Crow Creek Indian Reservation | |
|---|---|
 Location of Crow Creek Indian Reservation,South Dakota | |
| Country | United States |
| State | South Dakota |
| Counties | Buffalo /Hughes /Hyde |
| Government | |
| • Governing body | Crow Creek Sioux Tribal Council |
| Area | |
• Total | 196.236 sq mi (508.248 km2) |
| Population (2004) | |
• Total | 1,230 |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| Website | hunkpatioyate |
TheCrow Creek Indian Reservation (Dakota:Khąǧí wakpá okášpe,Lakota:Kȟaŋğí Wakpá Oyáŋke[1]), home toCrow Creek Sioux Tribe (Dakota:Khąǧí wakpá oyáte[2] or Húŋkpathi Oyáte) is located in parts ofBuffalo,Hughes, andHyde counties on the east bank of theMissouri River in centralSouth Dakota in the United States. It has a land area of 421.658 square miles (1,092.09 km2) and a2000 census population of 2,225 persons. The major town and capital of the federally recognized Crow Creek Sioux Tribe isFort Thompson.
The town is located adjacent to theBig Bend Dam, which holds backBig Bend Reservoir (also known asLake Sharpe), one of the fourMissouri Mainstem reservoirs constructed by the US ArmyCorps of Engineers in thePick-Sloan Plan. Authorized in 1944 for flood control and hydropower, the dam and lake were completed in the 1960s.
The people of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe are mostly descendants of theMdewakanton Dakota Tribe of south and central present-day Minnesota. They were expelled fromMinnesota, along with theSantee Dakota Tribe andHo-Chunk Nation after all reservations in the southern part of that state were abolished in December 1862 following theDakota War.[3][4]
The land was poorly suited for people accustomed to their former woodland terrain, as it was dry and lacked game for hunting. For six weeks after their arrival at Crow Creek, three or four expelled people died every day from starvation or disease.[5] This caused the Santee and Ho-Chunk to flee the reservation downriver, the Santee settling at what is now theSantee Indian Reservation in north-central Nebraska and the Ho-Chunk settling on part of theOmaha Indian Reservation, northeast Nebraska, later purchasing that part from the Omaha.
Some Yankton and lower Yanktonai Dakota also reside on the reservation. Although some writers consider this to have been part of theGreat Sioux Reservation, which was established west of the Missouri River, the Crow Creek Reservation, founded in 1862, has always been separate.
The reservation originally included bottomlands along the Missouri, which had been farmed previously byMandan andArikara, and other indigenous peoples prior to these tribes. These peoples were decimated insmallpox and other infectious disease epidemics in the 18th century. Surviving Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara moved northwest and formed the Affiliated Tribes, whose descendants have occupied theFort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. Today several former Mandan and Arikara villages within the Crow Creek Reservation are preserved as archaeological sites.
Within the reservation are two pre-contact archeological sites that have been designated asNational Historic Landmarks.Fort Thompson Mounds is an archeological site consisting of six miles of burial mounds along the river, constructed from c. 800 CE. They have yielded evidence of some of the first pottery makers on the plains. During salvage excavation of one site, some older materials were radiocarbon dated to c. 2450 BCE, showing nearly 5,000 years of indigenous settlement.[6]
TheCrow Creek Massacre Site has revealed evidence of fierce conflict between Native American cultures about 1325 CE, likely when they were competing for resources at a time of climate and habitat change. They are believed to have been Siouan-speaking and Caddoan-speaking indigenous peoples who were ancestral to known historic tribes.[7][8]
The 20th-century development ofLake Sharpe following completion of the Big Bend Dam flooded much of this bottomland. It also forced relocation of Fort Thompson and other settlements. Loss of the most productive, fertile bottomlands worsened the economic conditions for the Mdewakanton and other Native Americans. Allotment and land sales since the late nineteenth century had reduced the amount of land in both tribal and Indian ownership, and the size of the Reservation was reduced by governmental action between its establishment in 1862 and modern times.
The reservation and the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe is organized into three districts. The tribe runs its own school, the Crow Creek Tribal Schools system, with an elementary school at Fort Thompson and a K-12 boarding and day school atStephan, approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of Fort Thompson. The tribe leases most of its land for grazing to a few large ranching families, as it is not suitable for subsistence farming. Unemployment is high.
The tribe operates the Lode Star Casino and Hotel on its reservation, attracting tourists and area residents. The archeological sites are also featured for heritage tourism. Recreational travelers use Lake Sharpe's fishing and boating.
TheLower Brule Indian Reservation, originally part of the Great Sioux Reservation, is located on the west bank of the Missouri River. It is directly across from the Crow Creek Reservation. Its people also lost fertile bottomlands in the flooding that accompanied the construction of the dam.
In 2002 a monument was dedicated at Big Bend Dam. The Spirit of the Circle Monument honors the more than 1,300 people who died of malnutrition and exposure over a three-year period in the 1860s at the reservation after theSantee Dakota had been expelled fromMinnesota. Deaths in early years at Crow Creek included many members of theHo-Chunk nation, who had also been forced to relocate to Crow Creek by an act of Congress—even though they were uninvolved in theDakota War of 1862.[9][10]
On May 10, 2013, about 150 years afterMinnesota's State GovernorAlexander Ramsey had called for the extermination or removal of the Dakota people from Minnesota, his modern-day successorMark Dayton observed a "day of reconciliation". He repudiated his predecessor's encouragement of vigilante violence against innocent people, and offered condolences to descendants who had lost ancestors in theDakota War of 1862.[11]
44°07′44″N99°28′26″W / 44.12889°N 99.47389°W /44.12889; -99.47389
1 No reservation in the state, trust lands or legal status only |
Municipalities and communities ofBuffalo County, South Dakota,United States | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
Municipalities and communities ofHughes County, South Dakota,United States | ||
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| Town | ||
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| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
Municipalities and communities ofHyde County, South Dakota,United States | ||
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| City |  | |
| CDP | ||
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| Indian reservation | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
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