Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1935-06-15
By FISK G. ELLIS

ON TWO PARTS-PART ONE)
'aTen me about going TO the agency
when I was little" pleaded, leaning
aRafnst mothers knee one lonely,
SUMMER afternoon In the early eight
les. What a saga the story Of that
journey was to my youthful mind. To
me its men and women were heroic
adventurers Of the first water. No
matter how many times retOAd, 1
never tired Of hearing Il again and
was continually begging mother or
one Of my brothers TO recount Its
tales.
Although so years have passed since
I last heard it told my interest has
not waned In truth, it is still so great
that now am gathering the fragments
left after so years Of forgetting and
stringing them, like varicolored beads
of different sizes, on thread Of imagi-
nation into a retold tale Of what a
handful Of pioneers once did IN frontier
days to carry on"
1t was a risky venture. as I see it
now, to attempt a midwinter wagon
Journey with women and children from
Helena to the Teton and the old Black
feet Indian agency near the site of the
present town of Choteau. However, it
was not only attempted but actually
done in the winter Of 1874. 1t was no
quick dash such as the automobiles
would make today but a matter OF
fortitude and slow, patient toll It's
participants trusted not to speed to
get through before a storm struck, as
we would do now, but to their ability
to endure and survive If a blizzard did
strike, and so fought their way through
weather and over roads that would
bring disaster under modern modes OF
travel.
Less than six months old at the time,
took no part in the activities Of the
journey except in sort OF musical
way. I was simply along, a care, a
hindrance and an annoyance. To hear
my immediate family tell it in after
years, I was a sort Of miniature siren
going strong most Of the time. For con-
venience in telling this story, shall
call myself the Siren.
The antecedents from which this
story grew were dealings between the
Blackfeet Indians and the whites.
The Blackfeet were fighters and had
been fighters for generations back. Be- |
set from the east by the Sioux, from
the south by the Crows, they had re-
PEELED these raiders Of their hunting |
grounds valiantly for many years. In |
deed, it appears they we're as often the |
attackers as the attacked and stole as
many horses from the Sioux and the |
Crows as these two tribes stole from |
them and, withal, took their fair share
of scalps.
The truth is that horse stealing was
made sort Of inter-tribal sport from
which all tribes derived as much zest |
as did our ancestors from their tourna-
ments and, probably, with no more IA
talities Between buffalo hunting and
raiding, with two frontiers to defend |,
the weaklings of the Blackfeet were
quickly eliminated and only body Of |
hardy, vicious warriors remained.
It had been bitter resistance waged
by the Blackfeet against the invasion |
Of their domain by the white man. Ever |
since the time Of Lewis and Clark they
had been inhued with q special fond !
ness for white scalps. They were will
ing that white traders should build !
trading posts on their frontiers, where |
they might exchange furs and robes
for guns, blankets, knives and ammuni-
ton, but demanded that the whites
beavers, and also reserved for them
selves the special privilege Of scalping
any white man caught far enough away
from the stOckades.
The white men, then as today, re-
garded themselves as beings Of special
privilege and insisted on killing buff
faioes and trapping beavers wherever
bu6y CllOSS. MANY y IMAM 1OSb MS scalp
in so doing. They seem to have re-
garded it right for them to kill the In
dams buffaloes, but as depredations
and atrocities any retaliatory acts on
the part of the Indians The whites
encroached, the Indians defended and
retaliated. Such was the situation up
to 1870.
The killing OF Malcolm Clark in {
August Of 1869 brought crisis. White
settlers in outlying localities seemed
no longer safe. Emphatic representa-
lions were made to authorities at .
Washington. At last orders arrived at !
Fort Shaw, military headquarters for
Montana, 70 subdue the Blachfeet.
Baker marched. A Blackfeet village
was encamped on the Marias. At day
light the troops were in position un-
by the sleeping Indians. I'M !
der rifle fire that swept their camp
ground, bucks, squaws, and papooses,
old and young, fell. 1t is called the
battle of the Marias. The fight on the |
Little Big Horn is called 'the Custer j
It is all in how you look ]