The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-08-16
'eaa Indians Still
! Liue in America


Give hp this country and live much
1 thSFsame kind of life they lived
e!atrs ago when they or some of
tEeir relatives lived in the very
lime places where we live now.
3ebst of the Indians that are left
3w, are what we call American
led Indians. because they live
ilEtly like Indians and partly like
americans; but there are some
Sat live in northern parts of Cana
; .ias and Alaska, in places that are
ether wild still. and that live in
.e, same old way that their grand
s.thers lived years and years ago.
..he names of some of these tribes
sc the Nascaupees, the Montag
s.lis, the Ojibways and the Crees.
f:1ey are just like the Indians we
lad about when we read Cooper's
.oriess about the Indians, for their
,Aly books are the woods and the
..aterWays, and in these their
4 oNaedge is almost perfect.
in -ewinter this Indian travels on
oSwshoes and with a dog team.
I'D. in summer he goes everywhere
81 his canoe. Many of these In
=; Cans use the old birch bark canoe,
, eipl, but many have bought the
Ehvas -covered canoe like the
efite man uses. Not many white
i ZEN, have come to these out-of-the-
] lay places; but some have. most
i'm search Of the valuable little
lin1als whose fur will bring the
apper a great deal of money.
u For two centuries or more the
sudson Bay Company. that most
lterprising and most romantic
,rporation in the history of the
orld, handled these natives with
Eat friction. Many of the engages
,e the Hudson Bay Company and
ne Northwest Company were
Dung Scotchmen, used to hard.
,ugh life at home. Take a six
.sot Scotchman with whiskers a
lard long and a hand like a full
zed ham and he is something of
aboriginal himself. The natives
Inspected this type of man, because
.te could carry a mans pack and
s..ould paddle bit after he had
Earned how. From these pioneers.
through intermarriage with Wood,
Tree or Ojibway squaws, many of
ne fur-brigade members sprang.
|: was the white men who superin-
I.nded the fur trade of these two
treat companies; the men who did
ne work were halfbreeds or In
l.ians, and it was their steady
luck and perseverance that took
ae Montreal cargoes through to
Edmonton each year by mid-sum-
Ser.
:: Nor were these long trails on
9th sides Of the Height of Land,
ortiz to the Arctic ice or west to
.ie m 4continental Height. easy
Sx1ing with dry packs and clean
~ .gings. Much of the going was
'ss: rough mud and water and Shiny
fpruce roots. Every mouthful of
bod eaten BY engage or priest of
re far northern posts. every pile
II furs that ever got to London or
Jew York or Montreal. was carried
hanback, across scores of slippery
ortages and over countless hard.
pugh places.
The Ojibway, the Cree and the
fontagnais are the most wonder
Jul canoemen in the world. They
5ossess sixth sense in rapid
unning and if they say run it"
lou can safely lay bet at odds
hat they will run it and come
through dry-even through water
he mere glimpse of which makes
1our hair stand up and sends chills
hasing up and down your spine.
4 On the pack trail their ability to
bite. using only the leather head
and or tump-line, loads of duffle
nd outfits weighing 300 lbs. over
mile and often two-mile port
Ice, the travelling of which keeps
he best of white woodsmen busy
keep his feet. is simply marvel
bus. A few years ago. up In Hail
ybury, in Northern Ontario, l saw
bet won by one Bill Poison, who
arried 900 pounds on such a trip.
alf a mile; it doesn't sound pos
bible but it was actually done.
Measured half mile at that. but on