Dakota County NB

Houses of the Omaha Tribe

Page of Kurz's sketchbook showing interior of an Omaha lodge, May 16, 1851

When Lewis and Clark ascended the Missouri in 1804 they found the Omaha village not far from the Missouri, in the present Dakota County, Nebraska. On the 13th of August the expedition reached the mouth of a creek entering the right bank of the Missouri. Just beyond they encamped on a sandbar, “opposite the lower point of a large island.” From here Sergeant Ordway and four men were sent to the Omaha village and returned the following day. “After crossing a prairie covered with high grass, they reached the Maha creek, along which they proceeded to its three forks, which … Read more

Omaha Tribe

The Village of the Omahas - Photograph by W. H. Jackson, 1871.

Omaha Tribe – Omaha Indians (‘those going against the wind or current’ ). One of the 5 tribes of the so called Dhegiha group of the Siouan family, the other 4 being the Kansa, Quapaw, Osage, and Ponca. Hale and Dorsey concluded from a study of the languages and traditions that, in the westward migration of the Dhegiha from their seat on Ohio and Wabash rivers after the separation, at least as early as 1500, of the Quapaw, who went down the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio, the Omaha branch moved up the great river, remaining awhile near … Read more