Standing Rock

As for most tribes, the history of the Sioux over the last few centuries is a sad and complex tale with some battles fought, several treaties made, more-or-less all of them broken by the whites, and Indian land repeatedly reduced. The Sioux on this reservation are descendants of those who defeated Custer at Little Bighorn and were massacred at Wounded Knee.
See Indigenous cultures of North America for more general discussion of native cultures.

DAPL protests

In 2016, Standing Rock made news in a big way: that year, plans to run the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) near the reservation were met with massive protests against what was seen as both a threat to the local water supply and, according to tribal elders, a desecration of sacred burial grounds. While legal challenges to the pipeline slowly worked their way through the courts, the reservation became the site of several huge semi-permanent camps of occupying protesters who aimed to block the pipeline's construction. The local Sioux by no means stood alone: over 100 other tribes from across the U.S. and Canada, along with some in South America and even New Zealand Maori, declared their support and in some cases sent people to the camps. There were also many non-Indian allies involved, including a number of celebrities.
While the Obama administration decided in its waning days against granting an easement for the pipeline, the protesters' victory was short-lived: almost immediately after his inauguration, Donald Trump directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reverse his predecessor's decision, and construction of the pipeline (and the dismantling of the protest camps) proceeded quickly thereafter. The first oil began flowing through the DAPL in June 2017.

Orientation

There are no actual cities within Standing Rock. The main settlements are Fort Yates, Cannonball and McLaughlin. Fort Yates is the administrative center with all the tribal offices and Sitting Bull College.

A number of highways pass through the region. McLaughlin is at the intersection of US 12 running roughly east-west and SD 63 north-south. Crossing the border, SD 63 becomes ND 6 which leads to ND 24. ND 24 goes near both Fort Yates and Cannonball then leads north toward Bismarck.

• Standing Rock Public Transit

  phone: +1 701 854-8090
  address: 9299 Highway 24, Fort Yates ND
  Reservations are required 24 hours in advance and must be made by calling during dispatch hours.

• Sitting Bull Visitor Center

  phone: +1 701 854-8125

• Standing Rock Museum of Natural History

  address: 1341 92nd St

• The Rock Pizza and Grill

  phone: +1 701 854-7625
  address: 306 Sitting Bull Street, Fort Yates ND

• Hot Stuff Pizza

  address: 302 2nd Ave., Fort Yates ND

• Prairie Dog Café

  phone: +1 605 823-4790
  address: 123 Main St, McLaughlin SD

• White Buffalo Foods

  phone: +1 701 854-3423
  address: 112 Yates St, Fort Yates ND
  Grocery store

• My Auntie's Coffee & More

  phone: +1 701 854-2300
  address: 100 Standing Rock Road, Fort Yates ND

• Prairie Knights Casino & Resort

  address: 7932 Hwy 24, Fort Yates ND

• Grand River Casino & Resort

  address: Hwy 12

• U.S Post Office, Fort Yates

  phone: +1 701 854-7412
  address: 110 S. River Rd, Fort Yates ND

• Bismarck