The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1907-04-02
THE HISTORICAL
society WORK
FIRST VOLUME ISSUED BY THE
SOCIETY AND IT. CONTAINS A
NUMBER OF INTERESTING AR
TIcLEs REGARDING THE WORK
DONE IN THIS STATE. .ru...

A new movement is on foot in North
Dakota. For years this state has been
the resort of the Indian curio hunter,
and thousands of specimens have been
carried off each year. The two great
trunk lines of the Northern Pacific and
Great Northern, traversing the state,
greatly facilitate the process. Recent
ly, however, with the reorganization of
the State Historical society, the people
of the state have awakened to the
value of their archaeological material
and propose in the future to do their
own exploring of old Indian sites and
preserve for their own use the remains
of the vanished races once occupying
their lands. .F.. ..... .....
North Dakota has the good fortune
to contain the only remaining frag-
ments of those two famous tribes of
the. northwest, the Mandans and the
Grosventres, and has also within her
, borders representatives of three other
important Indian tribes, the Arikara
(Pawnee), Sioux and the Chippewa
From the archaeological point of view
the work which the society has under
taken is very important. The preserv-
alton and record of the myths, tribal
records and customs of the Mandans
and Grosventres will be a unique piece
of work since practically nothing has
been done along this line except by
such travellers as Lewis and Clark,
Catlin and Macmillan. The old viz
lage sites in the Missouri valley once
occupied by these tribes, over fifty in
number, have yet to be carefully ex-
amined, surveyed and mapped, and the
specimens found there need to be care
fully examined, compared and studied
The first steps in the direction of
studying these five tribes in the, state
have been taken and preliminary re-
port OF progress appears in Part v. of
the first volume of the Collections of
the State Historical Society. Among
the more notable contributions in this
part of the work may be mentioned the
account of the medicine dance of the
Dakotas, by Prof. j. M. Gillette the
interlinear translation of Grosyentre
legend, by Rev. G. l.. Hall, the only
living authority on this language; and
an illustrated account of the Five
Knife River Villages, by the editor.
The last article contains the first pic
ture of the holy tepee of the Mandans
ever. published, and also the first COM
plete picture of each of these impor-
tant villages drawn by one of their
own number From the chronological
point Of view the material in this
sketch Is important, not merely as he
ing the latest contribution on the sub
Ject but also as showing the possible
ties for research in the future: The
yearly report of progress from this So
ciety will be looked for with interest
hereafter @
But the work of this society is not
wholly archaeological North Dakota
has had but eighteen years of legal ex-
istence as separate state, and con-
ditions are undergoing very remark
able transformations. Within the mem
DRY of most of her inhabitants the state
has passed from the primitive buffalo
hunting condition of the latter 70s
through ranching stage to an agri-
cultural stage. These changes have all
come about in less than a generation
and so 1t is still possible to find in
different parts of the state conditions
which recall all the different stages of
her growth This remarkable develops
nient has come about largely from an
immigration into tie state that itself
Is a phenomenon worthy of study. How
the state has been transformed from
primitive hunting community to one
OF advanced agriculture and how the