Omaha daily bee., 1916-10-09

Dakotas. They are now living Win
remnant of the Mandans at blpo-
woods, N. D. ,,o-r
All of the other tribes of eastern
Nebraska belonged to the olouan
family group and appear 10 naro
migrated to the Missouri valley iIoit
the east. There is much evidence thd'
ali these Siouan tribes were com
paratiyely recent arrivals ihell
traditions state that they were ilVlhs
at an early period near the famous
Pipestone quarry in southeast NH
nesota. They then moved to the Big
Sioux and built village near sioux
Falls. They then moved to the MIS-,
souri,, crossing it in South Dakota anu
then came down the west pank Oh lhs
river into Nebraska. In this group ~
migrants were the Ponkas, onands,
Otoes and Iowas. The Ponkas nalteu
and built village near the Nloprala
mouth, in which locality tney con.
tinued to live until most OF them Weie
removed 10 Indian territory after 1870.
The Omahas moved farther soutn anu
occupied the country south of the
present Sioux City, in Dixon ana
Dakota counties, Nebraska. They
seem to have been here as early at
least as 1880, but their village is not
definitely mentioned by the french
until after 1920 That the 1owas ever
lived in Nebraska is not generally
known, but the fact is well estap-
lished both by Indian tradition and
the statements of the early French
and American explorers and traders.
Their first village in our state seems
to have been in Dixon county, near
Sioux City, on a small creek now called
Agoway creek, but still known to the
Omahas as the stream where the
Iowas farmed." The Iowas did not
live long in our state About the year
1900 the Otoes had a village very near
where our city now stands, and their
friends, the Iowas, were living In
village under the bluffs, about OPP
posite the Otoes and not far from the
present city Of Council Bluffs The
Otoes moved down to the Platte be-
fore 1850 and built village on its
south bank, near the mouth Of the
Elkhorn. They continued to live in
that locality for over 100 years, and
were here Joined by a remnant Of the
Missouri tribe which. had been almost
destroyed by confederacy Of hostile
tribes. .. --.r
In western Nebraska the Indians
were all wandering hunters, living in
skin tipis. The one fact that stands
out clearly in the early history of
western Nebraska is that there was
regular current of Indian migration
passing from the Black Hills of
Dakota south across the Platte and
Arkansas to the plains of western
Oklahoma and eastern New Mexico.
The first people to pass along this line
of migration through western Ne
braska. were the Comanches, although
there is some reason to believe that
the Apaches followed the same line
at still earlier date. The Comanches
("Padoucas") were still in western
Nebraska and west Kansas until
almost the year 1900, some lingering
rear-guard, that is; the main body
had gone south long before. The
Kiowas and Prairie-Apaches next
passed south, driving the last Of the
Comanches before them; then came
the Cheyennes and Arapahoes, fdriv-
ing out the Kiowas, and finally the
Sioux arrived. Porcupine Bull "a very
old Cheyenne) says he was just little
boy when the Cheyennes and Arapa-
hoes first moved into western Me-
braska 'tto live" that Is, not merely
to- hunt. He fixes the date 1925 and
is apparently right. He says the Sioux
did not move south to the Platte until
after 1880, except Lone Horns band
which sometimes came down from the
Black Hills to visit the Cheyennes and
hunt with them.
GEORGE E. HYDE,