the Indians of the Upper Missouri, the Arikara village was situated
a little above the mouth of Grand River, since which time they have
made several removals and are now located at Fort Clark, the former
village of the Mandans." ( Hayden, (1), pp. 351-352.)

The beginning of the last century found the Arikara living in three
villages, all on the right bank of the Missouri. In the journal of the.
French trader Le Raye are brief references to the villages, together
with some notes on the manners and customs of the inhabitants.
April 22, 1802, he wrote: "The Ricaras or Rus have three villages,
situated on the south bank of the Missouri, in the great bend of the
river. The lower village is on a large bottom covered with cotton
wood, and contains about fifty huts." He then describes the manner
in which the earth-covered lodges were built and refers to the struc-
tures being "placed with great regularity," a statement which does
not seem to have been borne out by later writers. Continuing, he
said: "The town is picketed with pickets twelve feet high and set
very close, to prevent firing between them. There is one gate way,
which is shut at night." On may 27, 1802, he left the lower village,
"crossed Missouri, and arrived the same evening at the upper village.
This village is situated on an Island in the Missouri, and is fortified
in the same manner as the lower village, containing about sixty huts.
. . . The next morning we proceeded, and soon left the Missouri,
travelling a northwest course, in a well beaten path." ( Le Raye, (1),
pp. 171-180.)

Although the preceding notes may not be very accurate, neverthe-
less they are of interest on account of the period they cover, just
before the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, and two years
before the most important expedition ascended the Missouri.

To trace the sites of early Arikara villages as mentioned by Lewis
and Clark, and as seen by them when the expedition under their
command passed up the Missouri during the early autumn of 1804,
is most interesting. On September 29 of that year they reached the
mouth of a small creek which entered the Missouri from the south,
"which we called Notimber creek from its bare appearance. Above
the mouth of this stream, a Ricara band of Pawnees had a village
five years ago: but there are no remains of it except the mound
which encircled the town." This would have been in the present
Stanley County, South Dakota. Two days later, on October 1,
they "passed a large island in the middle of the river, opposite
the lower end of which the Ricaras once had a village on the south
side of the river: there are, however, no remnants of it now, except
a circular wall three or four feet in height, which encompassed the
town." Two miles beyond was the mouth of the Cheyenne River.

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