Dakota Life In the Upper Midwest

In 1834 Samuel W. Pond and his brother Gideon built a cabin near Cloud Man&#39;s village of the Dakota Indians on the shore of Lake Calhoun&mdash;now present-day Minneapolis&mdash;intending to preach Christianity to the Indians. The brothers were to spend nearly twenty years learning the Dakota language and observing how the Indians lived.<br /><br />In the 1860s and 1870s, after the Dakota had fought a disastrous war with the whites who had taken their land, Samuel Pond recorded his recollections of the Indians &quot;to show what manner of people the Dakotas were . . . while they still retained the customs of their ancestors.&quot;<br /><br />Pond&#39;s work, first published in 1908, is now considered a classic. Gary Clayton Anderson&#39;s introduction discusses Pond&#39;s career and the effects of his background on this work, &quot;unrivaled today for its discussion of Dakota material culture and social, political, religious, and economic institutions.&quot;