Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe

Creeks with names like Red Earth and Thunder Butte flow through the “Wakpa Wasté Oyanke” or “Good River Reservation.” The mighty Missouri River borders its eastern edge, the rugged Cheyenne River forms its southern border, and the Moreau River flos through the heart of the reservation. This land of sprawling prairies and abundant waters is home to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

Other boundaries include the Standing Rock Indian Reservation to the north, and Meade and Perkins counties to the west. The Cheyenne River Indian Reservation was created as a result of the U.S. Congress Act of 1889, which broke up the Great Sioux Reservation into smaller reservations. Today the reservation covers almost all of Dewey and Ziebach counties in South Dakota, however, much of the land inside the boundaries is privately owned. In addition, there are many small parcels of off-reservation trust land in surrounding counties. The total reservation land area is 1.4 million acres, making it the fourth-largest Indian reservation in land area in the United States. The Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’s (CRST) headquarters is located at Eagle Butte, the largest community on the reservation. US Highway 212 and SD Highways 65, 63 and 20 pass through the reservation.

The name Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe was given by the US government when the Cheyenne Agency was moved from Fort Bennett, which was located at the mouth of the Cheyenne River. The name was created by the Dawes Act of 1887 and is not to be confused with the Cheyenne Nation of Montana and other areas.

The reservation is the home of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, or Cheyenne River Lakota Nation (Oyate), which is made up of parts of four of the traditional seven bands of the Lakota Nation: Plants by the Water or Minicoujou, Sans Arc or Itazipco, Black Foot or Sihasapa, and Two Kettles or Oohenumpa. These bands speak Lakota.

Lakota people believe they emerged from Wind Cave in the Black Hills, or “Paha Sapa.” These Lakota ancestors roamed the vast areas east of the Rocky Mountains to the Eastern Seaboard.

Reprinted from A Guide to Tribal Natives: Oceti Sakowin Homelands published by Travel South Dakota

Standing Rock Sioux

Source: A Guide to Tribal Nations, Oceti Sakowin Homelands, South Dakota

WELCOME to the land of the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota. There are 9 Native American tribes that call South Dakota home and each of them has a unique story to tell. Working together they welcome visitors into their communities in order to educate and share.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe

Covering 2.3 million acres the Standing Rock Indian Reservation is the fifth largest reservation in the United States. It stretches across the expansive tallgrass prairie, rolling hills and buttes that border the Missouri River.

Lake Oahe, a Missouri river reservoir, is on the east side of Standing Rock. The Grand River is to the south and the Cannon Ball River is to the north. The reservation includes lands in South Dakota and North Dakota.

Standing Rock Reservation takes its name from a natural formation that resembles a woman with a child on her back. Today this sacred stone stands on a monument outside the Standing Rock Agency’s office in Fort Yates, ND.

The reservation is home to two bands of the Lakota Nation: the Sihasapa (or Blackfoot) and the Hunkpapa (or Campers at the Horn). It is also home to two bands of Dakota, including the Upper Yanktonai (called the Ihanktonwana or Little End Village) and the Lower Yanktonai (called the Hunkatina or Cut Heads).

The reservation was established in July 1873 by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1873 by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, which broke up the Great Sioux Nation into smaller reservations.

The Hunkpapa and Sihasapa people were known as the horsemen of the plains and primarily hunted buffalo for their needs. The Yanktonai were a river-plains people who did some farming and buffalo hunting.

Standing Rock is the birthplace of (bold) Sitting Bull (1831-1890), one of the most widely recognized Native American historical figures. Known in his language as Tatanka Iyotake. Sitting Bull was a medicine man and an Itancan, (Leader of the People). He was born along the Grand River and lived the traditional lifestyle of his people. In his lifetime he fought to preserve and protect the ways of the people and stood firm against all attempts by the US government to buy land sacred to the Lakota and Dakota people and to being relocated to the reservation set aside for the Nation.

Sitting Bull was killed on December 15, 1890 during an attempt to arrest him. Two burial sites memorialize Sitting Bull: the original burial site located at FORT YATES and the site to where the grave was allegedly relocated across the Missouri River from MOBRIDGE. At the Fort Yates site, a rock and bronze sign honors Sitting Bull. A bust carved by Korzcak Ziolkowski honors Sitting Bull at the site near Mobridge. This site overlooks the western bank of the Missouri River on the eastern boundary of the reservation.

Just north of Mobridge on Highway 1806 the INDIAN MEMORIAL AREA is home to the JEDEDIAH SMITH HISTORICAL MONUMENT, which describes the life and accomplishments of this famous explorer.

In addition to its rich culture and history, Standing Rock offers great scenic drives and recreational opportunities.

The STANDING ROCK NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN SCENIC BYWAY runs along historic Highway 1806 and Highway 24 for 86 miles. It crosses the lands of the Lakota and Dakota people, who preserve the history of several explorers, trappers and chiefs who were essential in the shaping of the American West.

Memorial markers, interpretive signs and monuments commemorate the heritage of the Lakota and Dakota nations, allowing visitors to learn history from the Native American and early settlers’ points of view. Standing Rock offers historical step-on guided tours along the scenic byway, covering the lives of Sitting Bull, Gall, Two Gun Hart, Moustache Maude, Hugh Glass, Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith and how they made history on the Standing Rock Reservation.

Standing Rock offers an abundance of water recreation on Lake Oahe. THE BAY located near Grand River Casino and Resort west of Mobridge and PRAIRIE KNIGHTS CASINO AND RESORT near Fort Yates, provide RV hookups, camping areas and ample space for boating and fishing.


POINTS OF INTEREST AND ATTRACTIONS

In the town of Fort Yates, ND overlooking the Missouri River, STANDING RCK MONUMENT is said to represent the petrified from of a woman and her child.

SITTING BULL AND SACAGAWEA MONUMENTS overlook the Missouri River and stand in a remote spot on SD Highway 1806, two miles southwest of Mobridge. Many believe this to be the final resting place of Native American spiritual and social leader Sitting Bull.

SITTING BULL VISITOR CENTER is located on the Sitting Bull College Campus in Fort Yates, ND. The center offers useful information regarding local events, places to visit and special events.

The SITTING BULL COLLEGE BOOKSTORE & BOUTIQUE is located on campus in the Sitting Bull College Science & Technology Center. The boutique offers a variety of clothes, jewelry, arts & crafts and star quilts.

GRAND RIVER CASINO AND RESOURT is located near Mobridge and offers a variety of gaming options, gift shoop, lodging and restaurant.

PRAIRIE KNIGHTS CASINO AND RESORT is located at o7932 Hwy 24, offering a wide variety of high-stakes gaming options, spacious hotel rooms and buffet-style meals. Savor fine dining at the Hunter’s Club, one of North Dakota’s premier restaurants and enjoy music monthly.

Visit TravelSouthDakota.com/Powwows for more information on powwow events. Tribal communities also have their own powwows throughout the year.

Reprinted from A Guide to Tribal Nations Oceti Sakowin Homelands, South Dakota.

Tribal Headquarters:
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
PO Box D, Fort Yates ND 58538
701-854-8500

Featured Tribe Welcome

Welcome to the Featured Tribe

 A special feature of this bright new BuffaloGrande Website will be our highlighting of a Native American Tribe. We will feature one tribe explaining their own history, what’s going on with the Reservation, Tourist Opportunities for visitors, buffalo herds if they have one and future expectations.

The tourism groups of several states tell us they want to explain this in their own voices—and of course that’s what we want too!

And tourists love it. We did this when we participated in the Bismarck State College Bison Symposium in June 2022, during which we brought some 80 people to our Historic Buffalo Sites near Hettinger in two big travel buses.

Two Lakota storytellers, Dakota Goodhouse and Kevin Locke rode the buses from Bismarck, pointing out historic buttes and telling stories about events they knew had happened there—and a few legends too.

It was a great hit with our visitors. After all, the ancestors of some of our Native people had travelled and hunted on foot in these lands for at least 7,000 years—according to the geologists.

Our plans are to start with the Plains Buffalo Hunting Tribes in the US and Canada—and perhaps reach out to other tribes if they are willing to join us.

Some more distant tribes, even though they may have no history of Buffalo hunting, have invested in their own buffalo herds for the culture of it.

Below is some general information for visitors, from the Guide to Tribal Nations, that applies to wider areas than just one tribe.

RICH CULTURE & HERITAGE

Source: A Guide to Tribal Nations, Oceti Sakowin Homelands, South Dakota

From rolling plains to majestic mountains, a variety of distinct landscapes decorate South Dakota. These lands also hold a diverse population.

As of 2022 Native Americans make up more than 15% of South Dakota’s population. The nine tribal nations’ land base encompasses 6.8 million acres of land.

Traditional creation stories place the nation’s birth in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

After being displaced in the 1700’s, people of the Seven Council Fires migrated west from the woodlands of Minnesota to the Great Plains. Lakota, Dakota and Nakota customs hold the forces of nature as holy, emphasizing the importance of balance among all things in the universe.

This balance remains an instrumental piece of life, as do the cardinal virtues of “woksape” (wisdom), and “woohitika” (bravery), “wowacinanka” (fortitude) and “Wacantognaka” (generosity).

 THE BUFFALO NATION

The Great Spirit Scan made us with bones from Stone, bodies from Earth and souls from himself, Wind and Thunders. The gifts of Sun, Wisdom, Moon and Revealer gave us life. A council of the spirits named us Pte Oyate (Buffalo Nation) and told us to care for the spirits.

On day Spider sent Wolf to the Underworld to tell Tokahe that life would be easier on the surface of the earth. Tokahe ignored to warnings of the holy man Tatanka, and led the people up through Wind Cave.

Life there was hard, so Tatanka came to help—as a great, shaggy beast. Since then the people have lived here with the buffalo.

POWWOWS & CELEBRATIONS

Colorful finery, elaborate feather-work and intricate beadwork describe the visual atmosphere of a powwow or “wacipi” (Lakota, Dakota and Nakota for “they dance,” pronounced wah-CHEE—pee). Spirited drumming and singing fill the air as dancers complete their fancy footwork.

Many of today’s powwows feature competitions in categories such as traditional, fancy and jingle-dress dancing. During the intertribal dance, spectators have a chance to enter the dance ring.

Vendors at powwows provide an opportunity for visitors to sample foods like Indian tacos, fry breat and “wojapi,’ a fruit sauce or jam.

The waciipi as practiced in the Plains region is a social event which can last from one to several days. It is a time when Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribal people conduct honorings, giveaways and family gatherings.

Friends meet, camp, visit and reconnect as tribal nations. During the summer months, the celebration is usually held outdoors, with a shade or covered area where the audience and dancers sit. The center area or arena is reserved for the dancing.

Dances are eiher for men or women and competitions are divided into age categories.

The dancers move in a clockwise direction, which represents the circle of unity and the never-ending cycle of life. Singers are usually under or adjacent to the shade or covered area between he audience and the dance arena.

Powwow singers and drummers play a very important part of the celebration, proving rhythm for the dances. They sing many types of songs including honor & family, war & conquest, joy, encouragement, humor and mourning.

Attire worn by a dancer is called “regalia” and should not be referred to as a costume. Development of a dancer’s regalia often takes years to create and may include gifts which have deep meaning.

Catch the spirit at one of these or many other wacipi celebrations across the state. When attending, please remember to be respectful.

REGIONAL TOURISM ASSOCIATIONS
The 4 SD Regional Tourism Associations are also a source of information concerning travel on reservations and tribal lands.

BLACK HILLS & BADLANDS
1851 Discovery Circle
Rapid City SD 57701
605 355-3600
BlackHillsBadlands.com

GLACIAL LAKES & PRAIRIES
1200 33RD St SE #314
Watertown SD 57201
605-886-7305
SDGlacialLakes.com

SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA
317 Broadway, Suite 7
Yankton, SD 57078
605-665-2435
SoutheastSouthDakota.com

SOUTH DAKOTA MISSOURI RIVER
20207 South Dakota Highway 1804
Pierre SD 57501
605-224-4617
SDMissouriRiver.com

WHAT DOES “SIOUX” Mean?

When visiting Native communities you will experience genuine hospitality, discover authentic art and hear about the fascinating history and unique culture of the people known by many as “Sioux.”

The US government officially recognized the Lakota as “Sioux” in 1825 and has applied this name to the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota in official documents ever since. The term “Sioux” is a fragment of the French and Ojibwa word “nadouessioux,” which is believed to be a derogatory term meaning “little snakes.”

The name may have resulted from a history of territorial conflicts between the Lakota, Dakota, Nakota and the Ojibwas. People of the Great Sioux Nation prefer the terms Lakota (meaning “Friend,” “Ally” or “Brother People), Dakota and Nakota when referring to themselves as a people and a nation. These are the names of the group’s different dialects, regions and economies.

The word “Sioux” appears in this publication when necessary, but efforts were made to use the more accepted terms of Lakota, Dakota and Nakota. Information contained in this guide was taken from many sources. Because of that there are inconsistencies in the spelling of Lakota, Dakota and Nakota words.

BuffaloGrande Foundation’s First Featured Tribe will be Standing Rock.

Tribal Headquarters:
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
PO Box D, Fort Yates ND 58538
701-854-8500