SnakeMedicine_Book1

ON LOCATION
3 I L A KOTA H I L L S N E A R C O L U M B I A , M I S S O U R I
West of Columbia, Missouri, which is home to the University of
Missouri, Interstate 70 crosses the Missouri River. It is here
that the bluffs overlooking the river are called Lakota Hills.
The seven bands of the Lakota tribe speak
variations of the Sioux tongue. The
Lakotans roamed much of the Upper
Mississippi basin, although there is evidence
that their origins are from the
Lower Mississippi. Before the horse was
introduced to them in the 1700s, the
Lakotans drew their strength from the
land as agriculturists, not as nomadics
following the wild herds. After their migration
to The Dakotas and the Badlands,
the Lakotans found their strength in the
land while on horseback. Two of their legendary
members Sitting Bull and Crazy
Horse, are remembered as emblems for the
buffalo-chasing horse culture. In the vast
region within the boundaries of Minnesota,
Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and the
Dakotas, the Lakotans and the Sioux
thrived. But their territory was also the
path of the western push by a culture and
a civilization ultimately emanating from
Europe. The history of this clash between
the established culture and the brash
movement of Easterners moving west is
legendary. A new respect for the land
evolved that did not accommodate the
Lakotans reverence for the land and its
assets. The epic battles that ensued are
inscribed in the literature of the Wild West
and stereotyped and fictionalized by
Hollywood.
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