A Message from Garcia: “Where is Chief’s Bluff?”

The name Chief’s Bluff comes to the eye when reading the texts of the Treaty with the Sioux – Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands, 1867. In Article 2 “…. said lands claimed being bounded on the south and east by the Treaty of 1851, and the Red River of the North to the mouth of Goose River: on the north by the Goose River. And a line running from the source thereof by the most westerly point of Devils Lake to the Chief’s Bluff at the head of James River, and on the west by the James River to the mouth of Moccasin River, and thence to Kampeska Lake”. So where is Chief’s Bluff?

In Bertha Rachel Palmer’s book: “Beauty Spots in North Dakota” (1928) we learn the bluff is located in the southeast corner of Wells County and called Butte D’ Chef from the Metis. She also tells us the Dakota name Ḣuya Wayapa aKdi (Where the Eagle Comes Back with Something in its Mouth). The name comes from an old Dakota tale about a camp of Dakotas near the bluff who spotted a flying eagle with a piece of dried meat in its beak. They shot the eagle down. The piece of dried meat (jerky) alerted the Dakota that an enemy maybe near. Sending out scouts who located the enemy, who were attacked and defeated. Now we have the whole story, the name, location, and origin of the name.

Further research in a book by Walter E. Spokesfield, (1929) “the History of Wells County and its Pioneers” This bluff was known in the past as Chief Hill, Great Choteau and Pilot Knob. On top of this flat top hill estimated to be 2000 feet above sea level is a prehistoric serpent shaped mound several feet long with five connecting mounds. Spokesfield adds that in 1873 John M Potter named the hill Hawksnest for the hawks who dwelled on it. The hill is located in Section 26 Hawksnest Township, Wells County. He adds the Dakota name Huyawayapaahdi (Where the eagle brings something home in its beak). This hill has a spring of good flowing water and is a well-known campsite when traveling from Standing Rock to Devils Lake.

Now for the rest of the story: On December 2, 1983 I interviewed Mr. Hazen Wilson at Old Agency, Sisseton, South Dakota. Hazen was telling me about various place names. He said Ḣuya Wayapa ahdi (Hawksnest) was named because a group of Dakotas were stormed in by a blizzard. One family had a pet eagle, the camp was hungry. Somehow the eagle flew out the top of the tipi and returned later with a chunk of meat, so they let the eagle go and followed it. The eagle led them to a frozen buffalo killed by the storm. The eagle saved the people from starvation. Hazen said Ḣuya meant a mature Golden Eagle. Mr. Wilson’s account of the origin of the name is more plausible, I think.

I visited Chiefs Bluff some twenty years ago and discovered communications towers sitting on top of each of the prehistoric mounds, thereby destroying this historic site. I also discovered the bluff is approximately 2.5 by 3.5-mile butte in Sections 14, 15, 23, 24, 25, 26, 35, 36 Township 145 north, Range 68 west. It has an elevation of 2115 feet above sea level. Walter E. Spokesfield says Hawksnest is located in Section 26, perhaps this is the location designated in the 1867 Treaty, a high point?

Now we are missing a historic document referring to Chiefs Bluff written in the Dakota language. This proof was supplied by a famous author at my request. Gary Clayton Anderson found a report in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. This report is written in the Dakota language by Gabriel Renville

(Tiwakan= Holy House) dated may 14, 1864. This letter was translated into English. Renville says he met 5 lodges near the Chiefs Bluff. The Dakota text written by Renville says Tipi zaptanpi do. Ḣuya Wayapa Ahdi Sunkaku kin kiyedan hen. While we have the name of Chiefs Bluff translated from Dakota, Renville says Ḣuyawayapaahdi Sunkaku which means “the Younger brother” of Where the Eagle Returns Biting Something. We now have the Dakota name of Chiefs Bluff in Dakota.

Just clarify things, Renville is saying ‘The Younger Brother” of Where the Eagle Returns Biting Something. This is not Chiefs Bluff (Hawksnest), but a place now known as Brush Hill some 6 miles south of Chiefs Bluff, located in Sections 1 and 2, Township 143 north, Range 67 West, Stutsman County, North Dakota. It is designated Little Brother because it looks similar to Hawksnest. Generally speaking we have the name of Hawksnest /Chiefs Bluff in Dakota. Until other material written in Dakota is discovered mentioning Ḣuyawayapaahdi, we have to settle for this information as presented to us.

To summarize the answer to the question; Where is Chiefs Bluff? The answer is this location is now known as Hawksnest. It is located in Hawksnest Township, in the Southeast corner of Wells County, North Dakota. The original name is Ḣuyawayapaahdi (Ḣuya = a mature Golden Eagle; Wayapa = to hold in the mouth; Ahdi = to bring or carry home. Glossed as Where the Eagle Brings Back Something in its Beak.

Biography

Anderson, Gary Clayton Professor, University of Oklahoma, Department of History, Norman.

Gabriel Renville: From the Dakota War to the Creation of the Sisseton – Wahpeton reservation 1825 – 1892.

Anderson and Woolworth, Alan R. Through Dakota Eyes: Narrative Accounts of the Minnesota Indian War of 1862.Minnesota historical Society Press 1988.

Kinsmen of Another Kind: Dakota White Relations in the Upper Mississippi Valley 1650 – 1862. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986.

Garcia, Louis Papers #789 Chester Fritz Library. Grand Forks: University of North Dakota. Hazen Wilson interview, Book 9 Page 110.

Dakota Place Names in North Dakota. MSS 11295. Bismarck: State Historical Society of North Dakota.

Kappler, Charles J. Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties Volume 2. Pages 956-959. Treaty with The Sioux-Sisseton and Wahpeton Bands 1867. Washington: Government Printing office 1971.

Palmer, Bertha Rachael Beauty Spots in North Dakota. Boston: R. G. Badger Publisher, 1928. (Palmer graduated Devils Lake High School in 1898).

Riggs, Stephen R. A Dakota-English Dictionary. Minneapolis Ross and Haines, Inc.1968.

Spokesfield, Walter E. History of Wells County and its Pioneers. Wells County History Volume 5 # 2. February 5, 1974 page 2. (WellsCountynd.com).

Editor’s Note: Some words, names and phrases in this column may be incorrectly spelled because of computer issues with translation. For correct spelling and use, contact the author. – Louise Oleson, editor