The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-10-21

MOntana IN carry Gays VINO Will
fail to call to mind the stirring
scenes in the northern part of the
state 40 years ago. Few there are
who have forgotten the general
Thanksgiving spent in 1880, be-
fore a proclamation had yet reach
ed the prairies of the northern part
of the state, but which is recorded
in state history, as the elimination
of a years fear of white extermina-
ton at the hands of the starving
Indians of various tribes in the
Milk river valley and adjacent ter
ritory. Who is there among the
number yet left to recount the
hardships of the past and to tell
of the forging of civilization over
a district that is now one of the
most prosperous in all the states,
but will recall the fervent prayers
offered On November rs, 1880, at
Fort Benton. Who is it that has
not preserved some memento or
writing from the east offering sup
plications for the safety of those
near and dear who for months had
been at the mercy of wild savages
driven from force of hunger to the
verge of committing depredations
worse than any that had been prior
to that season.
1t was for the relief that had
been sent the whites, in the fur
nishing to the Indians of food, that
services of general thanksgiving
were held in every hut and hamlet
in northern Montana in that early
day, and it is handed down that for
miles and miles the settlers came
to add their presence and their
prayers of thanksgiving.
Sioux Were Responsible
For many months, or more pro-
per1y speaking from the fall of
1879, the conditions of the Indians
in all northern Montana was be-
worse. The real cause was
the invasion of hunting grounds in
Montana by the hostile
Sioux from across the Canadian
border. The winter had been a
1ard one and game, with the ex-
of buffalo, was scarce. The
government was not at
ending to the wants of its proteges t
md the cold blasts of the Canadian |.
was forcing the game fur h
her south, across the line into tt
Montana. 1t was not, therefore,
be wondered at that the Cana n
Ian Sioux should follow it and in h
he beginning of that awful period a
his invasion was the ause. n
From time to time the attention 81
f the government had been called e
o the fact that the condition of 5
he Montana Indians was growing
yorse and that unless some aid was
furnished them there would be m
In the spring of 1880 the tr
arious bands assembled in the F
of the Milk river valley w
nd as early as May of that year Il,
1reatened an alliance with the T
ioux who by this time had practi- al
ally corraled all the buffalo, I'm q
SIS the United States government q
Mould take their cause in hand and q
them with food or drive ar
lie Sioux across the line into their ar
wn homes. TO
The Sioux were %unfriendly to- w,
ard the whites on general prin- an
pies and were holding the hunt ri
g grounds and game, preventing to
le Montana Indians, who were tic
iend1y with the whites, from bo
citing what properly belonged to an
lem unless they would consent to TO
in forces and rid this part of the he
,untry of the hated whites and to of
,ntrol it for Indian use. d,,
Held Border People in Fear VIZ
The mounted police, across the we
order, made an attempt to get tn,
e Sioux to return but without CHI
suit. The American government
as appealed to, that in S it of
ould not drive them back at least no
would deprive the Sioux of their da:
ms and horses and place them col
lere they would cease to be an the
noyance to the friendly reds. we
,od was beginning to get scarce
many of the white settlements. the
1ndreds of settlers, in order to fri,
old what seemed to be inevitable, ten
d divided what they possessed vid
tn the friendly tribes in the hope in
at they would not form the al TIL
nee which was feared and thus ma
terminate them. of
were here also at the same onl
lie many other tribes, besides the hac
oux, that belonged in Canada, spe
+ some of them had been here writ