The people of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe are mostly descendants of the
Mdewakanton of south and central present-day Minnesota. They were expelled from
Minnesota, along with the
Santee Dakota and
Ho-Chunk after all reservations in the southern part of that state were abolished in December 1862 following the
Dakota War. The land was poorly suited for people accustomed to their former woodland terrain, as it was dry and lacked game for hunting. For six weeks after their arrival at Crow Creek, three or four expelled people died every day from starvation or disease. This caused the Santee and Ho-Chunk to flee the reservation downriver, the Santee settling at what is now the
Santee Sioux Reservation in north-central
Nebraska and the Ho-Chunk settling on part of the
Omaha Reservation in northeast Nebraska, later purchasing that part from the Omaha. Some Yankton and lower Yanktonai Dakota also reside on the reservation. Although some writers consider this to have been part of the
Great Sioux Reservation, which was established west of the Missouri River, the Crow Creek Reservation, founded in 1862, has always been separate. The reservation originally included bottomlands along the Missouri, which had been farmed previously by
Mandan and
Arikara, and other indigenous peoples prior to these tribes. These peoples were decimated in
smallpox and other infectious disease epidemics in the 18th century. Surviving Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara moved northwest and formed the Affiliated Tribes, whose descendants have occupied the
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota. Today several former Mandan and Arikara villages within the Crow Creek Reservation are preserved as archaeological sites.
Earlier cultures Within the reservation are two pre-contact archeological sites that have been designated as
National Historic Landmarks.
Fort Thompson Mounds is an archeological site consisting of six miles of burial mounds along the river, constructed from c. 800 CE. They have yielded evidence of some of the first pottery makers on the plains. During salvage excavation of one site, some older materials were radiocarbon dated to c. 2450 BCE, showing nearly 5,000 years of indigenous settlement. The
Crow Creek Massacre Site has revealed evidence of fierce conflict between Native American cultures about 1325 CE, likely when they were competing for resources at a time of climate and habitat change. They are believed to have been Siouan-speaking and Caddoan-speaking indigenous peoples who were ancestral to known historic tribes.
20th century to present The 20th-century development of
Lake Sharpe following completion of the Big Bend Dam flooded much of this bottomland. It also forced relocation of Fort Thompson and other settlements. Loss of the most productive, fertile bottomlands worsened the economic conditions for the Mdewakanton and other Native Americans. Allotment and land sales since the late nineteenth century had reduced the amount of land in both tribal and Indian ownership, and the size of the Reservation was reduced by governmental action between its establishment in 1862 and modern times. The reservation and the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe is organized into three districts. The tribe runs its own school, the Crow Creek Tribal Schools system, with an elementary school at Fort Thompson and a K-12 boarding and day school at
Stephan, approximately north of Fort Thompson. The tribe leases most of its land for grazing to a few large ranching families, as it is not suitable for subsistence farming. Unemployment is high. The tribe operates the Lode Star Casino and Hotel on its reservation, attracting tourists and area residents. The archeological sites are also featured for heritage tourism. Recreational travelers use Lake Sharpe's fishing and boating. The
Lower Brule Indian Reservation, originally part of the Great Sioux Reservation, is located on the west bank of the Missouri River. It is directly across from the Crow Creek Reservation. Its people also lost fertile bottomlands in the flooding that accompanied the construction of the dam. ==Monuments and Commemorations of the Dakota War of 1862 and its Aftermath==