Oklahoma: A Story Through Her People
A full-color photography book showcasing Oklahoma paired with the histories of companies, institutions, and organizations that have made the state great.
A full-color photography book showcasing Oklahoma paired with the histories of companies, institutions, and organizations that have made the state great.
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THE QUAPAW<br />
This page and opposite: These historic<br />
mining photographs were taken in early<br />
day Ottawa County, <strong>Oklahoma</strong>, in Quapaw<br />
Territory, and signify the important role the<br />
area played in its history.<br />
The Quapaw, also known as “Ug’Akhpa”<br />
or “Downstream <strong>People</strong>” in their language,<br />
settled hundreds of years ago in the area now<br />
known as Arkansas. In prehistoric times, the<br />
Tribe belonged to the southern part of the<br />
Siouan linguistic family, which migrated and<br />
relocated near the James and Savannah River<br />
region on the Atlantic Coast. Later, the group<br />
travelled back west and down the Ohio River<br />
to the mouth of the Mississippi River where<br />
they divided. One band travelled downstream<br />
and into present day Arkansas, and the other<br />
band travelled north settling on the Missouri<br />
River in present day Nebraska, where they<br />
later become known as the Omaha, or<br />
“Upstream <strong>People</strong>.”<br />
When French explorers arrived in 1673,<br />
there were approximately 10,000 Quapaw<br />
Indians living in four villages near the mouth<br />
of the Arkansas River. They referred to the<br />
Quapaw as “Arkansea,” from which the river<br />
and the state became known as “Arkansas.”<br />
By 1780 the Tribe had migrated further up the<br />
Arkansas River near the mouth of the White<br />
River. Early records described the Quapaw<br />
as peaceful people living in villages elevated<br />
on mounds of earth. The houses, containing<br />
several families, were long and covered with<br />
bark. They were agricultural people raising<br />
corn, squash, beans, pumpkins and gourds.<br />
They also gathered nuts, seeds and roots.<br />
The men hunted deer, buffalo, bear, and wild<br />
turkey and caught fish out of the rivers.<br />
Unfortunately, after the Louisiana Purchase<br />
in 1803, and later the organization of the<br />
Arkansas Territory, the Quapaw were forced<br />
to cede their land to the United States. In<br />
1824 the Quapaw were removed to live in the<br />
area of the Caddo, near the Red River in<br />
Louisiana. Because of flooding, the new<br />
land was uninhabitable and they were forced<br />
to return to their original lands. By 1839<br />
a reservation had been established in<br />
Northeastern <strong>Oklahoma</strong>. However, by then,<br />
the tribal number had been diminished to less<br />
than 100 enrolled members. More recently<br />
the number of enrolled Quapaw numbered<br />
around 2,000 (today about 4,000), with most<br />
of the members living near Miami, <strong>Oklahoma</strong>.<br />
There are no remaining pure blood Quapaw<br />
alive today. The last full-blood Quapaw<br />
on record, Robert Whitebird, died in 2005,<br />
at the age of ninety-two.<br />
With the recognition of tribal sovereignty<br />
in the nineteenth century, the Quapaw Tribe<br />
began government relations with the United<br />
States with the treaty signed in 1818. The<br />
Tribe has continued relations through six<br />
subsequent treaties and agreements with<br />
the United States including the Quapaw<br />
Allotment Act of 1895, and continuing thereafter.<br />
The Quapaw Tribe has been governed<br />
pursuant to the “Resolution Delegating<br />
Authority to the Quapaw Tribal Business<br />
Committee to Speak and Act on Behalf of<br />
the Quapaw Tribe of Indians,” as approved<br />
by the General Council of the Tribe on<br />
August 19, 1956.<br />
Today, the Tribe’s number has grown substantially,<br />
and their remaining territory is a<br />
526 acre area in the extreme northeast corner<br />
of <strong>Oklahoma</strong> near the border of Missouri and<br />
Kansas. The Tribe’s museum and library is now<br />
housed in the Robert Whitebird Quapaw Center<br />
in Quapaw, <strong>Oklahoma</strong>. Historical pictures<br />
and family information line the museum walls<br />
and include names such as Leading Fox and<br />
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<br />
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