While we were Biiluke. We lived in a wooded area with vast bodies of water (Balebilichke isaatkaasuuk). We were fishermen, we hunted small game and waterfowl, we dug up roots and bulbs, we gathered nuts and berries, and we trapped the fur-bearing animals for our clothing. We lived in makeshift shelters, lean-tos and wickiups. We migrated westward to the banks of the Big River, in search of a certain Sacred Tobacco Plant, which was to be found in a mountainous region. We became Awashe, Earthen Lodges.
We retained all of our survival skills, but we became farmers. Oral history says, “We didn’t stay there too long and we moved on, but for some reason we spoke the same language, which is still used today, after some two thousand years.” No Vitals with many of his family and friends of the Real Water Band, of the Awashe, broke from the band, in search of the Sacred Tobacco Plant. This was the exodus that commenced the Great Migration.
We migrated throughout the northern and southern plains, where we came upon lakes with salt on their banks. We ventured into Canada twice but the Sacred Tobacco Plant could not be found. No Vitals has passed away during the migration on the Great Plains. It was his son who carried on this quest and fasted on Cloud’s Peak and saw The Sacred Tobacco Plant glowing on the east slopes of the Big Horn Mountains, where “Raven Owner Was Badgered.” The Sacred Tobacco Society was initiated about this time, and that was the beginning of the Apsáalooke Nation. We picked up and adopted various aspects of our Apsáalooke way of life, as we progressed from one era to another.