Volume 1

144 CHEYENNE RIVER AND INDIANS.
this river, and from the number of small branches which fall
into it, they cannot be destroyed for many years to come.
Large animals are also in great numbers.
Beyond this river, about 12 leagues by land, is Schian
[Cheyenne^'] river, on the W. This derives its name from
a formerly numerous tribe of Indians, who inhabited its
upper part. They were a neutral tribe between the Sioux
and the Saulteurs for many years ; but the latter, who are
of a jealous disposition, suspected they favored the Sioux.
A very large party having been once unsuccessful in discovering
their enemies, on their return wreaked their vengeance
on those people, destroying their village and murdering
most of them. This happened about 60 years ago, when
the Saulteurs were at war with their natural enemies, the
Sioux of the Plains, who are the only inhabitants of St.
Peter's river. The Schians having been nearly exterminated,
abandoned their old territories and fled southward
across the Missouri, where they are now a wandering tribe.
Their numbers have increased suprisingly. They are generally
in amity with their neighbors, the Gens de Vache,
'*This Cheyenne r.,
not to be confounded with a large tributary of the Missouri
of the same name, is by far the longest branch of Red r.
Its main course,
or what Henry calls the North Fork, arises on the Coteau de Missouri, nearly or
quite as far W, as the longitude of Bismarck, N. Dak. ; runs N. E. in Wells
Co. and E. in Benson Co., and in Eddy Co. forms the whole S. boundary of the
present Devil's Lake Indian reservation (with a little overlapping in Ramsey
Co.). It continues E. in Nelson Co., turns S. through Griggs and Barnes into
Ransom Co., meanders the latter very crookedly eastward, continues E.
through Richland Co., and when about lo m. from Red r. turns N. into Cass
Co., and runs N. in the latter, nearly parallel with Red r., to fall into the last
named river about lO m. N. of Fargo. In all this long and very circuitous
course, Cheyenne r. receives no very notable tributaries, as its drainage area is
exceptionally narrow for its length, being hemmed in on the N. and E. by various
rivers we have already rehearsed, and on the S. and \V. by Jacques,
James, or Dakota r. The principal branch is the united stream of Maple r. and
Rush r., which falls in in Cass Co., only 6 or 8 m. N. W. of Fargo. As will be
seen further on, Henry considers Cheyenne r. to be the N. one of two " principal
branches" which compose Red r., his S. branch being Red r. itself above
the mouth of the Cheyenne. The forms of the name are very numerous,
Keating, p. 39, has Shienne or Shahiada r.