The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1886-01-20

An Indian Uprising In the Canadian
Northwest Predicted.

81. PAUL, Mimi, January ia Winni.
peg special to the Globe says: Matters are
now shaping for q general Indian uprising
in the Canadian Northwest in the spring,
and it is very doubtful if anything the Gov
ernment will be able to do will arrest it.
The Southern Indian reserves, which lie
between the Canadian Pacific Railway and
the international boundary line, in the
neighborhood of Glenchen. contain about
10000 natives, consisting o. Bloods, Black
feet and Piegans. These tribes are in fed
sral alliance, with Crowfoot as their prin-
cipal civil chief, and Three-bulls as their
commanding war chief. The latter
is now in a position to harass
the country with more than 5000
braves. Further to the north are the
Crees and Stoneys, who were, with Pound
maker and Big Bear as leaders. more or
less mixed up with the Riel troubles last
spring. They number in all about 5000
and have nearly 1000 picked fighting men.
Poundmaker, the Cree chief. who WI the
first to surrender to Gen. Middleton after
the defeat of the Metis at Batoche, and
who has been sent to prison for three years
law of Chief Crowfoot, and that too, in
more than in any ordinary Indian sense,
for the Blackfoot chiefs ~favorite daughter
is at the head of the Cree chiefs polyga-
nous household. Poundmaker is in the
penitentiary, but the principal Mrs. Pound
maker is whetting q thousand scslping
knives for the Crees on the Saskatchewan,
and sending frenzied val messages to her
Blackfeet kinsfolk farther to the south.
Crowfoot has yielded to the..appeals OF his
daughter, who is now looked upon as the
queen Of the Crees, and seizing the oppor-
tunity to avenge the wrongs from which
their people have recently suffered,
has summoned a council Of his
head men. representing Bloods, Piegans
and Blackfeet, and after mature deliber-
alton, Threebulls has been commanded to
have 5000 braves ready for the warpath
soon as the grass is sufficiently uncov-
cred for the ponies. This fierce war chief is
already astir. and around many a Blood
and Piegan fire, and in hundreds of smoky
Blackfeet tepees the ~scalplocks taken by
dead heroes of their race are taken down
and waved in the dim freight to the ugly
OF the war-dance songs of impa-
tient braves. Horses and cattle are rap
idly disappearing, to the dismay OF Cana.
dian ranchmen. These, it is stated, find
their way into the possession OF the more
reckless Of Montana traders in exchange
for rifles and cartridges, whose deadly
crack will, before another June reaches US.
render every piece of tall grass or clump of
brush and every ravine or reed-bordered
of certain death. Among the bad results
of the Metis rebellion is the contempt with
which all the Indians regard Cana
dian troops. The latter were wofully
beaten, with the odds in their favor, both
at Frog Lake and Fish Creek, and the So
called battle of Batoche WAS rather a sue
cessful retreat of the rebels than a we'll
earned victory on the part OF the militia.
Col. Otter's dash upon Poundmaker's band
his celebrated Queens Own regiment
a disorderly rout, and his almost
escape was achieved only by a
of over forty miles in a single night,
through swamps n muskegs. Neither
nor Big Bear was defeated.
Both surrendered only after firing OF
harassing and evadine the volunteers. The
half breeds will not likely join the hostile
Indians. They lost their leader on the
at Regina. The government has
redressed their wrongs partially, but they
have no heart or courage left. The rebcll-
ious natives complain chiefly Of the too
o~fficious presence of Canadian militia, or
mounted police, whose number
and vigilance have been doubled
since the late disturbance; of
the intrigues and dishonesty of
Indian agents and instructors; of the
and funkyism OF Lieut.. Col. Gov.
Dowdney, who is the Indian Commissioner,
and of the unlawful encroachments OF set<
tiers and ranchmen. The Canadian Gov
erument is taking steps to nip the prospect
We outbreak in the bud, but preparations
have already gone so far that the very acts
Of the Government, intended to avert the
calamity, will prove the immediate cause
of trouble. The more the Canadian au-
make preparations to meet the
emergency the greater the insultto
the Indians. They are determined to be
avenged, and the coming summer will be
one OF hardship and devastation in the
Canadian Northwest. Settlers south OF the
Canadian Pacific line are pretty much all
preparing to leave, and to-day a delegation
the ranchmen passed through this city
or the federal capital, to urge on the au-
the necessity OF a regiment being
at once sent to the n~eighborhood of Cal
gary to put a stop to the inroads which
Indians are making upon their horses and
Over 10000 head have been cap
and driven away.