This week’s CAIRNS Etanhan Wotanin column is the third of our weekly “dispatches” relating to the 1874 reconnaissance expedition into the Black Hills. This week members of the expedition reported multiple times that they saw smoke signals. Lakotans did use smoke from special fires to send signals and according to Finger, an Oglalan, the White Buffalo Woman used smoke to signal the people to prepare for her arrival. The image above is a detail from the 1953 painting “Smoke Signals” by Oscar Howe. The column, “Smoke Signals,” can be read now by clicking here, or later this week in the Lakota Times newspaper.