Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-05-30
by MRS. E.. L.. HOUSTON

Wilttl VI llluldll SJOlltS, west from Ills
home in New York, at the age of 18
years. He left home with the permits
sion of his people, promising to return
for the fall term at Peekskill military
academy on the Hudson, but he be-
came SO thoroughly interested in the
west and in the Indians of the west
that he did not return. After many
thrilling experiences on the plains with
the Indians in time of peace and war
and in hunting the buffalo, he began
to tell OF these experiences and, in 1907.
his first book was published. He
spent last winter in Montana, work
ing on his 10Th book, a volume telling
of the various Blackfeet tribes of In
dians with which he has been asso-
ciated for half a century.
A New Yorker by birth, educated un-
der private tutors and in a military
academy, he was headed for West
Point, in accordance with the wishes Of
his mother and guardian, but he heard
the call of the buffalo that altered
these plans. Il decided to have one
GOOD buffalo hunt before entering West
Point" is the way he put it, and he
added with a smile, but I never went
back. I kept on following the herd"
Liked to Hunt as Boy
AS a boy, he had hunted every kind
Of game found east of the Mississippi,
from the A~dirondacks to the north
woods of Michigan and Wisconsin.
During n winter vacation, he killed
three mountain lions, or panthers, as
they are called in that country.
He went by train from New York to
ST. Louis, Mo-, and boarded the steam
er Benton for Fort Benton. On his ar
rival in 1877, he met the noted Indian
trader, Joseph Kipp, and a close friend
ship was formed between the two that
endured until the death of Kipp in
1914. 1t was through this friend that
Mr.. Schultz joined the buffalo hunting
tribe, the Piegan Blackfeet, and spent
the winter of 1879 in the Bear Paw
mountains.
In the fall of 1879, Kipp and Schultz
had a trading post on the Judith river
at the mouth of Warm Spring creek
where they obtained from the Piegar
and the Blood Indians 1900 buffalo
robes and nearly 5000 deer, elk ano
antelope skins. In the summer o.
1880, they established a post on the
Missouri river which they maintained
until the determination of the buffalo
in 1883. Their first winters trade there
vas the best they ever had, as they OBJ.
tanned from the Canadian Blackfeet
the Bloods and Louis Riel's Red rive,
halfbreeds more than 1000 buffalo
robes and a still larger number of skim
of the deer kind.
Travelled With Tribes
But Mr.. Schultz was not always il
the trading posts. He often Travelled
and camped with the Piegan tribe O.
Blackfeet for months at a time. HI
r,o ryiol n niV1 IF fhic fribo Nntobi III.
heroine of his book, MY Life as az
Indian" 1t was during his travels tina
he came to know ultimately the triba
customs of these people. One criti,
says of him: HE is the most famous
Indian authority in the world" Ac
ually living the life of the Indian, h,
came to understand the compelling i'm
pulses of the individual, the war mo
tives Of the tribe and the intricate re
ligious ObServanceS connected will
every detail Of the individual and triba
life.
1t is the personal contact with thes
people for many years that has mad
possible the ring of truth in his won
derfully vivid adventure stories. Al
Iroquois Indian says: Through tn
night we've galloped with his dar
skinned heroes to raid ar Indian camp
Under the towering crests of the Rock
les, we've hunted elks and big horl
with Pitamakan and Tom Fox. Whel
Schultz talks, I can hear the wa
drums, smell the smoke of council fire
and hear the quivering chant Of gor
geously clad wal dancers"
With New Mexico Tribes
Not all the stories of James Willar
Schultz, or "Apikuni' are about tn
p1onkfoof Tndtonc Hn EyrnI for Cnyrnrc
years with the pueblo tribes in Arizon
and New Mexico, where he was asso
ciated with DR.. FeWkes Of the Smith
sonian institution in e~xcavating tn
Casa Grande ruin, which was a rui
when Coronado passed it in 1910. TIL
scientific work of Mr.. Schultz anon
the southwest tribes and his life wit
them gave rise to his stories, THE So
of a Navaho," "QueSterS of the Desert
"Plumed Snake Medicine" and I'm tn
Apache Forest"
Listening to the old men as they toll
their stories around the lodge fire o
winter nights, Mr.. Schultz unquestior
ably absorbed the Indian manner {
narrating a tale. Direct, simple, dra
matte, he news to the Indian style j
telling his stories. Art without art,
flee ch~aracterizes his expression, as
dlSO CIldTdCUcilZcS IIlt UcSC StOly tCllCl
among the Indians.
Mr.. Schultz thinks that it is wort
while to know the Indian feeling cor
corning the coming Of the white ma
to the Indian country and to know {
the battles fought in defense OF TT
Indians inherited rights. Bird Won
an" tells the story Of Sacajawea, WI
led the famous explorers, Lewis an
Clark, across the Rockies to the Pa
cific coast.
Rising Wolf, the White Blackfoot
tells the story of one of the early err
cages of the Hudson's Bay compan
Hugh Monroe, a friend of Mr.. Schulz
of his remarkable adventures amor
the tribes of Canada and northel
, Montana and of his divided allegian'
between the sun, the God of II
Blackfeet, and the God of his Cathol
faith. Red Crows Brother" is a 81
quel to Rising Wolf" a continuatic
Of the adventures Of Hugh Monroe.
Among the many recent works col
corning the Custer battle is Mr.. Schul
story Of civilian Jackson, India
B Scout" which gives the Indian inte'
t probation of that important even
Jackson served as an Indian scout III
der General Custer, General Miles ar
: General Reno. A grandson of Risir
Wolf, Jackson accepted a position
scout under Custer and on the day
/ the battle was detailed with the re
of the Indian scouts with Reno. Jacl
, son gave Mr.. Schultz his ~explanati(
of this much disputed event.
The fact that the Chicago public
brary alone contains $500 copies