Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-03-04
PAYS DEN HAUT
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the Missouri and usually return in the
course OF the months OF July and August
and scour It's banks until springtime; for
this is the only time when one can pass
the places which they are accustomed to
visit with any safety In order to come
among the nations situated on the upper
Missouri.
All the savage peoples which I have
mentioned In this description. that is to
say, those which dwell on the west OF the
Missouri, are the mildeet and most humane
toward us Of all the people of the universe.
They have a great respect and 4 great ven
Grafton for all white men In general, whom
they put In the rank Of divinity, and all
by these same people as miraculous. They
do not know how to distinguish among
civilized nations, English, French, Span
ish, ct cetera, whom they call tindinerently
white men or spirits.
Trade Is carried on with them very
peaceably. He who does not think what
is given him in exchange for his peltries
Is enough carries 1t away, nevertheless,
without murmur or threat. would say,
finally. that, having myself visited all the
savage nations situated on the east and
west OF the Mississippi and all those who
dwell on the lower Missouri, l have never
found any who approach these In kindness
and good will toward us. There is as
great difference between them as between
day and night.
1SNo}t 40 We law thC dEhitC VI tAt
great Missouri river valley, and view the
wonderful developments and changes
wrought by a white mans civilization, the
picture OF this streams course as herein
above described by Jean Baptiste Trudeau.
IL beyond our comprehension. or all this
vast, lovely desolation, these Jagged bluffs
and r~avines, these rolling, grass covered
plains and picturesque aboriginal villages,
as viewed before the recognized emissaries
had arrived upon the scene to herald the
swift approach of a westward moving
force whose ~onslaughts and depredations
the natives were unable to withstand. there
Is one part Of the curious spectacle which
holds for ne greatest appeal.
An Interesting People
/ like to travel the streams and trails
with the v~oyageurs and the mountainmen (;
| find romance In the dust shrouded trains
of pioneers ox-drawn covered wagons: /
sense with the p~rospector the gamble and
hope as he sinks his pick Into the bed OF
a placer stream; | can feel the tingle Of
glory and splendor of the Blackfeet tribes
men as, coups dangling, they return from
the foray; but, to me, the fact that one,
two, three, four hundred years ago, agri-
culture was successfully practiced in the
Upper Missouri river valley is most inter-
esting and significant.
To those who know the gypsy yearning
Of the Wild, the redman. whatever his ma
ton or his tribe might be. bore a certain
indescribable charm; but of all the north
west plains tribes there Is none more inter-
esting to the traveller or historian. or con-
corning whose origin there has arisen more
speculation than the Mandans, who with
Arickaras Tor Rickarees) were chief among
the aboriginal agriculturists
Location of the Tribe
The Mandan villages, at the time Levi
and Clark passed them In 1904. were To-
Gated at or near the mouth of Knife river,
In the neighborhood of what is now Stan
ton, Mercer county. North Dakota. The
general locality Of these villages has been
known to white men for almost two cen
turtles, the first explorers and travellers to
visit these people being Pierre De la veren-
dyre on his uncertain course toward the
Pacific ocean In 173S.
The Mandan villages were for many
years the farthest point to which traders
could carry their operations. only a com
parative few of the more intrepid free trap
pers and traders came west beyond the
Mandans before 1890, because travellers and
traders naturally devoted more time and
consideration to the people with whom they
remained among. and more because these
people were a different race In habit and
appearance than any other North American
Indians, they became the most discussed.
The tribal history of the MaEdans Is
wrapped up In almost complete obscurity
but various historians and scientists who
have studied this nation have set forth
some interesting theories. George Catlin
the famous artist, who visited the villages
In 1888 exploited at great length the belief
that they were descendants of a Welsh
party that landed at the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi centuries ago.
D. Siouan Origin
VIII and Hyde, In their Corn Among
the Indians state: THE Mandans wert
evidently the first Siouan tribe to reach
the Upper Missouri. They seem to have
come from the east. perhaps the Mime
sofa region, but all knowledge Of an Older