FDI - Gros Ventre

The Gros Ventre were a component of the hunter/farmer Arapaho in the Red River Valley of Minnesota and North Dakota until about 1650. They ventured to northern Wyoming before fissioning as nomadic hunter/gatherers about 1675 and ventured north to settle just south of the Saskatchewan River. They allied with the Blackfeet before rejoining the Arapaho in 1818 in Wyoming. They once again separated from the Arapaho and stumbled into a mountain man rendezvous which resulted in a disastrous battle ... the Battle of Pierre's Hole.

In time, the Gros Ventre became enemies with the Blackfeet against whom they took severe losses in battle until they were settled on the Fort Belknap Reservation with the Assiniboin where they remain today. Early reservation life was disastrous as well.

Aboriginal Locations (Subdivisions)

ND & MN Occupied the Red River Valley among the Arapaho

Year	*History*
1650	Approximate year Arapaho removed from the Red River Valley of North Dakota and Minnesota to the eastern Rocky Mountains, likely as a result of the domino effect of the Beaver Wars (1640-1680) in which the Iroquois attacked all of the tribes from New York to the Mississippi River and from the Ohio River to above the Great Lakes.
1670	Approximate year in which tribe fissioned from the Arapaho
1780	Smallpox epidemic
1800	Located just south of the Saskatchewan River
1818	Rejoined Arapaho
1820	10 year old Pine Leaf, later Woman Chief of the Crow, kidnapped by the Crow
1823	Band settled on Milk River, the rest of the tribe remained with the Arapaho
1829	Smallpox struck Milk River band
1832	Once again separated from the Arapaho, happened upon a mountain man rendezvous resulting in the Battle of Pierre's Hole, tribe took heavy losses
1833	Two bands rejoined
1838	Suffered severe losses in an Assiniboin attack
1851	Signed Treaty of Fort Laramie
1855	Signed Treaty of Friendship with Isaac Stevens as part of the Blackfeet Nation
1856	Killed Woman Chief by ambush
1856	Previous Gros Ventre allies defeated Gros Ventre and Crow; later placed on Fort Belknap Reservation with Assiniboin
1867	Gros Ventre lost battle with Balckfeet
1869	Smallpox epidemic
1884	Reservation overrun by gold prospectors

Year	U.S. Population	MT	SK	Source
Arrival	0
1700	3,000		3,000	NAHDB calculation
1780	3,000			Mooney estimate
1800	3,000		3,000	NAHDB calculation
1900	500	500		NAHDB calculation
1904	535			Census
1910	510			Census
1923	556			US Indian Office
1930	631			Census
1937	809			BIA
1989	1,600			BIA estimate
2000	2,500	2,500		NAHDB calculation
2005	3,000			Native Languages

*Ethnie:*	GROS VENTRE (ATSINA)
*Language:*	Arapaho
*Family:*	Plains Algonquian
*Stock:*	Algonquian
*Phylum:*	Algic
*Macro-Culture:*	Great Plains