Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-06-08
THE OPENING OF THE HIS
TORIC BERThOLD RESERVE

| The fair.haired Mandans, anthro.
biological mysteries; the Gros-Ventres
and the Arickarees soon will be de-
prived of their seclusion, for the sen
ate and the house have approved the
bill providing for the opening of 300,
900 acres in the heart of the historic
Fort Berthold reservation, and, in all
probability, the president will sign
it. Then white men will pour into
the opened" strip and the red men
will be confined to smaller allotments
and held accountable to the laws that
apply to the invaders under govern.
ment sanction. There will be no lack
Of room for the Indians, however, for
the whole reservation comprises 1850
square miles, or 100000 acres-ap-
proximately the area of the state of
Connecticut.
Still, it apears to those who know
the history of the Indians in the up
per valleys of the Mississippi and
Missouri that there is a larger bit
Of pathos in this latest deprivation of
the reds-this latest step of "civiliza-
tion"-because the Mandans, the eros
Ventres and the Arickarees have
been unlike the other tribes. They
have an unparalleled reputation as
lovers of peace. Seldom did they
wage war for love- of conquest or
blindly fight with other Indian ma
tons or with the whites to satisfy
only the whim of II chieftain or a
chieftain's personal grudge. They
did fight, and hard, but only when
driven to bay. While living they
were good Indians" and are not sub
ject to the familiar classification.
Other Indians Drove Them Back
These tribes were once great and
prosperous; but peaceable when war
and conquest were the ruling Gre
of their race, they were stricken
about them. Like memorials stand
the ruins OF village after village along
the Missouri river telling the tragic
story of defeat and retreat before the
advancing Sioux and Crees. At last,
in this retreat, the three tribes real
lied that they must unite or be ex-
terminated. So they made last
and successful stand against the in
vaders at Fort Berthold, which for
many years has been known as the
last Dakota Indian village.
The government buildings are now
the most imposing part of the pic
ture there; clustered about them in
all directions are the huts and to-
PEGS. But the whole scene, in the
vast space in which the red men have
lived and roamed, has little in it that
suggests today; it all looks like yes
terday-prairies reaching out to the
far horizon and nothing on them but
squat huts and conical tents and In
dams moving among them.
When They Gave Up Their Lands
Upon this scene the settlers" will
rush when the great white father, to
whom the Indians look with awe and
strange confidence, so DEGREES. The
Indians have acquiesced, realizing
that that would be the better part.
Wounded Face of the Mandans, Old
Dog and Long Bear of the eros Ven
tres, and Sitting Bear of the Arick-
arees-they spoke for their people,
and, for them, were convinced by the
eloquent arguments made by Con-
gresham Hanna and F. H. Abbott,
assistant commissioner of Indian af-
fairs.
1t was a notable powwow, the chiefs
surrounded by their followers-a
throng in picturesque array, in which
the white men were plainly marked
by their different garments. All de-
tails of the proposed concession were
6iSancco6 or1 tho 0of,11
dians soon were appeased. That was
on September 10, last year. Then
the congressman returned to Wash
ington and hurried his bill through.
Old Village to be Preserved
The bill, however, isn't wholly COM
mercial. There is one touch of SEN
timent. 1t is a provision that part
of the lands be set apart as ma
tional park, so that the ruins of the
old Fort Berthold Indian village and
burial grounds may be preserved.
This was one of the concessions
the white men made to the chiefs
in the September council.
The village may be preserved, but
soon the last of the leaders of Man.
dams, eros Ventres and Arickarees
WILL Uc SOuc. DSdI Ou LuC VtdI0T las
gone. They buried him, the Oldest
of the Mandans, about four years
ago. He was the best runner in the
whole Missouri valley, and was &C.
customed to hunt and catch antelope
on foot. Once, pursuing a buffalo on
foot, he overlook and shot it., and won
great fame among his people. Others
who made Indian history have gone
too.
Poor Wolf There Yet
But two unconmonly interesting
chiefs remain to see the white men
invade the lands on which they have
been secure from interference for
many years. One of them, Poor
Wolf, a eros Ventre chief, has passed
his Goth year, and is distressed by
the ways in which his children and
their children are living. The other
day he wrote out this message for
the young braves of his tribe:
Il am very old and am waiting to
go above, but you are young; perse-
we're In the ways of God. So many
of our young men are given up to
dances and vices!"