acknowledging their protection by the federal government.  In 1825, they signed a second treaty with the U.S. in an attempt to regulate trade and reduce conflict among neighboring tribes on the northern Plains.

 The third and final treaty between the Ponca and the United States government was signed in 1858.  For the Ponca this treaty reflected the realities of their current circumstances.  Three years earlier, in 1855, the Ponca participated in their last successful buffalo hunt, leaving them almost exclusively to subsistence horticultural practices.  Pressure from Sioux bands and the Pawnee, coupled with the increasing presence of illegal white settlers made even the latter difficult.  By the treaty’s terms the Ponca ceded most of their western hunting territories to the federal government while retaining a reservation on the Niobrara River.

 Ironically, though, it was not any of the treaties they specifically signed with the United States that brought the most grief to the Ponca.  Instead federal acts and treaties signed with other tribes precipitated the most trying times for the Ponca people.  Increasingly liberalized land laws sponsored by Congress drew thousands of settlers west.  The Homestead Act of 1862 offered 160 acres of free land to any individual who paid a $10 registration fee, lived on the land for five years, and cultivated and improved it.  By 1865, 20,000 homesteaders had occupied new land in the West under the act, many of them drawn to the fertile lands adjacent to the Niobrara River on the Ponca Reservation. 

 The Treaty of Fort Laramie, signed between the Western Sioux and the United States in 1868, ended the Powder River War and set aside the Great Sioux Reserve for the traditional Ponca enemies.  In an “administrative blunder” by federal agents, the entire Ponca Reservation was given to the Sioux.  When the error was discovered, the U.S. government chose to remove the less powerful Poncas south to Indian Territory rather than admit their mistake.  Despite strong protests from the tribe for nearly a decade, under military escort, the Ponca’s forced removal to Indian Territory began in the spring of 1877.  Only 36 Ponca who had joined Omaha bands in Nebraska chose to remain in the north.  Many Ponca believed because they were not allowed to move according to traditional practices, they would be met by harsh circumstances.  Accustomed to moving only after a young girl, or pipe carrier, flanked by scouts, was sent ahead to establish a new camp, the Ponca understood well the implications of their forced removal.

 Leaving all but what they could carry, the first contingent left on April 14^th, the journey, through rain, snow, and swollen rivers, lasted 59 days.  The second contingent departed the following month.  Their trek lasted a total of 65 days and was beset by even greater hardships, including two tornadoes, illness, accidents, and deaths.  Upon their arrival to northeastern Oklahoma, they found no shelter and little food.  Including both contingents, a total of 681 Ponca survived the journey.

Dissatisfied with this location on the Quapaw Reservation, the following year the Ponca moved west to newly purchased lands near the Arkansas and Salt Fork Rivers, which reminded them of their homeland beside the Niobrara and Ponce Creek.  This location, from the west bank of the Arkansas River and including land on both sides of the Salt Fork River, became the Ponca Reservation. Initially, the Ponca established a large tipi village on the west banks of the Arkansas River.  An Agency was established on the Salt Fork River, two miles above its confluence with the Arkansas River.  The non-full bloods established a separate community at the mouth of the Chikaskia Creek and generally did not participate in the more traditional activities.  These first two years in the Indian Territory were devastating for the Ponca.  Food was scarce and they were unable to plant crops. A malaria epidemic also struck in 1878 and resulted in many deaths.  Almost 1/3 of the tribe had perished since leaving the north and many others were ill and disabled.

 It was at this time one of the most famous Ponca sagas began. When his eldest son, Bear Shield, died in 1878, the Ponca Chief Standing Bear and 65 followers began a journey back to Nebraska to bury his son in traditional Ponca territory.  Standing Bear was arrested in Nebraska for leaving the reservation without permission. The ensuing trial in the federal court resulted in the landmark decision which declared Indians to be considered “persons” with individual rights under the law.

 After Standing Bear’s successful departure from Indian Territory his brother, Big Snake, also attempted to leave the Ponca Reservation for lands occupied by the Cheyenne.  Fearful that he and others would leave the federal jurisdiction, Indian agent William “Whiteman,” sought to have Big Snake arrested.  When he resisted the detail’s attempt to arrest him, Big Snake was shot and killed.  Following a United States Senate investigation into the killing, Standing Bear and the Ponca who accompanied him were allowed to continue their journey to the Niobrara River.  This journey resulted in the formation of the separate Northern and Southern tribes.  The Southern Ponca full-bloods continued to try to maintain a communal lifestyle and renewed their traditional ceremonies, including the Sun Dance and the winter ceremonials in round houses built beside the Arkansas River.  

 The assault on Ponca tribalism began in 1887 with the initial attempts to allot the reservation lands. Negotiations began at the Ponca Agency in October of 1891 and were renewed in March of 1892. Several Ponca chiefs firmly opposed any allotments of the communal lands. Although the government agents started the process of allotting the communal lands, many Ponca refused to select an allotment.  By the spring of 1894 it was reported that 390 Ponca had chosen allotments while 200 refused to select their allotments.  Members of the anti-allotment faction were then assigned allotments by the government agents, but the opposition to the allotment process continued.  In retaliation for their opposition, family members of the anti-allotment faction were assigned scattered allotments which separated relatives from adjoining allotments.  In other cases the farms and fields of the anti-allotment faction were given to allotment supporters, forcing the occupants to move from the homes they had built and the gardens they had planted.

 The allotment process, coupled with the added threat to Indian land with the Land Rush of 1889, did contribute to the reduction of tribal lifestyle among many traditional Ponca.  This movement against Indian land then turned to a movement against Indian government with the passage of the Curtis Act in 1898.  Entitled "An Act for the Protection of the People of the Indian Territory and for Other Purposes," the Curtis Act actually overturned many treaty rights by allocating federal lands, abolishing tribal courts, and giving the Interior Department control over mineral leases on Indian lands.  Arguably, the final assault on Ponca and other Indian lands during the waning days of the Reservation period occurred with Oklahoma statehood in 1907.

 In spite of the allotments, it still was possible to gather together as a tribe for the winter months when many Ponca families camped beside the Arkansas River and ceremonies continued in the round houses.  These circular log structures replicated the Ponca earth lodges in the north. The river provided drinking water and there was an abundance of fish, waterfowl, and turtles. Pecan tress, persimmons, blackberries, wild grapes, and other fruits were readily available. Game animals could be hunted in the bottom lands, and driftwood provided a source of fuel.  The winter ceremonies included hand games, give-aways, the Ghost Dance, and the Hethuska or Warrior Dance.  As interest in the Ghost Dance diminished, the Hethuska dances became the principal ceremonies.  The Sun Dance continued until the first decade of the 20^th century.  After allotment, however, the tribal camp, with each clan assigned a traditional location in the camp circle, became less a part of this activity.  In its final years the Sun Dance ceremony became somewhat of a tourist attraction for non-Indian and excursion trains from Ponca City were scheduled for those who wanted to view the ceremony.

Late in the 19^th century non-Indian homesteaders began to move into areas surrounding the Ponca Reservation.  In 1899 Ponca City was incorporated north of the Reservation.  A large percentage of the Ponca land was leased to the Miller Brothers and became the basis for the famous 101 Ranch.  As original allottees died, the Miller Brothers purchased their allotments as they became available for sale.  In 1911 oilman E.W. Marland struck oil on land leased from a Ponca tribal member named Willie Cries.  The well, called “Willie-Cries No. 1,” proved to be a major strike ushering in an era of unprecedented oil production in central Oklahoma. 

By the early 1920s local oil refineries began to dump oil waste into the Arkansas River and Ponca City used the river for disposal of raw sewage.  Quickly the river water became unfit to drink.  Life in the river died off and the animals which had lived adjacent to the river all but disappeared, making already trying circumstances for the Ponca even more difficult.

Certainly, there were many additional pressures on the Ponca culture in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. We have not mentioned the boarding school experience which robbed many young Ponca of their language, nor the introduction of the Native American Church in 1902, or the several Christian Churches which established missions on the reservation which provided a new religious orientation for many Ponca.  These significantly impacted the Ponca, but the event that resulted in an irreversible change within Ponca culture appears to be the end of the communal winter camps brought about indirectly by the pollution of the Arkansas River.  In spite of the forced removal from their homeland, the allotment of their communal lands, and the end of many tribal ceremonies, the Ponca were able to maintain some sense of community through the annual winter camps.  The end of the winter camps struck at the very heart of the Ponca culture and traditions.

            The many direct pressures resulting from Euro-American contacts attacked the Ponca culture, but they survived as a society.  They were removed from their homeland with its sacred places, but they found a location in Indian Territory where they could reconstruct their society. Members abandoned the tribe, either by moving north or establishing a separate community of non-full bloods, but the sense of being a unique group of people remained among the full bloods and “traditionalists.”  Even the attempt to destroy this Ponca society through allotment and the Dawes Severalty Act, the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889, and the Curtis Act of 1898 ending tribal government in Indian Territory, were all ultimately unsuccessful because the Ponca still came together for the winter camps.  The continuation of winter camps also suffered, though not because of direct pressure from the dominant White culture, but rather indirectly through the pollution of the Arkansas River.

The onset of World War I ushered in a revival of the Ponca’s proud warrior tradition and spurred the creation of the first American Indian Legion Post in the nation.  This era also sparks the beginning of the modern powwow complex, solidified at Ponca with the building of the grandstands at White Eagle in the early 1930s under the auspices of creating a ball field but, instead, being used as a dance ground.  This dance ground today remains the site of the Ponca Powwow held every August at White Eagle to commemorate the Ponca’s forced removal from Nebraska to Indian Territory.

 The decade long Great Depression (1929-1939/40) brought additional hardships to the Ponca and other Native peoples throughout Oklahoma.  Because of limited economic opportunities for many individuals throughout the state, particularly Indians, many families and communities were forced to rely increasingly upon wild game to supplement food shortages.  Yet this increased reliance only further depleted an already dwindling supply of game.  The post-World War II era saw many community members leave White Eagle for military service over seas or employment opportunities often outside of Oklahoma.  The post War period brought increased awareness of tribal identity among many Native peoples.  Among the first to speak to the cause was Ponca tribal member, Clyde Warrior.  A product of federally sponsored boarding schools, long the opponent of Indian peoples traditions and cultures, Warrior emphasized the importance of White education, but urged all Native peoples to never lose their Indian ways.  Through the spirit of Clyde Warrior and other Ponca leaders who preceded him, the Ponca’s resolve and sense of community sustain them as both a vibrant and vital part of Indian Country and the Nation.