MISSOURIA

According to tribal legend, the Siouan-speaking Mis-souria, or Missouri, once lived in the Great Lakes region as one people with the IOWAY, OTOE, and WINNEBAGO (HO-CHUNK). Yet at some early point in their history, before non-Indians reached the area, a group separated from the Winnebago in search of larger herds of buffalo to the southwest. On reaching the mouth of the Iowa River, where it enters the Mississippi River, another separation occurred. One group, who became the Ioway, stayed in this region. Another group continued westward to the Missouri River, where the group again divided.

Legend has it that this last division happened because of a quarrel. The son of one chief supposedly seduced the daughter of another. The one chief led his people north up the Missouri River. His people came to be known as the Otoe, or “lechers,” because of his son’s behavior. The group that stayed behind became the Missouria (pronounced mih-ZOAR-ee-uh).

A version of their name later was taken as the name of the Missouri River. It probably originally meant “people with the dugout canoes.” But it has come to be translated as “big muddy” after the river, which carries a lot of silt. The name also was adopted by whites as the name of the state.

When they lived farther to the east, the Missouria were woodland Indians who farmed as well as hunted. They took their knowledge of woodworking and farming westward with them. They also continued to live in villages much of the year. Sometimes the Indians who once lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries are discussed as PRAIRIE INDIANS because of the tall prairie grass there. But the Missouria usually are classified as PLAINS INDIANS, since, after having acquired horses, they began to wander over greater distances in search of buffalo and adopted cultural traits similar to those of the western Plains tribes.

In 1673, the French explorer Jacques Marquette visited Missouria villages on the Missouri River where it is joined by a tributary called the Grand River. The tribe lived in this part of what now is the state of Missouri for more than 100 years. In 1798, the SAC and MESKWAKI (fox) swept down from the northeast to defeat the Mis-souria. Survivors lived among the Otoe, OSAGE, and KAW for several years, then established some villages south of the Platte River in present-day Nebraska. The Missouria lived there when the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered them in 1804. Yet the Osage later attacked the Missouria, dispersing them. In 1829, the Missouria joined their ancestral relatives, the Otoe. By 1882, the majority of both tribes had moved to the north-central part of the Indian Territory. They now are united as the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, based in Red Rock, Oklahoma.

In 2004, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe F. Browning Pipestem Wellness Center was dedicated. The purpose of the center is disease prevention and helping Native people cope with life-altering diseases, such as diabetes.