Rosebud Indian Reservation
The
Rosebud Indian Reservation (RIR) is an
Indian reservation in
South Dakota,
United States. It is the home of the
Sicangu Oyate, also known as
Sicangu Lakota, the
Upper Brulé Sioux Nation, and the
Rosebud Sioux Tribe. "Sicangu Oyate" translates from
Lakota to
English as "Burnt Thigh Nation" and is sometimes also translated via French as "Brulé Sioux".
The RIR is located in south central South Dakota, and presently includes within its recognized border all of
Todd County, an unincorporated county of South Dakota. However, the Oyate also has communities and extensive lands and populations in the four adjacent counties which were once inside the RIR boundaries:
Tripp,
Lyman,
Mellette, and
Gregory Counties, all in South Dakota. The RIR is bounded on the south by
Cherry County, Nebraska, on the west by the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, on the north by the
White River, and originally, on the east by the
Missouri River.
The Oyate capital is the unincorporated town of
Rosebud, established when the
Spotted Tail Indian Agency was moved from northwestern Nebraska to the banks of Rosebud Creek near its confluence with the Little White River. Other major towns in the Reservation are
Saint Francis, located southwest of Rosebud and the home of Saint Francis Indian School, a private institution. Saint Francis, with a current population of about 2000, is the largest incorporated town in South Dakota without a state highway for access.
Mission, also incorporated and the trade center for the Oyate and Todd County, is third in population, and located at the intersections of US Highways 18 and 83. Its near neighbor of
Antelope is one of the many tribal band communities established in the late 1870s and growing since then.
The RIR is the home of the tribally-owned and operated Rosebud Casino, located on
U.S. Route 83 just north of the Nebraska border. Nearby is a fuel plaza, featuring truck parking and a convenience store, while power for the casino is furnished in part by one of the nation's first tribally-owned electrical-generating windmills, and a new Indian community is being built just to the north.
Located on the
Great Plains, just north of the Nebraska
Sand Hills, Rosebud Indian Reservation has large areas of
Ponderosa Pine forest scattered in its grasslands, and deep valleys are defined by steep hills and ravines, often with lakes dotting the deeper valleys.
The RST population is estimated at 25,000 (2005), and is supported by a large Oyate administration and agencies, as well as the Bureau of Indian Affair's Rosebud Agency, Todd County School District, Saint Francis Indian School, the Rosebud Indian Health Service Hospital, and Sinte Gleska University.
The Rosebud Indian Reservation was established in 1889 by the partition of the
Great Sioux reservation created to cover all of
West River, South Dakota in 1868.
*
The Price Is Right host
Bob Barker grew up on the reservation where his mother was a teacher.
