Sioux Indians

This is what is described in the Lewis and Clark Journals, the entry being written by Clark:

"September 25, 1804, off Teton River

...As soon as I landed the pirogue three of their young men seized the cable of the pirogue, the chief's soldier hugged the mast, and the second chief was very insolent both in words and gestures, declaring I should not go on, stating he had not received presents sufficient from us. His gestures were of such a personal nature I felt myself compelled to draw my sword. At this motion Capt. Lewis ordered all under arms in the boat. Thoe with me also showed a disposition to defend themselves and me. The grand chief then took hold of the rope and ordered the young warriors away..."

A very intelligent question and you are absolutely correct to say that the Great Plains were almost barren of trees - almost, because there were always quantities of cottonwood and willow trees along most streams and rivers, neither of which will produce tall, straight poles for tipis.

All of the Plains tribes had to send small parties of men either to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains or to the Black Hills area to find trees which are now known as "lodgepole pines". These grow very tall and straight and are perfect for the job - but they first had to be dragged all the way back to the tribal lands, then in most cases thinned with knives or axes and trimmed to the correct length. Such journeys were always fraught with danger from enemy war-parties or hunting bands who would attack those seeking lodgepoles - and steal the timber for their own use.

It has been claimed that some of these poles could last for a hundred years or more, but there would always have been a need for new lodges as tribes expanded or split into smaller hunting bands, plus the need to replace worn-out poles.

The link below takes you to an image of lodgepole pines growing in the Black Hills, South Dakota:

There are several different terms for "lake" in Lakota:

• bleska is a clear lake without vegetation or water plants
• blehinsma is a lake full of reeds
• bleyatanhan means from the lake
• bleyata means to or at a lake

War clubs (not maces) were used by almost all native American groups across the North American continent. These clubs are termed puggamaugun, which is the name used by Algonquian woodland tribes.

This weapon generally had a round, biconical or egg-shaped stone head, with a groove pecked around its circumference. It was firmly attached to a wooden handle with wet rawhide wrapped around both the grooved stone and the handle - this shrank on drying to form a hard, permanent join.

At first the handles were quite short, but when the Plains tribes obtained horses they made their war clubs much longer in order to use them from horseback.

The links below shows a typical war club and another image of a stone head with a pecked groove around it.

The term "Sioux" refers to a large group of related tribes, some of whom belonged to the Plains culture, while others did not.

The Sioux tribes are grouped into three divisions according to the dialect they speak:

• the eastern Sioux or Dakotas
• the central Sioux or Nakotas
• the western Sioux or Lakotas (also called Teton Sioux)

It is the western or Teton Sioux that belonged to the Plains culture, living on the Great Plains and entirely dependent on horses for hunting, growing no crops of any kind.

The Teton Sioux tribes are:

1. Oglala
2. Brule
3. Minneconjou
4. Two Kettles
5. Hunkpapa
6. Sans Arc
7. Blackfoot Sioux

The Blackfoot Sioux (who today live on the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock reservations in South Dakota) have no connection at all with the Blackfoot tribe.