St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-14
ARRANGED THE COMPACT.
c. e. Conrad Tells About the Mon
tana Reservation to BE Opened.

Among the travellers who passed
through ST Paul yesterday en- route
for the East was c.. E. Conrad, who
halls from Kalispell, Mont, where he
has, by dint of close attention to the
growing business of the West, built up
magnificent patronage, his business
with the United States and Canadian
governments alone amounting annual
ly to several millions of dollars. Mr..
Conrad has had much to do with the
Indians, and was in a great measure
instrumental in arranging the terms
of the compact by which the Blackfeet
Indians have just sold to the United
States government big strip of their
reservation. Mr.. Conrad paid visit
yesterday to Moses Folsom, of the
Northern Pacific publicity and promo
ton department. 1t was here that a
G o e reporter found him, and, il
response to an inquiry, related the
details Of the transaction which has
only just been ratified by the author
tiles at Washington.
1.-THE original Blackfoot reservation
extended entirely across the upper
half of Montana from the Rocky
mountains to the western boundary
of North Dakota" he said, land was
the largest Indian reservation in the
United States up to six years ago,
when its proportions were reduced, and
included the Fort Beck and Fort Belk-
nap reservations.
Some time back a commission was
appointed, which had for its chair
man George Bird Grinnell, editor of
Forest and Stream, to negotiate for
the purchase of a strip of this reser-
walton, and the deal is now closed.
The acquired strip stretches from the
foothills to the center of the main
range of the Rocky mountains, eX-
tending for nearly sixty miles south
Of the international boundary. 1t is
rich in undeveloped mineral resources,
and embraces what are known as Two
Medicine and St. Mary's lakes, famous
for their hunting and fishing.
by the terms of the treaty the
United States agrees to pay for the
land the sum of $1,500,00 in ten an
nual payments, or, what is better still,
1 persuaded the Indians to accept in
lieu Of cash it's equivalent in farm
implements, clothing and general sup
plies, which step, in my opinion, will
porting in the next decade. The strip
bought Of them is in Teton county,
and is about sixty miles long by TWEEN
ty wide, and is mostly undeveloped
mountain country.
1.-The section is traversed by the
Great Northern, and is bound to be
a wonderful country in a very few
years. The present reservation is per-
haps sixty by fifty miles in extent
upon which there are nearly 1000 In
dams, who are more or less civilized,
as against being what we call blanket
Indians They have more than $4,000
cattle and ponies, and schools are
maintained for the instruction of the
youngsters.
ut was on the pretty lakes in the
reservation that the Barring brothers,
London bankers, spent three seasons
hunting and fishing, and it was there
also that Hugh Monroe, who died a
year or two ago at the age of 108, spent
all his life, having gone there in 1902
He married Blackfoot woman, and
some of his children are yet living,
although well advanced in years. Old
Monroe never saw a railroad train I'M
til the Great Northern pushed it's
tracks through his country, and the
old gentleman never could be made
to understand how a train could pass
one day going west and the next day a
second one going east on the same
track"
Mr.. Conrad went to Chicago last
night.