Lewis & Clark meet the Arikaras

Lewis and Clark meet the Arikaras. . , By the 1500s, the descendants of the Skiri Pawnee People, the Arikara (or Ree) Indians, inhabited this area. Twelve village bands lived along the Missouri River in present-day South Dakota. Three of the villages were near the mouth of the Grand River. , The Arikaras, who refer to themselves as the Spanish people, lived for centuries in earth lodge dwellings in farming communities. When Lewis and Clark traveled through here, they noticed a number of abandoned villages. By this time, the Arikaras had suffered grave population losses due to an influx of smallpox that began in 1780. Later, the remaining Arikaras moved northward and settled north of present day Bismarck, North Dakota, near the Mandan and Hidatsa villages. , Journal Entry , "those Indians Cultivate on the Island Corn Beens Simmins, Tobacco …after Landing Capt. Lewis with Mr. Gravelin and 3 men went to the Village, I formed a Camp on Shore…" , Captain William Clark , Monday, October 8, 1804, Picture Caption, (Background) Karl Bodmer drew this abandoned Arikara village near present-day Mobridge, South Dakota in 1833. The Arikara had left the area due to drought and absence of buffalo; they may have moved further inland to find food., This young man, with beaded representation of bear claws on his moccasins, asked for a painting of a bear in a forest in exchange for allowing the artist Kari Bodmer to paint his portrait. This request may have had connections to his personal medicine or power.