Our goal and purpose is to celebrate, exhibit, and preserve the traditions, language, skills, folklore and joys of the early German-French-Osage settlers in Missouri. We operate entirely by volunteer participation who provide an educational and fun day to see our early history come to life from the mid 1700s with the trappers of Starved Rock, the folkways of our native Osage tribe, to the arrival
of the German settlers in early 1800. We hope to encourage youth and adults alike to learn anew the lost commitment of volunteerism. The "Friends of Deutsch Country Days" contribute ideas, knowledge and assistance to achieve our goal of preserving the German heritage of our area and our forefathers' way of life. "TODAY'S PRESERVATION IS TOMORROW'S HISTORY™"
Interesting information regarding the Osage Indian Tribe and Missouri is seen on the Osage Trail. The most important tribe in the early history of Missouri was the Wazhazhe ("the upstream people"). They were composed of the two principal groups--the Grand and the Little Osage. They hunted across the Ozark highlands south of the Missouri River, and into the western plains. The Osage represented a blending of Indian cultures having traits of Plains and Woodland Indians. It was observed that these Indians were tall, robust, and broad-shouldered people. The males had shaved heads. The Osage male wore a breechcloth with leggings and a blanket coverall that draped over his shoulders. Both men and women wore moccasins. The Osage Indians hunted and they were also farmers. They had crops of corn, beans, and pumpkins. They gathered walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, grapes, pawpaws, acorns, and roots. The Osage society was mostly male dominant. The men hunted and provided for the women of the tribe. The women gathered firewood, cooked meals, and tended to the children of the tribe. The horse was used mostly for hunting because the Osage went to war on foot. The Osage obtained their horses by stealing, trading, and capturing wild horses in the plains. The most important rituals for the Osage was preparing for war and mourning the dead. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, 6,300 Osage Indians lived in present day Bates and Vernon Counties in Missouri. Less than two years later the Osage gave up the rights to Missouri east of a line drawn from the village of Sibley in Clay County due south. The tribe left in about 1820. By the treaty of 1825, the United States took what was left of Osage land.
