The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1909-09-02

tue missouri river, throughout "A region
that abollnds in old landmarks show
ing the early history Of North Dakota
They followed the Missouri from Fort
Berthold TO Fort Rice.
In the company were Francis Tenn
pleton and william Greenleaf Of Grand
Forks, Prof A. b. Stout the wiscon-
sin university archeologist; III. Q. Fish,
the state curator; James st Amour OF
Neche, and three Indian guides.
i The trip was made under the aus
4 pices of the State Historical society
and is without question the most
profitable trip Of the kind ever made
in the state. Hitherto explorations
have been conducted by the white men
alone, but this year for the first time
the Indians acted as guides and
showed their companions over tho old
trails where their fathers fed before
the Sioux to the protection OF Fort
| BerthoId after the terrible small
pox plague of 1887 which left but SO
Mandan warriors out of 500. It was
an exploring trip fraught with dis
coveries and interesting in more ways
than one. Two Of the Indians were
guides. Holding Eagle, a Hidatsa,
and Sitting Crow. Mandan, while
James Holding Eagle, the son OF the
guide, acted as interpreter. The party
had two wagons, two tents and the
necessary camping paraphernalia.
The trip had It's amusing as well as
it's interesting features. Perhaps the
most interesting feature of the trip
was the mosquito crop which tor
mented the searchers for historical In
| formation. In many places there was
no fight against individual mosquitoes.
1t was simply a case of brush one side
Of your face clear and then brush the
other side. The mosquitoes travelled
in swarms and the party endeavored
some of the time to protect them
selves by slapping sage brush first on
one side of the face and then on the
mosquitoes would manage to get in
and start business.
Indians Enjoyed II.
| The Indians, once they became ac-
| quainted were real members OF the
party and joked freely with the others.
For DR.. Libby they chose the name of
Long Soldier, meaning "the man who
gets things right The Indians have
been noted for sizing up white men
correctly in their names and the
guides were evidently no exception.
There was also member of the party
known as Heap Sleep. but his other
name is withheld for obvious reasons
The Indians seemed to realize thor
oughly that the aim of the party was
to preserve their history and took up
the work OF guiding the party with
avidiry. With this generation Of In
dians dies the traditions of the tribe,
for the young Indians have become too
Afnericanized to listen to the teachings
Of their fathers and the traditions are
not being handed down. However, It
is expected that Holding Eagle and
Sitting Crow on their return to Fort
Berthold win gain considerable infor-
nation from the older members of
the tribe and interest them in the
work that is. being done,
Purpose Of Work.
The purpose OF the trip was the
surveying of the old Indian villages
and the studying of the trails and
land marks with the ultimate purpose
of making an Indian map of the re-
gion. 1t was in this region that Lewis
and Clark visited the state and through
the efforts of the historical society the
Indian villages will be reproduced as
Lewis and Clark saw them. Another
important element is the study of the
migration of the Indians Here is the
region where the Hidatsa coming from
the Devils Lake region, met the Man
dams, who, according to their tradi-
tion, came from the ocean and the two
tribes united. Prof. Stout, Mr. Fish
and James st. Amour are all survey
ors and as a result the villages found
have been laid out in such way that
theythey can be easily reproduced.
Snare Rare Animal.
One of the interesting incidents Of
the trip took place near the close of a
dull afternoon while the party was
near prairie dog town waiting for
the team and provisions to reach them.
DIR. Libby was the first of the party
to point out a large animal looking
something like weasel which was
stretching its long neck out of prairie
dog hole. He called the attention of
the Indians to the animal and they inn
mediateIy held consultation. The
oretically the Indians are supposed to
know all the animals Of the prairies,
but Holding Eagle and Sitting Crow
were obliged to confess that they
knew nothing about this strange crea-
ture The Indians acted quickly, now
ever, and James Holding Eagle was
sent back to the wagons or camp for
a rope. The white members of the
party were wondering what the In
dians intended to do when the IN
dian returned with some rope and also
some horse hair ne had cut from the
tail OF one of the horses used by the
party, The young Indian started to
braid the horse hair, the evident i'm
tention being to make moose.
The party then realized that the In
dams were going to use the old fa-
miliar method of snaring gophers to
catch the animal. Holding Eagle
watched his son start to braid the
moose and with a grunt took 1t away
from him. In marvelously short
time the old Indian had made the
moose, redoing the part that James
had started. It was a two stranded
braid and as strong as good sized
rope. Sitting crow placed the moose
in the hole after the rope had been
tied to 1t and to DR.. Libby was given
tne honor Of snaring the animal A
red piece of cloth on stick was held
up some distance from the hole by one
of the members OF the party and soon
the animal came up stretching its long
neck to look at the red flag. In an
instant he was caught and killed. The
animal was taken back by the Indians
ito Bismarck and was identified as a