Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People

THE QUAPAW
This page and opposite: These historic
mining photographs were taken in early
day Ottawa County, Oklahoma, in Quapaw
Territory, and signify the important role the
area played in its history.
The Quapaw, also known as “Ug’Akhpa”
or “Downstream People” in their language,
settled hundreds of years ago in the area now
known as Arkansas. In prehistoric times, the
Tribe belonged to the southern part of the
Siouan linguistic family, which migrated and
relocated near the James and Savannah River
region on the Atlantic Coast. Later, the group
travelled back west and down the Ohio River
to the mouth of the Mississippi River where
they divided. One band travelled downstream
and into present day Arkansas, and the other
band travelled north settling on the Missouri
River in present day Nebraska, where they
later become known as the Omaha, or
“Upstream People.”
When French explorers arrived in 1673,
there were approximately 10,000 Quapaw
Indians living in four villages near the mouth
of the Arkansas River. They referred to the
Quapaw as “Arkansea,” from which the river
and the state became known as “Arkansas.”
By 1780 the Tribe had migrated further up the
Arkansas River near the mouth of the White
River. Early records described the Quapaw
as peaceful people living in villages elevated
on mounds of earth. The houses, containing
several families, were long and covered with
bark. They were agricultural people raising
corn, squash, beans, pumpkins and gourds.
They also gathered nuts, seeds and roots.
The men hunted deer, buffalo, bear, and wild
turkey and caught fish out of the rivers.
Unfortunately, after the Louisiana Purchase
in 1803, and later the organization of the
Arkansas Territory, the Quapaw were forced
to cede their land to the United States. In
1824 the Quapaw were removed to live in the
area of the Caddo, near the Red River in
Louisiana. Because of flooding, the new
land was uninhabitable and they were forced
to return to their original lands. By 1839
a reservation had been established in
Northeastern Oklahoma. However, by then,
the tribal number had been diminished to less
than 100 enrolled members. More recently
the number of enrolled Quapaw numbered
around 2,000 (today about 4,000), with most
of the members living near Miami, Oklahoma.
There are no remaining pure blood Quapaw
alive today. The last full-blood Quapaw
on record, Robert Whitebird, died in 2005,
at the age of ninety-two.
With the recognition of tribal sovereignty
in the nineteenth century, the Quapaw Tribe
began government relations with the United
States with the treaty signed in 1818. The
Tribe has continued relations through six
subsequent treaties and agreements with
the United States including the Quapaw
Allotment Act of 1895, and continuing thereafter.
The Quapaw Tribe has been governed
pursuant to the “Resolution Delegating
Authority to the Quapaw Tribal Business
Committee to Speak and Act on Behalf of
the Quapaw Tribe of Indians,” as approved
by the General Council of the Tribe on
August 19, 1956.
Today, the Tribe’s number has grown substantially,
and their remaining territory is a
526 acre area in the extreme northeast corner
of Oklahoma near the border of Missouri and
Kansas. The Tribe’s museum and library is now
housed in the Robert Whitebird Quapaw Center
in Quapaw, Oklahoma. Historical pictures
and family information line the museum walls
and include names such as Leading Fox and
O K L A H O M A : A S t o r y T h r o u g h H e r P e o p l e
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