A Chilly Program in Saratoga

Saratoga Friends of the Library are excited to host a new program on local Indian lore by Chilly Rollison. Entitled “Battleground: Plains Indians in the upper North Platte River Valley,” Chilly’s presentation will detail the various tribes who migrated into and out of the North Platte River Valley from about the 1500s to the 1880s, he said.

His presentation on Thursday, August 22, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Saratoga Branch Library will delve into the various interactions of the tribes including their wars and their alliances.

Rollison noted there were mainly five tribes who frequented the valley which bordered all their territories. Those tribes are the Eastern Shoshone, the White River Utes whose main territory was around Steamboat Springs in what is now Colorado, the Lakota, the Cheyenne and the Arapahoe.

The Lakota, Cheyenne and the Arapahoe tribes had a loose alliance with one another, but they could also fight each other. All the tribes would migrate into the valley from May to November, seeking cooler temperatures, Rollison said, but that meant interacting with other tribes in the area, friends or enemies, and having altercations with white settlers traveling the Overland Trail, and the U.S. government.

The public is invited to attend this presentation, and refreshments will be provided by the Saratoga Friends of the Library.