Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi

Villages of the Algonquian, Siouan, and Caddoan Tribes West of the Mississippi is a work by David I. Bushnell. A section headed Villages and Forms of Structures says the mat and bark covered wigwam predominated among the Algonquian tribes of the north, although certain members of this great linguistic family also used the skin tipi so typical of the Siouan tribes of the plains. The text says some of the latter stock constructed the earth lodge similar to that erected by the Caddoan tribes, and that no one group occupied habitations of a single form to the exclusion of all others.

The text quotes the report that the Indians say they always follow the buffalo trail in travelling over a country with which they are unacquainted, for this animal always selects the most practicable route for his road. A quoted description says the principal village contains about three hundred lodges or huts, and about three thousand souls. The text says that H. Baldwin Möllhausen, late in the autumn of 1851, became lost on the frozen, snow-covered prairies south of the Platte, and was rescued by a family of Oto encamped on the bank of a small stream.