Arikara
(Skidi: ariki 'horn,' referring to the former custom of wearing the
hair with two pieces of bone standing up like horns on each side of the
crest; ra, pl. ending).
A tribe forming the northern group of the Caddoan
linguistic fancily. In language they differ only dialectically from the
Pawnee.
When the Arikara left the body of their kindred in the
southwest they were associated with the Skidi, one of the tribes of the
Pawnee confederacy. Tradition and history indicate that at some point in
the broad Missouri valley the Skidi and Arikara parted, the former
settling on Loup river, Neb., the latter continuing north east, building
on the bluffs of the Missouri the villages of which traces have been noted
nearly as far south as Omaha. In their northward movement they encountered
members of the Siouan family making their way westward. Wars ensued, with
intervals of peace and even of alliance between the tribes. When the white
race reached the Missouri they found the region inhabited by Siouan
tribes, who said that the old village sites had once been occupied by the
Arikara. In 1770 French traders established relations with the Arikara,
below Cheyenne River, on the Missouri. Lewis and Clark met the tribe 35
years later, reduced in numbers and living in three villages between Grand
and Cannonball Rivers, Dak. By 1851 they had moved up to the vicinity of
Heart River. It is not probable that this rapid rate of movement obtained
during migrations prior to the settlement of the Atlantic coast by the
English. The steady westward pressure of the colonists, together with
their policy of fomenting intertribal wars, caused the continual
displacement of many native communities, a condition that bore heavily on
the semi sedentary tribes, like the Arikara, who lived in villages and
cultivated the soil. Almost continuous warfare with aggressive tribes,
together with the ravages of smallpox during the latter half of the 18th
and the beginning of the 19th centuries, nearly exterminated some of their
villages. The weakened survivors consolidated to form new, necessarily
composite villages, so that much of their ancient organization was greatly
modified or ceased to exist. It was during this period of stress that the
Arikara became close neighbors and, finally, allies of the Mandan and
Hidatsa. In 1804, when Lewis and Clark visited the Arikara, they were
disposed to be friendly to the United States, but, owing to intrigues
incident to the rivalry between trading companies, which brought suffering
to the Indians, they became hostile.
In 1823 the Arikara attacked an American trader's
boats, killing 13 men and wounding others. This led to a conflict with the
United States, but peace was finally concluded. In consequence of these
troubles and the failure of crops for 2 successive years the tribe
abandoned their villages on the Missouri and joined the Skidi on Loup
river, Neb., where they remained 2 years; but the animosity which the
Arikara displayed toward the white race made them dangerous and unwelcome
neighbors, so that they were requested to go back to the Missouri. They
did so, and there they have remained ever since. Under their first treaty,
in 1825, they acknowledged the supremacy of the National Government over
the land and the people, agreed to trade only with American citizens,
whose life and property they were pledged to protect, and to refer all
difficulties for final settlement to the United Mates. After the close of
the Mexican war a commission was sent by the Government to define the
territories claimed by the tribes living north of Mexico, between the
Missouri and the Rocky mountains. In the treaty made at Ft Laramie, in
1851, with the Arikara,
Mandan, and
Hidatsa, the land claimed by these
tribes is described as lying west of the Missouri, from Heart river, N.
Dak., to the Yellowstone, and up the latter to the mouth of Powder river,
Mont.; thence south east to the headwaters of the Little Missouri in
Wyoming, and skirting the Black hills to the head of Heart river and down
that stream to its junction with the Missouri. Owing to the
non-ratification of this treaty, the landed rights of the Arikara remained
unsettled until 1880, when, by Executive order, their present reservation
was set apart; this includes the trading post, established in 1845, and
named for Bartholomew Berthold, a Tyrolese, one of the founders of the
American Fur Company. The Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa together share this
land, and are frequently spoken of, from the name of their reservation, as
Ft Berthold Indians. In accordance with the act of Feb. 8, 1887, the
Arikara received allotments of land in severalty, and, on approval of the
allotments by the Secretary of the Interior, Jul-10, 1900, they became
citizens of the united States and subject to the laws of North Dakota. An
industrial hoarding school and 3 day schools are maintained by the
Government on Ft Berthold reservation. A mission boarding school and a
church are supported by the Congregational Board of Missions. In 1804
Lewis and Clark gave the population of the Arikara as 2,600, of whom more
than 600 were warriors. In 1871 the tribe numbered 1,650; by 1888 they
were reduced to 500, and the census of 1904 gives the population as 380.
As far back as their traditions go the Arikara have
cultivated the soil, depending for their staple food supply on crops of
corn, beans, squashes, and pumpkins. In the sign language the Arikara are
designated as "corn eaters," the movement of the band simulating the act
of gnawing the kernels of corn from the cob. They preserved the seed of a
peculiar kind of small eared corn, said to be very nutritious and much
liked. It is also said that the seed corn was kept tied in a skin and hung
up in the lodge near the fireplace, and when the time for planting carne
only those kernels showing signs of germination were used. The Arikara
bartered corn with the Cheyenne and other tribes for buffalo robes, skins,
and meat, and exchanged these with the traders for cloth, cooking
utensils, guns, etc. Early dealings with the traders were carried on by
the women. The Arikara hunted the buffalo in winter, returning to their
village in the early spring, where they spent the time before planting in
dressing the pelts. Their fish supply was obtained by means of basket
traps. They were expert swimmers, and ventured to capture buffaloes that
were disabled in the water as the herd was crossing the river. Their wood
supply was obtained from the river; when the ice broke up in the spring
the Indians leaped on the cakes, attached cords to the trees that were
whirling down the rapid current, and hauled them ashore. Men, women, and
the older children engaged in this exciting work, and although they
sometimes fell and were swept downstream, their dexterity and courage
generally prevented serious accident.
Their boats were made of a single buffalo skin
stretched, hair side in, over a frame of willows bent round like a basket
and tied to a hoop 3 or 4 feet in diameter. The boat could easily be
transported by a woman and, according to Hayden, "would carry 3 men across
the Missouri with tolerable safety." Before the coming of traders the
Arikara made their cooking utensils of pottery; mortars for pounding corn
were made with much labor from stone; hoes were fashioned from the
shoulder-blades of the buffalo and the elk; spoons were shaped from the
horns of the buffalo and the mountain sheep; brooms and brushes were made
of stiff, coarse grass; knives were chipped from flint, and spears and
arrowheads from horn and flint; for splitting wood, wedges of horn were
used. Whistles were constructed to imitate the bleat of the antelope or
the call of the elk, and served as decoys; popguns and other toys were
contrived for the children and flageolets for the amusement of young men.
Garments were embroidered with dyed porcupine quills; dentalium shells
from the pacific were
prized as ornaments. Matthews and others mention the skill of the Arikara
in melting glass amid pouring it into molds to form ornaments; they
disposed of the highly colored heads furnished by the traders in this
manner. They have preserved in their basketry a weave that has been
identified with one practiced by former tribes in Louisiana, a probable
survival of the method learned when with their kindred in the far south
west.
The Arikara were equally tenacious of their language,
although next-door neighbors of Siouan tribes for more than a century,
living on terms of intimacy and intermarrying to a great extent. Matthews
says that almost every member of each tribe understands the language of
the other tribes, yet speaks his own most fluently, hence it is not
uncommon to hear a dialogue carried on in two tongues. Until recently the
Arikara adhered to their ancient form of dwellings, erecting, at the cost
of great labor, earth lodges that were generally grouped about an open
space in the center of the village, often quite close together, and
usually occupied by 2 or 3 families. Each village generally contained a
lodge of unusual size, in which ceremonies, dances, and other festivities
took place. The religious ceremonies, in which each subtribe or village
had its special part, bound the people together by common beliefs,
traditions, teachings, and supplications that centered around the desire
for long life, food, and safety. In 1835 Maximilian of Wied noticed that
the hunters did not load on their horses the meat obtained by the chase.
but carried it on their heads and backs, often so transporting it from a
great distance. The man who could carry the heaviest burden sometimes gave
his meat to the poor, in deference to their traditional teaching that "the
Lord of life told the Arikara that if they gave to the poor in this
manner, and laid burdens on themselves, they would be successful in all
their undertakings."
In the series of rites, which began in the early spring
when the thunder first sounded, corn held a prominent place. The ear was
used as an emblem and was addressed as "Mother." Some of these ceremonial
ears of corn had been preserved for generations and were treasured with
reverent care. Offerings were made, rituals sung, and feasts held when the
ceremonies took place. Rites were observed when the maize was planted, at
certain stages of its growth, and when it was harvested. Ceremonially
associated with maize were other sacred objects, which were kept in a
special case or shrine. Among these were the skins of certain birds of
cosmic significance, also 7 gourd rattles that marked the movements of the
seasons.
Elaborate rituals and ceremonies attended the opening
of this shrine and the exhibition of its contents, which were symbolic of
the forces that make and keep all things alive and fruitful. Aside from
these ceremonies there were other quasi religious gatherings in which
feats of jugglery were performed, for the Arikara, like their kindred the
Pawnee, were noted for their skill in legerdemain. The dead were placed in
a sitting posture, wrapped in skins, and buried in mound graves. The
property, except such personal belongings as were interred with the body,
was distributed among the kindred, the family tracing descent through the
mother. A collection of Arikara traditions, by G. A. Dorsey, has been
published by the Carnegie Institution (1903).
The Arikara were a loosely organized confederacy of
subtribes, each of which had its separate village and distinctive name.
Few of these names have been preserved. Lewis and Clark (Exped., I, 97,
1814) mention Lahoocat, a village occupied in 1797, but abandoned about
1800. How many subtribes were included in the confederacy can not now be
determined. Lewis and Clark speak of the Arikara as the remnant of 10
powerful Pawnee tribes, living in 1804 in 3 villages. The inroads of
disease and war have so reduced the tribe that little now remains of their
former divisions. The following names were noted during the middle of the
last century:
Hachepiriinu ('young dogs'),
Hia (`band of Cree'),
Hosukhaunu ('foolish dogs'),
Hosukhaunukare rihn ('little foolish dogs'),
Sukhutit ('black mouths' ) ,
Kaka ('band of Crows'),
Okos ('band of bulls'),
Paushuk ('band of cut-throats').
Some of these may refer to military and other
societies; others seem to be nicknames, as "Cut-throats."
