The Ponca tribe was located on the land north of where the Niobrara River connects with the Missouri River. The land on which the Ponca lived was fertile and the weather pleasantly comfortable. When the Ponca were forced to relocate to the Quapaw Indian Reservation in Oklahoma, they were forced to live in conditions much worse than in Nebraska. Standing Bear spoke about the poor land on the reservation in his testimony in court: "We do not like this land. We could not support ourselves. The water is bad." Oklahoma is much farther south than Nebraska and the extreme heat was a problem for their crops. The new land was not located on a river like the land the Ponca had in Nebraska and insects were a very big issue in Oklahoma as it resulted in many Ponca members dying of Malaria.