The Central Plains, where the Otoe lived, are home to the Missouri River, which flows eastward in the northern Plains. There it is joined by the Yellowstone. From there it travels south, southwest along the eastern margin of the Plains. The Platte and Republican Rivers flow eastward to join the Missouri.
The Otoe lived on the eastern margins of the Plains, from southern Minnesota to the Missouri Ozarks, along the lush Missouri riverbanks. Here the grama and buffalo grasses are very nourishing, and they supported massive herds of bison, pronghorn antelope, and other various game. They were also close to the timber, which hosted deer, elk, bear, wolf, coyote and rabbit, as well as many different birds and fish. Plant life fed them when game was difficult to find.
Being of the Plains Village Culture, the Otoe relied on agriculture to subsidize them when hunting was not, for one reason or another, possible. Their main crops were maize (corn), beans, squash, pumpkin, and sunflowers. There were also many different types of berries in the timber to substitute any lack of meat they may have had.
When they were not migrating or hunting, they lived in round lodges. These lodges were built of earth, which kept them cold in the summer time and warm in the winter, and were known to last at least twenty years at a time. In the center of the lodge was the cooking fire, the smoke drifting upwards to the small opening in the top. Up to thirty people lived in a lodge, their bedding lining the walls. Wind was kept out by a covered hallway. The typical Otoe Village was made up of forty to seventy of these lodges. But when they hunted, they lived in tipi's.
A tipi (tepee, teepee) typically has thirteen to twenty poles, which average twenty-five feet long, with two or three of the poles that hold it up. The Otoe used a three pole tipi because it provides better protection from the elements. They faced the entrance to the east, but the place of honor in the tipi was the rear.
The poles of the tipi are set firmly into the ground and joined together three or four feet from the top. The tipi is covered with up to thirty buffalo hides sewn together with sinew. The sinew used for this was taken from both sides of the back of the buffalo or other large animals. The base of the tipi could be up to fifteen feet in diameter. A tipi ring, or a circle of stones, typically held the covering into place, along with wooden pegs.
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