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| Reckoning Time |
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A
Mandan Winter Count
Given by Foolish Woman at Independence, July
11, 1929, to explain the pictured events recorded in
his notebook. |
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1839
In the spring they crossed to the south side of the
river, the band split up, and part camped where they
had crossed and the other half went up the Yellowstone
and made camp about Rosebud creek, in the gumbo tree
timber. |
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1838
That winter camp was down in old Cold Harbor where there
is a creek known by Indians as Mussel Shell creek. A
man by the name of Turtle did his first deed (of valor)
by striking an enemy. A man by the name of Four Bears
killed seven Sioux and brought one white horse back
that same winter. |
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1839
In the spring they crossed to the south side of the
river, the band split up, and part camped where they
had crossed and the other half went up the Yellowstone
and made camp about Rosebud creek, in the gumbo tree
timber. |
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1844
A man by the name of Hand was chief of the village and
appointed the camp. |
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1846
A man named One Bull located the winter camp and he
took the same site for the village. That winter there
was chicken pox. |
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1848
Next winter Man-with-long-hair established winter camp
in the same place. He is said to have been quite an
orator. You will find his oration in Washington yet.
Many buffalo again, -- they came right into the village.
That summer Foolish Woman's grandfather was shot
in the head during battle. The skull used to be lying
right there on the battle-field. |
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(Beckwith:
1934) |
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Scattered Corn, Mandan mother of James Holding
Eagle.She was the daughter of Moves Slowly, the last
Mandan corn priest.
From Smithsonian Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin
80, plate 2
Photo courtesy Three Tribes Museum. |
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Holding Eagle, Hidatsa father
of James Holding Eagle.
From Smithsonian Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 80, plate 2. |
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"No cows were kept at Fort Berthold on account
of the cornfields; the
law prevailing there gives women the right to kill any animal
that
strays into their fields. Once I saw a splendid 2-year-old colt
half
killed by an Indian woman because it had escaped from its keeper
and was
bustling about in the midst of the growing corn" (Kurz
1937:120).
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Knife River > Culture > Since Time Immemorial
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Photo by Harvey Thompson |
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| A Creation Story |
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| This Hidatsa version told by Mrs. Good Bear (Mandan and Hidatsa
woman) and interpreted by Rollo Jones, June 11, 1929. |
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| "It is our Indian custom to tell
an old-time story when the corn is ripe. We have
a man called Only Man. As he was walking along he
came to himself. He stood and thought. A pipe was
lying in front of him, over his head flew a raven.
And he sang a song which said 'Where did I come
from?' He thought, 'Where did I come from? How did
I happen to come here? The earth about him was sandy
and he could plainly see his own tracks, so he followed
them back to see where he came from. He came to
a wet spot, then farther on to a great water, beside
which was a plant with spotted leaves. A Buffalo
Bug was jumping about in the sand.The plant said,
"I am your mother, it was I that bore you; that
is your father," and the weed-mother told Only Man
that he was born to arrange matters on the earth.
- "Go back to the wet spot and there you will find
a tall weed." |
Mrs. Good Bear
Edward Curtis photograph, 1908 |
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"That is for your pipe. I am just a weed, this is all I am for.
If anyone has a sore eye or stomach trouble let him take me and
boil me up for medicine. Go ahead and create things in the world."
When he came to himself he had a wolf blanket and a cane with feathers
tied to the end. He came to the wet spot and there grew a tall
tobacco weed and around it buzzed a tobacco-fly - buzz, buzz, buzz.
The bug said, "I am blowing your tobacco plant, - use it to smoke."
Again he sang the same song - "Where did I come from?" and he pulled
up the tobacco plant.
"As he was trotting along at a gentle pace another man came
up suddenly. The two argued as to which was the older. They agreed
"You lie here and I there and the first one that gets up will be
the younger." Only Man said he would leave his cane standing and
the other turned about and lay down and Only Man sang the same
song - "Where did I come from?" He went on his way and traveled
over the whole world from one end to the other, then he thought
of his cane and returning to the spot where it stood he found it
tottering and ready to fall. Grass grew where the other lay. He
said, "This fellow can never get up again!" He took his cane and
it became like new and he sang his song and was about to trot away
when the other man got up from the heap of dust where his body
had been and said, "I told you that I was older than you!"
"The two traveled to create the world. They looked for mud
but there was sand alone. They came to a great lake where were
two mudhens, a male and a female. They called them over and made
them their servants and the mudhens dived and brought mud and the
men made all creatures. They would throw the mud in the air and
at once it became a bird. One bird had no place to go, so it flew
over the stoney places and became a nighthawk. Another stuck its
head into the red paint , saying it was hungry, and when it pulled
its head out the head was red, so they said it should have a hard
time to get a living out of rotten trees. This was the woodpecker.
"They made many kinds of different birds and animals and at
last a grandmother frog came and said, You are making too many
animals; we must make death so that the first ones may pass away
and the new ones come." The two said, "You have nothing to say
about our business!" and they picked up a stone and hit Grandmother
Frog on the back. That is why her legs spread out so. That is how
death started, and the child of Grandmother Frog was the first
to die. Grandmother Frog came to the men and said, "I am sorry!
Let us take it back and have no death!" but the men said, "No,
it is impossible, it must be so."
The two said, "Let us improve the earth, it is all sand!" So they
took the mud that was left and Only Man took his lump and smoothed
it over the earth and the earth was flat. First Creator took a
little bit and put it here and there and formed hills and bluffs.
Only Man used his cane and leveled the north side of the earth
and made lakes. First Creator's idea was that when the snow flies
there should be rough land and trees and springs to protect men
and animals from the cold. First Creator made nothing but buffalo
to roam over the land and in every herd he made a white buffalo
and he said that this white one should be precious. From the coast
this way Only Man created and First Creator created the south side
of the earth. Thus it has been told from generation to generation.
"After the creation Only Man was never seen again. First Creator
turned into a coyote and from him came the coyotes today. He never
knew where he came from" (Beckwith: 1930). |
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| Oral History |
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The Origin of Indian Corn
in North America
by James Holding Eagle, from a hand-written
manuscript archived at the State Historical Society
of North Dakota.
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James
Holding Eagle
Photo courtesy of the Three Affiliated
Tribes from Three Tribes Museum |
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Indian
corn
Photo courtesy of Calvin Grinnell |
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Indian
Cornfield 1916,
From Gilbert Wilson Papers,
Minnesota Historical Society.
Neg #82700 |
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Background:
Hidatsa drying squash,
Gilbert Wilson photo, Minnesota Historical Society
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