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While there are several tribes that have been in the Adair County area whether that be for trading or overlapping hunting areas, two tribes after an outbreak of smallpox became one tribe. This is the Otoe-Missouria tribe. It is their origin narrative that I talk about today, which comes from their website that can be found here: Otoe-Missouri Tribe Website – Creation Story. By looking through this website one can see a map of the estimated hunting lands which puts them in the area of Adair County, see map image above to see their hunting lands. The story is about the seven surviving clans of the tribe. These clans are the Bear, Beaver, Elk, Eagle, Buffalo, Pigeon, and Owl. The website tells us that this is just one version of their creation story, so there are more out there to find. In my online search. however, I did not find another version of this myself.

The Creation Story Summarized:

The beginning of this story starts with the land being nothing but water. This water created all things such as the plant and animal life. It is from this water that the Bear Clan comes from. They notice as they rise that they are not the first to arrive and plan to kill this other tribe but when they find the Beaver Clan. The clan, who is known to be diplomatic, suggest that they live in harmony and the Bear Clan agrees. Time passes and these two clans come across the Elk Clan who they desire to kill, but the Elk Clan convinces them to let them come along and they later agree to become brothers. The sky clan now comes through the air and notices these three other tribes, this would be the Eagle Clan. The Eagle Clan approaches the three clans and the clan grows again to four.

After this growing period the clans begin sharing their knowledge that once was only their clans knowledge in order to better the group as a whole. They determined that they needed to learn how to live and for such knowledge they called upon Waconda who is known as the Creator. They gain this knowledge that became sacred and rights that are associated with a sacred pipe. Later the Bear, Beaver, Elk, and Eagle Clans come across a group of other clans. These clans were the Buffalohead (now referred to as Buffalo), Snake (now extinct), Owl, and Pigeon. This new set of clans were the owners of the sacred pipe that was a gift to them from Waconda and they offered it to the Bear, Beaver, Elk, and Eagle Clans. This was refused at first until they softened and accepted the pipe and make a similar gesture to these new clan members and then they were together and everything could begin.