Standing Rock Agency

(See also Grand River Agency)

Located on the west bank of the Missouri River near Fort Yates, Dakota Territory, this agency succeeded the Grand River Agency established in 1869. In 1874 the Agency was renamed Standing Rock and served bands of both Upper and Lower Yanktonai, Cutheads, Hunkpapa, and Blackfeet.

Influential headmen for these groups included: Yanktonai--Two Bears and Black Eyes; Cut Heads--All Over Black; Blackfeet--The Grass; Hunkpapa--Sitting Bull, Four Horn, Iron Dog, Slave, Little Knife, Gall, Rain-in-the-Face, and Red Horn.

Today the Standing Rock Reservation is located in both North and South Dakota. Its’ 562,366 acre land base is mainly found in Corson County in South Dakota. A monument to Sitting Bull is located at his grave in the southeast corner of the reservation. Contemporary scholars Patricia Locke (educator) and Beatrice Medicine (anthropologist) are from the Standing Rock Reservation.