people, Yanktonai Dakota and Arapaho Nation, following the failure of the first Fo ...
. It included all of present-day western
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
(commonly known as "
West River West River may refer to:
Rivers
Canada
*West River (Antigonish, Nova Scotia) in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia
* West River (Pictou, Nova Scotia) in Pictou County, Nova Scotia
* West River (Halifax, Nova Scotia) in Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia
* West ...
" South Dakota) and modern
Boyd County, Nebraska
Boyd County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 2,099. Its county seat is Butte. The county was formed in 1891 and named after James E. Boyd, the governor of Nebraska at the time.
...
. This area was established by the United States as a reservation for the
Teton Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
, also known as the
Lakota
Lakota may refer to:
*Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes
*Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples
Place names
In the United States:
*Lakota, Iowa
*Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County
*Lakota ...
: the seven western bands of the "Seven Council Fires" (the
Great Sioux Nation
The Great Sioux Nation is the traditional political structure of the Sioux in North America. The peoples who speak the Sioux language are considered to be members of the Oceti Sakowin (''Očhéthi Šakówiŋ'', pronounced ) or Seven Council Fire ...
).
Today, the Sioux primarily live on reservations in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. From the 1860s through the 1870s the American frontier was a mess with battle between the United States and the Sioux. United States settlements expanded into the west and interfered with the Sioux's homes and lives.
Reservation
In addition to the reservation dedicated to the Lakota, the treaty gave the Sioux the right to hunt and travel in "unceded" territory in much of
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
and in the Sandhills and Panhandle of modern
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
. Because each band had its own territory, the United States established several agencies through the
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
to regulate the Lakota in this vast area.
The United States used the
Missouri River to form the eastern boundary of the Reservation, but some of the land within this area had already assigned to other tribes, such as the
Ponca
The Ponca ( Páⁿka iyé: Páⁿka or Ppáⁿkka pronounced ) are a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca ...
. The Lakota Nation considered the West River area central to their territory, as it had been since their discovery of the ''Paha Sapa'' (
Black Hills
The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...
) in 1765, and their domination of the area after they conquered and pushed out the
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
in 1776. Paha Sapa was sacred to the Lakota, and they considered it their place of origin, thousands of years earlier.
Custer's 1874 Black Hills Expedition
The Black Hills Expedition was a United States Army expedition in 1874 led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer that set out on July 2, 1874 from modern day Bismarck, North Dakota, which was then Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Terri ...
from Fort Abraham Lincoln (near
Bismarck,
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of No ...
) to the Black Hills or ''Paha Sapa'' discovered gold. The public announcement attracted numerous miners to the region, resulting in open conflict with the Lakota. The
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
defeated the Lakota in the
Black Hills War
The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of the war was the ...
.
By a new treaty of 1877, the United States forced the Sioux to cede a strip of land along the western border of Dakota Territory wide, plus all land west of the
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
and
Belle Fourche
Belle Fourche (; ) is a city in and the county seat of Butte County, South Dakota, United States. Its population was 5,617 at the 2020 census. It is near the geographic center of the United States, which moved some 550 miles northwest from the g ...
rivers, including all of the Black Hills in modern
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
.
Most of the Sioux reservation remained intact for another 13 years.
General Allotment Act
In 1887,
the United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
passed the General Allotment Act, also called the
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pre ...
, to break up communal tribal lands on reservations and assign 160-acre plots in individual family households, in order to encourage subsistence farming. Among other problems, this plan did not take into account conditions on the Great Plains, and the allotments were generally too small to be successfully farmed in the arid conditions.
On 2 March 1889, Congress passed another act (just months before North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted to the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
on 2 November 1889), which partitioned the Great Sioux Reservation, creating five smaller reservations: (please consider how many people may have edited this and 'changed' history before using it in any formal documents)
*
Standing Rock Reservation (which included land in modern North Dakota that had not been part of the Great Sioux Reservation), with its agency at
Fort Yates
Yates is a city in Sioux County, North Dakota, United States. It is the tribal headquarters of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and county seat of Sioux County. Since 1970 the population has declined markedly from more than 1,100 residents, as peo ...
;
*
Cheyenne River Reservation
The Cheyenne River Indian Reservation was created by the United States in 1889 by breaking up the Great Sioux Reservation, following the attrition of the Lakota in a series of wars in the 1870s. The reservation covers almost all of Dewey ...
, with its agency west of the Missouri River near the Cheyenne River confluence; it was later moved to
Eagle Butte, South Dakota
Eagle Butte is a city in Dewey and Ziebach counties in South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,258 at the 2020 census.
Description
Eagle Butte is the tribal headquarters of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe on the Cheyenne River Indian ...
, following the construction of
Oahe Reservoir
The Oahe Dam is a large earthen dam on the Missouri River, just north of Pierre, South Dakota, United States. The dam creates Lake Oahe, the fourth-largest man-made reservoir in the United States. The reservoir stretches up the course of the Mis ...
;
*
Lower Brule Indian Reservation
The Lower Brulé Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation that belongs to the Lower Brulé Lakota Tribe. It is located on the west bank of the Missouri River in Lyman and Stanley counties in central South Dakota in the United States. It i ...
, with its agency near
Fort Thompson;
*
Upper Brule or
Rosebud Indian Reservation
The Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Rosebud Sioux Tribe, who are Sicangu, a band of Lakota people. The Lakota name ''Sicangu Oyate'' translates as t ...
, with its agency near
Mission, South Dakota
Mission is a city on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in northern Todd County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 1,156 at the 2020 census.
Mission is home of the Sinte Gleska University. It is the largest incorporated community in ...
; and
*
Pine Ridge Reservation
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ( lkt, Wazí Aháŋhaŋ Oyáŋke), also called Pine Ridge Agency, is an Oglala Lakota Indian reservation located entirely within the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Grea ...
(
Oglala
The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live o ...
Sioux), with its agency at
Pine Ridge, South Dakota
Pine Ridge (Lakota: ''wazíbló'') is a census-designated place (CDP) and the most populous community in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,138 at the 2020 census. It is the tribal headquarters of the Oglala ...
, near the
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
border.
Neither the
Crow Creek Reservation
The Crow Creek Indian Reservation ( dak, Khąǧí wakpá okášpe, '' lkt, Kȟaŋğí Wakpá Oyáŋke''), home to Crow Creek Sioux Tribe ( dak, Khąǧí wakpá oyáte) is located in parts of Buffalo County, South Dakota, Buffalo, Hughes County, ...
, east of the Missouri River in central South Dakota, nor the
Fort Berthold Reservation
The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is a U.S. Indian reservation in western North Dakota that is home for the federally recognized Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. The reservation includes lands on ...
, which straddles the Missouri River in western North Dakota, were part of the original Great Sioux Reservation.
After the boundaries of these five reservations were established, the government opened up approximately 9 million acres (36,000 km
2), one-half of the former Great Sioux Reservation, for public purchase for ranching and homesteading. Much of the area was not homesteaded until the 1910s, after the
Enlarged Homestead Act increased allocations to for what was recognized as "semi-arid land".
Settlement was encouraged by the railroads. In addition, the US government issued publications of scientific instruction (since found to be incorrect) on how to farm the arid land. New United States immigrants came to the area. The Lakota tribes received $1.25 per acre, usually used to offset agency expenses in meeting federal treaty obligations to the tribes.
Dawes Allotment Act
By the
Dawes Allotment Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 (also known as the General Allotment Act or the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887) regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the Pres ...
, the federal government intended to break up the communal tribal lands in Indian Territory and other reservations and allocate portions to individual households to encourage subsistence farming on the European-American model. Federal registrars recorded tribal members in each tribe, as land was allotted to heads of households. (The Dawes Rolls have been used by some tribes as the basis of historic documentation of membership.) The government allocated 160 acre (0.64 km
2) parcels to heads of families, and declared any remaining land to be "surplus" and available for sale to non-natives. This caused major losses in communal lands. After a period of time, Native Americans could sell their land individually, and did.
The allotment of individual parcels and other measures reduced the total land in Indian ownership, while the government tried to force the people to convert to the lifestyles of subsistence farmers and craftsmen. The allocations were not based on accurate knowledge of whether the arid lands could support the small family farms envisioned by the government. This was largely an unsuccessful experiment for the Lakota and most homesteaders alike. Numerous European immigrants homesteaded the newly available lands on the Plains. Self-styled experts recommended regular
tilling the soil to "attract" moisture from the sky.
[Raban, ''Bad Land'', pp. 30–36]
The Plains were settled during what historians now know was a wetter than normal period, and farmers had some early success. But, as more normal drought conditions returned, many farms folded. The farmers did not know how to best preserve the limited moisture in the soil, and their practices resulted in the
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) an ...
conditions of the 1930s. Huge dust clouds reached as far as eastern cities; much of the fertile topsoil was lost, and many farmers abandoned their land.
[Jonathan Raban, ''Bad Land: An American Romance'', New York: Pantheon, 1996] Today most farming is done by large-scale industrial farms which use different techniques, such as winter planting, to raise wheat.
By the 1960s, the five reservations had lost much of their territories, some through sales after the allotment process. In addition, the United States seized land as part of federal water-control projects, such as construction of
Lake Oahe
Lake Oahe () is a large reservoir behind Oahe Dam on the Missouri River; it begins in central South Dakota and continues north into North Dakota in the United States. The lake has an area of and a maximum depth of . By volume, it is the List of l ...
and other mainstream reservoirs on the Missouri River as part of the
Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program. For instance, the Rosebud Reservation, which once included all of four counties and part of another, has been reduced to a single county:
Todd County in south-central South Dakota. Much Indian-owned land remains in isolated sections of the other counties. Similar reductions occurred in the other reservations.
Both inside and outside the reservation boundaries in West River, the Lakota are an integral part of the region and its history: many towns have Lakota names, such as ''
Owanka,'' ''
Wasta,'' and ''
Oacoma.'' Towns such as
Hot Springs
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...
,
Timber Lake, and
Spearfish
Spearfish may refer to:
Places
*Spearfish, South Dakota, United States
* North Spearfish, South Dakota, United States
* Spearfish Formation, a geologic formation in the United States
Biology
* ''Tetrapturus'', a genus of marlin containing spe ...
have English names translated from the original Lakota names. Some rivers and mountains retain Lakota names. The
buffalo and
antelope
The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia.
Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mammals ...
, indigenous game that were the basis of Lakota diet, now graze together with cattle and sheep. Bison ranching has been increasing on the Great Plains, in efforts to revive this important species. Numerous monuments honor Lakota and European-American heroes and events.
Land claims
Although many non-Native homesteads were abandoned during the Dust Bowl-era of the 1930s, rather than reassigning the land to the Sioux, the federal government transferred much of the abandoned land to federal agencies. For instance, the
National Park Service
The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...
took over part of the modern
National Grasslands and the
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
was assigned other land for management.
In some cases, the United States appropriated more land from the reduced reservations, as in the case of the
WW2
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
-era
Badlands Bombing Range
The Badlands Bombing Range (BBR) refers to Rapid City Army Air Base target ranges for World War II which included the current Air Force Retained Area, an inactive United States Air Force site "20 miles southeast" of Scenic, South Dakota. The ret ...
, taken from the Oglala Sioux of Pine Ridge. Although the range was declared surplus to
USAF
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
needs in the 1960s, it was transferred to the National Park Service rather than returned to the tribe's communal ownership.
Considering the Black Hills sacred and illegally taken, in the 20th century, the Lakota pursued a suit against the US government for the return of the land. In the 1980 ''
United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians
''United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians'', 448 U.S. 371 (1980), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that: 1) the enactment by Congress of a law allowing the Sioux Nation to pursue a claim against the United States tha ...
'', the
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled that the land had been taken illegally. The US government offered financial compensation in settlement. The Oglala Lakota are persisting in their demand to have the land returned to their nation; the account with their settlement compensation is earning interest.
See also
*
Black Hills Land Claim
The Black Hills land claim is an ongoing land dispute between Native Americans from the Sioux Nation and the United States government over the Black Hills mountain range in the US states of South Dakota and Wyoming. The land in question was pled ...
*
Great Sioux Nation
The Great Sioux Nation is the traditional political structure of the Sioux in North America. The peoples who speak the Sioux language are considered to be members of the Oceti Sakowin (''Očhéthi Šakówiŋ'', pronounced ) or Seven Council Fire ...
*
Republic of Lakotah
The Republic of Lakotah or Lakotah is a List of active separatist movements in North America#United States, proposed independent republic in North America for the Lakota people. Proposed in 2007 by activist Russell Means, the suggested territo ...
*
Siouxland
Siouxland is a vernacular region that encompasses the entire Big Sioux River drainage basin in the U.S. states of South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. cheetz, George H."Whence Siouxland?" ''Book Remarks'' ioux City Public Library May ...
References
Citations
General references
* Nathan A. Barton, ''Environmental Assessment of Rosebud Indian Reservation'' (2003)
LA Associates, Inc
* Michael L. Lawson
"The Fractionated Estate: The Problem of American Indian Heirship" ''South Dakota State Historical Society Quarterly'' (Spring 1991) vol. 21, no. 1.
* ''Atlas of Western United States History'' (1989)
niversity of Oklahoma Press
External links
Map of the Great Sioux Reservation adapted from ''Handbook of North American Indians: Plains'', vol. 13, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution
''The New York Times'', 10 February 1883, accessed Nov 2009
"Act dissolving the Great Sioux Reservation", 2 Mar 1889 University of North Dakota
{{Authority control
Former American Indian reservations
Former populated places in Nebraska
Former populated places in North Dakota
Former populated places in South Dakota
History of Nebraska
Pre-statehood history of North Dakota
Pre-statehood history of South Dakota
Sioux Wars
Sioux