Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-09-05

S6 AAoAs Ao"Ao AIAPloItG1olb Ill
North Dakota
EDITOR TRIBUNE: l find the following
in a late number of the Christian Union,
credited to the New York Tribune. Will
you kindly publish a few comments on the
same:
ST.. PAUL, Aug. 10-[Special. ]-Profes-
sor T. II. Lewis, the archeologist Of St.
Paul. has been exploring the country
around jamestown, n. D., for relics of the
moundbuilders. He has surveyed over 200
mounds among the bluffs bordering the
v ,lley, and some 'hirty-tiye around Spirit.
h~alf-buried boulders abound over a vast
area of the northwest, from Manitoba to
the northern Iowa line, and from st. Paul
10 Great Falls, Mont. They are particu-
larly abundant along the Missouri, Big
Sioux and James river valleys, and are
course. The present Indian tribes of the
Dakotas know nothing of their origin.
These rings of boulderS show great an
tiquity. The comparatively rainless re-
glon is peculiarly adapted to preserving
them, and hundreds of years must elapse
ordinary forces of nature. Yet in many of
the circles, on high gravelly points, the
boulders are just visible on the surface.
while excavation shows that many are
buried out of sight entirely.
So far from "the present Indian tribes
knowing nothing of the origin" of these
ancient rings of boulders, investigation
would have shown the writer of the above
the contrary.
The hard-worklng squaws of the modern
tribes look upon them as evidence of the
progression and higher civilization of their
lords and as emblemS of a domestic drudg-
cry under which their foremothers
groaned and from which they have been
happily emancipated, just as their white
sisters in contemplating their sewing ma
chimes, commiserate their female ances-
tors who were compelled to do their sew
ing by hand.
Nowadays when a rowing band of In
dlanS want to go into camp-which, for rea-
sons that it does not require a scientist to
elucldate, is now, as i'll times past, "near u
lake or water course"-the faithful
first a center pole, then then ti IsSHie'
slender withes of willow or cottonwood
tied at the top to the centerpole, and bend.
ing outward like the frame of an umbrella;
over this cone-like skeleton they deity
arrange the covering of deer Or bear or
DulldiO 1oUCo, leaving q Sludll Upcllllp dI
the top for ventilation, let us hope; then in
order that the covering of robes may not
be blown about, and thus endanger the
Solldlty OF the whole structure, the thought
full squaw produces a full set of tepee pegs
short, sharp stakes fashioned with her
skilful Ratchet or butcher knife. These
are driven firmly through holes made for
the purpose in the lower edges of the
skins, to which loops of deer thongs are
attached for the purpose, and securely
fastened in the ground. Then no matter
how the stormy winds do blow the tepee
stands snug and Shipshapp, and no crevices
to admit the cold are left around the lower
edges of the primitive dwelling. A set of
tepee pins are now a part OF the furnishing
of every we'll ordered "travoise,' and but
II by chance they become lost or brOken
the Indian housewife quickly seeks the
nearest thicket and readily manufactures a
new set. Timber being a rarity on the
plains, the frugal sQuaw is extremely care
full of these useful domestic conveniences.
But once there was a time when the Da-
kota Indians were in a barbarouS condition
and the Great Father at Washington had
not led them up to their present state of
comparative civilization, by the gratuitous
distribution among them of knives and
hatchets and other outstanding weapons.
There the poor benighted squaw, abroad
upon the prairie, couldn't cut a stick, for
the simple reason that she had nothing to
cut it with. There were no sharp pointed
tent pins to hold in palce the shaggy folds
of the hides that formed the covering of
the cone-like tepee, and when the fragile
house was reared the poor sQuaw was per-
force obliged to carry heavy rocks and i'll
fantile boulders and place them upon the
lower edge of the robes to hold them in
place, and thus keep the interior warm,
and to prevent the whole structure from
blowing away.
Tho fnnnn lnirr o;,a,Jo, =, ,Lo-, -.
circumference was clearly outlined by the
row OF boulders that formed the ballast,
and when the tepee was taken down for
removal to another place the rocks We're
left laying as they were, and there they
lie to this day to gladden. the heart of the
weary squaw as she whacks in her tepee
pegs with her government Ratchet with the
reflection that her lot is beatitude COM
pared with her hatchetless, boulder pack
ing grandmother, II to puzzle the brains
of arcllteOlOgiSts who wander too far from
the haunts of their kind in the far east, to
explore the comparatively rainless re-
gions' OF ike Missouri slope, with vain con-
j%cctiOns as to their origin.
A glance at the reports of the signal ser
vice as to the amount of rainfall in Dakota
will show the fallacy OF CHASING this re-
gion, til home of No. hard wheat and
of cereals u%nequalled in the world as "com-
paratively rainless."
- AoSC OAN DoSlluClos CNCl VII llSl
points, are partly covered with soil is no
evidence of antiquity. On the contrary,
they serve as stopping places for the
gravel and shifting sands and soon become
covered with debris in which grass seeds
take ready root and grow. Some seven
years ago, in ignorance of this fact, the
walks and flower beds in the grounds
around my home at Villula were bOrdered
with the granite rocks, so abundant on the
prairie, my husband and myself then con-
graduating ourselves on having made an
Improvement that would never need re-
pairs. Yet to preserve this symmetry
those rocks have to be taken up
and relaid every alternate year, else they
would be entirely lost from view.
They form a "catchall" for the loose soil
sand, gravel and dead leaves, and these
soon fill up and obIiterate the c~revices be-
tween their rounded sides, and every down.,
pour of rain washes mud and gravel
against and over them, so that they require
constant attention. The Sitting winds of
this region would bury them out of sight if
they were left alone.
LINDA W. SLAUGHTER.
August %, 1890.
Got 'em Bad.
The MinOt Journal has got 'em bad. 1t