The Cheyenne River Reservation stretches across the shortgrass and breaks between the Cheyenne and Moreau rivers, the homeland of four Lakota bands, the Mnicoujou, Itazipco, Sihasapa and Oohenunpa. Its government sits at Eagle Butte, a town out on the plains along US-212. The old agency stood on the Missouri until the Oahe reservoir rose over it, and the tribe's offices moved inland.
On the highway coming into town, beside the tribal headquarters, the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe built its Lakota Cultural Center in 1973. It exists to keep and teach Lakota culture, language, music, history and religion, for tribal members first and for visitors as well. Its long hall is lined with murals by painters from the reservation, telling the nation's history in its own images, and the shop sells beadwork, quillwork, star quilts and paintings made by local artists.
The center also hosts art shows, gatherings and powwows through the year, and it is a good place to start a visit to the reservation and to learn what is happening and what visitors are welcome at. It keeps weekday office hours.
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