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About the Tribe
I took a Vocabulary of the Suoux Language, and the Answer to a few queries such as referred to their Situation, Trade, Number, War, &c. &c. This Nation is Divided into 20 Tribes, possessing Seperate interests. Collectively they are noumerous say from 2 to 3000 men, their interests are so unconnected that Some bands are at war with Nations [with] which other bands are on the most friendly terms. This Great Nation who the French has given the Nickname of Suouex, Call themselves Dar co tar [Dakota — Ed.] their language is not peculiarly their own, they Speak a great number of words, which is the Same in every respect with the Maha, Poncarer, Osarge & Kanzas. which clearly proves that those nations at some period not more that a century or two past are of the Same nation. Those Dar ca ter's or Suoux inhabit or rove over the Countrey on the Red river of Lake Winipeck, S! Peters & the West of the Missi[ss]-ippie, above Prarie De Cheen (Prairie de Chien) heads of River Demoin, and the Mis- souri and its waters on the N. Side for a great extent, they are only at peace with 8 nations, & agreeable to their Calcula- tion at War with twenty odd. Their trade coms from the British, except this Band and one on Demoin who trade with the Traders of S' Louis.
They furnish Beaver, Martin, Loups,( Wolves) Pekon, [pichou) Bear & Deer Skins, and have about 40 Traders among them. The Dar co tar or Suouez rove & follow the Buffalow, raise no corn or any thing else the woods & praries affording a sufficiency, they eat Meat, and Substitute the Ground potato which grow in the Plains for bread.
Importance of Animal Products
The Dar co tar or Suouez rove & follow the Buffalow, raise no corn or any thing else the woods & praries affording a sufficiency, they eat Meat, and Substitute the Ground potato which grow in the Plains for bread.
Importance of Plants
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Transition to Industrialized Food Products
Aug 31, 1804
Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806
Lewis and Clark meet the Dakota tribe and learn that they eat meat from following the Buffalow, and some ground potatoes.
They furnish Beaver, Martin, Wolfs, Pichou, Bear & Deer Skins, and have about 40 Traders among them. The Dar co tar (Dakota) or Suouez rove & follow the Buffalow raise no corn or any thing else the woods & praries affording a sufficiency, they eat Meat, and Substitute the Ground potato which grow in the Plains for bread.
Jun 10, 1811
Trappers and Mountain Men
Selkirk's domain embraced the fertile valley of the Red River of the North, which, because great herds of buffalo wintered there, was the source of the pemmican that was the trappers' most portable food.
Open conflict began when a colonizing project, which had interested the Hudson's Bay Company for some years, was given into the hands of Lord Selkirk in 1811. Selkirk had bought heavily of the company's stock to further his aim of establishing an agricultural settlement near Lake Winnipeg for poverty-stricken Scots and Irishmen. The company's interest in the founding of such a colony was that it might furnish farm produce and also provide a place where retired employees might live. Selkirk took title to 110,000 square miles of land covering large parts of present Manitoba, Minnesota, and North Dakota, and thereby invaded a country the Nor Westers considered their own. Selkirk's domain embraced the fertile valley of the Red River of the North, which, because great herds of buffalo wintered there, was the source of the pemmican that was the trappers' most portable food.
When the Nor Westers gathered for their annual meeting at Fort William in 1814 (while Britain and the United States were still fighting the War of 1812) their hostility was high. The angry traders were convinced that selkirk's settlement would bring ruin to the fur trade. It seemed clear that any agricultural settlement would cause the beaver in the area to abandon their streams and would also drive away the buffalo.
After its first hesitant beginnings the Red River Settlement began to assert itself. Selkirk's men seized supplies of pemmican, sought to control buffalo hunting, and ordered the Nor'Westers to remove their trading posts or have them razed to the foundations. The North West Company reacted by taking the governor prisoner, driving out most of the settlers, and burning their houses.
