Western South Dakota's Only Ranch Station

Talk to focus on tribal-federal relations, damming the Missouri

AP Photo
George Gillette (left) chairman of the Fort Berthold Indian Tribal Business Council, covers his face as he weeps in the office of Secretary of Interior J. A. Krug in Washington, May, 20, 1948. Krug is signing a contract whereby the tribe sells 155,000 acres of its reservation in North Dakota for the Garrison Dam and Reservoir project. In a prepared statement, Gillette said: "The members of the Tribal Council sign this contract with heavy hearts. Right now the future does not look good to us."

PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota State Historical Society’s virtual “History Talks” speaker in February will be historical consultant Michael Lawson speaking about his book, “Dammed Indians Revisited: The Continuing History of the Pick-Sloan Plan and the Missouri River Sioux.”

Missouri river with dams and reservoirs built in the Pick–Sloan Program since the 1940s, and Indian reservations affected by reservoir flooding.

The 1944 Pick-Sloan Plan created a wealth of economic opportunities for the states lying along the Missouri River. But the plan also flooded more than 200,000 acres of bottomlands that helped to sustain the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota tribes and forced the relocation of entire communities. “Dammed Indians Revisited” examines how the work of the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation affected the communities along the river, demonstrating the unequal relationship between the tribes and the federal government.

This free virtual event will be held Thursday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. CST on Zoom. To register, go to https://www.sdhsf.org/events/. “History Talks” is a monthly program of the South Dakota Historical Society Press and the South Dakota Historical Society Foundation.

Published by the South Dakota Historical Society Press in 2011, “Dammed Indians Revisited” may be ordered for $18.95, plus shipping and tax, from SDHS Press at sdhspress.com and from the South Dakota Historical Society Foundation at sdhsf.org or at the Heritage Shops in the Cultural Heritage Center or the State Capitol in Pierre.

For more information about the South Dakota Historical Society Press and its books, visit sdhspress.com and follow @sdhspress on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

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