Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-10-20
lndian Ways i'm Frontier Days; Account of Trip
From Fort Gary to Fort Benton 65 Years Ago
By Al II. WILKINS

1t is my intention in this sketch
to describe to the best of my abil-
ity the ways and pursuits of liv-
ing, and the resources of the west
ern tribes of Indians. have made
mention in other paragraphs of
my experiences while crossing the
plains IS years ago, but 1 have
never given the public a detailed
account of my experiences on that
memorable trip.
About 1872 my two sisters were mar
ried. This broke up our home. Father
had been running a ferry boat ct
Crookston, Mimi, and after the wagon
bridge was built across the Redlake
river at that point, father used the
ferry boat for transport. Loading on
the boat our scanty belongings and
a large team of mules and wagon, we
Fort Garry, now being the up-to-date
city of Winnipeg. We arrived at our
destination without accident Here we
salvaged our boat and sold the lumber
at an advanced price. While at Fort
Garry, we learned of the vast oppor-
tunities in the fur trade with the
northern Indians and decided to eS-
mountain, l40 miles west of Fort
Garry. Outfitted with Indian goods at
the Hudsons Bay store at the fort, we
shifted our luggage onto wheels with
the big mules for motor power and
started on our new adventure.
We had met half-breed freighter
who was running eight Red river carts
into the interior with supplies for the
different trading posts. This man
proved to be fine fellow. He said he
lived on the Ridering mountain and
had two cabins and offered us one of
his cabins to start our store in. We
accepted his offer and spent two years
at his camp. His name was Jim Clark.
He hauled our supplies from time to
time from the HudSons Bay store at
Fort Garry.
Game Was Plentiful
While we were at the Clark camp.
vast herds of buffalo then roaming
through northwestern Canada. AL
though game was plentiful here, the
Indians were very poor. They existed
mainly on fresh meat The Sontee-
Sioux were driven into this region
after the Sioux outbreak in 1852. These
Indians lost nearly all their horses in
their last fight with United States
troops while crossing the Missouri
river in North Dakota. The other tribe
we came in contact with was the
northern Crees. They were poor tribe
also These two tribes did most of their
moving with their large wolf dogs.
By placing a light travels on the
dogs back and placing their effects
on the travels, the dogs dragged their
burdens from one camp to another.
The dogs and squaws were really the
beasts of burden in these tribes. The
male part of the tribes considered 1t
a disgrace to work. The squaws did
all the tanning of furs and robes and
packed them to market, while their
worthy bucks walked leisurely along
to sell the furs.
These Indians homes consisted of
lodges made of tanned hides. Most of
them were of buffalo skins. They used
about - small poles nearly y feet
long tied together at the top and
spread at the bottom to the required
size in a circle. This constituted the
framework of the Indian home. They
lived in the timbered regions in win
ter and on the open plains in the
summer. These tribes were good hunt
ers and trappers. We had a good fur
trade while we were at this notable
camp.
Our principal stock of goods con-
sisted of the following articles: To-
bacco, powder, shot and bullets, guns
and caps, ready-made flintS for the
old flintlock guns, beads, dry paints
flashy red-strlped blankets and large
lowered calico. These tribes used a
limited amount of salt. They were
great on brass rings and emblems.