This site north of Arrow River, in the Municipality of Prairie View, is said to have been the burial site for “Ia-char-ke,” an esteemed Dakota (Sioux) elder who had died in the 1800s. A stone monolith is believed to be the only use of this type of marker for an aboriginal grave in Manitoba. Preservation of the site was undertaken in the 1940s by Ralph D. Bird who recalled that when his father Arthur D. Bird homesteaded the property in 1896, a large stone was standing beside the grave site and local Dakota visited the site annually. It was formally designated a provincial heritage site in February 1962. The remains were disinterred and reburied at a nearby Dakota First Nation, and a small depression in the ground beside the stone marks the former grave location.
Standing Stone Burial Site (1902) by Arthur Durham Bird
Source: Charles D. Bird
Standing Stone Burial Site (July 1992)
Source: Charles D. Bird
Standing Stone Burial Site (August 2014)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N50.15193, W100.88332
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Provincially Designated Historic Sites
Arrow River Standing Stone Burial Ground, Manitoba Provincial Heritage Site No. 5.
We thank Dr. Charles Durham Bird for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 9 November 2019
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