Standing Rock Sioux

Book excerpt: There is a rock of incredible legend and history that stands before the Standing Rock Agency. Years ago a Dakota man took a second wife, thereby bruising the ego of his first. As camp was breaking up and the tribe was moving on, the first wife pouted and refused to move. She stayed behind with her baby. The tribe moved on and the husband repented, sending his brothers to collect her. They returned to camp to find that she and her child had turned to stone. From that point on, the stone was thought holy and was moved with the tribe, always given a place of honor at the center of camp. Now resting upon a brick pedestal, from this stone the agency derives its name.