The Sheyenne River forms the south border of the Spirit Lake Reservation. What does the name Sheyenne / Cheyenne have to do with the Spirit Lake Dakota? The answer: on the south bank of this river was a Cheyenne earth lodge village near Lisbon, North Dakota. The Cheyenne people today live in the states of Montana and Oklahoma. The Cheyenne name for these indigenous people is not their official name. Their name for themselves is Tsistsistas (Beautiful People).

So where did the name Cheyenne come from? The French fur traders called them Dog people, because when they first met them, they were in what anthropologists call Dog Days. They did not have horses and used big dogs to help them transport their positions. They used two tipi poles crossed on the back of the dog. Then placed tipi covers, robes, and other items across the poles. The French word for this mode of transportation is a Travois.

In the French language a dog is Chien (male) and Chienne (female). Now pronounce the word Chien (dog) with a French accent, and you arrive at Cheyanne, or close to it. The French called the Sheyenne River: Riviere du Chien (River of Dog People). So why the American spelling of Cheyenne and Sheyenne. The term Cheyene designates a river in South Dakota and Sheyenne for our North Dakota river.

The Cheyenne village near Lisbon, ND on the south bank of the Sheyenne, consisted of 70 earth lodges sheltering a population of over 1,000 people. The village was occupied circa 1724 to 1790. The Ojibway and later the Assiniboine attacked them and burnt their earth lodges. They moved west to an area along the Missouri River about were Fort Yates, ND is today. They joined other Cheyenne who set up individual villages along the Cheyenne River in South Dakota, as well as the Missouri River. From this point in time they became plains Indians, abandoned the earth lodge and adopted he tipi as their principal abode.

The Sheyenne River is the longest river within the state of North Dakota. It starts in northwest Highland Township, Sheridan County and flows east some 325 miles to Harwood Township, Cass County, north of Fargo. The Dakota name is Saiya Ozupi Wakpa (River where the Cheyenne Plant their Gardens). The origin of the Dakota word Sahiyena, for the Cheyenne’s name has been lost.

Bibliography

Garcia, Louis North Dakota Place Names in the Dakota Language notebook. North Dakota State Historical Society Archives, Bismarck.

Grinnell, George Bird Early Cheyenne Villages. American Anthropologist, New Series. Volume 20 # 4 1918.

Will, George F. The Cheyenne Indians in North Dakota. Proceedings of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association. 1913-1914. Volume 7 (1914), pages 67 – 78.

Wood, W. Raymond Biesterfield: A Post Contact Coalescent Site on the Northern Plains. Washinton D.C. Press Smithsonian Institution Press 1971.

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