Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-04-03
INDIANS wlNTERlNo.

LAZY Bucks-Nuo'A
Idroyc up to the Indian camp ne.r
bore Il day or two ago, and took a
''asn into a number of tepees to
las how the Cheyennes were max
:ar out with the thermometer
~, III forty-seven degrees below zero,
IT, the first lodge or tepee were half a
aozen lazy bucks, sitting around a
smoldering fire in the center of the
,,1,ce, and all furiously smoking-both
,he fire and the bucks, After being
s;octcd from their nostrils in great
|o1ouas, the smoke assembled to the top,
There the lodgc-pole crossed, and es-
a,ned through an aperture left for that
I,,rpose. These idle fellows did moth
Enc for a living, but sat around in a
oiiele from morning till night, saying
sc,rcelv a word to n another and
smoking necessarily. The squaws
kbrouoht them a little parchod corn
Once in awhile, which made up their
Xii of fare for the day. The first thing
f. the morning they would all take a
.mokc, and then eat a little corn for
,rrakfast. Then they'd smoke again
n dinner time, eat a little more corn
ND 90 to smoking again. The putting
rorld continue until evening, when
MINER would be had of the same old
m rn Il little more smoking, and then
he'd of buffalo robes or animal skins
,ntil morning, Next day the same
Nd laborious programme would be
none through with, and SO on until the
Edvcnt of warm weather.
Twas a little curious to know lust
What the Indians were smoking, for 1
new it was not tobacco from it's pc
ruliar odor-a sort of greenish fresh
ness that was very pleasant to inhale.
10 / made bold to inquire of a Chey-
fnue buck, with whom 1 had some
Eljrht acquaintance from frequently
ENG him in the post traders store at
he fort, what the compound was. Be-
wcen my broken Cheyenne and his
brokcn English we managed toEmake
ourselves mutually understood, and this
5 the substance OF it:
The stuff is called kinne-kan-nick,
nd is a sort of wild tobacco made
rom the bark of willow trees. Dur
rr the summer the s1uaws gather a
bundle of the large sized shoots and
arry them. to the tepee, where the wind
oes no: blow, and there scrapc off the
lark with q knife. First the outside
eating is taken off, which is thrown
way; the soft inner bark is then
crapcd into. a piece of antelope or
Ger skin and left to dry. 1t is of a
ark greenish color, and emits a pleas
mi smell. When dry, the sql1aws
rease their hands with buffalo fat, and
zen crush the bark until it is pulvcr-
Ecl fine enough for the pipe, the re-
nit of which is the grease ~adhering to
be particles of bark makes it burn
fecly. The Grows and Picgans use a
Ert of sumach for tobacco, which is
bund growing on a stunted vine in the
ocky Mountains, far above the per-
ftual snow-line.
All through this Cheyenne village In
Fans were existing rather than living,
kind of Information, as it were, await
e the advent of warm weather before
ley comeforth from their tepees to lay
supply of kinne-kan-nick and
Rrched corn for the ensuing winter.
he Cheyennes have now a reservation
apart for them by Executive order
e'sd November 2G last, and as their
serve joins the Crow reservation on
east. Agent Armstrong, the present
gent OF the Crows, is to act in a like
pacity for the Cheyennes.
ms reservation is about thirty miles
ne by twenty miles wide, and con-
ms a little over six hundred square
lies, or about three hundred and
Eht,y-iive thousand acres of land. 1t
on the south side of Yellowstone
yer, between the southern limit of
forty-mile grant of the Northern
enc Railroad and the northern Dor
7 of Wyoming. There are exactly
hundred and ten Cheyenne Indians to
OXIDE for, which will give just one
lare mile of land to each buck.
nav and pappoose. The order pro-
"s that bona fide settlers who were
the new reserve prior to October 81,
!, should be allowed to remain and
am ahomestead claim of one hundred
\ SIXTY acres of land each, but they
Isl Keep themselves, their herds and
IT hooks within their one hundred
! sixty acres and not allow them to
III at large nor Craze over the
ha!nder OF the reservation. There
llleen settlers, or ranchmen, who
me under the head of bona fide set
: ana their herds are scattered far
VIDE over the country. Consider
IRON any point of view, the or
gives satisfaction to neither whites
reds. The Indians do not want
NC men living on their reservation,
'ae latter want the Indians moved
VI inc country. For a long time
.heyennes and the cattlemen have
at war-not real open warfare,
war on the sly; cowboys shooting
bneyennes, and Cheyennes killing a
vi Two when hard pressed by hum
IN which, as a general thing, the
,ans got the worst of it-and as this
b "'nt OF a great race, nomadic for
u ~ "ilhout an agent or an agency,
= oesn knocked around for some
fscpast, drawing no supplies from
government, but endeavoring to
care OF themselves as best they
preceding when left alone and
l "s "heh crowded to the wall.
MN TO have their sunset of life