The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-01-19
AGENT OF THE TRIBE
Charles &. Conrad Will Attend to
Blackfoot Affairs This Winter.
HE'S THE INDIANS FRIEND
They Have Implicit Faith In Him
and He VIII See That They Get
Their Dues From the Gov
eminent, as Promised.

Great Fails, Jan. 1s.-Charles e.
Conrad, formerly of Benton and later
of this city, but now an opulent bank
er and townsite operator at Kalispell.
has gone to Washington City to spend
the winter as the accrmedited repre-
sentative of the Blackfeet tribe of In
dams. Mr.. Conrad is personally known
to the prominent men of the tribe and
talks Indian like a reservation yellow
belly. 1t was largely through his per-
sonal efforts that the Blackfeet signed
the recent treaty, which has just been
ratified by congress, ceding a portion of
their reserve to the government.
At the grand council of Indians held
at the agency last fall for the purpose
of discussing the proposed treaty,
Charley Conrad was a striking figure.
His reply, in the Indian language. to
objections raised by certain chiefs to
signing the treaty, which would throw
open to settlement a vast area of
land rich in mineral deposits,was an
oratorical gem that won him new
friends and admirers among the tribe,
and he was unanimously chosen, after
the treaty was signed, to visit Wash
ington and see that the terms of the
treaty were properly carried out The
interests of his red friends will be prop
erly taken care of, and Charley will see
that the annuities due the Blackfeet are
contractors of Indian supplies.
On his trip east Mr. Conrad discussed
the treaty as follows with a newspaper
reporter:
"The original Blackfoot reservation
extended entirely across the upper half
of Montana from the Rocky mountains
TO the western boundary of North Da-
kota, and was the largest Indian res
ervation in the United States up to six
years ago. when Its proportions were
reduced, and included the Fort Beck
and Fort Belknap reservations.
Some time back a commission was
appointed. which had for it's chairman
George Bird Grinnell. editor of Forest
and Stream, to negotiate for the pur-
chase Of a strip of this reservation,
and the deal is now closed. The ac-
Quired strip stretches from the foot
hills to the center OF the main range of
the Rocky mountains, extending for
nearly go miles south OF the information
al boundary. II is rich in undeveloped
mineral resources, and embraces what
are known as Two Medicine and
ST. Mafy's lakes, famous for their
hunting and fishing.
by the terms of the treaty the Uni
ted States agrees to pay for the land
the sum OF 81, 500, 900 in 10 annual pay
ments, or. what is better still, / per-
suaded the Indians to accept in lieu of
cash its equivalent in farm implements,
clothing and general supplies, which
step, In my opinion, will make the
Blackfeet Indians self-supporting in the
next decade. The strip bought of them
Is in Teton county, and is about so
miles long by 20 wide, and is mostly
undeveloped country.
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 perhaps 60
by so miles In extent, upon which there
are nearly 1000 Indians, 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 instruc-
tion OF the youngsters.
TT was on the pretty lakes in the
reservation that the Barring brothers,
London bankers, spent three seasons
hunting and fishing, and il was there
also that Hugh Monroe who died a
year or two ago, at the age of 1OS
spent all his life, having gone there i'm
1902. He married a Blackfoot woman,
and some of his children are yet living.
although well advanced in years. old
Monroe never saw a railroad train
until the Great Northern pushed its
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