USA > Montana > Then and now; or, Thirty-six years in the Rockies. Personal reminiscences of some of the first pioneers of the state of Montana. Indians and Indian wars. The past and present of the Rocky mountain country. 1864-1900 > Part 25
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
"November 15th Agent Royer sent to this office the following telegram from Pine Ridge: 'Indians are dancing in the snow and are wild and crazy. I have fully informed you that em- ployes and government property at this ageney have no pro- tection and are at the mercy of these dancers. Why delay by further investigation ? We need protection, and we need it now. The leaders should be arrested and confined in some military
385
THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN THE ROCKIES.
post until the matter is quieted, and this should be done at once.'
"A military force under General John R. Brooke, consisting of five companies of infantry, three troops of cavalry, and one hotchkiss and one gatling gun, arrived at Pine Ridge Novem- ber 20, 1890. Two troops of cavalry and six companies of in- fantry were stationed at Rosebud. Troops were ordered to all agencies that were on the Sioux reservation. When the troops reached the Rosebud agency, about one thousand and eight hun- dred Indians-men, women and children-stampeded toward Pine Ridge and the bad lands, destroying all of their property before leaving and that of others en route.
"On December 1, 1890, in accordance with department in- structions, the following order was sent to the Sioux agents : 'During the present Indian troubles you are instructed that, while you shall continue all the business and carry into effect the educational and other pursuits of your agency, you will, as to all operations intended to suppress any outbreak by force, co- operate with and obey the orders of the military officers com- manding on the reservation in your charge.'
"Sitting Bull's camp, where the dancing had been going on, was on Grand river, forty miles from the agency. The number of Indian policemen in that vicinity was increased and Sitting Bull was kept under close surveillance. December 12 the com- manding officer at Fort Yates was instructed by General Ruger, commanding the Department of Dakota, to make it his special duty to secure the person of Sitting Bull, and to call on Agent Mclaughlin for such co-operation and assistance as would best promote the object in view. December 14th the police notified the agent that Sitting Bull was preparing to leave the reserva- tion. Accordingly, after consultation with the post commander, it was decided that the arrest should be made the following morning by the police under command of Lieutenant Bullhead, with United States troops within supporting distance.
386
THEN AND NOW;
"At daybreak, December 15th, thirty-nine Indian police and four volunteers went to Sitting Bull's cabin and arrested him. He agreed to accompany them to the agency, but while prepar- ing to get ready he caused considerable delay, and during this time his followers began to congregate to the number of one hundred and fifty, so that when he was brought out of the house they had the police entirely surrounded. Then Sitting Bull re- fused to go and called on his friends, the ghost dancers, to rescue him. At this juncture one of them shot Lieutenant Bullhead. The Lieutenant then shot Sitting Bull, who also received another shot and was killed outright. Another shot struck Sergeant Shavehead and then the firing became general. In about two hours the police had secured possession of Sitting Bull's house and driven their assailants into the woods. Shortly after, when one hundred United States troops under command of Captain Fechet, reached the spot, the police drew up in line and saluted. Their bravery and discipline received highest praise from Cap- tain Fechet. The ghost dancers fled from their hiding places to the Cheyenne River reservation, leaving their families and dead behind them. Their women who had taken part in the fight had been disarmed by the police and placed under guard and were turned over to the troops when they arrived. The losses were six policemen killed (including Bullhead and Shavehead, who soon died at the agency hospital) and one wounded. The attacking party lost eight killed and three wounded." Report of Indian Commission for 1891.
Sergeant Joe Thompson, who was with the United States troops at the time, is at present employed at the Boston and Montana smelter at this place, and is the drum major of the Black Eagle band. Mr. Thompson had been in many battles during the campaign of 1876-77, of which I have not given an account. In one of those battles "twenty-seven saddles were emptied," as he said, by one volley from the Indians; and Mr.
387
THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN THE ROCKIES
Thompson is now carrying with him a scar which he received by a bullet from the enemy during one of these engagements.
A wonderful change has taken place since then. Now the Northern Pacific railway runs through the center of the Sioux country, and also the Burlington railroad passes in sight of the Custer battlefield, and settlers from the Eastern and Middle states have come and turned the old battle grounds into pro-
AGENCY INDIANS HAVING THEIR PICTURES TAKEN.
ductive farms and pasture lands. The Indian villages have disappeared and thriving towns and incorporated cities have taken their places. The Indians have been compelled by the government to stay on their reservations where there are agencies.
According to the statistics in 1891 there were 32,286 of the Sioux nation alone, who are gathered at eleven agencies, where there are schools, mechanical and agricultural institutions, es- tablished to teach the young Indians the arts and customs of the white man. And they are fast becoming civilized. They are engaged in raising cattle, sheep and horses, and growing grain and vegetables.
388
THEN AND NOW;
Charles A. Smith, county commissioner of Choteau county, Montana, stated a few days ago that Indians at Fort Belknap have supplied about 350,000 pounds of beef to the agency this year at $3.87 per hundred, from which they derived a revenue of about $13,000.
Major Luke C. Hays, agent of the Fort Belknap Indian reser- vation, said :
"My Indians will, and do work." That was demonstrated to my satisfaction some time ago. I have about 1,300 Assina- boine and Gros Ventres Indians on my reservation, and they are good Indians, although very much alive.
"This promises to be an unusually busy year on the Belknap reservation. Last summer the government started to build a canal, tapping the Milk river at Belknap, where a dam is to be built. Only one mile of this canal was completed, but work on the remainder will be commenced as early as practicable this spring. Indians have been hauling rock all winter for the dam. The canal, when completed, will be ten or fifteen miles long and will irrigate about 5,000 acres of the Milk river valley lands south of the river. These lands will grow excellent crops of grain and hay.
"A new enterprise that will be commenced this summer (1899) is a big reservoir on Warm Springs creek in the Little Rockies. This reservoir will cover 160 acres of land and will have an average depth of eighteen feet. It is designed to fur- nish a supply of water for irrigating purposes in the southern part of the reservation.
"These two irrigating systems will cost in the neighborhood of $70,000, but that money is available. It is not government money in the sense that the government would not expend it un- less appropriated for that use, for it belongs to the Indians themselves, having been appropriated for their benefit and in lieu of lands turned over to them by the government.
389
THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN THE ROCKIES.
"Seeing the success of these Indians, others are endeavoring to go into the stock-raising business-on a small scale, to be sure-but in time the stock interests of these two tribes will be considerable. I have no doubt that in a few years the Indians will become almost self-supporting."
The same can be said of other tribes that are in the northern part of the state of which I have personal knowledge. There is one non-reservation boarding school for Indians in Montana. It is located off the reservation at the old Fort Shaw military post in the Sun River valley and in the center of a well-to-do settlement, and but twenty-four miles from the city of Great Falls. This school was opened December 27, 1892; its enroll- ment in 1898 was 305, average attendance 283. The pupils are recruited from reservation schools, the policy being to place therein pupils who, by reason of sound physical health and natural aptitude, are capable of receiving further advantages, with facilities for special instructions in agriculture, stock breed- ing, the mechanical and domestic arts, for normal and commer- cial training, and for taking up other subjects as occasion re- quires. Modern facilities for instruction have been introduced. The industrial and literary progress this school has made is wonderful. The report of the commissioner of Indian affairs will bear out my assertion. Manual training and industrial edu- cation has gone hand in hand with the intellectual development of the untrained young Indian mind, and has given good results. The exhibit by the Fort Shaw Indian school at the Cas- cade county fair held at Great Falls last October in the way of carving on woods, shoemaking, plain and fancy needle work, embroidery, drawing and penman- ship was excellent, and would do credit to young pupils of the same age of any race. There were about thirty of the young Indian boys and girls accompanying the exhibit, with Dr. Winslow, the superintendent, in charge. Among the
390
THEN AND NOW :
number there was a brass band of sixteen pieces ; they marched through the city dressed in uniform and playing national airs with as much grace and skill as if they belonged to some military post.
According to statistics there are 234 schools in all for Indians under exclusive control of the government. The average attend- ance.during the year 1897 was 18,676 pupils.
The other day a young Cree Indian by the name of Young Boy, with whom I was acquainted, and who could speak fair English, came to my office, sat by a table and began writing in a small account book that he had. Seeing it was a peculiar looking manuscript, I asked him what he was writing. He told me that he was writing down what he had been buying that day, and he read it to me, first in Cree and afterwards translated into English, and handed it to me. The following is a photo- graph from the original writing in the Cree language :
0- 6P.Nb. oncv
A>0.4, C.150156 J.CAM OLAN GPS0 0 d.c. b. 1. Fc VS.
OS DANTE
A CREE MANUSCRIPT.
-
MO-SEE-MA-MA-MOS (YOUNG BOY). A CREE INDIAN.
392
THEN AND NOW ;
The translation into English is as follows: "To day I paid three dollars and twenty-five cents for a blanket and three dol- lars for a bridle, in all six dollars and twenty-five cents.
YOUNG BOY."
Again he wrote the Cree alphabet, and, after speaking the letters, he handed me the manuscript of which the following is a photograph :
V A D < V 1 > C 1369PJL7
U 1 J
CAS
V. A. D. C. V. 1. 2.
THE CREE ALPHABET.
The Cree Indians are from the Northwest Territory in Can- ada. Part of the tribe are in Montana at the present time sell- ing polished buffalo horns and other trinkets to the citizens.
Recently they held their sun dance near the town of Havre, in the northern part of this state. To those who have never wit- nessed this ancient performance, the following may be of inter- est : For four days preceding the dance the tribe gathered about the chief's tepee, and at sundown of each day they sang the Indian songs which told of the past glories of the tribe and listened to the words of the chief concerning their welfare and exhorting them to eschew the use of whisky (firewater), extoll- ing the beauties of the ancient sun dance and discussing other topics.
LITTLE BEAR (CREE CHIEF).
394
THEN AND NOW;
All their songs were accompanied by the beating of tom- toms, the blowing of whistles and performing on various other musical instruments. The preliminary singing and speechmak- ing continued all night on the fourth day. The dance began the next night and continued for three days, during which time no Indian ate or drank anything. The dancing was done in a huge circular tent, or pavilion, on the crest of a hill. The dancers performed in stalls that were arranged around the pavil- ion, with the band of musicians seated on their haunches in the center. The ceremonies closed with a grand feast. Chiefs Little Bear and Little Bird conducted the ceremony. After all was over the Indians dispersed to their several camps.
The younger Indians of this tribe are considerably advanced in civilization. The intelligence which Young Boy displayed to me is an evidence that the Indians are fast becoming civilized in the British possessions as well as in the United States. For several years peace and good order have prevailed among all the northern tribes. It will not be long before the Indians will be self-supporting. The effect of the march of civilization on the most warlike tribes even indicates that Indian wars are a thing of the past. And to the West, the nation's pleasure ground, with its extensive plains, carpeted with luxuriant grasses, with valleys unsurpassed in fertility, many of them overlooked and sheltered by pine-covered mountains in which lies hidden a wealth of nations, can come millions more of our people and live in peace.
Feb. 21, 1899.
ROBERT VAUGHIN.
AN INDIAN LEGEND.
While on my recent visit to the home of Edward A. Lewis a pleasant evening was passed listening to the family telling old Indian stories which were told to them by Black Bear (Sikey-kio), an old Indian woman who lived with them for many years. One of those stories is here given. It is a legend passed from father to son in the tribes of the Black- feet from time immemorial. The early residents of North- ern Montana will remember this old Indian woman. Though time had left its imprints in countless wrinkles, and had bent her once lithe figure with a burden of one hundred and six- teen winters, it could not dim the brightness of her black eyes nor dull the vigor of her remarkable intelligence.
When the century was young, while she was in camp with her people at the mouth of the Sun river, where now the city of Great Falls is located, she saw several members of the Lewis and Clarke expedition, who were the first white men she ever saw.
As time passed Black Bear (as she was called in memory of her father, a Piegan chief), left the Indians and lived more and more with the whites. She was at Malcolm Clarke's house the time he was murdered and was the means of pre- venting the Indians from killing Mrs. Clarke, and, by doing so, she came near losing her own life.
Finally Black Bear became a nurse in the family of Mr. Lewis, at whose house she died some twenty years ago. Like the 'old woman who lived in a shoe,' she was very fond of children and to them she told many of her Indian stories.
396
THEN AND NOW;
One of the children to whom she told these weird tales of Indian folklore was Isabell, the oldest daughter of the Lewis family, now Mrs. John Taber. At my request Mrs. Taber, with the aid of her mother interpreted and reduced to writing the Indian legend referred to for publication in this book. It is as follows:
"Listen," said Black Bear to the little ones who crowded expectant around her knee. "Listen and I will tell you how the Great Spirit gave horses to the Indians.
"It was long, long ago and the Piegans were camped on a large flat. The two daughters of the chief one evening were looking at the stars. One star was so bright that it attracted the attention of the younger daughter. As she looked a strange feeling came over her and she murmured half to her- self :
" 'Were that star a young man I would marry him.'
"And she looked long at the star, marveling at its bright- ness. The next day the chief gave orders to hitch the dogs to the travois and move camp. On the trail the daughter, who had charge of one of the travois, had fallen behind on account of a broken travoi. The rest of her people had passed out of sight, and, as she was about to start again, she looked up and, behold, before her stood a young man, beautiful in form and features. As she knelt frightened before him he said:
" 'Do not be alarmed, maiden. I am he thou wished to marry. Close your eyes and I will take you to the happy hunting grounds far away.'
"She did as she was told, and when she opened her eyes she was in her husband's lodge, far above the stars. It was a happy life she led in that distant land. Her husband's father was the great chief of many lodges and every one was kind to her and her people looked after her every want and desire. Her life was one of idleness and happiness until one day came
397
THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN THE ROCKIES.
a longing she could not conquer. In the wide fields of this great land grew many delicious roots, but of one of these it was forbidden to eat.
""'Of all other roots thou mayest dig and eat, but of this root thou must neither dig nor eat.'
"And as she thought of it the desire grew and one day, be- ing alone in the fields, she took her sharpened stick and, find- ing the great root on the little mound, the temptation became greater and greater. Then, after many hesitations, she be- gan to dig. (Just as the secret longing conquered Eve and Pandora.) And as she dug, the little mound yielded and rolled away, leaving a great hole. Kneeling down she looked, and lo! she could see her father and her sister and her people coming and going in their camp far below. And as she looked she became sad and her heart ached with homesickness and she wept.
"Thus they found her-her husband and his father. And they were sad at heart, for they knew that she must leave them. In the morning they made a long rope of buffalo hides and gently lowered her through the hole in the sky to her old home. All her people were happy and made great rejoicing at the return of the long lost daughter of their chief. Soon after she gave birth to a son, and when the boy was five years old a great plague broke out and his mother died and also many of her peo- ple. The child was left to the care of his uncle, who now had be- come chief of the tribe. But they were very poor, for there was no one now to make moccasins or to dress buffalo hides for them, and hunger stalked through the camp and the lodges were with- out food and there were no dogs for the travois.
"The father of the little boy and the Great Chief and his wife, far up in the sky, saw the suffering and it made their hearts sad, and they took thought to see what they could do.
398
THEN AND NOW;
Finally the Great Chief and his wife came to the earth and, finding the boy alone, told him their mission and wept with him.
" 'Now, then, my son,' said the Great Chief, seating him- self on the grass, 'bring me some mud.'
"And the boy did as he was told and the Great Chief fash- ioned it in his hands, and as he did so he made strong medi- cine and muttered strange words as the wet clay took form under his fingers. Then the Great Chief put the thing on the grass, and as the boy looked at it he saw it grow and grow until it was large and moved with life at a word from the Great Chief.
"Then he looked at his work and was pleased and called a great council of the trees of the forest and the birds of the air and of all the beasts that roamed the plains. They all eame as he called, for he ruled over them. And as they gathered around he said to them :
" 'I have made a horse for my son; an animal for him to ride and one that will carry his burdens. Now give me of your wisdom to make this horse perfect.'
"And the pine tree said: 'Oh, Great Chief, thy work is good. But the horse has no tail. From my plenty I will give it.'
"And the pine tree did as it said and the Great Chief mur- mured, 'It is good.'
"Then the fir tree said: 'Oh, Great Chief, thy work is good. But the horse has no mane. From my plenty I will give it.'
"And it was so and the Great Chief murmured, 'It is good.'
"Then the turtle said: 'Oh, Great Chief, thy work is good, but the horse has no hoofs. Out of my plenty I will give it.'
"And it was so and the Great Chief murmured: 'It is good.'
399
THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN THE ROCKIES.
"Then the elk said: 'Oh, Great Chief, thy work is good, but the horse is too small; I am too large. Of my plenty I will give.'
"And it was so, and the Great Chief murmured: 'It is good.'
"Then the cottonwood said: 'Oh, Great Chief, thy work is good, but the horse has no saddle. Out of my plenty I will give it.'
"And it was so, and the Great Chief murmured : 'It is good.'
"Then the buffalo said: 'Oh, Great Chief, thy work is good, but the saddle is bare. Out of my plenty I give to cover it.'
"And it was so, and the Great Chief murmured : 'It is good.'
"Then the snake said, raising its head from its coil: 'Oh, Great Chief, thy work is good, but the saddle has no straps. Out of my plenty I will give.'
"And it was so, and the Great Chief murmured : 'It is good.'
"Then the buffalo said again: 'There is no hair rope with which to lead the horse. Out of my abundance will I give again.'
"And it was so, and the Great Chief murmured: 'It is good.'
"Then the wolf said: 'Oh, Great Chief, thy work is good, but there is no soft cover for the saddle. Out of my plenty I will give.'
"And it was so, and the Great Chief murmured: 'It is so. The horse is now complete. Take it, my son,' and the great council was ended.
"Then the grandmother turned to the boy and gave him a sack of pemmican, saying:
400
THEN AND NOW;
" 'My son, treasure this carefully. It is a magic sack of pem- mican and will never be empty, though you eat from it all the time.'
"And with this they left him wondering. Then he mount- ed his mare and rode to his people who marveled at the strange animal. The mare soon had a colt, and then another, and in a short time there were horses enough to pack his uncle's lodge-skins and lodge-poles from camp to camp. Then the others became envious and the young man told the chief, his uncle, to take his tribe on the morrow to the great lake and that there he would make strong medicine and perform a mir- acle. And the chief did as he was told.
"In the morning all the people dug holes near the edge of the lake and waited, hiding in them, and then the young man came riding down from the hills on his mare, with her many colts following behind. Calling his uncle he said to him:
" 'I am going to leave you. You will never see me again. Here is the magic sack of pemmican. Keep it and you will never go hungry. I have made strong medicine and before I go I will make every fish in the lake turn into a horse so that there will be plenty for all your people. Tell them to watch and when the horses come rushing from the lake to catch as many of them as they can. But do you wait and catch none until my old mare comes from the water; then do you catch her and her alone. Do then as I tell you and all will be well.'
"With these words the young man mounted on his mare, rode into the lake and was soon lost to view in the deep waters. Soon the surface of the lake began to bubble and foam and the Indians were frightened and would have run away had not the old chief ordered them back to their posts. And in a little while horses' heads could be seen on the water as the animals came swim- ming towards the shore. There were hundreds and hundreds
1
401
THIRTY-SIX YEARS IN THE ROCKIES.
of them, and as they dashed up the bank the Indians sprang out and captured many of them and many escaped, and those which got away formed the wild bands which even to-day are found on the wide plains. But the chief caught none of them until the old mare came out of the water, and the last to come out of the lake. She he caught while the people laughed, for the old mare was aged and feeble, but he answered never a word to their jeering, for he had faith in his nephew. At night he picketed the mare near his lodge, and just as the moon was coming up over the distant hills the mare neighed three times and out of the thick brush thousands of colts came run- ning up. Soon the lodge was surrounded and the chief had hundreds and hundreds of horses and his people no longer jeered at him, for he was rich and richer than them all.
"And that was how the Great Spirit gave horses to the Indians."
This is the tale the chief's daughter heard as she crouched at the feet of her grandfather listening, wondering, awed as the slow words came from his lips as he sat in the dim light of a smouldering lodge fire. As Black Bear said, "it was told to my father's father and to his father's father hundreds of winters ago."
Many other legends existed among the Northern tribes of Indians. They believed in good and bad spirits and that there is some kind of a hereafter. The first missionaries who vis- ited the Flatheads for the first time said that those Indians then believed that after death the good Indians went to a country of perpetual summer and there met their relatives ; and that the buffalo, elk, deer and horses were there in great numbers and in its rivers fish were in great abundance. And, on the other hand, that the bad Indians were doomed to a place covered with perpetual snow and there they would be forever shivering with cold. They would see fire a long ways
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.