Pawnee Villages

The Pawnee tribe placed their last earth lodge villages on these bluffs. This is also the location of Pa-huk’ hill. Pa-huk’ hill is one of the five sacred places of the Pawnee People. The Pawnee once numbered more than 10,000 people. The Pawnee were recorded in history as early as 1541. They lived on this land for hundreds of years before white settlers arrived.

By 1833 the tribe seceded their land south of the Platter River to the U.S. Government. They were given 1.1 cents an acre for their land. In the 1850s white settlers began to move into the area and conflicts began. These conflicts, conflicts with other tribes, and disease lowered the Pawnee population. They were then moved to a reservation along the Loup River near present-day Genoa. In 1857 the Pawnee signed a treaty selling their remaining land and creating a reservation in modern-day Nance County. Dropping population numbers, settlers taking resources from the reservation, and decreased freedom to leave their reservation caused the Pawnee to move south to Indian Territory. The Pawnee ended their settlement in Nebraska in 1875.

Between 1946 and 1962, the Pawnee were awarded $7,316,096 from the U.S. Government. This was in return for their lands bought from the tribe for “unconscionably” low prices. The Pawnee are governed by their tribal government located in Oklahoma.