page_title: Owl Woman
section_title: Living arrangements
hierarchical_section_title: Owl Woman / Biography / Living arrangements
caption_attribution_description: English: The only surviving daguerreotype from Solomon Nunes Carvalho’s journey West in 1853 depicts a view of the Cheyenne Village at Big Timbers. A pair of figures stand to the left; drying hides hang on the right. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
context_page_description: Owl Woman was a Cheyenne princess. She was a daughter of White Thunder, a well-respected medicine man of the Cheyenne tribe. She was married to an Anglo-American trader named William Bent, with whom she had four children. Owl Woman was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame for her role in managing relations between Native American tribes and the Anglo-American men.
context_section_description: Bent's Fort and the Cheyenne village
  The couple each spent time at their partner's residence: the lodge created for Owl Woman and Bent's quarters within the fort, which were furnished according to their backgrounds.  Owl Woman did not prefer to stay the fort, where her room was dark and near the loud, smoky blacksmith shop.  The horses and pack animals were also loud and smelly.  On the other hand, her lodge was quiet and lit through the parchment-like paper of the roof.  Horses grazed on the hills.  In the lodge built for Owl Woman and Bent, a shrine-like area held sacred and religious items. Supplies were stowed away, including cooking utensils, food, clothing, bedding, riding gear and weapons.
  By the 1840s two of Owl Woman's younger sisters, Island and Yellow Woman, joined them, in accordance with tribal custom for successful men.  In 1845 Yellow Woman bore William a boy named Charley, or Pe-ki-ree meaning White Hat in Cheyenne.
  In April Bent left the fort for the six-month supply train journey to Missouri.  During the summer months his family went back and forth between the fort and the nearby Cheyenne village and were in the fort by autumn.
  Big Timbers
  Seasonally the Cheyenne moved 30 miles (48 km) down the Arkansas River to Big Timbers.  Alongside the Arkansas River for 40 miles (64 km) Big Timbers was a prime location for hunting buffalo, a major source of food for the Cheyenne.  The tribe also lived on roots and berries. Big Timbers was their desired camp site in the winter.
  According to Hyde, Owl Woman and her children traveled with her tribe to Big Timbers during the winter months and were at the fort itself during the summer.  During the Cheyenne's winter visit to Big Timbers, Bent accompanied his family with goods for trading. At Big Timbers, Bent lived according to Cheyenne custom when he lived with them in a more casual, unstructured way of life.  While Bent's Fort life was somewhat structured with William having a leadership role.
  Such was the rhythm of village life.  Always movement — sometimes to Big Timbers close to the buffalo herds, sometimes to the fort, but always someplace where grass was thick, wood plentiful, and water fresh and sweet.
caption: The only surviving daguerreotype from Solomon Nunes Carvalho's journey West in 1853 depicts a view of the Cheyenne village at Big Timbers. A pair of figures stand to the left; drying hides hang on the right. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
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