Situated on Lake Oahe, a sprawling Missouri River reservoir, the Standing Rock Reservation straddles the South Dakota-North Dakota border.

The area is the birthplace of one of the Lakota's greatest warriors and most respected medicine men, Sitting Bull. Today, visitors can pay homage at his gravesite overlooking the Missouri River west of Mobridge. A large granite bust depicting Sitting Bull marks the site.

Near the bust of Sitting Bull stands a marker erected as a tribute to Sacagawea, the Shoshone woman who traveled with explorers Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean. Just six years after that historic journey, Sacagawea died at Fort Manuel near Kenel, S.D. Though the fort no longer exists, visitors can stand on the river bluffs near Kenel and admire the natural beauty of Sacagawea's final resting place.

Fort Yates, N.D., tribal headquarters, is the site of the mystical "Stone Woman." As the legend goes, an Arikara woman married a Dakota man, who later took another wife. The first wife became jealous and refused to leave her tent when the rest of the band broke camp. Two men returned to retrieve the woman only to find she had turned to stone. From then on, they carried the "stone woman" with them everywhere. Today, she stands on a pedestal at the old Standing Rock Agency near Fort Yates.

Leaders: Past and Present

Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa, was an influence and respected man. Not only did he serve as a spiritual leader, he also was the last known leader of the "Cante Tinza," an elite warrior society. Sitting Bull helped to defeat Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. And he traveled with Buffalo Bill Cody's "Wild West Show" for a time. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian police on Dec. 15, 1890.

Patricia Locke (Ta Wacin Waste Win), a Hunkpapa Lakota and Chippewa, lives on the Standing Rock Reservation. A MacArthur Fellow, 1991-1996, she has assisted 17 tribes in establishing community colleges on their reservations. Locke has taught at major American universities including the University of California at Los Angeles. She is the author of 29 articles and publications.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
P.O. Box D
Fort Yates, ND
58538-0522
(701) 854-7202. 
Fax: (701) 854-7299.