North Dakota: A Guide to the Northern Prairie State

by Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of North Dakota

SIDE TOUR 8C

Mandan—Cannonball—Fort Yates—South Dakota Line. ND 6, 21, & 24.

Mandan to South Dakota Line, 85 m.

Graveled roadbed except 15 m. unimproved dry-weather roadbed on ND 21.

Accommodations at Fort Yates only.

This route traverses the North Dakota section of the Standing Rock Indian Agency (for history of the agency see Indians and Their Predecessors) where Sitting Bull, Rain-in-the-Face, and Chief Gall, Father Pierre De Smet, and Maj. James McLaughlin made early history in the Dakotas. When organized in 1868 the reservation contained four million acres. The treaty with the Sioux in 1887, however, provided for white settlement, and when the area was opened for homesteading in 1910 the reservation was reduced to 1,343,000 acres. Today all of Sioux County constitutes the North Dakota portion of the agency. Here 1,600 members of the upper and lower bands of the Yanktonai Sioux make their homes in an area of rugged brown hills, smooth grasslands, and rugged, distorted, gray-blue buttes. On the South Dakota side of the agency live 1,100 Hunkpapa and Blackfoot Sioux.

ND 6 branches S. from its junction with US 10 at MANDAN (see Tour 8), crosses the Heart River, and passes the U. S. NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS FIELD STATION (guides available at office). At 4 m. is the U. S. NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS DAIRY STATION (R). Various crops, plants, trees, shrubs, methods of farming, breeds of cattle, and even buildings are tried, tested, and adapted to the dry farming of the Missouri Slope country at these two Government experimental stations.

As the highway gradually ascends from the river valley to the flowing prairies, high hills and buttes are outlined in a blue haze against the southwestern horizon. At 9 m. (R) is the CESKY ZAKOPNIK (pronounced Chesky za kop' neek) or retreat of the Western Czechoslovakian Fraternal Organization, a social, benevolent, and protective society. The Cesky Zakopnik is a lodge hall and social center for the Czechs of Mandan and the vicinity. These people are thoroughly Americanized. Their dances (public), quite American in all other respects, have one unusual feature, the dancing of Sala Naninka De Zeli (Annie Went to the Cabbage Patch), a folk dance with intricate steps. It is usually performed once or twice during the evening, and the older people particularly enjoy it.

The sharp, high-pointed peak (L) of LITTLE HEART BUTTE (Sioux name, Ta canta wakpa cikala paha), an early-day landmark, is visible from a distance before the road passes it at 11 m. The Bismarck Weather Bureau uses the peak several times daily for observations of visibility.

At 15 m. is the junction with a graveled road.

Right here is ST. ANTHONY, 0.5 m. (1,790 alt., 116 pop.), a small community settled in 1887 by Roman Catholic German-Hungarians from Ohio. In 1906 a parochial school was opened, and despite the small size of the community this institution is still in operation, with an enrollment of more than 120.

The highway enters range country with few fences or farms. At 26 m. is a junction with ND 21 (see Side Tour 4B), which unites with ND 6 to 33 m. Here, as the highway begins to descend into the valley of the Cannonball River, there is a far-reaching view of country severe and imposing. Steep grass-covered hills and mesas give way to sharp, abrupt, gray clay cones and buttes that rise in confusion from the plain. The work of erosion in the creation of these formations is visible in many sidehills, where the top layers of earth have worn away to expose the bedrock strata beneath.

At 32 m. is the junction with a graveled roadbed.

Right here is BREIEN, 1 m. (1,694 alt., 53 pop.). Between the highway and the town is a natural park with camping facilities.

The CANNONBALL RIVER is crossed at 32.5 m. The river, its thin fringe of trees contrasting with the gray-brown of the valley, is so named because of the odd spheroidal formations found in its waters and in the steep banks of its valley. These concretions, believed to have been formed by the action of moisture within the Fox Hills sandstone, have been carried away in such large numbers by collectors that today only the small "cannonballs" are found along the stream. The Cannonball was the northern boundary of the Standing Rock Reservation before the area was opened to white settlement in 1910, and now is the northern limit of jurisdiction of the agency.

Left at 33 m. on ND 21, an unimproved dry-weather roadbed; the route passes through rugged hills S. of the Cannonball, reaching SOLEN, 40 m. (1,671 alt., 103 pop.), on the riverbank.

The route continues through country occasionally dotted with the small frame buildings of white farmers and the log huts of Indian families.

At 49 m. is the junction with ND 24, a graveled highway; R. on this route.

Left from the junction with ND 24 on ND 21 to the junction with an unimproved road, 1 m.; straight ahead (N) 0.3 m. to the steep western slope of the HOLY HILL OF THE MANDANS (R). Almost every tribe of American Indians has a tradition of a great flood which covered all the earth. The Mandan legend tells that an ark came to rest on this hill near the Cannonball River, and after the waters subsided the First Man and First Woman stepped out on the hill. Mandan, Arikara, and Sioux all revere the place, and the older natives are reticent about approaching the hilltop.

While the hill is steep on its western slope, it rolls gently into the surrounding terrain to the E. Clustered at its top are four granite boulders. Carved into the face of the largest, a red stone, are many symbols: buffalo tracks, bear paws, thunderbird tracks, serpents, and turtles. The three smaller gray rocks also carry one or two symbols each. Through legend and story the existence of these writing rocks had been indicated for many years, but, because of Indian reticence regarding sacred objects, their exact location was not definitely established until early in 1937. For clearness and number of carvings they compare with the Grenora Writing Rock (see Side Tour 4A).

On ND 21 at 4 m. is CANNONBALL (1,607 alt., 110 pop.), on the slope above the first bench of the MISSOURI RIVER. This is a good place to observe the Sioux in his native surroundings. During the winter months he lives in a tiny log hut, clay-chinked and sod-roofed, heated with a crude open hearth or a modern heating stove, depending on his affluence. In the summer he takes to the cooler tents or brush wikiups. Sioux beadwork and other articles of handicraft can be purchased in the stores at reasonable prices. Many of the Sioux here are well educated and will talk freely with strangers on current issues, but they are decidedly reserved concerning information and legends of their people. This is, of course, typical of the entire agency; the Indian will pretend ignorance of the identity or whereabouts of any Indian about whom a white man may inquire, unless the white man is known to him.

The first Sioux sun dance in North Dakota in more than 50 years was held near Cannonball in July 1937.

Nearly opposite the mouth of the Cannonball on the eastern bank of the Missouri, according to legend, once stood a Sioux village where in early days a holy man prophesied the coming of the white people. This holy man saw a vision which made him very sad, but try as he would, he could not banish it or change it. Urged by his people to reveal what he saw, he told that a strange race of people was relentlessly moving westward toward them, and would eventually claim their lands. He said these people had pale, hideous, ghastly skins, and their men had hairy faces like wolves. They had powerful weapons also, and the red men would not be able to withstand them when they came.

Right from Cannonball 13 m. on a graded dry-weather dirt road to an abandoned railroad bed, built when the N. P. Ry. planned a line to Pierre, S. Dak. Atop the old bed runs a trail through country teeming with upland game (during open season excellent pheasant, chicken, and grouse hunting). The trail turns R. at 20 m. and reaches ND 24 at 22 m.

South of Cannonball Corner the route proceeds on ND 24 to the junction with a graveled road at 69 m.

Right on this road at 0.5 m. are the SIOUX COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS where an annual Indian fair is held (1st wk. Sept.). Handiwork and produce are displayed, and bead, quill, and feather work can be purchased reasonably. A rodeo is usually a feature of the fair, with both white and Indian riders participating. Each evening there is dancing in costume, beginning with the true Indian dances and ending with the kahomni, or half-breed dances. There are also contests for the most skillful dancers.

At 0.7 m. is the unkept GRAVE OF SITTING BULL, covered with a concrete slab. This great Sioux chief was killed by Indian police on the Grand River in South Dakota during the Messiah trouble in 1890. Sitting Bull had long championed his people against the invasions of the white men, and was one of the leaders in the Battle of the Little Big Horn. After the battle Sitting Bull, Chief Gall, and 300 followers, pursued by Gen. Nelson A. Miles, took refuge in Canada where they remained until 1881. Gall returned first, resigned himself to the ways of the white man, and lived out his life on the reservation. He is buried at Wakpala, S. Dak. A few months after Gall's surrender Sitting Bull appeared at Fort Buford (see Side Tour 6B) followed by the tattered and hungry remnants of his faithful band, and gave himself up to the authorities. Although he never completely capitulated to the desires of his conquerors, he returned to the reservation and lived quietly there, except for a year he spent in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In 1890, however, the Messiah craze arose. The Indians had been told a new Messiah was coming to restore their lands to them. They held ghost dances and planned for the repossession of their lands as soon as the Messiah appeared. To forestall the possibility of an uprising the Indian police were sent to arrest Sitting Bull, who was believed to be a leader of the movement. In the half-light of a December early morning they entered his home and took him into custody. His followers were aroused and a battle ensued. At the first move from Sitting Bull's men the police shot him, and he fell, mortally wounded. Several of the police were also slain.

The bodies of the dead were taken to Fort Yates for burial, the Indian police being buried in the Roman Catholic cemetery where today a monument marks their resting places. In contrast with the elaborate rites which attended the burial of the slain policemen, Sitting Bull's body was interred without ceremony in the military cemetery. Fort Yates was abandoned in 1895 and all military graves removed. Only the burial place of the famous Sioux leader was left.

FORT YATES, 1 m. (1,670 alt., 700 pop.), is Indian Agency Headquarters, and seat of Sioux County. A few soldiers were stationed at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in 1873, but with the abandonment of Fort Rice in 1877 Fort Yates was established to protect the western frontier. It was named for Capt. George Yates of the Seventh Cavalry who was killed in the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

The superiority of railway transportation to that of the river boat led to the abandonment of Fort Yates in 1895 and the establishment of the new Fort Lincoln at Bismarck (see Tour 8).

It was at the Standing Rock Reservation that Rain-in-the-Face, a young Hunkpapa Sioux, was arrested by Tom Custer, brother of Gen. George A. Custer, for the alleged slaying of two white men. Rain-in-the-Face was imprisoned at Fort Abraham Lincoln but made his escape and joined the band of Sitting Bull, who lived without benefit of agency. He gained his revenge by participating in the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

The town today retains much of the appearance and spirit of its frontier days when it played an important part in the early Indian history of the State. On a flat plain overlooking the Missouri, its log huts and contrasting white frame buildings are scattered in a lazy fashion over a wide area, with the agency offices, schools, and the hospital as the core of the town.

Across the street from the agency office, overlooking the Missouri, is the famed Standing Rock (Sioux, Inyan Woslata), for which the agency was named. Originally sacred to the Arikara, it came into the possession of the Sioux. When the reservation was established the rock was on Proposal Hill, but it was later brought into town and mounted on a brick pedestal. It is of gray metamorphic composition entirely foreign to this area. If viewed from the correct angle, and with a discreet degree of imagination, the stone resembles the seated figure of a small, shawled woman. According to Dakota legend, a young Indian woman became jealous of her husband's second wife and refused to leave camp when the village moved. Thinking she would soon follow, the people of the village left her sitting before the fire with her child on her back. When she did not appear her husband sent his brothers-in-law to look for her. They returned to the deserted camp and found her and the child still seated before the fire—both transformed into stone. From that time the rock was carried with the tribe and occupied a position in the center of each village in which they lived. This rock is one of two revered by the Sioux. The other, Inyan Bosdata (erect rock), is on the Sheyenne River (see Side Tour 8A).

The population of Fort Yates is both white and Indian. The two great events of the year are the annual fair (see above), and the Fourth of July, when Indians from miles around come in to celebrate. On these occasions the fairgrounds present an unusual sight. Tall, graceful tipis rise above the squat, modern wall tents of the numerous camps that dot the level area around the race track, and back and forth is a bustling flow of dilapidated autos, sleek saddle ponies, running children, hobbling old warriors, and women dressed in bright colors. Except for their braided hair and their moccasins, the older men wear modern attire. The younger men, in keeping with the occasion, adopt western costume, high-heeled riding boots, blue denim trousers topped with wide, flashy belts, brightly colored shirts, and the ever present "ten gallon" hat. Cotton dresses and large bright shawls form the costume of the women, and moccasins are also worn by the older women. The highly colored Sioux costumes are seen only during the native dances.

Memorial Day and Armistice Day are also holidays. On Memorial Day graves are decorated with crepe paper flowers which have been made by the women during the winter. The Indians are intensely patriotic, and it would be hard to find a fair, tribal council, or any other meeting over which the flag of the United States does not fly.

A trail runs NW. of the town past the Roman Catholic church to a Golf Course, all nine holes laid out on the mesa-like top of Proposal Hill, where Standing Rock once stood. The hill in bygone days was a popular rendezvous for Indian sweethearts, hence its name.

Across the river from Fort Yates, in the heyday of the military post, there sprang up a little town called WINONA, a natural corollary of the restrictions of military life on an Indian reservation. By ferryboat in summer and over the ice by bobsled in winter went the soldier, trader, bullwhacker, Indian, and cowboy, to taste the "night life" offered in the gaming houses with their expansive bars and amiable hostesses. In Territorial days no less than nine saloons were operating, and an excellent race track was the scene of many financial exchanges.

Like other western towns, Winona attracted a wide variety of inhabitants. One of the most colorful was "Mustache Maude" Black. She came to the vicinity as a young school teacher, but, finding a more lucrative scope for her talents, entered the entertainment field. Tall, large, and angular, she was masculine in appearance, but wore women's clothing with the exception of her boots, which she had made to order, reputedly at $20 a pair. Because of her occupation the women of Winona ostracized her, but the men found her well educated, an astute business woman, a good poker player, and an excellent cook. By one of those quirks which make human beings as interesting as they are, Mustache Maude, the proprietor of many of Winona's most scarlet institutions, owned a good library and was an expert needlewoman. She married Ott Black, a rancher, and after the decline of her own business interests managed his ranch. She lived near Winona until her death.

There was another side of life in Winona, too. It was an enterprising business town, in the center of a growing ranching country. A Literary Society and Dramatic Club functioned for years. The Sunday school was organized by Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Spicer, who in 1897, together with four other members of their family, were killed by five drunken Indians, three of whom were subsequently lynched for the crime at nearby Williamsport.

Winona was so close to Fort Yates that at the time of the death of Sitting Bull and the Indian policemen the wailing of the squaws was clearly heard across the river. After the abandonment of Fort Yates, Winona began to decline. Today nothing is left of it but a few cellars and a solitary group of trees.

The route proceeds S. on ND 24, continuing through agency land. At 79 m. is the junction with ND 6; left here to South Dakota Line at 85 m., 8 m. N. of McLaughlin, S. Dak. (see S. Dak. Tour 2).