I have chosen the Assiniboine People to write my paper on for two main reasons; one, is my close family ties with them (my uncle), and two, being my experiences with them in and around Ft. Peck. My first experiences were as a child in the early 1970s. My uncle, who is of Assiniboine blood, is a third generation farmer north of Poplar Mt. I would spend weeks at a time during summer breaks, on the farm on Fort Peak Reservation.
My most recent experiences have involved a learning of traditional culture of the Assiniboine People. This has happened through a relationship I made with Mike Todd, my brother. Mike adopted me in ceremony about five years ago, and I have been involved in many cultural happenings ever since. Mike is Assiniboine, born in Wolf Point Mt. He is a pipe carrier and is involved daily in traditional Assiniboine culture in one way or another. I have had the privilege to participate with him in numerous cultural events and ceremonies over the years, from sweat lodge to the building of Big Lodge every spring north of Oswego, MT.
I have a strong desire to learn more about the Assiniboine People. My brother Mike says I am Assiniboine now. The name Assiniboine was derived from the Chippewa words u’sin and u’pwawn, which literally means, “stone boilers”. Our name for ourselves is Nakona, or Nakonabi, meaning the friendly people (from History of the Assiniboine People from the Oral Tradition. By Robert P. Four Star).
The new Fort Peck Indian Agency was established in 1871 to serve the Assiniboine and Sioux Indians. The Agency was located within the old stockade of Fort Peck, purchased from traders Durfee and Peck.
In 1878, the Fort Peck Agency was relocated to its present day location in Poplar because the original agency was located on a flood plain, suffering floods each spring.
Attempts by the U.S. government to take the Black Hills and bind the Sioux to agencies along the Missouri in the 1860s resulted in warfare, reopening the issues that had been central to the Great Sioux War (1866-68). As part of the Sioux agreed to come in to agencies, part chose to resist. Army efforts to bring in the other Sioux (characterized as "hostiles") led to battles in the Rosebud country, and culminated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
As the victors dispersed, Sitting Bull led followers north into the Red Water country, where contact with the Sioux of Fort Peck Agency kept the Hunkpapas and assorted Tetons supplied. When military pressure increased, Sitting Bull led most of his followers into Canada in 1877. The military presence increased in an effort to induce Sitting Bull to surrender.
Camp Poplar (located at Fort Peck Agency) was established in 1880. Finally, without supplies and barely tolerated by Indians in the area of present day southern Saskatchewan, Sitting Bull came in to surrender at Fort Buford on July 19, 1881. Some of his Hunkpapas stragglers intermarried with others at Fort Peck and resided in the Chelsea community. (Fort Peck Tribes web site, Tribal History).
The Assiniboine once were one of the biggest tribes in North America, at one time numbering 30,000 people or more. They were a force to be reckoned with, made up of great warriors, hunters and traders. I believe the greatest downfall to the Assiniboine People was the coming of Europeans and the spreading of infectious diseases to the native people. The Assiniboine were one of the hardest hit. Small pox came to the Assiniboine people 3 times. The first epidemic killed approximately half the people. Being brought almost to extinction by small pox, attests to the resilient nature of these people.
To see what the Assiniboine have endured, and where they stand as a people today is proof of their diverse abilities. To go from a buffalo hunting and trading society, to having a government like they do today, and actively participating in the corporate world is proof of their diversity. Some of their successful business ventures include A&S Industries, based out of Poplar Mt. Large farms owned by tribal members such as my uncle’s place and the new water treatment plant in the works outside of Wolf Point, MT. This plant will likely supply good drinking water to a portion of that corner of the state.
Through my relationships with Mike and my uncle in the last 8 years I have gotten firsthand knowledge of how the Assiniboine people are looking to their future more and more. They seem to be trying to move past the huge injustices served up to them in the past. Through holding on to a teaching the old ways plus learning new ways of today’s world, the Assiniboine people will be here tomorrow.
