At Saukenuk or "River of the Rock" the Sauk and the Fox stayed to build their homes and plant their fields. There, in this rich valley the deer, buffalo, bear, and smaller game provided food and skins, which could be traded or made into clothing. Beaver and muskrat lived in the many streams, which were also filled with fish.

North of the valley there was a great source of lead. Since it was close to the surface it could be dug out easily. At first it was used to make ornaments, later white traders taught them how to make lead musket balls to use in their guns. Soon they traded lumps of lead for goods.

In the valley the soil was rich and fertile. Using the shoulder bone of a buffalo or deer, the women broke the land and turned over the soil. They grew corn, beans, squash, pumpkin and tobacco. Of all the crops corn was the most important. It could be boiled, roasted, or made into soup or dumplings. After the kernels were stripped from the cob it could be dried and pounded into meal or stored away for further use. When kernels were laid out on a hot rock they would pop into fluffy morsels. Corn provided its own seed for the next year's planting. As long as the Sauk and Fox had a good harvest of corn, they knew they would not go hungry.

The Sauk women tilled the soil, raised the crops, gathered the harvest, prepared and stored the food and reared the children. The mother was in charge of the family home and everything in it. If the mother belonged to the Sauk people then all of her children were Sauk.

The women had an important part in tribal government. Unless the women approved a son could not take his fathers place as a sacred clan chief.

The men protected the home, the fields, and the tribal hunting grounds. They went into the forest and out on the plains to hunt for game that provided food and skins for clothing and for trade.

The Sauk are known for their excellent ribbon work, a form of appliqué. They enjoyed finely decorated deerskin dresses, vests, and shirts.

The Sauk farmed in villages in the summer and went to hunting grounds in the winter. Their lodges were large bark-covered wigwams with rounded roofs that let the rain and snow roll off easily. Most lodges were forty to sixty feet long and had several families living in them. Each family had its own cooking fire in the center of the lodge. Sleeping benches covered with skins and blankets ran along the inside walls.

The Sauk lived in towns from April to October. When the harvest had been gathered and the geese began to fly south, families went into the forests to build huts where they lived during the winter hunting season. People to old and weak stayed in town. A supply of food was stored in bark-lined caches in the ground and strong young boys stayed behind.

Religion

Religion played an important part in their daily life. The Sauk believed that every person, animal, and thing had its own "manito", or guardian spirit. When a hunter killed a bear, a deer, a buffalo, or any animal he thanked the "manito" of the animal for the gift it was giving to the people.

Children began learning the religion of their people at an early age. Boys were taught to fast and to keep holy vigils to bring their soul closer to the Great Spirit. When the boy was old enough he made a special vigil quest. The Great Spirit would show him his personal manito, which would stay with him the rest of his life. At that time, he chose his manhood name and began to collect the sacred things that would go into his medicine bag.

Warfare

Although the Sauk were a peaceful people, sometimes they had to go to war to defend their hunting grounds or their towns. Neighboring tribes such as the Osage raided Sauk lands. The Sauk were noted for their courage, and they believed that every raid should be answered by a counter raid to uphold the honor of their people. When other tribes invaded Sauk lands , a council was called to decided what action to take. Often war parties were sent out to meet the enemy.

Warfare had its own rules of conduct. In war, a Sauk gained honor if he could count coup. That meant that he had touched an armed enemy and lived to tell about it. Counting coup earned a warrior the right to wear an eagle feather in his crest.

They lived happily and well in the valley of the Rock River. But with the coming of the first white people, they learned to use guns as well as bow and arrows, and to ride horses to hunt and to make war. Guns were brought to the Sauk by the white traders who offered them in exchange for furs and lead.

The Sauk and Fox culture

is based upon respect for the life within themselves, their families', their community, and all of creations'. The Creator gave this way of life to the Sauk and Fox people.

The tribe is divided into clans, each with its own symbol,-- Bird, Fish, Bear Potato, Deer, Beaver, Snow, and Wolf,-- are a few. Each tribe was governed by a council of sacred clan chiefs, a war chief, the head of families, and the warriors.

The traditional manner of selecting chiefs and governing themselves was forcibly replaced by the United States. Appointees and a constitution patterned after the American government was formed.

Sauk and Fox governments, traditional and new, have been challenged with threats to the sovereignty of the nations over land resources and the peoples welfare. In 1832 Chief Black Hawk defended the people's right to their homeland. Chief Keokuk complied with the U.S. demands to move west of the Missouri territory. In 1869 the Mokohoko band led by Chief Pashepaho fought to remain in Kansas until the late 1880's.

Removal from the land from which the Woodland nations evolved has drastically affected the knowledge and practice of the tribe's language, traditions, original teachings, ceremonies, ways of life, and relationship to the natural world.

http://www.anthro.mankato.msus.edu/cultural/northamerica/sauk.html - for much more Sac and Fox information, please visit this site!