Bear Who Walks on a Ridge or Ridge Bear was a little chief or headman of the Kit Fox Society among the Northern Cheyennes.

He was in the village at the Bighorn Mountains that Reynolds attacked in early 1876, fighting there together with Two Moons, another Kit Fox little chief. Like all the other warrior society headman of the Northern Cheyenne, Ridge Bear was present at the Little Bighorn in June 1876. In spring 1877, he was among those Cheyennes surrendering to General Miles at the Yellowstone.

Some other sources indicate that Ridge Walker was another name for Bear Who Walks on a Ridge.

Ridge Walker was known to be an army scout in the 1880s. Later he and Porcupine were the Cheyennes who visited the prophet Wovoka to learn something about the Ghost Dance.

Does anybody know if these men are one and the same?

Here are two photos of Ridge Walker:

— Dietmar Schulte-Möhring

Elva Stands In Timber, Northern Cheyenne Tribe:

"I believe myself to be a bearer of the Cheyenne sacred traditions. They were taught to me by my Grandfather Robert Ridge Walker and Grandmother Ethel Ridge Walker. Both were born close to the time of the Little Big Horn fighting. My Grandmother Ethel was born three days after the battle, as the victorious Cheyennes were moving South to hunt buffalo, where Sheridan, Wyoming is today.

"Ridge Walker was a bit older, and later he joined the Cheyenne Scouts at Fort Keogh. A strong traditionalist, he was one of the Piercing People. He offered the sacrifice of his own flesh eight times, twice the sacred four times, to bring Maheo's blessing to our people. Later, he was Stock Association Manager for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. Strong in the old holy ways, he and his Grandmother carried that strength through-out their lives of nearly a century each."

Source: http://www.ywhc.org/index.php?p=84 [Scroll to the bottom to read the interview with Elva Stands in Timber.]

The name "Ridge Bear" was also known among the Arapaho at Darlington. — Grahame Wood