Title: Bulletin Identifier: bulletin3021910smit Year: 1901 (1900s) Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Subjects: Ethnology Publisher: Washington : G. P. O. Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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Text Appearing Before Image: BOLL. 30] SPRING FROG SPRUCE-TREE HOUSE 627 and Montana n. of the North Platte as far w. aa Bighorn mts. and abandoning the road to the mines, with Ft Phil. Kearny, where the massacre of Lieut. Col. William J. Fetterman's command had occurred on Dec. 21, 1866, and Ft

Text Appearing After Image: SPOTTED TAIL Reno near the head of Powder r. When gold was discovered in the Black hills, Spotted Tail and Red Cloud, who were recognized as the chiefs at the respective agencies called by their names, arranged to go to \Vashington to negotiate a sale of the mineral rights; and thoroughly to in- form himself of the value of the minerals. Spotted Tail visited the hills, hung around the camps of the prospectors, listened to their talk, and conceived the idea there- from that the mines were immensely valuable. Under the treaty of 1868 the chiefs could not make treaties for sale of lands, hence commissioners were sent to the Indians, finding that Spotted Tail had raised the Indian expectations so high that sixty million dollars were demanded for the concession. The Government could not agree to this, hence no treaty was made that year, and miners were permitted by the troops to pass into the Black hills without hindrance. Then all the young men on the reservations joined the hostiles. Red Cloud was sus- pected of disloyalty, and in the course of the campaign that followed the Custer disaster in 1876, Spotted Tail was ap- pointed chief of all the Indians at both agencies, and negotiated the settlement by which his nephew. Crazy Horse, came in from Powder r. and surrendered in the spring of 1877. Spotted Tail was killed near Rosebud agency, S. Dak., Aug. 5, 1881, by a tribesman named Crow Dog. The facts relating to the killing are in dispute, but there is not much question that Spotted Tail, at the time, was leading a hostile party against Crow Dog, who deemed his life in peril and shot in self- defense. (F. H. D. R. ) Spring Frog. See Toonntuh. Spring Garden Town. A former town in the Seminole country, settled by Yuchi under chief Billy; situated above L. George, Fla.—Bell in Morse, Rep. to Sec. War, 308, 1822. Spring Place. A Cherokee mission sta- tion established by the Moravians Steiner and Byhan, in 1801, in ]Murray co., n. w. Ga., and continued in ojieration until the extension of the Georgia laws over the Cherokee territory in 183-4. (.i. m. ) Spruce-tree House. A ruined cliff- dwelling, situated in the Mesa Yerde National Park, about 25 m. from Mancos, Colo. Next to Cliff Palace, this ruin is the largest cliff-house in Colorado. It occupies a great natural cave in the e. wall of Spruce-tree canyon, a branch of Navaho canyon, and receives its name from a large spruce tree that formerly stood near by. The curved front wall of the structure measures 218 ft long; the breadth of the ruin is 89 ft, and its longest axis is about n. and s. This ruin has 114 secular rooms, 8 subterranean kivas, and a roofless kiva sometimes called a warriors' room. Many of the dwelling chambers are 3 stories high, several filling the inter- val from the floor to the roof of the cave. It is estimated that the population of Spruce-tree House was 350. The period of occupancy and the causes of depopula- tion are unknown, but there is no doubt that the buildings are prehistoric. The kivas of Spruce-tree House as a rule are ananged at equal distances along the front of the cave; they average about 15 ft in diameter. They are circular or oval in form, and subterranean in posi- tion, their tops being level with the adjoin- ing plazas. Entrance to kivas was gained probably by means of notched logs or ladders through hatchways in the roofs. There were also subterranean passageways communicating with neighboring plazas or rooms. Each kiva has a ventilator by which fresh air is introduced and dis- tributed at the floor level, a central fire- place, and a small symbolic opening, or sipapu, in the floor, representing the en- trance into the underworld. The roof is elaborately constructed in vaulted form, its beams being placed crosswise, the outer ones resting on six vertical pilasters, or pedestals, supported by a banquette surrounding the room and raised about

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