Fort Belknap Reservation

Fort Belknap Agency The report of Special Agent Jere E. Stevens on the Indians of Fort Belknap reservation, Fort Belknap agency, Montana, December 1800. Names of Indian tribes or parts of tribes occupying said reservation; (a) Assinaboine and Gros Ventre. The unallotted area of this reservation is 537,600 acres, or 840 square miles. This reservation has not been surveyed. It was established, altered, or changed, by treaty of October 17, 1855 (11 U. S. Stats., p.657); unratified treaties of July 18, 1866, and of July 13 and 15 and September 1,1868; executive orders, July 5, 1873, and August 19, 1874; … Read more

Atsina Indians

Atsina Indians. Probably from Blackfoot At-se’-na, supposed to mean “gut people.” Also called: Acapatos, by Duflot de Mofras (1844). A-re-tear-o-pan-ga, Hidatsa name. Bahwetego-weninnewug, Chippewa name, signifying “fall people.” Bot-k’in’ago, signifying “belly men.” Fall Indians, common early name. Gros Ventres des Plaines, derived from an incorrect interpretation of the tribal sign and the qualifying phrase “des Plaines” to distinguish them from the Hidatsa, the Gros Ventres de la Riviere. Haaninin or Aa’ninena, own name, said to signify “white-clay people,” “lime-men,” or “chalk-men.” His-tu-i’-ta-ni-o, Cheyenne name. Hitfinena, Arapaho name, signifying “beggars” or “spongers.” Minnetarees of the Plains, Minnetarees of the Prairies, so … Read more

Assiniboin Indians

Assiniboin Indians. From a Chippewa term signifying “one who cooks by the use of stones.” E-tans-ke-pa-se-qua, Hidatsa name, from a word signifying “long arrows” (Long, 1823). Guerriers de pierre, French name. Hohe, Dakota name, signifying “rebels.” Sioux of the Rocks, English name. Stonies, or Stone Indians, English name translated from the Indian. Tlu’tlama’eka, Kutenai name, signifying “cutthroats,” the usual term for Dakota derived from the sign language. Weepers, given by Henry (1809). Assiniboin Connections. The Assiniboin belonged to the Siouan linguistic family, and were a branch of the Dakota (see South Dakota), having sprung traditionally from the Yanktonai whose dialect … Read more

Arapaho Indians

Possibly from the Pawnee tirapihu or larapihu, signifiying “trader.” Also called: Ähyä’to, Kiowa name. Ano’s-anyotskano, Kichai name. Bĕtidĕĕ, Kiowa Apache name. Detseka’yaa, Caddo name, signifying “dog eaters.” Dog Eaters. E-tah-leh, Hidatsa name, signifying “bison path Indians.” Hitänwo’ǐv, Cheyenne name, signifying “cloud men” or “sky men.” Inûna-ina, own name, signifying “our people.” Ita-Iddi, Hidatsa name (Maximilian). Kaninahoish, Chippewa name. Komséka-Ki`ñahyup, former Kiowa name, signifying “men of the worn-out leggings.” Kun na-nar-wesh or Gene des Vach[es], by Lewis and Clark (1804). Mahpíyato, Dakota name, signifying “blue cloud.” Niă’rharǐ’s-kûrikiwa’ahûski, Wichita name. Särĕtǐka, Comanche and Shoshoni name, signifying “dog eaters”; the Pawnee, Wichita, and … Read more

Arapahoe Tribe

Powder Face And Squaw. Northern Arapaho

Arapahoe Indians, Arapaho Tribe, Arapaho Indians. An important Plains tribe of the great Algonquian family, closely associated with the Cheyenne for at least a century past. They call themselves Iñunaina, about equivalent to ‘our people.’ The name by which they are commonly known is of uncertain derivation, but it may possibly be, as Dunbar suggests, from the Pawnee tirapihu or larapihu, ‘trader.’ By the Sioux and Cheyenne they are called ” Blue-sky men ” or “Cloud men,” the reason for which is unknown.