The Arapahoes, Our People (Civilization of the American Indian Series)

849 Pages·1986·4.25 MB·English

by  Virginia

The Arapahoes, Our People Civilization of
title:
the American Indian Series
author: Trenholm, Virginia Cole.
publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
isbn10 | asin: 0806120223
print isbn13: 9780806120225
ebook isbn13: 9780806170466
language: English
subject Arapaho Indians--History.
publication date: 1986
lcc: E99.A7T7 1986eb
ddc: 978/.00497
subject: Arapaho Indians--History.
Page iii
The Arapahoes, Our People
By Virginia Cole Trenholm
U O P
NIVERSITY OF KLAHOMA RESS
Norman and London
Page iv
B V C T
Y IRGINIA OLE RENHOLM
Footprints on the Frontier (Douglas, Wyoming, 1945)
Wyoming Pageant (Casper, Wyoming, 1946) (with Maurine Carley)
The Shoshonis: Sentinels of the Rockies (Norman, 1964) (with
Maurine Carley)
The Arapahoes, Our People (Norman, 1970)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Trenholm, Virginia Cole, 1902
The Arapahoes, our people.
(The Civilization of the American Indian series)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Arapaho IndiansHistory. I. Title. II. Series.
E99.A7T7 1986 978'.00497 86-7111
ISBN 0-8061-2022-3 (pbk).
Copyright © 1970, 1986 by the University of Oklahoma Press, Nor-
man, Publishing Division of the University. All rights reserved. Manu-
factured in the U.S.A. First edition, 1970; second printing, 1973. First
paperback printing, 1986.
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Page v
Contents
Preface to the Paperback Edition page ix
Preface to the First Edition xvii
1. Bison Path People 3
2. On the Headwaters 33
3. A Way of Life 52
4. "All the Lodges" 69
5. White Man's Big Tipi 82
6. The Great Medicine Road 109
7. Big Talk 133
8. "They Must Go" 158
9. Retaliation 197
10. "A Little Piece of Land" 231
11. The New Road 263
12. "Many Ways to God" 283
Bibliography 310
Index 347
Page vii
Illustrations
Gros Ventre Chief Mexkemahuastan following page
46
Gros Ventre camp
Little Raven's Tent
Arapaho mother with her two warrior sons
Ha-Nis-Krah, Arapaho chief; his wife Hoo;
and
The Great Jumper
Medicine Man, Arapaho chief
Chief Little Raven and children with
William Bent
Indians in council with Colonel Wynkoop
Council at Fort Laramie
Sharp Nose, Northern Arapaho chief
Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, following page
Arapahoes 110
Beef issue day at Cantonment
Butchering a deer
Tanning a deer hide
Left Hand, Arapaho chief, and his wife
Chief Yellow Bear, Southern Arapaho
Chief Big Mouth, Southern Arapaho
Yellow Hair and his wife, Southern
Arapahoes
Arapahoes at Carlisle following page
206
Lone Woman, an Arapaho
John Brokenhorn and his wife Lizzie
Fletcher
Ute, the last of the Water-Sprinkling Old
Men
Kooish, Arapaho survivor of Sand Creek
Massacre
Interior of the Offerings-Lodge
Preparing the altar in the Offerings-Lodge
Black Coyote, Southern Arapaho band chief
Page viii
Colony missionaries on the trail following page
302
Panting Horse, Sherman Coolidge and Black
Coal
Watan, Southern Arapaho band chief
Arapaho Sun Dancers
The Ghost Dance
Sitting Bull, Arapaho Ghost Dance leader
Cleaver Warden, Gros Ventre man
"Mrs. Little Bird's favorite room"
Map
Arapaho Reservations page 137
Page ix
Preface to the Paperback Edition
Diamonds seemed to sparkle in the snow when the car crunched to a
stop at the Ethete Community Hall, where my friends had assembled
to celebrate the release of The Arapahoes, Our People. I had made the
five-hour drive from the ranch to greet them, and though they say of
themselves, "Indian time, no time," I was the one who was late.
When I entered the hall, I was impressed by the patience of Indian
people. They had waited years while I collected material and wrote
the Shoshoni book. Now it was the Arapahoes' turn, and they were
taking it calmly. The ceremonial drum was in place, and the master of
ceremonies was ready to begin; but first I had to make the rounds and
shake hands with all of my friends who had stood by me so faithfully
during my study.
Much has happened since that night sixteen years ago. Nellie Scott,
Benny Goggles, and Adam Shakespeare, who were pillars of the tribe,
have died. The reservation is not the same without Nellie, my scout
and close friend for more than twenty years. Her tribe was never
determined, but she lived at Fort Washakie, on the Shoshoni side of
the reservation; and she served on the Arapaho Council. No one was
more highly respected by the different factions, nor was there anyone
more knowledgeable regarding Wind River political affairs.1
Benny Goggles, who held several important offices, was Keeper of
the Sacred Wheel. Over the years, he had gradually lost his hearing,
and I finally had to resort to an interpreter, Ralph Grasshopper, to
convey my messages by sign language.
Adam Shakespeare, Keeper of the Sacred Pipe, never allowed me to
see the Pipe, a decision I accepted, but Benny did
1Loretta Fowler worked closely with Nellie Scott in her study, and she
mentions her at length in Arapaho Politics (Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1982).
Page x
not. He felt that the Arapahoes should help me without reservation in
recording their history. It became a political matter, with Adam
standing firm.
Benny did the next best thing. He gave a Wrapping of the Wheel
Ceremony in my behalf a year after the Arapaho book was released.
He wanted me to record it "so that Our People will know how it is
done," but I refused on the grounds that there were already those who
believed that they were being robbed of what they had left of their
native culture. There was another reason that I did not want to
publicize the details of the ritual. I knew that he would be criticized
for having shared them with a non-Arapaho, a white woman at that.
The ceremony was held anyway. When I knelt to pray, the Sacred
Wheel was placed over my head and around my neck as it is done to
the Pledger during the Sun Dance as a supplication to Man Above for
His blessing. The forty-eight eagle feathers attached to the Wheel
seemed to envelop me.
During the years of my research, there was much discussion regarding
the Cheyenne-Arapaho case before the Indian Claims Commission. A
previous suit had been filed but dropped because of lack of
prosecution. While the Shoshonis filed several suits, there was only
one Arapaho suit, and it was shared with the Cheyennes.
The Cheyenne-Arapaho case, involving both the Northern and
Southern divisions, was taken before the Claims Commission in 1955.
When "the lands between the rivers"the Platte and the Arkansaswere
appraised, they were valued at $23.5 million, decidedly more than the
amount paid when they were ceded in the 1860s. The judgment,
awarded October 18, 1965, amounted to $15 million.2
The Shoshoni case against the government for the lands the
Arapahoes had occupied on a temporary basis for sixty years