His young daughter's eyes peeked curiously through the weathered eagle feathers.

Behind the intricate beading and rough suede, she had found the perfect hiding spot while her brother scoured the living room for her.

But as Ron His Horse Is Thunder watched his little girl scamper out from behind the headdress, away from her brother's reaching fingers, he realized the Sioux artifact needed a new home.

His Horse Is Thunder donated the headdress of his great-great-great-grandfather, Sitting Bull, to Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates in 1996.

It hung in his living room before His Horse Is Thunder, also the college's president, moved the headdress to his office.

But the headdress found another home Monday - at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Medora.

"It didn't belong in my living room," His Horse Is Thunder said. "It is meant to be viewed. The history behind it is amazing."

Sitting Bull's headdress attests to North Dakota's horse culture of cowboy heroes, Plains Indians and homesteaders, Hall of Fame Executive Director Darrell Dorgan said.

History's powerful Sioux chief and shaman, Sitting Bull led warriors in the Battle of Little Big Horn, traveled with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show and rode in the 1889 parade celebrating North Dakota's statehood.

Dorgan contacted the college last year about displaying the headdress, and campus officials approved a one-year loan to the Hall of Fame's special exhibit.

Security was a major factor in the college's decision, His Horse Is Thunder said.

A Sioux headdress was stolen from the campus library earlier this year, and has yet to be found, he said.

Because of the high value of Sitting Bull's headdress, Hall of Fame officials took great measures to secure its journey to Medora. Police cars accompanied the vehicle carrying the headdress, and Dorgan did not want to publicize the exhibit prior to its opening today.

Sitting Bull's headdress will remain in Medora for at least a year while college officials continue fund-raising for a permanent, on-campus display.

The Hall of Fame opened some exhibits earlier this month, Dorgan said, and visitors can see the headdress beginning today. The building officially will open Aug. 6.

"We wanted to tell the North Dakota story with a North Dakota face," Dorgan said. "Sitting Bull is someone the whole world recognizes."

While the headdress is not officially authenticated, His Horse Is Thunder is adamant of its historical symbolism.

More than 75 eagle feathers decorate Sitting Bull's old war bonnet, representing the chief's brave deeds and loyalty of his tribesmen, His Horse Is Thunder said.

And now, the 130-year-old history hidden within the headdress can stretch further than His Horse Is Thunder's living room, he said.

"The headdress truly shows the greatness of who Sitting Bull was as an individual," His Horse Is Thunder said. "The public should be able to see who he truly was as a man."

(Reach reporter Maggie Stehr at 250-8261 or maggie@bismarcktribune.net.)