Page:A Brief History of South Dakota.djvu/20

 CHAPTER II

human beings first came to live in the South Dakota country, is now unknown. Whether or not other men lived here before the Indian tribes is not certain. Those who have studied the subject most carefully believe there was no one here before the Indians came. In various localities there are a number of mounds evidently the work of man, but it is believed that they were all built by Indians.

All along the Missouri River, at the best points for defense, and for the control of the passage of the stream, are mounds that are the remains of fortresses. Their builders must have labored industriously to construct them. It is believed they were built by the ancestors of the Ree Indians, who still occupied the section when white men first came to it. The most important of these mounds are in the vicinity of Pierre, where it is known the Rees had a very large settlement which they abandoned a little more than a century ago. Here are the remains of four very important forts, two on each shore of the river, completely protecting the approach, from above and below, to the extensive region between, which was occupied by the Rees for their homes and gardens. 14