Osage Village and Camps - Pawhuska, OK - Oklahoma Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

"Whether in the form of villages or seasonal camps, the Osage have always maintained a presence in what is now Oklahoma. However, all the known Osage Villages in Oklahoma prior to 1870 were located either on the Verdigris or the Neosho-Grand Rivers.

Claremore (Clermont) village is perhaps the most well-known village in Oklahoma. The village was situated between the Verdigris River and Claremore Mound, twenty-eight miles west of Union Mission. It had a population of 2,000-3,000 Osage from 1803 to about 1835. In 1817 a Cherokee raiding party made up of about 600 warriors, including the Shawnee and Delaware, attacked the village when the majority of men and women were gone to hunt buffalo. Only the elderly, some women, and very young were left at the village at the time.

A neighboring village that was not as well-known was Black Dog's, located at the site of the present Woodlawn Cemetery in Claremore. Among his achievements Black Dog had three great engineering feats. He constructed the Black Dog Trails, the first improved roads in Kansas and Oklahoma. He built a well-planned racecourse in his village, and he also created a hidden cave nearby that was capable of holding a year's supply of food along with almost five hundred people in his band. It was this cave that spared the Black Dog band from the cruel calamity that fell upon Claremore's band at the hands of the Cherokee. According to legend, Black Dog's band saw the smoke and heard the sounds of the battle so they hid in the cave. The village was looted and burned but not one life was lost.

Another well-known Osage village in Oklahoma was Big Hill Tow,n, also situated on the Verdigris Rivei- in present day Nowata County. The chief of the Big Hill Town village in 1822 was Sing ah Moineh, which seems to be Mo-i-ka-zhi-ga (Little Clay). Little Clay is a name in the Crawfish clan so one would assume that residents of this village were associated with the Crawfish clan.

Hopefield Mission was established on the Neosho-Grand River in 1823 but a treaty in 1828 placed Hopefield within the Cherokee Nation and they were not willing to allow the mission to continue. In 1831 Hopefield Mission relocated about 20 miles north on the west side of the river near its confluence with Big Cabin Creek. The farms became productive, but the summer of 1834 brought a common malady -- Cholera. The Missionary Herald of January 1836 recalled that 300 to 400 Osages died that summer. In August 1834 Cholera also took the life of a missionary, Rev. Montgomery, resulting in a loss of leadership that led to the mission's closing in 1835. There were a total of three Hopefield Missions established in Oklahoma and Kansas. The Hopefield Missions were the most successful farming missions ever established among the Osages."

County: Osage Record Address:: John Quail Ave Pawhuska, OK USA Rate the Site: Sponsor (Who put it there): Osage Nation Web site if available: Not listed Date Erected: Not listed

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