 |
 |
 |
| Calvin Grinell's grandfather, Black Hawk. Click for larger image. |
 |
| Bullboat |
 |
| Calvin Grinnel - Little Shell vet |
 |
| Calvin Grinnell US Marine, Camp Pendleton |
 |
| George Grinnel |
 |
| George W. |
 |
| Hidatsa Four Bears |
 |
| Saddle Butte |
 |
| Shrinking Reservation |
 |
| Shrinking Reservation 2 |
 |
| Three Tribes and Germany meet |
 |
| Three Tribes Logo |
Three Tribes in My Blood
Calvin Grinnell - Hidatsa-Mandan-Arikara
I'm Calvin Grinnell, a member of the Three Affiliated Tribes, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. I'm a member of all three tribes. I've all three tribes in my blood, as well as a little French, of course. My Indian name is Running Elk. I'm a descendant of the Hidatsa chief, Four Bears, who signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 delineating the boundaries of our homelands.
There're not many people who know that, but there are two Four Bears chiefs in our history. Our chief's named Four Bears. One was Mandan and one was Hidatsa. The Mandan one of course, being more famous because Catlin and Bodmer painted him. In our history that's who I'm descended from, as well as sub-chief of Crow Flies High, who was the leader of what was called a dissident band of the Hidatsa who broke away from the reservation system, or refused to come to the reservation, or be captured or encompassed by a reservation. They believe that this area was theirs. So for twenty-five years Crow Flies High and my grandfather um, Black Hawk, and about a hundred and thirty Mandans, Hidatsas and one Arikara, I believe, ah, traveled between where we are located today just over the hill. Just to the north of the Four Bears Park is a old village site which is under the water and some of it might be exposed now because of the water's so low.
They established a village there and then traveled between there and Fort Union or Fort Buford for a number of years, like twenty-five years. For twenty-five years they traveled between those and subsisted on the old ways; hunting buffalo and selling wood to the steamboats and fur trading, trapping or whatever for a quarter of a century. They were kind of a thorn in the side of the government and the military system. They showed that Indian people could still subsist on the old ways, rather than have to become dependent on the government. Our Indian people are pretty resilient, pretty practical. You have to be out here in the northern plains to survive and to make a livelihood.
The rest of the tribe, of course, we're the first Walmart in the northern plains. We had a nice huge trade network that took advantage of our strategic location, not only on the Missouri River, but we were within easy reach of the French and English traders from the Northeast, the Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest Company who came to trade with our people. We first heard about who the Mandan were through other tribal traders like the Assiniboine and the Cree. In their heyday in the late 1700s they numbered about fifteen thousand down near the present-day city of Bismarck and Mandan. There were nine villages down there. They regularly took advantage of the Assiniboine and Cree in their trading. They were able to dictate their own terms. We are an old line of business people; I guess you'd call it.
©2004
Wisdom of the Elders