We Do Not Want the Gates Closed Between Us

The Maps

Railroads and Selected Reservations, 1890
Letters Sent by Native Americans, 1876-1896

This is a new map (a work in progress) that is not featured in the book. This map visualizes over 3000 letters sent by western Native Americans between 1876 and 1896, and I’m always adding to it (I used Palladio to make the map). These letters only represent those that I have documented and mapped. Many thousands more were written in this twenty-year period. 

Total Known Trips between Selected Reservations/Locations, 1880-1890
This map visualizes the known trips between reservations from the beginning of 1880 through the end of 1890 (reservation boundaries changed dramatically in the 1880s—this map represents reservation lines circa 1890). I know there were many more trips between reservations in this period than the map visualizes, but these are the ones I can document with certainty. Most of this documentation comes from the reservation records held in regional National Archives. Because of the limitation of reservation records and because of the limitations of my own research, this map cannot be a comprehensive visualization of all the West’s intertribal connections. There are blank spots in the Pacific Northwest, in California, and around several other reservations because of these limitations. All reservation records are incomplete (missing or damaged—for instance, there is very little surviving from Fort Hall or Wind River in this period) and no agent kept ongoing logs of visits to/from his agency (although I have found such records for white visitors). The documents that I have gathered that give evidence of trips between reservations are mostly letters between agents that describe the movement between their reservations and there are some travel passes preserved. Some reservation records are much more complete than others— which can skew the map—it might appear that people on one reservation were visiting much more than those on another reservation. Also, I have documented that at least 37 percent of these trips were made without permission, but I also know that there must have been many more unauthorized visits that agents did not know or care to know about. Moreover, this is a map of “trips”—I cannot call all of these “visits,” even though most all of this movement is visitation (visiting friends, family; traveling delegations; traveling to dance, trade, socialize, etc.). Agents usually did not mention specific reasons why visits were made. There are a couple categories of “trips” that I have mapped that might not have been a “normal” visit,
Known Trips Concerning the Ghost Dance, 1888-1891
This map visualizes all the known trips between reservations from the beginning of 1888 through the end of 1891 that concerned the Ghost Dance. I know many more trips were made during this period, but these are the trips that I can document with certainty. Most of this documentation comes from the reservation records held in regional National Archives.
Known Links of Correspondence Concerning the Ghost Dance between Selected Reservations, 1889-1894
This map visualizes the known links of correspondence concerning the Ghost Dance from the beginning of 1889 through the end of 1894. The lines that connect the reservations represent one or more letters that passed between those reservations (or off-reservation boarding schools). I know that other reservations were likely linked through correspondence concerning the Ghost Dance, but I have only mapped specific letters that can be documented with certainty between specific reservations (I did not, for instance, include a link on the map between Walker River and the Lakota reservations even though there is general evidence that Walker River Paiutes and Lakotas exchanged letters concerning the Ghost Dance). There are also letters that I know about but do not know their origin or destination, which therefore cannot be mapped. For instance, an Oglala Lakota working for a traveling medicine show received letters from his relatives back at Pine Ridge about the new Messiah; see Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN), Nov. 23, 1890.
Connections Among Reservations

This is a simple visualization of documented visitation networks among reservations placed onto a map made in 1890.