When last we read about Dan Swallow, his family was organizing the Thin Milk Ride to honor a fallen Brule warrior in South Dakota. (See story here,)

Now, just a couple of weeks after the ride, the Swallow family is busy again, this time with the third annual Kili Wahanpi (Great Soup) Cook Off.

Rochelle Baustian walked away the winner with her chili, the Rapid City Journal reports here.

Swallow tells the Journal that the event is the kind of thing is father, John Swallow Jr., would have loved, with contestants digging fire pits, chopping wood and cooking soup outdoors.

The late John Swallow loved to cook over an open fire, whether at weddings, reunions or funerals. He fashioned his soup kettle out of a 55-gallon drum, and often would begin cooking at 6 a.m. on the day of an event.

After John Swallow’s death about four years ago, the Swallow family decided to do a memorial event for him, and a soup cook-off seemed the most natural.

“When someone dies on the reservation, the family might have a memorial basketball tournament, horseshoe tournament or whatever he was interested in,” Dan Swallow tells Journal reporter Jomay Steen.

While many of the 30 contestants were from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, a contingency of cooks from Rapid City took part in the contest.

Winner Baustian’s chili recipe is secret, but the story includes Amanda Swallow’s recipe for kielbasa soup. Check it out!

Gwen Florio

Tags: Brule, Kili Wahanpi (Great Soup) Cook Off, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Thin Milk ride

For six years now, people on South Dakota’s Indian reservation have organized a trail ride and other events to commemorate Thin Milk, a Brule warrior who, according to oral tradition, took part in the ghost dances held at the nearby Strong Hold.

The story is recounted here in today’s Rapid City Journal, which tells us that Thin Milk was shot while raiding a nearby ranch, surprised by the sudden return of the rancher’s hired help. The ranch hands chased the band of Brules, but Thin Milk’s horse fell under fire. His friends turned around in a barrage of bullets to rescue their friend. They then rushed into a canyon but had to leave the seriously wounded friend behind with a campfire, then fled to elude the hired hands. Upon their return the next day, the man had died. They buried him in a shallow grave and left.

Decades years later, John Swallow Sr., found Thin Milk’s skull of while herding cattle. Swallow and two relatives Victor Swallow and the Rev. Robert Two Bulls, decided to hold a memorial for Thin Milk.

“It’s a way to honor his life. He wasn’t a chief, but he died in a pretty bad way,” says Swallow’s grandson, Dan.

This weekend’s privately organized ride involved dozens of riders traveling through some of the most impressive scenery of the Badlands before reaching Thin Milk’s gravesite, where organizers will lead a prayer ceremony, says Dan Swallow. Spectators could watch the equestrians ride into the canyon from the rim of the canyon wall.

A feast was to follow the ceremony.

Riders are allowed to eat first, Swallow says. “Then, it’s a free-for-all.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: Brule, buffalo post, Native American news, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Thin Milk ride