According to anthropologists, the Hidatsa people resided at Spirit Lake, North Dakota, until circa 1500. A Hidatsa leader had a dream in which he was requested to move west to the Missouri River, where the Hidatsa then established a village near present-day Stanton, North Dakota (Bowers, 1992, p. 22; Milligan, 1972; Document on Hidatsa, n.d.; Kittleson, 1992, p. 15). About a century later, circa 1600, the Dakotas traveled west from their homelands in Minnesota looking for better opportunities. They traveled north into Canada and south into South Dakota. By 1700, European colonization and westward expansion placed pressure on all tribes to move farther west. By 1800, the Dakotas made Devils Lake (now Spirit Lake) a stopping place before returning to the forests of Minnesota for the winter. In 1805, the Dakotas brokered their first treaty with the Americans and by 1867 Devils Lake became their reservation. As spiritual beings, Indigenous people often pray before, during, and after ceremonies, food-gathering, and all other aspects of daily life. But why are places sacred? Among Indigenous societies, places are embodied with "wakan." For non-Indigenous people such spirituality is difficult to explain. It is a life connection to water, fire, earth, and air--the sacred four. For the Spirit Lake Dakota, Devils Lake, Devil's Tooth, and Heart Hill are three such sacred places. Versions of their stories are shared in this article.