Fort Yates

Standing Rock Reservation was established as home to the Lakota and Dakota (Sioux) by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. The name Standing rock is reference to a famous and sacred stone. A Dakota legend says it is the body of a young Indian woman with her child on her back.  She had not moved south with the others and when people came back to find her she had turned to stone. 

It is estimated Sioux arrived in this area of the plains before the mid 1700's; they forced the Arikara and Mandan tribes to move further north up the  Missouri. Indeed, as we pedaled through Mandan territory, Greg and I saw several archaeological sites with ditches and evidence of fortified walls to protect their camps from tribal warfare. 

The ride to Fort Yates took us through fields of corn and hay, wide open spaces, horses and a buffalo range. Beautiful.  

When we arrived we were dripping with sweat.  There was no campground but because of the heat and distance  between towns we needed to stay the night. We sought the Tribal office to ask permission to camp by the boat ramp. Not possible. Greg suggested staying at a church, and the woman helping us immediately picked up the phone. In five minutes, a smiling Brandon came through the door and took us to the Episcopal Church. Brandon is the youth pastor, working with 80 High school and 40 Jr High youth. I was impressed by the work being done here and encouraged to see evidence of the message of Jesus offering his life for all people to be reconciled to their Creator being told in a manner that is contextualized into native culture. I wished I had more time to learn meaning of some of the symbols on this buffalo skin that appeared to be telling Bible stories about Jesus. 

I found it refreshing that resources are used for the people rather than a fancy building. This is the way it should be! 

Jana had prayed for relief from heat for us, but in answer felt the answer was no, that the heat would open doors for us. Indeed it did with the church! Later that evening and through the night, big wind, sheets of rain and quite a lightning show went on outside. We were safe and dry inside the church, thankful the answer had been no to our request to camp! 

Chief Sitting Bull, famous for his role in the death of Custer and his men in June of 1876, was born in this area and we visited his gravesite.(well maybe, there's another place in South Dakota that claims to have his bones)  Sitting Bull rejoined his tribe here in 1883 after he had fled to Canada, returned, and been held as prisoner of war for almost two years at Fort Randall.  He was killed in December 1890 by a Lakota policeman, fulfilling a vision he had about five years earlier that he'd be killed by his own people. 

 I found an intriguing book in Bismarck written by his great grandson Ernie LaPointe. He has written down and published the stories he learned from his elders in the book "Sitting Bull: His Life and Legacy". This story differs from what is commonly told  about him. I found it fascinating.  In his introduction the author says he resisted translating and writing down the stories but was finally convinced that it was important for him to publish them. "I think it is time that we natives tell our own stories. Our culture and our history has to be told by us. We lived it, and continue to live it, and I think the anthropologists and white authors have run blindly through our ancestors legacy and our culture for too long." Pg 18. 

I say Amen to that.  Keep writing, and encourage your tribal brothers to do the same. We EuroAmericans need to hear your stories and learn from you!