Land area
Reservation of the Arapaho, Arikara and others in Montana and North Dakota (area 300)
- 1851
Recognized as Native land
In the record
Recognized by the 1851 Fort Laramie treaty as territory of the northern Plains nations, including the Sioux, Gros Ventre, Mandan, Arikara, Assiniboin, Crow, Cheyenne and Arapaho; not a cession or reservation. The area covers about 6.4 million acres in what is now Montana and North Dakota.
The 1899 record names Arapaho, Arikara, Cheyenne, Crow (Apsáalooke), Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) and 2 more as the people of this land.
This area was not ceded. The 1899 record shows it as a reservation the nation kept, at least until the record ends in 1894.
Today, Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, Northern Arapaho Tribe of the Wind River Reservation, Wyoming, Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota, Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montana, Crow Tribe of Montana, Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana and 16 more carry the history of the people named here.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
Working with these nations
- Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes Nation government Seeking return of about 6,700 acres at Fort Reno
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate) Nation government Pe' Sla (1,942 acres, Nov 30, 2012)
- Right Relationship Boulder (Land Group) Native-led Funds tribal youth camps and gatherings, plant-gathering access, trail content with tribes, pushes for tribal… Give on their site Website
- Owamniyomni Okhodayapi (formerly Friends of the Falls) Native-led Dakota-led restoration and return of care for sacred St. Anthony Falls (Owamniyomni) site in Minneapolis, with… Give on their site Website
- Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) Native-led Youth programs Website
- Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (Lakota Land Systems) Native-led Lakota-led regenerative community development on Pine Ridge: Lakota Land Systems Give on their site Website
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) Nation government National Bison Range restoration (about 18,800 acres) Website
- Potlatch Fund Native-led Native philanthropy and grantmaking to Native individuals and Native-led organizations Give on their site Website
- Native Governance Center Native-led Strengthening Native nation governance and capacity to exercise sovereignty Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 29
- Arapahoas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Arikaraas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montanamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Cheyenneas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribesmatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Cheyenne River Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Crow (Apsáalooke)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Crow Creek Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Crow Tribe of Montanamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Dakotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montanamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
Show all 29
- Gros Ventre (Aaniiih)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Lower Brule Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Mandanas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation, Montanamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Oglala Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate)matched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraskamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Sioux (as named in treaty records)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyatematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Spirit Lake Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Standing Rock Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Upper Sioux Community, Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Yankton Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
Located in 2
Agreements recorded for this land 1
- Treaty of Fort Laramie (Horse Creek), 18511851suggested
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1851-09-17primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1851-09-17primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Dakota 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Montana 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- USDA Forest Service, Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States (digitized Royce maps)reference work
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 300
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1851-09-17
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Arapaho; Arikara; Assiniboin; Cheyenne; Crow; Gros Ventre; Mandan; Sioux
- States
- MT; ND
- Counties
- Dawson; Garfield; McKenzie; Prairie; Richland
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Dakota 1; Montana 1
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium