Lower Brule Agency

(See also Crow Creek Agency and Upper Missouri Agency) 

First called White River Agency, this agency was established in 1876 for the Sicangu and Oohenunpa bands of Lakota living under the control of Crow Creek agency.  It was first located on the western side of the Missouri River ten miles below Crow Creek.  In 1876, it was moved to the mouth of American Crow Creek, twelve miles below the old site.  Lower Brule and Crow Creek Agencies were consolidated in 1882, then divided again in 1896. 

Early records document nine bands located at Lower Brule.  The following headmen, who signed the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty, were leaders of those early bands: Iron Nation, Medicine Bull, One Who Kills the White Buffalo Cow, Little Pheasant, White Buffalo Cow That Walks, Brave Heart, Wounded Man, Gourd Ear Rings, and Iron White. 

Today the agency is located on the west bank of the Missouri river in south central South Dakota in Stanley and Lyman counties with a land base of 132,601 acres.  Lake Sharpe and Big Bend Dam are popular tourist attractions.   

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Agency Records, 1873-1909.   

Letters received 

Inclusive dates

NARA roll #

SD Archives roll #

 

 

 

1873-1883

1

1617

 Letterpress book

Inclusive dates

NARA roll #

SD Archives roll #

 

 

 

1875-1877

2

1618

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Records of rations issued 

Inclusive dates

NARA roll #

SD Archives roll #

 

 

 

1884-1891

3

1619

 

Property Vouchers & Statement of Indebtedness

 

Inclusive dates

Access #

SD Archives box #

 

 

 

1883-1909

89-121

3275

 Issue Records

Inclusive dates

Access #

SD Archives box #

 

 

 

1884-1909

H88-14

3750

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 Indian Census Rolls, 1892-1924 (M595).

Inclusive dates

NARA roll #

SD Archives roll #

 

 

 

1886-92

87

9649

1893-1896

88

9649

1926-29

90

9651

1930-33

91

9652

1934-39, 1942

92

9652

 Letters Received by the Office of Indian Affairs, 1875-76 (M-234).  Inventory available from NARA. 

Inclusive dates

NARA roll #

SD Archives roll #

 

 

 

1875-76

401

1461-1462

 Publications 

Title

Location

 

 

Constitution and bylaws for the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of the Lower Brule Reservation. Approved Nov. 27, 1935. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1935.

 

KF 8221. B8 C5 1935

Corporate Charter of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, South Dakota. Ratified July 11,1936. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1936.

KF 8221. B8 C6 1936

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Special Case Files (National Archives records microfilmed by SDSA) 

Title

MF roll #

 

 

Approved Appraisals of Lower Brule Lands, [1907].

Check stubs for Sioux Claims.

 

5037

Special Series A: Box 5

Reports, Correspondence, and Exhibits on affairs of Lower Brule Agency, 1907. 

 

5038

 

Case No. 191 continued: Lower Brule Agency grazing permits, 1905.

 

5045

Case No. 203: Lower Brule Agency sale of inherited Indian land, 1904-1907. 

 

5071

Docket 116: Sioux Tribe of Lower Brule v. the U. S. A.

5097

Superintendents’ Annual Narrative and Statistical Reports from Field Jurisdictions of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1910-1938 (M1011). 

Inclusive dates

NARA roll #

SD Archives roll #

 

 

 

1910-1923

80

4453

1923-1925

81

4454

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SD State Archives,  605-773-3804, fax 605-773-6041; email archref@state.sd.us