Big Sioux River

Sioux Falls is, again, our largest city as such.

One of the nicest places that you're going to see is downtown by the Big Sioux River that cuts through Sioux Falls.

A lot of things down there.

The beautiful courtsite, what we call, I'm trying to remember, it's a red courtsite as such that goes through there.

First up, we have downtown Sioux Falls River Fest, September 19th at Sharapa Place Plaza in downtown Sioux Falls.

It starts at 3 p.m. Riverfest is downtown Sioux Falls' annual celebration of the Big Sioux River, bringing together live music, food and beverage vendors, family-friendly activities, and opportunities to connect with one of Sioux Falls' greatest natural resources.

Set along the Big Sioux River Greenway in Sharapa Place, Riverfest blends entertainment, community, and environmental stewardship into an experience that can be enjoyed by all ages.

More info, DTSF.com. Have you been? I

have.

Here commences the Sioux country.

The next by note is the Big Sioux River, which heads with the St. Peter's and waters of Lake Winnipeg in some high wooded country.

About 90 miles still higher, the River Jacques falls on the same side and about 100 yards wide.

This river heads with the Lake Winnipeg at no great distance east from the place, the head of the River Demon in Pelican Lake, between the Sioux Rivers and St. Peter's.

MY FIRST SCHOOL DAYS It was less than a month since I had been a rover and a hunter in the Manitoba wilderness, with no thought save those which concern the most free and natural life of an Indian.

Now I found myself standing near a rude log cabin on the edge of a narrow strip of timber overlooking the fertile basin of the Big Sioux River.

as i gazed over the rolling prairie land all i could see was that it met the sky at the horizon line it seemed to me vast and vague and endless as was my conception of the new trail which i had taken and my dream of the far-off goal my father's farm of a hundred sixty acres which he had taken up and improved under the united states homestead laws lay along the north bank of the river the nearest neighbor lived a mile away and all had flourishing fields of wheat indian corn and potatoes some two miles distant where the big sioux doubled upon itself in a swinging loop rose the mission church and schoolhouse the only frame building within forty miles our herd of ponies was loose upon the prairie and it was my first task each morning to bring them into the log corral on this particular morning i lingered finding some of them like myself who loved their freedom too well and would not come in the man who had built the cabin it was his first house and therefore he was proud of it was tall and manly looking he stood in front of his pioneer home with a resolute face he had been accustomed to the buffalo-skin tepee all his life until he opposed the white man and was defeated and made a prisoner of war at davenport iowa it was because of his meditations during those four years in a military prison that he had severed himself from his tribe and taken up a homestead he declared that he would never join in another indian outbreak but would work with his hands for the rest of his life i have hunted every day he said for the support of my family i sometimes chase the deer all day one must work and work hard whether chasing the deer or planting corn after all the corn-planting is the sure provision these were my father's new views and in this radical change of life he had persuaded a few other families to join him they formed a little colony at flandreau on the big sioux river to be sure his beginnings in civilization had not been attended with all the success that he had hoped for one year the crops had been devoured by grasshoppers and another year ruined by drought but he was still satisfied that there was no alternative for the indian he was now anxious to have his boys learn the english language and something about books for he could see that these were the bow and arrows of the white man o hiesa called my father and i obeyed the call it is time for you to go to school my son he said with his usual air of decision we had spoken of the matter more than once yet it seemed hard when it came to the actual undertaking i remember quite well how i felt as i stood there with eyes fixed upon the ground and what am i to do at the school i asked finally with much embarrassment you will be taught the language of the white man and also how to count your money and tell the prices of your horses and of your furs the white teacher will first teach you the signs by which you can make out the words on their books they call them a b c and so forth old as i am i have learned some of them the matter having been thus far explained i was soon on my way to the little mission school two miles distant over the prairie there was no clear idea in my mind as to what i had to do but as i galloped along the road i turned over and over what my father had said and the more i thought of it the less i was satisfied finally i said aloud why do we need a sign language when we can both hear and talk and unconsciously i pulled out the lariat and the pony came to a stop i suppose i was half curious and half in dread about this learning white men's ways meanwhile the pony had begun to graze while thus absorbed in thought i was suddenly startled by the yells of two other indian boys and the noise of their ponies hoofs i pulled the pony's head up just as the two strangers also pulled up and stopped their panting ponies at my side they stared at me for a minute while i looked at them out of the corners of my eyes where are you going are you going to our school volunteered one of the boys at last to this i replied timidly my father told me to go to a place where the white men's ways are taught and to learn the sign language that's good we are going there too come on red feather let's try another race i think if we had not stopped my pony would have outrun yours will you race with us he continued addressing me and we all started our ponies at full speed I soon saw that the two strange boys were riding erect and soldier-like.

That must be because they have been taught to be like the white man, I thought.

I allowed my pony a free start and leaned forward until the animal drew deep breaths, then I slid back and laid my head against the pony's shoulder, at the same time raising my quirt, and he leaped forward with a will.