[316] Old Mandan villages had been scattered all along this reach of the river, Lewis and Clark noting the first remains below Heart River.—Ed.
[317] The Cheyenne River of North Dakota—not to be confused with the Missour affluent in South Dakota—is the largest western tributary of Red River of the North. Devil's Lake, a large body of fresh water in Halsey County, was a favorite habitat of the Sioux. South of it is now an Indian reservation, chiefly for Sisseton and Wahpeton Sioux. St. Peter's River is the present Minnesota; its source is in Big Stone Lake, on the boundary of Minnesota and South Dakota.—Ed.
[318] Lewis and Clark called the first Mandan village Ma-too-ton-ka. This was in a wooded bend, three miles below the site of Fort Clark.—Ed.
[319] Fort Clark, named in honor of General William Clark, was built in 1831 as the American Fur Company's post among the Mandan. An earlier post near by, had been the company's home since 1822. Fort Clark was second in importance only to Forts Union and Pierre. A trusted employé was kept as chief factor, and the post was maintained until the close of the fur-trading era. Its site was eight miles below the mouth of Big Knife River, on the west bank, some eighty or ninety paces back from the river, and about three-quarters of a mile lower down and on the opposite side of the river from Fort Mandan, Lewis and Clark's wintering place (1804-05).—Ed.
[320] The Wolf chief, called by the French traders Chef de Loup, and by Catlin Ha-na-ta-nu-mauk, was head chief of the nation. Of an austere and haughty nature, he was feared rather than beloved by the tribe, whose idol was Four Bears, the second chief. Bodmer painted this chief in two ways (see Plates 46 and 47, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv). Catlin also secured his likeness both in full dress and in mourning. Catlin describes in detail a buffalo robe covered with paintings representing his exploits; see Catlin, North American Indians, i, pp. 145-154.—Ed.
[321] James Kipp was born in Canada in 1788. When about twenty years of age he entered the fur-trade, as hunter and trapper in the Red River region. By 1818 he was on the upper Missouri, and became the agent of the Columbia Fur Company at its Mandan post. Later, he became a trusted employé of the American Fur Company, building Fort Piegan among the Blackfeet (1831). For many years he was chief factor at Fort Clark, transferring (1835) to Fort McKenzie. Audubon found him in charge of Fort Alexander, on the Yellowstone, in 1843, and two years later he was entrusted with the important post at Fort Union. He retired from the fur-trade in 1865, and settled upon his Missouri farm, which he had acquired many years before. As late as 1876 he once more visited the Mandan, whose language he was said to have been the first white man to master.—Ed.
[322] For Toussaint Charbonneau, see Brackenridge's Journal, in our volume vi, p. 32, note 3.—Ed.
[323] For the Crow Indians, see our volume v, p. 226, note 121.—Ed.
[324] See Plate 13, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.
[325] See Plate 49, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.—Ed.