A Village Life in the Upper Missouri River Valley, c. 1740–1845
Reading 1 of the National Park Service’s Knife River lesson plan. This is the full pre-contact reading only. The source page also has Reading 2 (history from 1738 on, after Europeans arrived), which is not included here.
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A Way of Life
The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes shared a way of life. It was very well suited to the Upper Missouri River valley. Their summer villages stood on natural terraces above the river. These were well-ordered communities with as many as 120 earthlodges. An earthlodge is a round structure covered with earth. Its whole floor area was usually dug out one foot below the ground. Each earthlodge sheltered an extended family of 10 to 30 people from the region’s extreme temperatures.
The summer villages were placed to be easy to defend. Often a village sat on a narrow bluff with water on two sides. On the third side was a palisade. A palisade is a fence of upright logs or poles set on end in the ground, used for enclosure or defense. In winter the people moved into smaller lodges along the bottomlands. There, trees gave them firewood and protection from the cold wind.
In this village society, men lived in their wives’ households. They brought only their clothes, horses, and weapons. Women built, owned, and took care of the lodges. They also owned the gardens, gardening tools, food, dogs, and horses. Related lodge families from many villages made up clans. Clan members were expected to help and guide each other. But they were not allowed to marry other members of the same clan.
Clans competed with each other, especially in war. But people looked to the age-grade societies for personal prestige. These societies reached across villages and clans. Young men bought membership in the lowest society at age 12 or 13. As they got older, they moved up to higher and more expensive levels. Each society was a group of warriors. Each also had a job in the community, such as policing the village, scouting, or planning the hunt. Most important, the age-grade societies were a way to control behavior in society. They set standards of behavior and passed on tribal lore and customs.
The roles of men and women were clearly set. Men spent their time seeking spiritual knowledge, hunting, and raiding for horses. These jobs were hard and dangerous, but they did not happen often. Women did almost all of the routine work. They gardened, prepared food, and took care of the lodges. Until the tribes got horses, women also carried heavy loads.
But people did not spend all their lives just getting enough food to live. They made time for play. Honored storytellers passed on oral traditions and lessons about right and wrong. They focused on the tribal values of respect, humility, and strength. The open area in the center of each village was often used for dancing and ritual. These brought tribe members closer together. They also reminded people of their place in the world.
The Village Economy
Farming was the base of the Knife River people’s economy. They harvested much of their food from rich gardens on the flood plain. Women controlled the land. It passed down through the female line. The number of women who could work decided the size of each family’s plot. They grew squash, pumpkin, beans, and sunflowers. Most important, they grew tough kinds of corn that ripened quickly. This corn did well in the Knife River area, where there was little rain and a short growing season. The first corn of summer was celebrated in the Green Corn ceremony. It was a lively dance followed by a feast of corn. Berries, roots, and fish added to their diet. Hunting in the uplands provided buffalo meat, hides, bones, and sinew.
These skilled farmers traded their surplus crops to nomadic tribes. In return they got buffalo hides, deer skins, dried meat, and other items that were hard to find. The villages stood where major trade routes met. So the villagers became brokers. They dealt in goods across a huge trade network. The goods included obsidian from Wyoming, copper from the Great Lakes, and shells from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Northwest. After the 17th century, they also included guns, horses, and metal objects. Flint of high quality was quarried nearby. Through this trading system, it reached tribes across a large part of the continent.
The Battle and the Hunt
In this tribal culture, raiding and hunting were the main jobs of the men. When a conflict was about to happen, a war chief took over leadership of the village. Raids often brought horses and loot. But the conflicts mattered more as chances for warriors to prove themselves. Hunting parties were planned in much the same way. A respected hunter chose who would take part and planned the event. Skill in battle and hunting brought status in the village. It brought status to the person and also to his society and clan. Ambitious young men would risk leading a party. If they succeeded, the reward was great. If they failed, it could ruin their reputation.
The main weapon was the bow and arrow. Warriors also used clubs, tomahawks, lances, shields, and knives. Even more honored than wounding or killing an enemy was “counting coup.” This meant touching the enemy in battle. But ambition did not drive every action. Warriors often had to defend the village against raids by other tribes. When the men won a battle, the women celebrated with dance and song.
Spirit and Ritual
Spirits guided the events of the physical world. From an early age, tribal members sought their help. Most of these members were male. A boy would fast in a sacred place. He hoped a spirit would visit him, often in the form of an animal. The spirit would give him power and guide him through life. The boy reported his vision to his elders. The kind of vision he had decided his role in the tribe. If his vision told him to, he would make a great sacrifice to the spirits. He would spill his blood in the Okipa ceremony.
The Okipa was the most important of many ceremonies performed by Mandan clans and age-grade societies. These ceremonies were meant to bring good crops, successful hunts, and victory in battle. Only people with “medicine” could lead ceremonies. Medicine was a bundle of sacred objects linked to tribal myths. Those who wanted it bought it from a fellow clan or society member. Owning a bundle came with a duty. The owner had to know the songs, stories, prayers, and rituals needed to communicate with the spirits. Some bundle owners were respected as leaders of the tribe.
Questions to Consider
- How did the village Indians use the natural conditions of the Upper Missouri River valley to their advantage?
- These villagers had a government very different from the ones we know today. Which parts of their political system helped keep society well ordered?
- What evidence shows that the roles of men and women were clearly set?
- The villagers were preliterate. This means they did not have a written language. How do you think they taught their children?
- How did the villagers make their living?