Significant Site

For millennia, migrating bison herds grazed the tall grass of the Coteau des Prairies, where ducks, geese, and other birds nested in the sloughs and fish were abundant in the lakes and streams. With wildlife providing plentiful food, Woodland Cultures lived in the area and constructed mounds as early as 1500 B.C. The Arikaras, or Rees, hunted and fished here in the 1700s. Anthropologists believe the Sioux tribes reached the Missouri River between 1700 and 1750, though tribal creation stories tell of Sioux inhabiting South Dakota since time immemorial. Explorer Philander Prescott camped here in 1832, followed by Nicollet and Fremont in 1839. Various bands of Dakota Sioux signed a treaty on July 23, 1851, at Traverse des Sioux in St. Peter, Minnesota, ceding about 24 million acres to the United States for $1,665,000. A second treaty with the U.S. Government, dated April 19, 1858, was signed by sixteen Yankton delegates led by Chief Struck by-the-Ree, ceding all land between the Big Sioux and Missouri Rivers for the promise of $1.6 million in annuities. Some disagreed with the treaty, and Chief Smutty Bear, Mato Sabi Ceya, led opposition to it though he signed it.

South Dakota · United States